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diff --git a/21747.txt b/21747.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..53039b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/21747.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10566 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lonely Island, by R.M. Ballantyne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Lonely Island + The Refuge of the Mutineers + +Author: R.M. Ballantyne + +Release Date: June 7, 2007 [EBook #21747] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LONELY ISLAND *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +THE LONELY ISLAND; OR, THE REFUGE OF THE MUTINEERS, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE. + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +THE REFUGE OF THE MUTINEERS. + +THE MUTINY. + +On a profoundly calm and most beautiful evening towards the end of the +last century, a ship lay becalmed on the fair bosom of the Pacific +Ocean. + +Although there was nothing piratical in the aspect of the ship--if we +except her guns--a few of the men who formed her crew might have been +easily mistaken for roving buccaneers. There was a certain swagger in +the gait of some, and a sulky defiance on the brow of others, which told +powerfully of discontent from some cause or other, and suggested the +idea that the peaceful aspect of the sleeping sea was by no means +reflected in the breasts of the men. They were all British seamen, but +displayed at that time none of the well-known hearty off-hand rollicking +characteristics of the Jack-tar. + +It is natural for man to rejoice in sunshine. His sympathy with cats in +this respect is profound and universal. Not less deep and wide is his +discord with the moles and bats. Nevertheless, there was scarcely a man +on board of that ship on the evening in question who vouchsafed even a +passing glance at a sunset which was marked by unwonted splendour. The +vessel slowly rose and sank on a scarce perceptible ocean-swell in the +centre of a great circular field of liquid glass, on whose undulations +the sun gleamed in dazzling flashes, and in whose depths were reflected +the fantastic forms, snowy lights, and pearly shadows of cloudland. In +ordinary circumstances such an evening might have raised the thoughts of +ordinary men to their Creator, but the circumstances of the men on board +of that vessel were not ordinary--very much the reverse. + +"No, Bill McCoy," muttered one of the sailors, who sat on the breach of +a gun near the forecastle, "I've bin flogged twice for merely growlin', +which is an Englishman's birthright, an' I won't stand it no longer. A +pretty pass things has come to when a man mayn't growl without tastin' +the cat; but if Captain Bligh won't let me growl, I'll treat him to a +roar that'll make him cock his ears an' wink six times without +speakin'." + +The sailor who said this, Matthew Quintal by name, was a short, +thick-set young man of twenty-one or thereabouts, with a forbidding +aspect and a savage expression of face, which was intensified at the +moment by thoughts of recent wrongs. Bill McCoy, to whom he said it, +was much the same in size and appearance, but a few years older, and +with a cynical expression of countenance. + +"Whether you growl or roar, Matt," said McCoy, with a low-toned laugh, +"I'd advise you to do it in the minor key, else the Captain will give +you another taste of the cat. He's awful savage just now. You should +have heard him abusin' the officers this afternoon about his +cocoa-nuts." + +"So I should," returned Quintal. "As ill luck would have it, I was +below at the time. They say he was pretty hard on Mr Christian." + +"Hard on him! I should think he was," rejoined McCoy. "Why, if Mr +Christian had been one of the worst men in the ship instead of the best +officer, the Cap'n could not have abused him worse. I heard and saw 'im +with my own ears and eyes. The cocoa-nuts was lyin', as it might be +here, between the guns, and the Cap'n he came on deck an' said he missed +some of his nuts. He went into a towerin' rage right off--in the old +style--and sent for all the officers. When they came aft he says to +them, says he, `Who stole my cocoa-nuts?' Of course they all said they +didn't know, and hadn't seen any of the people take 'em. `Then,' says +the Cap'n, fiercer than ever, `you must have stole 'em yourselves, for +they couldn't have been taken away without your knowledge.' So he +questioned each officer separately. Mr Christian, when he came to him, +answered, `I don't know, sir, who took the nuts, but I hope you do not +think me so mean as to be guilty of stealing yours.' Whereupon the +Cap'n he flared up like gunpowder. `Yes, you hungry hound, I do,' says +he; `you must have stolen them from me, or you would have been able to +give a better account of them.'" + +"That was pitchin' into 'im pretty stiff," said Quintal, with a grim +smile. "What said Mr Christian?" + +"He said nothin', but he looked thunder. I saw him git as red as a +turkey cock, an' bite his lips till the blood came. It's my opinion, +messmate," added McCoy, in a lower tone, "that if Cap'n Bligh don't +change his tone there'll be--" + +"Come, come, mate," interrupted a voice behind him; "if you talk mutiny +like that you'll swing at the end o' the yard-arm some fine mornin'." + +The sailor who joined the others and thus spoke was a short, sturdy +specimen of his class, and much more like a hearty hare-brained tar than +his two comrades. He was about twenty-two years of age, deeply pitted +with small-pox, and with a jovial carelessness of manner that had won +for him the sobriquet of Reckless Jack. + +"I'm not the only one that talks mutiny in this ship," growled McCoy. +"There's a lot of us whose backs have bin made to smart, and whose grog +has been stopped for nothin' but spite, John Adams, and you know it." + +"Yes, I do know it," returned Adams, sharply; "and I also know that +there's justice to be had in England. We've got a good case against the +Captain, so we'd better wait till we get home rather than take the law +into our own hands." + +"I don't agree with you, Jack," said Quintal, with much decision, "and I +wonder to see you, of all men, show the white feather." + +Adams turned away with a light laugh of contempt, and the other two +joined a group of their mates, who were talking in low tones near the +windlass. + +Matthew Quintal was not the only man on board who did not agree with the +more moderate counsels of Reckless Jack, _alias_ John Adams, _alias_ +John Smith, for by each of those names was he known. On the +quarter-deck as well as on the forecastle mutterings of deep indignation +were heard. + +The vessel was the celebrated _Bounty_, which had been fitted up for the +express purpose of proceeding to the island of Otaheite, (now named +Tahiti), in the Pacific for plants of the breadfruit tree, it being +thought desirable to introduce that tree into the West India Islands. +We may remark in passing, that the transplantation was afterwards +accomplished, though it failed at this time. + +The _Bounty_ had been placed under the command of Lieutenant Bligh of +the Royal Navy. Her burden was about 215 tons. She had been fitted +with every appliance and convenience for her special mission, and had +sailed from Spithead on the 23rd December 1787. + +Lieutenant Bligh, although an able and energetic seaman, was of an angry +tyrannical disposition. On the voyage out, and afterwards at Otaheite, +he had behaved so shamefully, and with such unjustifiable severity, both +to officers and men, that he was regarded by a large proportion of them +with bitter hatred. It is painful to be obliged to write thus of one +who rose to positions of honour in the service; but the evidence led in +open court, coupled with Bligh's own writings, and testimony from other +quarters, proves beyond a doubt that his conduct on board the _Bounty_ +was not only dishonourable but absolutely brutal. + +When the islanders were asked at first the name of the island, they +replied, "O-Tahiti," which means, "It is Tahiti", hence the earlier form +of the name--_Otaheite_. + +It was after the _Bounty_ had taken in the breadfruit trees at Otaheite, +and was advanced a short distance on the homeward voyage, that the +events we are about to narrate occurred. + +We have said that mutterings of deep discontent were heard on the +quarter-deck. Fletcher Christian, acting lieutenant, or master's mate, +leaned over the bulwarks on that lovely evening, and with compressed +lips and frowning brows gazed down into the sea. The gorgeous clouds +and their grand reflections had no beauty for him, but a shark, which +swam lazily alongside, showing a fin now and then above water, seemed to +afford him a species of savage satisfaction. + +"Yes," he muttered, "if one of his legs were once within your ugly jaws, +we'd have something like peace again after these months of torment." + +Fletcher Christian, although what is called a high-spirited youth, was +not quick to resent injury or insult. On the contrary, he had borne +with much forbearance the oft-repeated and coarse insolence of his +superior. His natural expression was bright and his temperament sunny. +He possessed a powerful frame and commanding stature, was agile and +athletic, and a favourite with officers and men. But Bligh's conduct +had soured him. His countenance was now changed. The last insult about +the cocoa-nuts, delivered openly, was more than he could bear. "When +Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war." In this case the tug was +tremendous, the immediate results were disastrous, and the ultimate +issues amazing, as will be seen in the sequel of our tale. + +"To whom does your amiable wish refer?" asked a brother-officer named +Stewart, who came up just then and leaned over the bulwarks beside him. + +"Can you not guess?" said the other, sternly. + +"Yes, I can guess," returned the midshipman, gazing contemplatively at +the shark's fin. "But, I say, surely you don't really mean to carry out +your mad intention of deserting." + +"Yes, I do," said Christian with emphasis. "I've been to the +fore-cockpit several times to-day, and seen the boatswain and carpenter, +both of whom have agreed to help me. I've had a plank rigged up with +staves into a sort of raft, on which I mean to take my chance. There's +a bag all ready with some victuals in it, and another with a few nails, +beads, etcetera, to propitiate the natives. Young Hayward is the only +other officer besides yourself to whom I have revealed my intention. +Like you, he attempts to dissuade me, but in vain. I shall go +to-night." + +"But where will you go to?" asked Stewart. + +Christian pointed to Tofoa, one of the Friendly Islands, which was then +in sight like a little black speck on the glowing sky where the sun had +just disappeared. + +"And how do you propose to escape _him_?" said the midshipman, pointing +significantly to the shark, which at the moment gave a wriggle with its +tail as if it understood the allusion and enjoyed it. + +"I'll take my chance of that," said Christian, bitterly, and with a +countenance so haggard yet so fierce that his young companion felt +alarmed. "See here," he added, tearing open his vest and revealing +within it a deep sea-lead suspended round his neck; "I had rather die +than live in the torments of the last three weeks. If I fail to escape, +you see, there will be no chance of taking me alive." + +"_Better try to take the ship_!" whispered a voice behind him. + +Christian started and grew paler, but did not turn his head to see who +had spoken. The midshipman at his side had evidently not heard the +whisper. + +"I cannot help thinking you are wrong," said Stewart. "We have only to +bear it a little longer, and then we shall have justice done to us in +England." + +Well would it have been for Fletcher Christian, and well for all on +board the _Bounty_, if he had taken the advice of his young friend, but +his spirit had been tried beyond its powers of endurance--at least so he +thought--and his mind was made up. What moral suasion failed to effect, +however, the weather accomplished. It prevented his first intention +from being carried out. + +While the shades of evening fell and deepened into a night of unusual +magnificence, the profound calm continued, and the ship lay motionless +on the sea. The people, too, kept moving quietly about the deck, either +induced thereto by the sweet influences around them, or by some +indefinable impression that a storm sometimes succeeds a calm as well in +the moral as the material world. As the ship had no way through the +water, it was impossible for the rash youth to carry out his plan either +during the first or middle watches. He was therefore compelled to give +it up, at least for that night, and about half-past three in the morning +he lay down to rest a few minutes, as he was to be called by Stewart to +relieve the watch at four o'clock. + +He had barely fallen into a troubled slumber when he was awakened by +Stewart, and rose at once to go on deck. He observed in passing that +young Hayward, the mate of his watch, had lain down to take a nap on the +arm-chest. Mr Hallet, the other midshipman of the watch, had also gone +to sleep somewhere, for he was not to be seen. Whether the seriously +reprehensible conduct of these two officers roused his already excited +spirit to an ungovernable pitch, or their absence afforded a favourable +opportunity, we cannot tell, but certain it is that Fletcher Christian +opened his ear at that time to the voice of the tempter. + +"_Better try to take the ship_," seemed burning in words of fire into +his brain. + +Quick to act as well as to conceive, he looked lustily and earnestly at +the men of his watch. The one who stood nearest him, looking vacantly +out upon the sea, was Matthew Quintal. To him Christian revealed his +hastily adopted plan of seizing the ship, and asked if he would join +him. Quintal was what men call a deep villain. He was quite ripe for +mutiny, but from some motive known only to himself he held back, and +expressed doubt as to the possibility of carrying out the plan. + +"I did not expect to find cowardice in _you_," said Christian, with a +look of scornful indignation. + +"It is not cowardice, sir," retorted Quintal. "I will join if others +do. Try some one else. Try Martin there, for instance." + +Isaac Martin was a raw-boned, sallow, six-foot man of about thirty, who +had been undeservedly flogged by Bligh. Christian went to him at once, +and put the question, "Will you join me in taking the ship?" + +"The very thing, Mr Christian. I'm with you," answered Martin, +promptly. + +The eager readiness of this man at once decided Quintal. Christian then +went to every man in his watch, all of whom had received more or less +harsh treatment from the Captain, and most of whom were more than +willing to join the conspirators. Those who hesitated, whatever might +have been their motives, had not sufficient regard for their commander +to warn him of his danger. Perhaps the very suddenness of the proposal, +as well as fear of the mutineers, induced them to remain silent. In +passing along the deck Christian encountered a man named William Brown. +He was assistant-botanist, or gardener, to the expedition, and having +been very intimate with Christian, at once agreed to join him. Although +a slenderly made young man, Brown was full of vigour and resolution. + +"We must look sharp," said Christian to him, in that low eager whisper +in which the conversation among the mutineers had hitherto been carried +on. "It will soon be daylight. You know the men as well as I do. Go +below and gain over those whom you feel sure of influencing. Don't +waste your time on the lukewarm or cowardly. Away with you. Here, +Williams," he added, turning to another man who was already in the plot, +"go below and send up the gunner's mate, I want him; then call John +Adams,--I feel sure that Reckless Jack will join; but do it softly. No +noise or excitement." + +In a few seconds John Mills, the gunner's mate, a strongly-built +middle-aged man, came on deck, and agreeing at once to join, was sent to +fetch the keys of the arm-chest from the armourer, under pretence of +getting out a musket to shoot a shark which was alongside. + +Meanwhile John Williams went to the hammock of John Adams and roused +him. + +"I don't half like it," said Adams, when he was sufficiently awake to +understand the message of his mate. "It's all very true what you say, +Williams; the ship _has_ been little better than a hell since we left +Spithead, and Captain Bligh don't deserve much mercy, but mutiny is +wrong any way you look at it, and I've got my doubts whether any +circumstances can make it right." + +The reasoning of Adams was good, but his doubts were cleared away, if +not solved, by the abrupt entrance of Christian, who went to the +arm-chest just opposite Adams's hammock and began to distribute arms to +all the men who came for them. Seeing this, and fearing to be left on +the weaker side, Adams rose, armed himself with a cutlass, and went on +deck. + +The morning of the 28th of April was now beginning to dawn. Before that +the greater part of the ship's company had been gained over and armed; +yet all this was done so quietly and with such firmness that the +remainder of the crew were ignorant of what was going on. No doubt a +few who might have given the alarm were afraid to do so. Among those +who were asleep was one deserving of special notice, namely, Peter +Heywood, a midshipman who was true as steel at heart, but whose extreme +youth and inexperience, coupled with the surprise and alarm of being +awakened to witness scenes of violence, produced a condition of inaction +which resulted in his being left, and afterwards classed, with the +mutineers. + +Shortly after five o'clock the armed men streamed quietly up the +fore-hatch and took possession of the deck. Sentinels were placed below +at the doors of the officers' berths, and above at the hatchways. Then +Fletcher Christian, John Adams, Matthew Quintal, William McCoy, Isaac +Martin, and several others went aft, armed with muskets, bayonets, and +cutlasses. Leaving Martin in charge of the quarter-deck, they descended +to Captain Bligh's cabin. + +The commander of the _Bounty_, all ignorant of the coming storm which +his ungentlemanly and cruel conduct had raised, was sleeping calmly in +his berth. + +He was roughly awakened and bidden to rise. + +"What is the reason of such violence?" he demanded, addressing +Christian, as they half forced him out of bed. + +"Silence, sir," said Christian, sternly; "you know the reason well +enough. Tie his hands, lads." + +Disregarding the order to be silent, Bligh shouted "murder!" at the top +of his voice. + +"Hold your tongue, sir, else you're a dead man," said Christian, seizing +him by the tied hands with a powerful grasp, and holding a bayonet to +his breast. + +Of course no one responded to the Captain's cry, the hatchways, +etcetera, being guarded. They gave him no time to dress, but hurried +him on deck, where, amid much confusion and many abusive cries, +preparations were being made for getting out a boat, for it was resolved +to set Bligh and his friends adrift. At first there was some disputing +among the mutineers as to which boat should be given to them. +Eventually the launch was decided on. + +"Hoist her out, bo's'n. Do it smartly and instantly, or look-out for +yourself." + +The order was given sternly, for the boatswain was known to be friendly +to Bligh. He obeyed at once, with the assistance of willing men who +were only too glad to get rid of their tyrannical commander. + +"Now, Mr Hayward and Mr Hallet, get into the boat," said Christian, +who seemed to be torn with conflicting emotions. His tone and look were +sufficient for those young midshipmen. They obeyed promptly. + +Mr Samuel the clerk and several more of the crew were then ordered into +the boat. At this point Captain Bligh attempted to interfere. He +demanded the intentions of the mutineers, but was told to hold his +tongue, with threats of instant death if he did not obey. Particular +persons were then called on to go into the boat, and some of these were +allowed to collect twine, canvas, lines, sails, cordage, and other +things to take with them. They were also allowed an eight-and-twenty +gallon cask of water, fifty pounds of bread, a small quantity of rum and +wine, a quadrant, and a compass. + +When all the men obnoxious to the mutineers were in the boat, Captain +Bligh was ordered into it. Isaac Martin had been placed as a guard over +the Captain, and appeared to favour him, as he enabled him to moisten +his parched lips with a shaddock. For this he was removed, and Adams +took his place. Bligh looked round, but no friendly eye met his. He +had forfeited the regard of all on board, though there were undoubtedly +men there whose detestation of mutiny and whose sense of honour would +have inclined them to aid him if they had not been overawed by the +numbers and resolution of the mutineers. The master, indeed, had +already made an attempt to rally some of the men round him, but had +failed, and been sent to his cabin. He, with the others, was now in the +boat. Poor young Peter Heywood the middy looked on bewildered as if in +a dream. He could not be said in any sense, either by look or act, to +have taken part with the mutineers. + +At last he went below for some things, intending to go in the boat, but +was ordered to remain below. So also, it is thought, was Edward Young, +another midshipman, who did not make his appearance on deck at all +during the progress of the mutiny. It was afterwards said that the +leading seamen among the mutineers had purposely ordered these officers +below, and detained them with a view to their working the ship in the +event of anything happening to Christian. + +Bligh now made a last appeal. + +"I'll give you my honour, Mr Christian," he said, "never to think of +what has passed this day if you will desist. To cast us adrift here in +an open boat is to consign us to destruction. Think of my wife and +family!" + +"No, Captain Bligh," replied Christian, sternly; "if you had any honour +things had not come to this; and if you had any regard for your wife and +family, you should have thought of them before and not behaved so much +like a villain. It is too late. You have treated me like a dog all the +voyage. Come, sir, your officers and men are now in the boat, and you +must go with them. If you attempt resistance you shall be put to +death." + +Seeing that further appeal would be useless, Bligh allowed himself to be +forced over the side. When in the boat his hands were untied. + +"You will at least allow us arms, to defend ourselves from the savages," +he said. Fire-arms were refused, but four cutlasses were ultimately +allowed him. At this point Isaac Martin quietly descended into the +boat, but Quintal, pointing a musket at him, threatened to shoot him if +he did not return to the ship. He obeyed the order with reluctance, and +soon after the boat was cast adrift. + +The crew of the _Bounty_ at the time consisted of forty-four souls, all +told. Eighteen of these went adrift with the Captain. The remaining +twenty-five steered back to the sunny isles of the Pacific. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +RECORDS THE DUTIES AND TROUBLES OF THE MUTINEERS. + +It is not our purpose to follow the fortunes of Captain Bligh. The +mutineers in the _Bounty_ claim our undivided attention. + +As regards Bligh, it is sufficient to say that he performed one of the +most remarkable boat-voyages on record. In an overloaded and open boat, +on the shortest allowance of provision compatible with existence, +through calm and tempest, heat and cold, exposed to the attacks of +cannibals and to the reproaches of worn-out and mutinous men, he +traversed 3618 miles of ocean in forty-one days, and brought himself and +his followers to land, with the exception of one man who was killed by +the natives. In this achievement he displayed those qualities of +indomitable resolution and unflagging courage which ultimately raised +him to high rank in the navy. But we leave him now to trace those +incidents which result from the display of his other qualities-- +ungovernable passion, overbearing impetuosity, and incomprehensible +meanness. + +The first act of Fletcher Christian, after taking command of the ship, +was to serve out a glass of grog all round. He then called a council of +war, in which the mutineers discussed the question what they should do. + +"You see, lads," said Christian, "it is absolutely certain that we +shan't be left among these islands in peace. Whether Bligh manages to +get home or not, the British Government is sure to send out to see what +has become of us. My notion is that we should bear away to the +south'ard, far out of the usual track of ships, find out some +uninhabited and suitable island, and establish ourselves thereon?" + +"What! without wives, or sisters, or mothers, or grandmothers, to say +nothin' o' mothers-in-law, to cook our victuals an' look after our +shirt-buttons?" said Isaac Martin, who, having been detained against his +will, had become lugubriously, or recklessly, facetious, and was +stimulated to a sort of fierce hilarity by his glass of rum. + +"You're right, Martin," said Brown, the assistant botanist, "we couldn't +get along without wives, so I vote that we go back to Otaheite, get +married, every man of us, an' ho! for the South Pole. The British +cruisers would never find us there." + +There was a general laugh at this sally, but gravity returned almost +instantly to every face, for they were in no humour just then for +jesting. It is probable that each man began to realise the dreadful +nature of his position as an outlaw whose life was forfeited to his +country, and who could never more hope to tread the shores of Old +England, or look upon the faces of kindred or friends. In such +circumstances men sometimes try to hide their true feelings under a veil +of recklessness or forced mirth, but seldom succeed in the attempt. + +"No man in his senses would go back to Otaheite--at least not to stay +there," said John Adams, gravely; "it's the first place they will send +to look for us." + +"What's the odds?" growled one of the seamen. "They won't look there +for us for a long time to come, unless Cap'n Bligh borrows a pair of +wings from an albatross, an' goes home as the crow flies." + +At this point John Mills, the gunner's mate, a man of about forty, +cleared his throat and gave it as his opinion that they should not go +back to Otaheite, but should leave the matter of their future +destination in the hands of Mr Christian, who was well able to guide +them. + +This proposal was heartily backed by Edward Young, midshipman, a stout +young fellow of twenty-two, who was fond of Christian; but there were +one or two dissentient voices, among which were the little middy Peter +Heywood, his brother-officer George Stewart, and James Morrison the +boatswain's mate. These wished to return to Otaheite, but the counsel +of the majority prevailed, and Christian ultimately steered for the +island of Toubouai, which lay some five hundred miles to the south of +Otaheite. There he expected to be safe from pursuit, and there it was +resolved that the mutineers should take up their abode if the natives +proved friendly. + +That night, while the _Bounty_ was skimming gently over the starlit sea +before a light breeze, the three officers, Heywood, Stewart, and Young, +leaned over the weather side of the quarter-deck, and held a whispered +conversation. + +"Why did you vote for going back to Otaheite, Heywood?" asked Young. + +"Because it is to Otaheite that they will send to look after us, and I +should like to be there to give myself up, the instant a man-of-war +arrives, and declare my innocence of the crime of mutiny." + +"You are right, Heywood," said Stewart; "I, too, would like to give +myself up the moment I get the chance. Captain Bligh knows that you and +I had no hand in the mutiny, and if he reaches England will clear us of +so foul a stain. It's a pity that those who voted for Otaheite were not +in the majority." + +"That's all very well for you, who were seen to go below to fetch your +clothes, and were detained against your will," said Young, "but it was +not so with me. I was forcibly detained below. They would not allow me +to go on deck at all until the launch had left, so that it would go hard +with me before a court-martial. But the die is now cast, and there's no +help for it. Although I took no part in the mutiny, I won't risk +falling into the hands of justice, with such an unprincipled scoundrel +as Bligh to witness against me. My future fortunes now lie with +Fletcher Christian. I cannot avoid my fate." + +Young spoke sadly, yet with some bitterness of tone, like one who has +made up his mind to face and endure the worst. + +On reaching the remote island of Toubouai the mutineers were much +impressed with its beauty. It seemed exceedingly fertile, was wooded to +the water's edge, and surrounded by a coral reef, with one opening +through which a ship might enter. Altogether it seemed a most suitable +refuge, but here they met with an insurmountable difficulty. On drawing +near to the shore they saw hundreds of natives, who, armed with clubs +and spears, lined the beach, blew their shell-horns, and resolutely +opposed the landing of the strangers. + +As all efforts to conciliate them were fruitless, resort was had to +cannon and musketry. Of course the terrible thunder of the white man's +artillery had its usual effect on the savages. They fled inland, and +the mutineers gained a footing on the island. + +But the natives continued their opposition so vigorously, that this +refuge proved to be the reverse of a place of rest. + +Christian therefore changed his plan, and, re-embarking in the _Bounty_, +set sail for Otaheite. + +On the way thither the mutineers disagreed among themselves. Some of +those who had been forcibly detained even began to plot the retaking of +the ship, but their intentions were discovered and prevented. + +On the 6th of June they reached their former anchorage in Otaheite, +where the natives received them with much joy and some surprise, but a +story was trumped up to account for this sudden re-appearance of the +mutineers. + +Christian, however, had not yet given up his intention of settling on +the island of Toubouai. He foresaw the doom that awaited him if he +should remain at Otaheite, and resolved to return to the former island +with a quantity of livestock. He began to barter with the friendly +Otaheitans, and soon had as many hogs, goats, fowls, cats, and dogs as +he required, besides a bull and a cow which had been left there by +Captain Cook. With these and several natives he sailed again for +Toubouai. Arriving there in nine days, he found that a change had come +over the spirit of the natives. They were decidedly and unaccountably +amiable. They not only permitted the white men to land, but assisted +them in warping the ship into a place of shelter, as well as in landing +provisions and stores. + +Fletcher Christian, whatever his faults may have been, seems to have had +peaceful tendencies. He had not only secured the friendship of the +Otaheitans by his just and considerate treatment of them while engaged +in barter, but he now managed to conciliate some of the chiefs of +Toubouai. As a precaution, however, he set about building an entrenched +fortress, in the labours connected with which he took his full share of +work with the men. While the building was in progress the natives, +despite the friendly chiefs, threw off the mask of good-will, which had +doubtless been put on for the purpose of getting the white men into +their power. Strong in overwhelming numbers, they made frequent attacks +on the mutineers, which these latter, being strong in arms, successfully +repelled. It soon became evident that warfare, not peace, was to be the +lot of the residents on Toubouai, and, finally, it was agreed that the +_Bounty_ should be got ready for sea, and the whole party should return +to Otaheite. + +The resolution was soon carried into effect, and the mutineers ere long +found themselves once again drawing near to the island. + +As they approached it under full sail, for the wind was light, the men +stood looking at it, commenting on its beauty and the amiableness of its +people, but Fletcher Christian stood apart by himself, with his back to +the shore, gazing in the opposite direction. + +Edward Young went up to him. + +"If this breeze holds, sir, we shall soon be at anchor in our old +quarters." + +The midshipman spoke in the respectful tone of one addressing his +superior officer. Indeed, although Christian had, by his rash and +desperate act of mutiny, forfeited his position, and lowered himself to +a level with the worst of his associates, he never lost their respect. +It is recorded that they styled him _Mister_ Christian to the end. + +"At anchor!" said Christian, in a tone of deepest despondency. "Ah, +Edward Young, there is no anchorage for us now in this world! We may +anchor in Matavai Bay to-night, but it will only be to up anchor and off +again in a few days." + +"Come, come, sir," said Young, heartily, "don't give way to despondency. +You know we were driven to act as we did, and it can't be helped now." + +"_We_ were driven! My poor fellow," returned Christian, laying a hand +on the midshipman's shoulder, "_you_ had no part in this miserable +business. It is I who have drawn you all into it, but--well, well, as +you say, it can't be helped now. We must make the best of it,--God help +us!" + +He spoke in a low, soft tone of profound sadness, and continued his +wistful gaze over the stern of the _Bounty_. Presently he looked +quickly round, and, taking Young's arm, began to pace the deck while he +spoke to him. + +"As you say, Edward, we shall anchor once more in Matavai Bay, but I am +firmly resolved not to remain there." + +"I'm sorry to hear it, sir," said Young, "for most of the men are as +firmly resolved to stay, and you know several of them are resolute, not +to say desperate, characters." + +"I am quite aware of that, but I shall make a proposal to them, which I +think they will accept. I will first of all propose to leave Otaheite +for some safer place of refuge, and when they object to that, I will +propose to divide the whole of the ship's stores and property among us +all, landing that portion which belongs to those who elect to remain on +the island, and sailing away with the rest, and with those who choose to +follow my fortunes, to seek a more distant and a safer home." + +"That may perhaps suit them," said Young. + +"Suit _them_," rejoined Christian, with a quick glance; "then _you_ +don't count yourself one of them?" + +"No," returned the midshipman with a frank look, "I will follow you now, +sir, to the end. How far I am guilty is a question that does not +concern me at present. If the British Government gets hold of me, my +fate is sealed. I am in the same boat with yourself, Mr Christian, and +I mean to stick by it." + +There was a strange spasm on Christian's countenance, as if of +conflicting emotions, while he grasped the youth's hand and squeezed it. + +"Thank you, Edward, thank you. Go now and see the anchor cleared to let +go." + +He descended quickly to the cabin, while the unfortunate midshipman went +forward to give the order. + +When the proposal just referred to was made the following day, after +landing at Otaheite, it was at once agreed to. Peter Heywood, Stewart, +Morrison, and others who had taken no active part in the mutiny, were +glad to have the prospect of being enabled, sooner or later, to make a +voluntary surrender of themselves, while the thoughtless and reckless +among the men were well pleased to have done with uncertain wanderings, +and to be allowed to settle among their amiable native friends. + +Preparations for instant departure were made by Christian and those who +chose to follow his lead. The contents of the _Bounty_ were landed and +fairly divided; then the vessel was got ready for her final voyage. +Those who resolved to sail in her were as follows:-- + + Fletcher Christian, formerly acting lieutenant--age 24. + Edward Young, midshipman--age 22. + John Adams, seaman--age 22. + William McCoy, seaman--age 25. + Matthew Quintal, seaman--age 21. + John Williams, seaman--age 25. + Isaac Martin, seaman--age 30. + John Mills, gunner's mate--age 40. + William Brown, botanist's assistant--age 27. + +All these had married native women of Otaheite, who agreed to forsake +home and kindred and follow the fortunes of their white husbands. There +were also six native men who consented to accompany them. Their names +were Talaloo, Ohoo, Timoa, Nehow, Tetaheite, and Menalee. Three of +these had wives, and one of the wives had a baby girl by a former +husband. The European sailors named the infant Sally. She was a round +light-brown embodiment of gleeful impudence, and had barely reached the +staggering age of infancy when taken on board the _Bounty_ to begin her +strange career. + +Thus the party consisted of twenty-eight souls--namely, nine mutineers, +six native men, twelve native women, and the light-brown baby. + +It was a pleasant bright morning in September 1790 when Fletcher +Christian and his followers bade farewell to Otaheite. For some time +the breeze was light, and the _Bounty_ hovered round the Island as if +loath to leave it. In the dusk of evening a boat put off from her, +pulled to the shore, and Christian landed, alone, near the house of a +chief who had become the special friend of Peter Heywood and Stewart. +With the two midshipmen he spent some time in earnest conversation. + +"I could not leave you," he said in conclusion, "without relieving my +mind of all that I have just said about the mutiny, because you are sure +to be sent for and taken to England as soon as the intelligence of this +sad affair reaches. I advise you to go off at once to the first ship +that may appear, and give yourselves up to the commander." + +"Such is our intention," said Heywood. + +"Right," rejoined Christian; "you are both innocent. No harm can come +to you, for you took no part in the mutiny. For me, my fate is fixed. +I go to search for some remote and uninhabited island, where I hope to +spend the remainder of my days without seeing the face of any Europeans +except those who accompany me. It is a dreary thought, lads, to lose +country and kindred and friends for _ever_ by the act of one dark hour. +Now, remember, Heywood, what I have told you to tell my friends. God +knows I do not plead guiltless; I am alone responsible for the mutiny, +and I exonerate all, even my adherents, from so much as suggesting it to +me; nevertheless, there are some who love me in England, to whom I would +beg of you to relate the circumstances that I have told you. These may +extenuate though they cannot justify the crime I have committed. I +assure you, most solemnly, that almost up to the last I had no intention +of doing more than making my own escape from the ship which the +injustice and brutality of Bligh had made a place of torment to me. +When you called me, Stewart, to relieve the watch, my brain seemed on +fire, and it was when I found the two officers both asleep, who should +have been on duty, that I suddenly made up my mind to take the ship. +Now," concluded Christian, grasping the hands of the youths, "I must say +farewell. I have done you grievous wrong. God forgive me, and bless +you. Good-bye, Peter; good-bye, Stewart, good-bye." + +He turned abruptly, stepped into his boat, and was rowed out to sea. + +The young midshipmen, with moistened eyes, stood silently watching the +boat until it reached the ship. Then they saw the _Bounty_ steering +away to the northward. Before daylight was quite gone she had +disappeared on the distant horizon. + +Thus did Fletcher Christian and his comrades pass from the sight and ken +of man, and they were not heard of after that for more than twenty +years! + +But you and I, reader, have a special privilege to follow up these +mutineers. Before doing so, however, let us note briefly what became of +their comrades left on Otaheite. + +These, to the number of sixteen, soon distributed themselves among the +houses of their various friends, and proceeded to make themselves quite +at home. Some of them, however, were not disposed to take up a +permanent abode there. Among these was the boatswain's mate, James +Morrison, a man of superior mental power and energy, who kept an +interesting and graphic journal of events. [See note.] He, with the +armourer, cooper, carpenter's mate, and others, set to work to construct +a small vessel, in which they meant to sail to Batavia, whence they +hoped to procure a passage to England. The natives opposed this at +first, but on being told that the vessel was only meant for pleasure +trips round the island, they ceased their opposition, and watched with +great wonder at the process of ship-building, which was carried on +industriously from day to day. + +During the progress of the work there was witnessed an interesting +ceremony, which, according to custom, was annually performed by the +chief of the district and a vast concourse of natives. It shows how +deeply the celebrated Captain Cook had gained the reverence and love of +the people of Otaheite. A picture of the circumnavigator, which had +been presented to the islanders by the captain of a merchant vessel, was +brought out with great ceremony and held up before the people, who, +including their queen, Eddea, paid homage to it. A ceremonial dance was +also performed in its honour, and a long oration was pronounced by a +leading chief, after which the portrait was returned to the care of an +old man, who was its appointed custodian. + +Long and earnestly did the white men labour at their little ship, and +with equal, if not superior, earnestness did the natives flock from all +parts of the island to see the wonderful work advance, bringing supplies +of provisions to the whites as a sort of payment for admission to the +show. The vessel was completed and launched after months of toil, but +its sails of matting were found to be so untrustworthy that the plan of +proceeding in it to Batavia had to be given up. + +Meanwhile, two of the worst of the mutineers, named Thompson and +Churchill, came to a tragical end. The former insulted a member of the +family with whom he resided, and was knocked down. He left them in high +dudgeon, and went to that part of the island where the vessel above +referred to was being built. One day a canoe from a distant district +touched there, and the owner landed with his wife and family, carrying +his youngest child in his arms. Thompson angrily ordered him to go +away, but the man did not obey the order, whereupon Thompson seized his +musket and shot father and child with the same bullet. For this murder +he was shunned with abhorrence by his comrades, and obliged to go off to +another part of the island, accompanied by Churchill. These two took up +their abode with a chief who was a _tayo_, or sworn friend, of the +latter. This chief died shortly afterwards, leaving no children behind +him; and Churchill, being his _tayo_, succeeded to his possessions and +dignity, according to the custom of the country. He did not, however, +enjoy his new position long, for Thompson, from jealousy or some other +cause, shot him. The natives were so incensed at this that they arose +_en masse_ and stoned Thompson to death. + +While these events were occurring, a messenger of retribution was +speeding over the sea to Otaheite. On the morning of 23rd March 1791, +exactly sixteen months after the landing of the mutineers, H.M.S. +_Pandora_, Captain Edwards, sailed into Matavai Bay. Before she had +anchored, Coleman the armourer swam off to her, and Peter Heywood and +Stewart immediately followed and surrendered themselves. These, and all +the mutineers, were immediately put in irons, and thrown into a +specially prepared prison on the quarter-deck, named the "Pandora's +Box," in which they were conveyed to England. + +We have not space to recount the stirring incidents of this remarkable +and disastrous voyage, and the subsequent trial of the mutineers. Let +it suffice to say, that the _Pandora_, after spending three months in a +fruitless search for the _Bounty_, was wrecked on the homeward voyage, +and a large number of the crew and some of the prisoners were drowned, +among whom was poor Stewart the midshipman. The remainder of the crew +were saved in the ship's boats, after performing a voyage which, as to +its length and the sufferings endured, rivals that previously made by +Bligh. Thereafter, on reaching England, the mutineers were tried by +court-martial; some were honourably acquitted, others were condemned to +death but afterwards pardoned, and ultimately only three were executed. + +Among those who were condemned, but afterwards pardoned as being +unquestionably innocent, was Peter Heywood, whose admirable defence and +correspondence with his family, especially that between himself and his +charming sister Nessy, form a most interesting feature in the records of +the trial; but all this must be passed over in silence, while we resume +the thread of our story. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note. Part of this journal is quoted in an excellent account of the +_Mutineers of the Bounty_, by Lady Belcher. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +THE LONELY ISLAND SIGHTED. + +It is pleasant to turn for a time from the dark doings of evil men to +the contemplation of innocent infancy. + +We return to the _Bounty_, and solicit the reader's attention to a plump +brown ball which rolls about that vessel's deck, exhibiting a marked +tendency to gravitate towards the lee scuppers. This brown ball is +Sally, the Otaheitan infant. + +Although brown, Sally's face is extremely pretty, by reason of the +regularity of her little features, the beauty of her little white teeth, +and the brilliancy of her large black eyes, to say nothing of her +luxuriant hair and the gleeful insolence of her sweet expression. + +We cannot say how many, or rather how few, months old the child is, but, +as we have already remarked, she is a staggerer. That is to say, she +has begun to assert the independence of her little brown legs, and +progresses, even when on shore, with all the uncertainty of a drunken +woman. Of course, the ship's motion does not tend to remedy this +defect. Sally's chief delight is wallowing. No matter what part of the +ship's deck she may select for her operations--whether the scuppers, the +quarter-deck, or the forecastle--she lays her down straightway for a +luxurious wallow. If the spot be dirty, she wallows it clean; if it be +clean, she wallows it dirty. This might seem an awkward habit to an +English mother; but it is a matter of supreme indifference to Sally's +mother, who sits on a gun-carriage plaiting a mat of cocoa-nut fibre, +for Sally, being naked, requires little washing. A shower of rain or a +dash of spray suffices to cleanse her when at sea. On shore she lives, +if we may say so, more in the water than on the land. + +The day is fine, and the breeze so light that it scarce ruffles the face +of the great ocean, though it manages to fill the topsails of the +_Bounty_, causing her to glide quietly on. Some of the mutineers are +seated on the deck or bulwarks, patching a canvas jacket or plaiting a +grass hat. Others are smoking contemplatively. John Adams is winding +up the log-line with McCoy. Edward Young stands gazing through a +telescope at something which he fancies is visible on the horizon, and +Fletcher Christian is down in the cabin poring over Carteret's account +of his voyage in the Pacific. + +There were goats on board. One of these, having become a pet with the +crew, was allowed to walk at liberty, and became a grand playmate for +Sally. Besides the goats, Christian had taken care to procure a number +of hogs and poultry from Otaheite; also a supply of young +breadfruit-trees and other vegetable products of the island, wherewith +to enrich his new home when he should find it. All the animals were +confined in cribs and pens with the exception of Sally's playmate. + +"Take care!" exclaimed John Adams as he left the quarter-deck with his +hands in his pockets; "your mate'll butt you overboard, Sal, if you +don't look-out." + +There was, indeed, some fear of such a catastrophe, for the precocious +infant had a tendency to scramble on any object which enabled her to +look over the low bulwarks, and the goat had a propensity to advance on +its hind legs with a playful toss of its head and take its playmate by +surprise, in truth, what between the fore-hatch, the companion-hatch, +and the low bulwarks, it may be said that Sally led a life of constant +and imminent danger. She was frequently plucked by the men out of the +very jaws of death, and seemed to enjoy the fun. + +While attempting to avoid one of the goat's playful assaults, Sally +stumbled up against Matthew Quintal, deranged the work on which he was +engaged, and caused him to prick his hand with a sail-needle, at which +William McCoy, who was beside him, laughed. + +"Get out o' that, you little nigger!" exclaimed Quintal, angrily, giving +the child a push with his foot which sent her rolling to the side of the +ship, where her head came in contact with an iron bolt. Sally opened +her mouth, shut her eyes, and howled. + +Quintal had probably not intended to hurt the child, but he expressed no +regret. On the contrary, seeing that she was not much injured, he +laughed in concert with McCoy. + +These two, Quintal and McCoy, were emphatically the bad men of the +party. They did not sympathise much, if at all, with human suffering-- +certainly not with those whom they styled "niggers;" but there was one +witness of the act whose heart was as tender towards the natives as +Quintal's was hard. + +"If you ever dare to touch her so again," said Young, striding up to +Quintal, "I'll kick you into the pig-sty." + +The midshipman seemed to be the last man on board whose natural +disposition would lead him to utter such a threat, and Quintal was quite +taken aback; but as Young was a powerful fellow, perfectly capable of +carrying his threat into execution, and seemed, moreover, thoroughly +roused, the former thought it best to hold his tongue, even though +lugubrious Isaac Martin chuckled audibly, and Ohoo, one of the natives, +who stood near, displayed his fine teeth from ear to ear. + +Lifting up Sally with much tenderness, Young carried her to her mother, +who, after a not very careful examination of the bruised head, set her +down on the deck, where she immediately began to wallow as before. +Rising on her brown little feet, she staggered forward a few paces, and +then seated herself without bending her knees. From this position she +rolled towards the starboard side of the ship and squeezed herself +between a gun-carriage and the bulwarks, until she got into the +porthole. Thrusting her head over the edge of this, she gazed at the +ripples that rolled pleasantly from the side. This was paradise! The +sun glittered on these ripples, and Sally's eyes glittered in sympathy. +A very gentle lurch of the ship soon after sent Sally head foremost into +the midst of the ripples. + +This event was nothing new to Sally. In her Otaheitan home her mother +had been wont to take her out for a swim as British mothers take their +offspring for a walk. Frequently had that mother pitched Sally off her +shoulders and left her to wabble in the water, as eagles are said to +toss their eaglets into the air, and leave them to flutter until failing +strength renders aid advisable. + +No doubt when Sally, falling from such a height, and turning so as to +come flat on her back, experienced a tingling slap upon her skin, she +felt disposed to shed a salt tear or two into the mighty ocean; but when +the smart passed away, she took to wallowing in the water, by way of +making the most of her opportunities. Both Christian and Young heard +the plunge. The former leaped up the companion ladder, the latter ran +to the stern of the ship, but before either could gain the side one of +the Otaheitan men, who had witnessed the accident, plunged into the sea +and was soon close to Sally. The playful creature, after giving him a +kick in the face, consented to be placed on his shoulders. + +The ship of course was brought up to the wind and her topsails backed as +quickly as possible, but the swimmers were left a considerable distance +astern before this was accomplished. + +"No need to lower a boat," remarked Christian, as he drew out the tubes +of his telescope; "that fellow swims like a fish." + +"So do all his countrymen," said Young. + +"And the women and children too," added John Adams, who was at the helm. + +"She's tugging at the man's woolly head as if it were a door mat," said +Christian, laughing; "and I do believe--yes--the little thing is now +reaching round--and pulling his nose. Look at them, Young." + +Handing the glass to the midshipman, he turned to inquire for the +child's mother, and to his astonishment found that brown lady sitting on +the deck busy with her mat-making, as unconcerned as if nothing unusual +were going on. + +The fact was, that Sally's mother thought no more of Sally falling into +the sea than a white mother might of her child falling on its nose--not +so much, perhaps. She knew that the ship would wait to pick her up. +She also knew that Sally was an expert swimmer for her age, and that the +man who had gone to her rescue was thoroughly able for the duty, having, +like all the South Sea Islanders, been accustomed from infancy to spend +hours at a time in the water. + +In a few minutes he came alongside, with Sally sitting astride his neck, +holding on to both sides of his head, and lifting her large eyes with a +gaze of ecstasy to those who looked over the vessel's side. She +evidently regarded the adventure as one of the most charming that had up +to that time gladdened her brief career. Not only so, but, no sooner +had she been hauled on board with her deliverer, than she made straight +for the porthole from which she had fallen, and attempted to repeat the +manoeuvre, amid shouts of laughter from all who saw her. After that the +various portholes had to be closed up, and the precocious baby to be +more carefully watched. + +"I have come to the conclusion," said Christian to Young, as they paced +the deck by moonlight that same night, "that it is better to settle on +Pitcairn's Island than on any of the Marquesas group. It is farther out +of the track of ships than any known island of the Pacific, and if +Carteret's account of it be correct, its precipitous sides will induce +passers-by to continue their voyage without stopping." + +"If we find it, and it should turn out to be suitable, what then!" asked +Young. + +"We shall land, form a settlement, and live and die there," answered +Christian. + +"A sad end to all our bright hopes and ambitions," said Young, as if +speaking to himself, while he gazed far away on the rippling pathway +made by the sun upon the sea. + +Christian made no rejoinder. The subject was not a pleasant one to +contemplate. He thought it best to confront the inevitable in silence. + +Captain Carteret, the navigator who discovered the island and named it +Pitcairn, after the young officer of his ship who was the first to see +and report it, had placed it on his chart no less than three degrees out +of its true longitude. Hence Christian cruised about unsuccessfully in +search of it for several weeks. At last, when he was on the point of +giving up the search in despair, a solitary rock was descried in the far +distance rising out of the ocean. + +"There it is at last!" said Christian, with a sigh that seemed to +indicate the removal of a great weight from his spirit. + +Immediately every man in the ship hurried to the bow of the vessel, and +gazed with strangely mingled feelings on what was to be his future home. +Even the natives, men and women, were roused to a feeling of interest +by the evident excitement of the Europeans, and hastened to parts of the +ship whence they could obtain a clear view. By degrees tongues began to +loosen. + +"It's like a fortress, with its high perpendicular cliffs," remarked +John Adams. + +"All the better for us," said Quintal; "we'll need some place that's +difficult to get at and easy to defend, if one o' the King's ships +should find us out." + +"So we will," laughed McCoy in gruff tones, "and it's my notion that +there's a natural barrier round that island which will go further to +defend us agin the King's ships than anything that we could do. Isn't +that white line at the foot o' the cliffs like a heavy surf, boys?" + +"It looks like it," answered John Mills, the gunner's mate; "an' +wherever you find cliffs rising like high walls out o' the sea, you may +be pretty sure the water's too deep for good anchorage." + +"That's in our favour too," returned Quintal; "nothin' like a heavy surf +and bad anchorage to indooce ships to give us a wide berth." + +"I hope," said William Brown the botanist, "that there's some vegetation +on it. I don't see much as yet." + +"Ain't it a strange thing," remarked long-legged Isaac Martin, in a more +than usually sepulchral tone, "that land-lubbers invariably shows a fund +of ignorance when at sea, even in regard to things they might be +supposed to know somethin' about?" + +"How have I shown ignorance just now?" asked Brown, with a smile, for he +was a good-humoured man, and could stand a great deal of chaffing. + +"Why, how can you, bein' a gardener," returned Martin, "expect to see +wegitation on the face of a perpindikler cliff?" + +"You're right, Martin; but then, you know, there is generally an +interior as well as a face to a cliffy island, and one might expect to +find vegetation there, don't you see." + +"That's true--to _find_ it," retorted Martin, "but not to _see_ it +through tons of solid rock, and from five or six miles out at sea." + +"But what if there's niggers on it?" suggested Adams, who joined the +party at this point. + +"Fight 'em, of coorse," said John Williams. + +"An' drive 'em into the sea," added Quintal. + +"Ay, the place ain't big enough for more than one lot," said McCoy. "It +don't seem more than four miles long, or thereabouts." + +An order to shorten sail stopped the conversation at this point. + +"It is too late to attempt a landing to-night," said Christian to Young. +"We'll dodge off and on till morning." + +The _Bounty_ was accordingly put about, and her crew spent the remainder +of the night in chatting or dreaming about their future home. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +THE ISLAND EXPLORED. + +A bright and pleasant morning forms a powerful antidote to the evils of +a cheerless night. Few of the mutineers slept soundly on the night of +their arrival off Pitcairn, and their dreams of that island were more or +less unpleasantly mingled with manacles and barred windows, and men +dangling from yard-arms. The blessed sunshine dissipated all this, +rousing, in the hearts of some, feelings of hope and forgiveness, in the +breasts of others, only those sensations of animal enjoyment which man +shares in common with the brutes. + +"Lower away the boat there," said Fletcher Christian, coming on deck +with a more cheerful air than he had worn since the day of the mutiny; +"we shall row round the island and search for a landing-place. You will +take charge, Mr Young, during my absence. Put muskets and ammunition +into the boat, John Adams; the place may be inhabited--there's no +saying--and South Sea savages are not a hospitable race as a rule. Now +then, look sharp, lads." + +In a few minutes, Adams, Martin, McCoy, Brown, and Quintal were in the +boat, with two of the Otaheitan men. + +"Won't you take cutlasses?" asked Young, looking over the side. + +"Well, yes, hand down half-a-dozen; and don't go far from this end of +the island, Mr Young. Just keep dodging off and on." + +"Ay, ay, sir," said the middy, touching his cap from the mere force of +habit. + +"Shove off," said Christian, seating himself at the helm. + +In a few minutes the boat was skimming over the calm water towards the +shore, while the _Bounty_, wearing round, went slowly out to sea. + +As the boat neared the shore it soon became evident that it would be +extremely difficult to effect a landing. Nothing could be seen but high +precipitous cliffs without any sign of a harbour or creek sufficiently +large or safe to afford anchorage for the ship. Worst of all, the only +spot that seemed to offer any prospect of a landing-place, even for a +boat, was guarded by tremendous breakers that seemed to bid defiance to +man's feeble powers. These great waves, or rollers, were not the result +of storm or wind, but of the mere ocean-swell of the great Pacific, +which undulates over her broad breast even when becalmed. No signs of +the coming waves were visible more than a few hundred yards from the +shore. There, each roller gradually and silently arose when the +undulating motion of the sea caught the bottom. A little farther in it +assumed the form of a magnificent green wall of liquid glass, which +became more and more vast and perpendicular as it rolled on, until it +curled over and rushed with a mighty roar and a snowy crest towards the +beach. There it dashed itself in tumultuous foam among the rocks. + +"Give way, lads," said Christian, sitting down after a prolonged gaze at +this scene; "we may find a better spot farther on." + +As they proceeded they were received with wild and plaintive cries by +innumerable sea-birds, whose homes were on the cliffs, and who evidently +resented this intrusion of strangers. + +"Shall we give 'em a shot, sir?" asked McCoy, laying his hand on a +musket. + +"No, time enough for that," replied Christian, shortly. + +They pulled right round the island without seeing a single spot more +available for a landing than the place they had first approached. + +It was a very little bay, with a small clump of six cocoa-nut trees near +the water's edge on the right, and a single cocoa-nut tree on the left, +about two hundred yards from the others. Above these, on a hill a +little to the westward, there was a grove of the same species. + +"We'll have to try it, sir," said John Adams, looking at his leader +inquiringly. + +"We're sure to capsize," observed McCoy. + +"No matter," said Christian; "we have at last reached _home_, and I'm +bound not to be baffled at the door. Come, Ohoo, you know something +about beaching canoes in a surf; there can't be much difference with a +boat. Get up in the bow and direct me how to steer." + +He spoke to one of the native in the imperfect jumble of Otaheitan and +English with which the white men had learned to communicate with the +natives. Ohoo understood, and at once went to the bow of the boat, the +head of which was now directed towards a place in the cliffs where there +seemed to be a small bay or creek. The native gave directions with his +arms right or left, and did not require to speak. Christian steered +with one of the oars instead of the rudder, to give him more power over +the boat. + +Soon they began to feel the influence of the in-going wave. It was a +moment of intense anxiety. Christian ordered the men to cease rowing. +Ohoo made a sudden and violent indication with his left arm. Christian +obeyed. + +"Give a gentle pull, boys," he said. + +They rose as he spoke on the top of a wave so high that they could look +down for a moment on the seething foam that raged between them and the +beach, and Christian was about to order the men to pull hard, when the +native looked back and shook his head excitedly. They had not got +sufficiently into the grasp of that wave; they must wait for the next. + +"Back all!" shouted the steersman. The boat slid back into the trough +of the sea, while the wave went roaring inward. + +The succeeding wave was soon close astern. It seemed to curl over them, +threatening destruction, but it lifted them, instead, on its high +shoulders. There was a slight appearance of boiling on the surface of +the moving billow as it caught them. It was about to break, and the +boat was fairly in its grasp. + +"Give way!" shouted Christian, in a sharp, loud voice. + +A moment more, and they were rushing grandly in on a mountain of snow, +with black rocks rising on either side. It was nervous work. A little +to the right or a little to the left, and their frail bark would have +been dashed to pieces. As it was, they were launched upon a strip of +sand and gravel that lay at the foot of the towering cliffs. + +"Hurrah!" cried Martin and Brown, in wild excitement, as they leaped +over the bow after the natives, while Christian, Adams, Quintal, and +McCoy went over the stern to prevent the boat being dragged back by the +recoiling foam, and pushed it high and dry on the beach. + +"Well done! Here we are at last in Bounty Bay!" exclaimed Christian, +with a look of satisfaction, giving to the spot, for the first time, +that name which it ever afterwards retained. "Make fast the painter-- +there; get your arms now, boys, and follow me." + +At the head of the bay there was a hill, almost a cliff, up which there +wound something that had the appearance of a path, or the almost dry bed +of a water-course. It was exceedingly steep, but seemed the only route +by which the interior of the island could be reached. Up the tangled +pass for about three hundred yards the explorers advanced in single +file, all except Quintal, who was left in charge of the boat. + +"It looks very like a path that has been made by men," said Christian, +pausing to breathe, and turning round when half-way up the height; +"don't you think so, Brown?" + +Thus appealed to, the botanist, whose eyes had been enchained by the +luxuriant and lovely herbage of the place, stooped to inspect the path. + +"It does look a little like it, sir," he replied, with some caution, +"but it also looks not unlike a water-course. You see it is a little +wet just hereabouts. Isn't it? What think you, Isaac Martin?" + +"I don't think nothin' about it," returned Martin, solemnly, turning +over the quid of tobacco that bulged his cheek; "but if I might ventur' +for to give an opinion, I should say it don't much matter what it is, +one way or another." + +"That's true, Isaac," said Christian, with a short laugh, as he resumed +his march up the cliff. + +On the way they were shaded and kept pleasantly cool by the neighbouring +precipices but on gaining the top they came into a blaze of sunshine, +and then became suddenly aware that they had discovered a perfect +paradise. They stood on a table-land which was thickly covered with +cocoa-nut trees. A quarter of a mile farther on lay a beautiful valley, +the slopes and mounds of which were clothed with trees and beautiful +flowering herbage of various kinds, in clumps and groves of picturesque +form, with open glades and little meadows between, the whole being +backed by a grand mountain-range which traversed the island, and rose to +a height of more than a thousand feet. + +"It is heaven upon earth!" exclaimed Brown, as they began to push into +the heart of the lovely scene. + +"Humph! It's not all gold that glitters," growled McCoy, with a +sarcastic smile. + +"It's pretty real, nevertheless," observed Isaac Martin; "I only hope +there ain't none o' the rascally niggers livin' here." + +Christian said nothing, but wandered on, looking about him like one in a +dream. + +Besides cocoa-nut palms and other trees and shrubs, there were +banyan-trees, the branches of which dropped downwards to the earth and +there took root, and other large timber-trees, and plantains, bananas, +yams, taro-roots, mulberry, tee-plant, and other fruit-bearing plants in +great profusion. Over this richly varied scene the eyes of William +Brown wandered in rapture. + +"Magnificent!" he exclaimed; "a perfect garden!" + +"Rich enough soil, eh?" said Martin, turning some of it up with the +point of his shoe. + +"Rich enough, ay; couldn't be finer," said Brown. "I should think, from +its deep red colour, that it is chiefly decomposed lava. The island is +evidently volcanic in its origin. I hope we shall find fresh water. +We've not seen much yet, but it's sure to be found somewhere, for such +magnificent vegetation could not exist without it." + +"What have we here?" said Christian, stooping to pick up something. "A +stone implement of some kind, like a spear-head, I think. It seems to +me that the island must have been inhabited once, although it does not +appear to be so now." + +After they had wandered about for some time, examining the land, and +passing many a commentary, both grave and humorous, they turned to +retrace their steps, when Brown, who had gone on in advance, was heard +to cheer as he waved his hat above his head. He had discovered a +spring. They all hastened towards the spot. It lay like a clear gem in +the hollow of a rock a considerable distance up the mountain. It was +unanimously named "Brown's Pool," but it did not contain much water at +the time. + +"Can we do better than dine here?" said Isaac Martin. "There's lots o' +food around us." + +This was true, for of the various fruits which grew wild in the island, +the cocoa-nut, plantain, and banana were to be had all the year round. + +Brown had brought a small hatchet with him, which enabled them to break +open several cocoa-nuts, whose hard outer husks would not have yielded +easily to a clasp-knife. + +While they sat thus enjoying themselves beside Brown's Pool, a small +lizard was observed to run over a rock near to them. It stopped for a +moment to raise its little head and look at the visitors, apparently +with great surprise. A rat was also seen, and chased without success, +by Isaac Martin. + +A small species of fly-catcher, of a whitey-brown colour, was likewise +observed, and those creatures, it was afterwards ascertained, were the +only living things to be found on the island, with the exception of a +variety of insects and the innumerable gulls already mentioned. + +"Here, then," said Christian, raising a piece of the cocoa-nut shell +filled with water to his lips, "I drink to our health and happiness in +our island home." + +There was a strange mingling of pathos with heartiness in his tone, +which did not fail to impress his companions, who cheerfully responded +to the toast. + +"I only wish we had something stronger than water to drink it in," said +McCoy. + +"Better without strong drink," remarked John Adams, who was naturally a +temperate man. + +"Worse without it, _I_ think," growled McCoy, who was naturally +contentious and quarrelsome; "don't it warm the heart and raise the +spirits and strengthen the frame, and--" + +"Ay, and clear the brain," interrupted Martin, with one of his most +lugubrious looks, "an' steady the gait, specially w'en one's pretty far +gone, an' beautify the expression, an'--an'--clear the int'leck, an' +(hic) an' gen'r'ly in--in--tenshify sh' powers (hic) of c-converzashun, +eh?" + +Martin was a pretty fair mimic, and illustrated his meaning so well, not +only with his tongue but with his solemn countenance, that the whole +party burst into a laugh, with the exception of McCoy, who replied with +the single word, "Bosh!" + +To which Martin returned, "Bam!" + +"Just so," said Christian, as he stooped to refill the cocoa-nut shell; +"you may be said to have reduced that spirited question to an essence, +which is much beyond proof, and closed it; we will therefore return to +the shore, get on board as quickly as possible, and make arrangements +for anchoring in the bay." + +"I doubt it's too deep for anchoring," remarked Adams, as they walked +down the hill. + +"Well, then, we shall run the ship on shore," said Christian, curtly, +"for here we must remain. There is no other island that I know of in +these regions. Besides, this one seems the very thing we want. It has +wood and water in abundance; fruits and roots of many kinds; a splendid +soil, if we may believe our eyes, to say nothing of Brown's opinion; bad +anchorage for ships, great difficulty and some danger in landing even in +fine weather, and impossible to land at all, I should think, in bad; +beautiful little valleys and hills; rugged mountains with passes so +difficult that a few resolute men might defy a host, and caves to which +we might retreat and sell our lives dearly if hard pushed. What more +could we wish for?" + +In a short time they reached the little narrow strip of shingly beach +where the boat had been left in charge of Quintal. Here they had to +encounter the great difficulty of forcing their way through the surf +which had borne them shoreward in such grand style. The chief danger +lay in the liability of the boat to be caught by the bow, turned +broadside to the great tumbling billows, and overturned. Safety and +success lay in keeping the boat's bow straight "end-on" to the seas, and +pulling hard. To accomplish this, Fletcher Christian again took an oar +to steer with, in preference to the rudder. Besides being the most +powerful man of the party, he was the best boatman, and the most agile +in his movements. + +"Steady, now!" he said, as the boat lay in the seething foam partially +sheltered by a rock, while the men sat with oars out, ready for instant +action. + +A bigger wave than usual had just hurled itself with a thunderous roar +on the reverberating cliffs, and the great sheet of foaming water had +just reached that momentary pause which indicated the turning-point +previous to the backward rush, when Christian shouted-- + +"Give way!" + +The boat leaped out, was kept end-on by a powerful stroke of the +steersman, rushed on the back-draught as if down a cataract, and met the +succeeding billow fairly. The bow was thrown up so high that it seemed +as if the boat were standing on end, and must inevitably be thrown right +over, but the impetus given by the willing men forced her half through +and half over the crest of the watery mountain. + +"With a will, boys, with a will!" cried Christian. + +Another moment and they slid down the billow's back into the trough +between the seas. A few more energetic strokes carried them over the +next wave. After that the danger was past, and in less than +half-an-hour they were once more on board the _Bounty_. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +THE LANDING OF THE LIVESTOCK IN BOUNTY BAY. + +Preparations were now made for landing. The bay which they had +discovered, and was the only one on the island, lay on its northern +side. Into it they succeeded in running the _Bounty_, and cast anchor. +Soon the women, with little Sally, were landed and sent up to the +table-land above, to make some sort of encampment, under the charge of +midshipman Young. The ship was warped close up to the cliffs, so close +that she ran the end of her bowsprit against them and broke it off. +Here there was a narrow ledge that seemed suitable for a landing-place. +Night put a stop to their labours on board. While some lighted fires +and encamped on the shore, others remained in the ship to guard her and +to be ready for the debarkation that was to take place in the morning. + +And a strange debarkation it was. It had been found that there was a +rise of eight feet in the tide. This enabled Christian to lay the ship +in such a position that it was possible to extend several long planks +from the bow to the beach. Fortunately the weather was fine, otherwise +the landing would have been difficult if not disastrous. + +When all was complete, the goats were collected and driven over the bow +to the shore. The procession was headed by an old billy-goat, who +looked supremely philosophical as he went slowly along the rough +gangway. + +"It minds one o' pirates makin' the crew of a merchantman walk the +plank," remarked John Williams, as he assisted to urge the unwilling +flock along. + +"Quite like a menadgeree," suggested Mills. + +"More like old Noah comin' out o' the ark," said Williams, "on the top +o' Mount--Mount--what was its name? I forget." + +"Mount Sy-nee," suggested Quintal. + +"Not at all; it was Mount Arrowroot," said Isaac Martin, with the air of +an oracle. + +"Clear the way, lads, for the poultry," shouted midshipman Young. + +A tremendous cackling in rear rendered further orders inaudible as well +as unnecessary, while the men stood aside from the opening to the +gangway of planks. + +A considerable number of fowls had been taken on board at Otaheite, and +these, besides being bewildered and uncertain as to the point to which +they were being driven, and the precise duty that was required of them, +were infected with the general obstinacy of the rest of the animal +kingdom. At last, however, a splendid cock was persuaded to enter the +gangway, down which he ran, and flew shrieking to the shore, followed by +the rest of his kindred. + +"Now for the hogs," said Quintal, to whose domineering spirit the work +was congenial. + +But the hogs were not to be managed as easily as the goats and fowls had +been. With native obstinacy and amazing energy they refused to do what +they were bid, and shrieked defiance when force was attempted. The +noise was further increased by the butting of a few goats and the +cackling of some poultry, which had got mixed up with them. + +First of all they declined to leave the enclosures, out of which they +had tried pertinaciously to escape all the voyage. By way of overcoming +this difficulty, Christian ordered the enclosures to be torn down, and +the planks with which they had been formed were used as persuaders to +urge the refractory creatures on. As each poke or slap produced a +series of horrible yells, it may be understood that the operation was +accompanied with noise. + +At last some of the men, losing patience, rushed at the hogs, seized +them by ears and tails, and forcibly dragged them to the gangway. McCoy +and Quintal distinguished themselves in this service, hurling their +animals on the planks with such violence that several of them fell over +into the sea, and swam towards the shore in the surf from which they +were rescued by the Otaheitan men, who danced about in the water, highly +enjoying this part of their labour. + +A profound calm seemed to succeed a wild storm when the last of the +unruly pigs had left the ship. + +"We've got 'em all out at last," said one of the men, with a sigh, +wiping the perspiration from his forehead with his sleeve. + +"Bad luck to them," growled another, tying up a slight wound received in +the conflict. + +"We've done with the live stock, anyhow, and that's a comfort," said a +third. + +"Done with the live stock!" exclaimed Martin. "Why, the worst lot has +yet to come." + +"That must be yourself, then, Martin, my boy," said Brown. + +"I wish it was, Brown," retorted Martin; "but you've forgotten the +cats." + +"So we have!" exclaimed everybody. + +"And you may be sure they'll give us some trouble," said Christian. +"Come, let's go at 'em at once." + +This estimate of the cats was fully justified by what followed. A +considerable number of these useful creatures, black, white, and grey, +had been brought from Otaheite for the purpose of keeping down the rats, +with which many of the South Sea Islands are afflicted. During the +voyage most of them had retired to the privacy of the hold, where they +found holes and corners about the cargo, and came out only at night, +like evil spirits, to pick up a precarious livelihood. During the +recent conflict a few had found insecure refuge in holes and corners +about the deck, where yelling and fugitive pigs had convulsed them with +horror; and one, a huge grey cat, having taken madly to the rigging, +rushed out to the end of the foresail-yard, where it was immediately +roused to frenzy by a flock of astonished gulls. Now, these cats had to +be rummaged out of their retreats by violence, in which work all the +white men in the ship had to take part amid a chorus of awful skirling, +serpentlike fuffing, ominous and deadly growling, and, generally, +hideous caterwauling, that no pen, however gifted, could adequately +describe. + +"_I_ see 'im," cried Mills, with his head thrust down between a +nail-cask and a bundle of Otaheitan roots. + +"Where?" from John Adams, who, with heels and legs in the air, and head +and shoulders down somewhere about the keel, was poking a long stick +into total darkness. + +"There, right under you, with a pair of eyes blazing like green lamps." + +A poke in the right direction caused a convulsion in the bowels of the +cargo like a miniature earthquake. It was accompanied by a fearful +yell. + +"I've touched him at last," said Adams, quietly. "Look-out there, +Brown, he's goin' to scramble up the bulkhead." + +"There goes another," shouted Martin, whose head was so far down among +the cargo that his voice had a muffled sound. + +There was no occasion to ask where this time, for, with a wild shriek, a +large black fellow left its retreat, sprang up the hatchway, and sought +refuge in the rigging. At the same moment there came a sepulchral moan +from a cat whose place of refuge was invaded by Quintal. The moan was +followed by a cry, loud and deep, that would have done credit to a mad +baby. + +"Isn't it appalling to see creeturs so furious?" said Adams, solemnly, +as he drew his head and shoulders out of the depths. + +"They're fiendishly inclined, no doubt," said Christian, who stood hard +by with a stick, ready to expedite the process of ejection when a cat +ventured to show itself. + +At last, with infinite trouble the whole body of the enemy were routed +from the hold, and the hatches fastened down to prevent a return. But +the end was not yet gained, for the creatures had found various refuges +on deck, and some had taken to the rigging. + +"Come out o' that," cried Martin, making a poke at the big grey cat, +like a small tiger, which had fled to the foretop. + +With a ferocious caterwaul and fuff the creature sprang down the shrouds +on the opposite side as if it had been born and bred a sailor. +Unfortunately it made a wild leap at a pendant rope in passing, missed +it, and came down on the deck with a prodigious flop. Only one of its +nine lives, apparently, was damaged. With the other eight it rushed to +the opening in the bow, and soon gained the shore, where it immediately +sprang to the leafy head of a cocoa-nut palm. At the same moment a +black-and-white cat was sent flying in the same direction by Young. +Quintal, indulging his savage nature, caught one of the cats by the neck +and tried to strangle it into subjection, but received such punishment +with teeth and claws that he was fain to fling it into the sea. It swam +ashore, emerged a melancholy "drookit" spectacle, and dashed into the +nearest underwood. + +Thus, one by one, the cats were hunted out of the _Bounty_, and +introduced to their future home. The last to give in was, +appropriately, an enormous black Tom, which, with deadly yellow eyes, +erect hair, bristling tail, curved back, extended claws, and flattened +ears, rushed fuffing and squealing from one refuge to another, until at +last, giving way to the concentrated attack of the assembled crew, it +burst through the opening, scurried down the gangway, and went like a +shot into the bushes, a confirmed maniac,--if not worse. + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +SETTLING DOWN AND EXPLORATION. + +The first few days were devoted by the mutineers to conveying ashore +every article that was likely to prove useful. Not only were chests, +boxes, tools, bedding, culinary implements, etcetera, removed from the +vessel, but the planks that formed the bulkheads, much of the cordage, +and all the loose spars and removable iron-work were carried ashore. In +short, the vessel was completely gutted. + +When this was finished, a council was called to decide what should be +done with the _Bounty_ herself, for although Christian was the +acknowledged leader of the party, he took no important step without +consulting his comrades. + +"You see it is useless," he said, "to think of venturing again to sea in +the _Bounty_; we are too short-handed for that. Besides, we could not +find a more suitable island than this. I therefore propose that we +should burn the ship, to prevent her being seen by any chance vessel +that may pass this way. If she were observed, men might be tempted to +land, and of course they would tell that we were here, and His Majesty +would soon have a cruiser out in search of us. What say you?" + +"I say wait a bit and consider," replied Young. + +"Ditto," said Adams. + +Some of the others thought with Christian. Quintal, in particular, who +seemed to live in a chronic state of objection to being hanged, was +strong for destroying the vessel. Eventually, after a good deal of +delay and much discussion, the good ship _Bounty_ finished her career by +being burned to the water's edge in Bounty Bay. This occurred on the +23rd January 1790. The lower part of the vessel, which would not burn, +was towed out into deep water and sunk, so that not a vestige of her +remained. + +And now all was bustling activity. A spot some few hundred yards +farther inland than that selected as their camping-ground on the day of +arrival, was fixed on as suitable for their permanent location. It was +beautifully situated, and pleasantly sheltered by trees, through between +the stems of which the sea was visible. To this spot everything was +conveyed, and several of the most powerful of the men began to clear the +ground, and fell the trees with axes. + +One morning, soon after landing, a party was organised to traverse the +island and investigate its character and resources. As they were not +yet quite sure that it was uninhabited, this party was a strong one and +well armed. It consisted of Christian, Adams, Brown, Martin, and four +of the Otaheitans. Edward Young stayed at the encampment with the +remaining men and the women. + +"In which direction shall we go?" asked Christian, appealing to Brown. + +The botanist hesitated, and glanced round him. + +"If I might make so bold, sir," said Isaac Martin, "I would suggest that +we go right up to the top o' the mountains. There's nothin' like a +bird's-eye view for fillin' the mind wi' right notions o' form, an' +size, an' character." + +Following this advice, they traversed the lower ground, which was found +very prolific everywhere. Then they ascended the undulating slopes of +the mountain-sides until they reached the rugged and bare rocks of the +higher ground. + +On the way they found further and indisputable evidence of the island +having been inhabited at some previous and probably long past era. +Among these evidences were spear-heads, and axes of stone, and several +warlike weapons. + +"Hallo! here's a circumstance," exclaimed Martin, stopping in front of +an object which lay on the ground. + +On closer examination the "circumstance" turned out to be an image made +of a hard and coarse red stone. + +"It is evidently an idol," said Christian; "and here are some smooth +round stones, resembling those used by the Otaheitans in war." + +Not far from the spot, and in other places as they advanced, the +exploring party found heaps of stone chips, as well as more images and +tools. + +"I've been thinking," said Brown, turning for a moment to look down at +the sea, which now lay spread out far below them like a blue plain, +"I've been thinking that the proof of people having been here long ago +lies not only in these stones, axes, spears, and images, but also in the +fact that we find the cocoa-nut trees, bananas, plantains, +breadfruit-trees, as well as yams and sweet potatoes, grow chiefly in +the sunny and sheltered parts of the island, and gathered together as if +they had been planted there." + +"Here's the best proof of all," exclaimed Martin, who had a tendency to +poke about, with his long nose advanced, as if scenting out things. + +They looked at the spot to which Martin pointed, and there saw a human +skeleton in the last stage of decay, with a large pearl shell under the +skull. Not far-off more human bones were discovered. + +"That's proof positive," said Brown. "Now, I wonder why these natives +came here, and why they went away." + +"P'r'aps they didn't come, but was born'd here," suggested Martin; "an' +mayhap they didn't go away at all, but died here." + +"True, Martin," said Adams; "and that shell reminds me of what Captain +Bligh once told me, that the natives o' the Gambier Islands, which must +lie to wind'ard o' this, have a custom of puttin' a shell under the +heads of the dead in this fashion. Moreover, he told me that these same +Gambier chaps, long ago, used to put the people they vanquished in war +on rafts, and turn 'em adrift to sink or swim, or fetch what land they +might. No doubt some of these people got drifted here." + +As he spoke the party emerged from a somewhat rugged pass, close to the +highest peak of the mountain-ranges. A few minutes' scramble brought +them to the summit, whence they obtained a magnificent view of the +entire circuit of the island. + +We have said that the peak is just over a thousand feet high. From this +commanding position the Pacific was seen with a boundless horizon all +round. Not a speck of land visible save the rocky isle on which they +stood. Not a sail to mark the vast expanse of water, which, from that +height, seemed perfectly flat and smooth, though a steady breeze was +blowing, and the islet was fringed with a pure white ring of foam. Not +a cloud even to break the monotony of the clear sky, and no sound to +disturb the stillness of nature save the plaintive cries, mellowed by +distance, of the myriads of sea-fowl which sailed round the cliffs, or +dipped into the water far below. + +"Solitude profound," said Christian, in a low voice, breaking the +silence which had fallen on the party as they gazed slowly round them. + +Just then a loud and hideous yell issued from, apparently; the bowels of +the earth, and rudely put to flight the feeling of profound solitude. +The cry, although very loud, had a strangely muffled sound, and was +repeated as if by an echo. + +The explorers looked in each other's faces inquiringly, and not without +an expression of awe. + +"Strange," said Adams; "an' it sounded very like some one in distress." + +It was observed suddenly that Isaac Martin was absent. + +"But the voice was not like his," said Brown. + +The mysterious cry was repeated at the moment, and Christian ran quickly +in the direction whence it seemed to come. As they neared a rugged mass +of rocks which lay close to the peak on which they had been standing, +the cry lost much of its mystery, and finally assumed the tones of +Martin's voice. + +"Hallo! hi! murder! help! O my leg! Mr Christian, Adams, Brown, this +way. Help! ho! hi!" + +What between the muffled sound and the echo, Martin created a noise that +would have set his friends into fits of laughter if they had not been +greatly alarmed. + +In a few seconds the party reached what seemed to be a dark hole, out of +which the poor man's left leg was seen protruding. Christian and Adams +grasped it. Brown and one of the Otaheitans lent a hand, and Martin was +quickly dragged out of danger and set on his legs. + +"I say, Martin," said Brown, anxiously, "sit down or you'll bu'st. +Every drop o' blood in your body has gone to your head." + +"No wonder," gasped Isaac, "if you'd bin hangin' by one fut half as +long, your blood would have blowed your head off altogether." + +"There now, sit down a minute, and you'll be all right," said Christian. +"How did it happen?" + +To this Martin replied that it was simple enough. He had fallen a few +yards behind, and, taking a wrong turn, had come on a hole, into which +he looked. Seeing something like a light at the bottom of it, he +stooped down to look further, slipped on the rocks, and went in head +foremost, but was arrested by his foot catching between two rocks and +getting jammed. + +In this position he would soon have perished had not his comrades come +to the rescue. + +With some curiosity they now proceeded to examine the hole. It turned +out to be the entrance to a cave which opened towards the northern side +of the island, and from which a splendid sweep of the sea could be seen, +while in the immediate neighbourhood, far down the precipices, +innumerable sea-birds were seen like flakes of snow circling round the +cliffs. A few of the inquisitive among these mounted to the giddy +height of the cave's seaward-mouth, and seemed to gaze in surprise at +the unwonted sight of man. + +"A most suitable cavern for a hermit or a monk," said Brown. + +"More fit for a monkey," said Martin. + +"Not a bad place of refuge in case our retreat should be discovered," +observed Christian. + +"H'm! the Mutineers' Retreat," muttered John Adams, in a slightly bitter +tone. + +"A few resolute men," continued Christian, taking no notice of the last +remark, "could hold out here against a hundred--at least while their +ammunition lasted." + +He returned as he spoke to the cave's landward entrance, and clambered +out with some difficulty, followed by his companions. Proceeding with +their investigations, they found that, while a large part of the island +was covered with rich soil, bearing fruit-trees and shrubs in abundance, +the remainder of it was mountainous, rugged, and barren. They also +ascertained that, although the place had been inhabited in times long +past, there seemed to be no inhabitants at that time to dispute their +taking possession. Satisfied with the result of their investigations, +they descended to their encampment on the table-land close to the +heights above Bounty Bay. + +On drawing near to the clearing they heard the sound of voices raised as +if in anger. + +"It's Quintal and McCoy," said Adams; "I know the sound o' their +ill-natured voices." + +Presently the two men could be seen through the trees. Quintal was +sitting on a felled tree, looking fiercely at McCoy, who stood beside +him. + +"I tell you the baccy is mine," said Quintal. + +"It's nothin' o' the sort, it's mine," answered McCoy, snatching the +coveted weed out of the other's hand. + +Quintal jumped up, hit McCoy on the forehead, and knocked him down. + +McCoy instantly rose, hit Quintal on the nose, and tumbled him over the +log on which he had been sitting. + +Not much the worse, Quintal sprang to his feet, and a furious set-to +would have immediately followed if the arrival of Christian and his +party had not prevented it. It was no easy matter to calm the ruffled +spirits of the men who had treated each other so unceremoniously, and +there is no doubt the bad feeling would have been kept up about the +tobacco in dispute if Christian had not intervened. McCoy reiterated +stoutly that the tobacco was his. + +"You are wrong," said Christian, quietly; "it belongs to Quintal. I +gave it to him this morning." + +As there was no getting over this, McCoy returned the tobacco with a bad +grace, and Christian was about to give the assembled party some good +advice about not quarrelling, when the mother of little Sally appeared +suddenly, wringing her hands, and exclaiming in her native tongue, "My +child is lost! my child is lost!" + +As every one of the party, even the roughest, was fond of Sally, there +was an eager and anxious chorus of questioning. + +"Where away did 'ee lose her?" asked McCoy; but the poor mother could +only wring her hands and cry, "Lost! lost!" + +"Has she gone over the cliffs?" asked Edward Young, who came up at the +moment; but the woman would say nothing but "Lost! lost!" amid floods of +tears. + +Fortunately some of the other women, who had been away collecting +cocoa-nuts, arrived just then, and somewhat relieved the men by +prevailing on the mother to explain that, although she could not say +positively her child had fallen over the cliffs, or come by any other +mishap, Sally had nevertheless disappeared early in the forenoon, and +that she had been searching for her ever since without success. + +The process of interrogation was conducted chiefly by Isabella, _alias_ +Mainmast, the wife of Fletcher Christian, and Susannah, the wife of +Edward Young; and it was interesting to note how anxious were the native +men, Talaloo, Timoa, Ohoo, Nehow, Tetaheite, and Menalee. They were +evidently as concerned about the safety of the child as were the white +men. + +"Now, lads," said Christian, after it was ascertained that the poor +woman could give no information whatever, "we must search at once, but +we must go about it according to a fixed plan. I remember once reading +of a General having got lost in a great swamp one evening with his +staff. It was near the sea, I think, and the tide was making. He +collected his officers and bade them radiate out from him in all +directions, each one in a straight line, so as to make sure of at least +one of them finding the right road out of the danger. We will do +likewise." + +Following out this plan, the entire party scattered themselves into the +bush, each keeping in a straight line, searching as he went, and +widening the field of search as his distance from the centre increased. +There was no time to lose, for the shades of night had already begun to +fall. + +Anxiously did the poor mother and one or two of the other women sit in +the clearing, listening for the expected shout which should indicate +success. For a long time no shout of any kind was heard, though there +was considerable noise when the searching party came upon the lairs of +members of the livestock that had taken up their quarters in the bush. + +We will follow only the line of search which ended in success. It was +pursued by Christian himself. At first he came on spots where domestic +fowls had taken up their abode. Then, while tramping through a mass of +luxuriant ferns, he trod on the toes of a slumbering hog, which +immediately set up a shriek comparable only to the brake of an ill-used +locomotive. This uncalled-for disturbance roused and routed a +considerable number of the same family which had taken refuge in the +same locality. After that he came on a bevy of cats, seated at +respectful distances from each other, in glaring and armed neutrality. +His sudden and evidently unexpected appearance scattered these to the +four points of the compass. + +Presently he came upon a pretty open spot of small size, which was +surrounded by shrubs and trees, through the leafy branches of which the +setting sun streamed in a thousand rays. One of these rays dazzled the +eyes, and another kissed the lips of a Nanny-goat. It was Sally's pet, +lying down and dozing. Beside it lay Sally herself, sound asleep, with +her pretty little face resting on its side, and one of her little fat +hands holding on to a lock of its white hair. + +With a loud shout Christian proclaimed his success to the Pitcairn +world, and, picking up the still slumbering child, carried her home in +triumph to her mother. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +ROASTING, FORAGING, AND FABRICATING. + +One morning John Adams awoke from a pleasant dream and lay for some time +on his back, in that lazy, half-conscious fashion in which some men love +to lie on first awaking. The canopy above him was a leafy structure +through which he could see the deep azure of the sky with its few clouds +of fleecy white. Around him were the rude huts of leaves and boughs +which his comrades had constructed for themselves more or less +tastefully, and the lairs under bush and tree with which the Otaheitan +natives were content. Just in front of his own hut was that of Fletcher +Christian. It was more thoroughly built than the others, being partly +formed of planks and other woodwork saved from the _Bounty_, and was +well thatched with the broad leaves of tropical plants. + +In front of the hut Christian's wife, Isabella, was busily engaged +digging a hole in the ground. She was the only member of the party +astir that morning. + +"I wonder why Mainmast is up so early," murmured Adams, rousing himself +and using his elbow as a prop while he observed her. + +Mainmast, who was better known by that sobriquet than by the name which +Christian had given to her on his wedding-day at Otaheite, was a very +comely and naturally amiable creature, graceful in form, and although a +so-called savage, possessing an air of simple dignity and refinement +which might almost be termed lady-like. Indeed, several of the other +native wives of the mutineers were similar to Mrs Christian in these +respects, and, despite their brown complexions, were remarkably +good-looking. One or two, however, were commonplace enough, especially +the wives of the three married Otaheitan men, who seemed to be, as no +doubt they were, of a lower social class than the others who had mingled +with the best Otaheitan society, Edward Young's wife, for instance, +being a sort of native princess--at least she was the daughter of a +great chief. + +The dress of these women was simple, like themselves, and not +ungraceful. It consisted of a short petticoat of tapa, or native cloth, +reaching below the knees, and a loose shawl or scarf of the same +material thrown over the shoulders. + +After gazing a short time, Adams perceived what Mainmast was about. She +was preparing breakfast, which consisted of a hog. It had been shot by +Christian the night before, partly because it annoyed him with +pertinacious grunting in the neighbourhood of his hut, and partly +because several families of hoglets having been born soon after their +arrival on the island, he could not be charged with extravagance in +giving the people a treat of flesh once in a way. + +The process of cooking the hog was slow, hence the early move. It was +also peculiar, therefore we shall describe it in detail, in order that +the enterprising housewives of England may try the plan if convenient. + +Mainmast's first act was to kindle a large fire, into which she put a +number of goodly-sized and rounded stones. While these were heating, +she dug a large hole in the ground with a broken shovel, which was the +only implement of husbandry possessed at that time by the community. +This hole was the oven. The bottom of it she covered with fresh +plantain leaves. The stones having been heated, were spread over the +bottom of the hole and then covered with leaves. On this hotbed the +carcass of the pig was placed, and another layer of leaves spread over +it. Some more hot stones were placed above that, over which green +leaves were strewn in bunches, and, finally, the whole was covered up +with earth and rubbish piled up so as to keep in the heat. + +Just as she had accomplished this, Mainmast was joined by Mrs Young +(Susannah) and Mrs McCoy. + +"Good-morning," said Mrs Christian, using the words of salutation which +she had learned from the Europeans. "The hog will not be ready for a +long time; will you help me with the cakes?" + +The women at once assented, and set to work. They spoke to each other +in the Otaheitan tongue. To their husbands they spoke in a jumble of +that tongue and English. For convenience we shall, throughout our tale, +give their conversations in ordinary English. + +While Mrs McCoy prepared some yams and sweet potatoes for baking, Mrs +Young compounded a cake of yams and plantains, beaten up, to be baked in +leaves. Mainmast also roasted some breadfruit. + +This celebrated fruit--but for which the _Bounty_, would never have been +sent forth, and the mutiny with its wonderful consequences would never +have occurred--grows on a tree the size of a large apple-tree, the +leaves of which are of a very deep green. The fruit, larger than an +orange, has a thick rind, and if gathered before becoming ripe, and +baked in an oven, the inside resembles the crumb of wheaten bread, and +is very palatable. It lasts in season about eight months of the year. + +While the culinary operations were going on, the precocious Sally, +awaking from her slumbers, rose and staggered forth to survey the face +of the newborn day. Her little body was clothed in an admirably fitting +garment of light-brown skin, the gift of Nature. Having yawned and +rubbed her eyes, she strayed towards the fire. Mrs Christian received +her with an affable smile, and presented her with a pannikin of +cocoa-nut milk to keep her quiet. Quaffing this beverage with evident +delight, she dropped the pannikin, smacked her rosy lips, and toddled +off to seek adventures. Her first act was to stand in front of Isaac +Martin's hut, and gaze with a look not unmixed with awe at the long nose +pointing to the sky, from which sonorous sounds were issuing. + +It is said that familiarity breeds contempt. It was obvious that the +awesome feeling passed from the infant's mind as she gazed. Under the +impulse of a sudden inspiration she entered the hut, went up to the +nose, and tweaked it. + +"Hallo!" shouted Martin, springing up and tumbling Sally head over heels +in the act. "Oh, poor thing, I haven't hurt you, have I?" + +He caught the child in his arms and kissed her; but Sally seemed to care +neither for the tumble nor the kisses. Having been released, she +sallied from the hut in search of more adventures. + +Martin, meanwhile, having been thoroughly aroused, got up and went +towards the fire. + +"You're bright and early, Mainmast," he said, slowly filling his pipe. + +"Yes, hog takes time to cook." + +"Hog is it, eh? That'll be first-rate. Got sauce for it?" + +"Hog needs no sauce," said Mrs Christian, with a laugh. To say truth, +it required very little to arouse her merriment, or that of her amiable +sisterhood. + +When Martin had lighted his pipe, he stood gazing at the fire +profoundly, as if absorbed in meditation. Presently he seized a +frying-pan which lay on the ground, and descended therewith by way of +the steep cliffs to the sea. + +While he was gone, one and another of the party came to the fire and +began to chat or smoke, or both, according to fancy. Ere long Martin +was seen slowly ascending the cliffs, holding the frying-pan with great +care. + +"What have you got there?" asked one. + +"Oysters, eh?" said another, scrutinising the pan. + +"More like jelly-fish," said Young. + +"What in all the world is it?" asked Adams, as the pan was put on the +fire. + +"You'll see when it boils," said Martin. + +"There's nothin' in it at all but water," said Quintal, somewhat +contemptuously. + +"Well, I've heerd of many a thing, but never fried water," remarked +McCoy. + +"I should think it indigestible," said Christian, coming up at the +moment. + +Whether the natives understood the jest or not we cannot say, but +certain it is that all of them, men and women, burst into a fit of +laughter at this, in which they were joined by Otaheitan Sally from mere +sympathy. + +"Well, what is to be the order of the day?" asked Christian, turning to +Young. "Shall we proceed with our dwellings, or divide the island into +locations?" + +"I think," answered the midshipman, "that some of us at least should set +up the forge. I know that Williams's fingers are tingling to grasp the +sledge-hammer, and the sooner he goes at it, too, the better, for we're +badly off for tools." + +"If you don't require my services," said Brown, "I'll go plant some +breadfruits and other things at that sheltered spot we fell upon +yesterday." + +"I intend to finish the thatching of my hut," said Quintal, in that +off-hand tone of independence and disregard of the wishes of others +which was one of his characteristics. + +"Well, there are plenty of us to do all the work," said Christian. "Let +every man do what pleases himself. I would only ask for one or two +volunteers to cut the water-tanks I spoke of yesterday. The water we +have discovered, although a plentiful supply for present needs, may run +short or cease altogether if drought comes. So we must provide against +a dry instead of a rainy day, by cutting a tank or two in the solid rock +to hold a reserve." + +Adams and Mills at once volunteered for this duty. Other arrangements +were soon made, and they sat down to breakfast, some using plates saved +from the _Bounty_, others flat stones as substitutes, while empty +cocoa-nut shells served for drinking-cups. + +"Your water pancake should be done brown by this time," said Young, as +he sat down on the turf tailor-wise. + +"Not quite, but nearly," returned Martin, as he stirred the +furiously-boiling contents of the frying-pan. + +In a few minutes more the sea water had boiled quite away, leaving a +white residuum, which Martin scraped carefully off into a cocoa-nut cup. + +"You see, boys," he said, setting down the salt thus procured, "I never +could abide fresh meat without a pick o' salt to give it a relish. It +may be weakness perhaps, but--" + +"Being the weakness of an old salt," interrupted Christian, "it's +excusable. Now, boys, fall-to with a will. We've got plenty of work +before us, an' can't afford to waste time." + +This exhortation was needless. The savoury smell of the roast pig, when +it had been carefully disentombed, might have given appetite to a +seasick man. They ate heartily, and for some time in silence. + +The women, however, did not join in the feast at that time. It was the +custom among the Otaheitans that the men should eat first, the women +afterwards; and the mutineers, having become habituated to the custom, +did not see fit to change it. When the men had finished and discussed +the day's proceedings, the remainder of the pig, fruits, and vegetables, +were consumed by the females, among whom, we are bound to state, Sally +was the greatest gourmand. + +When pipes were finished, and the digestion of healthy young men had +been thus impaired as far as was possible in the circumstances, the +party went off in several groups about their various avocations. + +Among other things removed from the _Bounty_ were a smith's anvil and +bellows, with various hammers, files, etcetera, and a large quantity of +iron-work and copper. One party, therefore, under Young and Williams +the armourer, busied themselves in setting up a forge near their +settlement, and preparing charcoal for the forge fire. + +Another party, under Christian, proceeded to some neighbouring rocks, +and there, with sledge-hammer and crowbars, which they used as jumpers, +began the laborious task of boring the solid rock, intending afterwards +to blast, and partly to cut it, into large water-tanks. Quintal +continued the thatching of his hut, in which work his humble wife aided +him effectively. Brown proceeded with the planting operations which he +had begun almost immediately after landing; and the women busied +themselves variously, some in preparing the mid-day meal, some in +gathering fruits and roots for future use, and others in improving the +internal arrangements of their various huts, or in clearing away the +debris of the late feast. As for little Sally, she superintended +generally the work of the home department, and when she tired of that, +went further afield in search of adventures. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +DIVISION OF THE ISLAND--MORALISINGS, MISGIVINGS, AND A GREAT EVENT. + +There was no difficulty in apportioning the new possessions to which the +mutineers had served themselves heirs. In that free-and-easy mode in +which men in power sometimes arrange matters for their own special +behoof, they divided the island into nine equal parts, of which each +appropriated one part. The six native men were not only ignored in this +arrangement, but they were soon given to understand, by at least several +of their captors, that they were to be regarded as slaves and treated as +such. + +It is, however, but just to Edward Young to say that he invariably +treated the natives well and was much liked by them, from which it is to +be supposed that he did not quite fall in with the views of his +associates, although he made no objection to the unjust distribution of +the land. John Adams, being an amiable and kindly man, also treated the +natives well, and so did Fletcher Christian; but the others were more or +less tyrannical, and those kindred spirits, Matthew Quintal and William +McCoy, treated them with great severity, sometimes with excessive +cruelty. + +At first, however, things went well. The novelty and romance of their +situation kept them all in good spirits. The necessity for constant +activity in laying out their gardens, clearing the land around the place +of settlement, and erecting good log-houses,--all this, with fresh air +and abundance of good food, kept them in excellent health and spirits, +so that even the worst among them were for a time amiably disposed; and +it seemed as if those nine men had, by their act of mutiny, really +introduced themselves into a terrestrial paradise. + +And so they had, as far as nature was concerned, but the seeds of evil +in themselves began ere long to grow and bear fruit. + +The fear of the avenger in the form of a man-of-war was constantly +before their minds. We have said that the _Bounty_ had been burnt, and +her charred remnants sunk to remove all traces of their presence on the +island. For the same end a fringe of trees was left standing on the +seaward side of their clearing, and no erection of any kind was allowed +upon the seaward cliffs or inland heights. + +One afternoon, Christian, who had been labouring in his garden, threw +down his tools, and taking up the musket which he seldom left far from +his hand, betook himself to the hills. He was fond of going there, and +often spent many hours in solitary watching in the cave near the +precipitous mountain-peak. + +On his way up he had to pass the hut of William McCoy. The others, +conforming to the natural tendency of mankind to congregate together, +had built their houses round the cleared space on the table-land above +Bounty Bay, from which central point they were wont to sally forth each +morning to their farms or gardens, which were scattered wide apart in +separate valleys. McCoy, however, aspired to higher heights and grander +solitudes. His dwelling, a substantial log-hut, was perched upon a +knoll overlooking the particular valley which he cultivated with the aid +of his Otaheitan wife and one of the native men. + +"You are getting on well," said Christian to McCoy, who was felling a +tree when he came up to him. + +"Ay, slowly, but I'd get on a deal faster if that lazy brown-skin Ohoo +would work harder. Just look at him. He digs up that bit o' ground as +if he was paid by the number o' minutes he took to do it. I had to give +him a taste of a rope's end this morning, but it don't seem to have done +him much good." + +"It didn't seem to do much good to you when you got it on board the +_Bounty_," said Christian, gravely. + +"P'r'aps not; but we're not on board the _Bounty_, now," returned McCoy, +somewhat angrily. + +"Depend on it, McCoy," said Christian, softening his tone, "that the cat +never made any man work well. It can only force a scoundrel to +obedience, nothing more." + +"H'm, I b'lieve you're not far wrong, sir," returned the other, resuming +his work. + +Giving a friendly nod to Ohoo as he passed, and a cheerful +"good-morning" to Mrs McCoy, who was busy inside the hut, Christian +passed slowly on through the luxuriant herbage with which that part of +the hillside was covered. + +At first he walked in the shade of many-stemmed banyans and +feathery-topped palms, while the leaves of tall and graceful ferns +brushed his cheeks, and numerous luxuriant flowering plants perfumed the +air. Then he came to a clump of bushes, into which darted one of the +goats that had by this time become almost wild. The goat's rush +disturbed a huge sow with a litter of quite new pigs, the gruntings and +squeakings of which gave liveliness to an otherwise quiet and peaceful +scene. + +Coming out on the shoulder of the mountain just above the woods, he +turned round to look back. It was a splendid panorama of tropical +vegetation, rounded knolls, picturesque mounds, green patches, and +rugged cliffs, extending downwards to Bounty Bay with its fringe of +surf, and beyond--all round--the sleeping sea. + +Two or three little brown, sparrow-like birds twittered in the bushes +near, and looked askance, as if they would question the man's right to +walk there. One or two active lizards ran across his path, pausing now +and then, and glancing upwards as if in great surprise. + +Christian smiled sadly as he looked at them, then turned to breast the +hill. + +It was a rugged climb. Towards the top, where he diverged to the cave, +every step became more difficult. + +Reaching the hole where Isaac Martin had come by his misadventure, +Christian descended by means of a rude ladder which he had constructed +and let down into it. Entering the cave, he rested his musket against +the wall of rock, and sat down on a ledge near the opening towards the +sea. It was a giddy height. As he sat there with hands clasped over +one knee and eyes fixed wistfully on the horizon, his right foot, thrust +a little beyond the edge of the rock, overhung a tremendous precipice, +many hundred feet deep. + +For a long time he gazed so steadfastly and remained so motionless as to +seem a portion of the rock itself. Then he heaved a sigh that relieved +the pent-up feelings of an overburdened soul. + +"So early!" he muttered, in a scarcely audible voice. "At the very +beginning of life, just when hope, health, manhood, and opportunity were +at the flood." + +He stopped, and again remained motionless for a long time. Then, +continuing in the same low, sad tone, but without altering his position +or his wistful gaze. + +"And _now_, an outlaw, an outcast, doomed, if taken, to a felon's death! +Comrades seduced to their ruin! The brand of Cain not more terrible +than mine! Self-exiled for life! Never, _never_ more to see friends, +country, kindred, sisters--mother! God help me!" + +He laid his face in his hands and groaned aloud. Again he was silent, +and remained without motion for nearly an hour. + +"_Can_ it be true?" he cried in a voice of suppressed agony, looking up +as if expecting an answer from heaven. "Shall I never, never, _never_ +awake from this hideous dream!" + +The conscience-smitten young man laid strong constraint upon himself and +became calmer. When the sun began to approach the horizon he rose, and +with an air of stern resolution, set about making various arrangements +in the cave. + +From the first Fletcher Christian had fixed on this cavern as a retreat, +in case his place of refuge should be discovered. His hope was that, if +a man-of-war should come at last and search the island, he and his +comrades might escape detection in such a sequestered and well-concealed +cavern. If not, they could hold out to the last and sell their lives +dearly. Already he had conveyed to it, by degrees, a considerable +supply of ammunition, some of the arms and a quantity of such provisions +as would not readily spoil with time. Among other things, he carried to +that elevated outlook Carteret's book of voyages and some other works, +which had formed the very small library of the _Bounty_, including a +Bible and a Church of England Prayer-book. + +When not gazing on the horizon, expecting yet fearing the appearance of +a sail, he passed much of his time in reading. + +On the evening of which we write he had beguiled some time with +Carteret, when a slight sound was heard outside the cavern. + +Starting up with the nervous susceptibility induced by a guilty +conscience, he seized his musket and cocked it. As quickly he set it +down again, and smiled at his weakness. Next moment he heard a voice +shouting. It drew nearer. + +"Hallo, sir! Mr Christian!" cried John Adams, stooping down at the +entrance. + +"Come down, Adams, come down; there's no occasion to keep shouting up +there." + +"True, sir; but do you come up. You're wanted immediately." + +There was something in the man's voice which alarmed Christian. +Grasping his musket, he sprang up the ladder and stood beside his +comrade. + +"Well?" + +"It's--it's all right, sir," said Adams, panting with his exertions in +climbing the hill; "it's--it's a _boy_!" + +Without a word of reply Christian shouldered his weapon, and hurried +down the mountain-side in the direction of home. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +SALLY'S CHIEF JOYS--DARK CLOUDS OVERSPREAD THE PITCAIRN SKY, AND DARKER +DEEDS ARE DONE. + +Just before John Adams left the settlement for the purpose of calling +Christian, whose retreat at the mountain-top was by that time well-known +to every one, little Sally had gone, as was her wont, to enjoy herself +in her favourite playground. This was a spot close to the house of +Edward Young, where the debris of material saved from the _Bounty_ had +been deposited. It formed a bristling pile of masts, spars, planks, +cross-trees, oars, anchors, nails, copper-bolts, sails, and cordage. + +No material compound could have been more dangerous to childhood, and +nothing conceivable more attractive to Sally. The way in which that +pretty little nude infant disported herself on that pile was absolutely +tremendous. She sprang over things as if she had been made expressly to +fly. She tumbled off things as if she had been created to fall. She +insinuated herself among anchor-flukes and chains as if she had been +born an eel. She rolled out from among the folds of sails as if she +were a live dumpling. She seemed to dance upon upturned nails, and to +spike herself on bristling bolts; but she never hurt herself,--at least +if she did she never cried, except in exuberant glee. + +Now, it was while thus engaged one day that Sally became suddenly +conscious of a new sound. Young as she was, she was fully alive to the +influence of a new sensation. She paused in an attitude of eager +attention. The strange sound came from Christian's hut. Sally waddled +thither and looked in. The first thing that met her gaze was her own +mother with a live creature in her hands, which she was carefully +wrapping up in a piece of cloth. It was a pitifully thin whitey-brown +creature, with a puckered face, resembling that of a monkey; but Sally +had never seen a monkey, and probably did not think of the comparison. +Presently the creature opened its mouth, shut its eyes, and uttered a +painfully weak squall. + +Cause and effect are not infrequently involved in mystery. We cannot +tell why Sally, who never cried, either when hurt or scolded, should, on +beholding this sight, set up a tremendous howl; but she did, and she +kept up the howl with such vigour that John Adams was attracted to the +spot in some alarm. + +Stopping only long enough to look at the infant and see that the mother +was all right, Adams ran off at full speed to the mountain-top, as we +have seen, to be the first to announce the joyful news to the father. + +Thus came into the world the first "descendant" of the mutineers of the +_Bounty_. + +It was with unwonted animation that the men sat down to supper that +evening, each having congratulated Christian and inquired at the hut for +the baby and mother, as he came in from work. + +"What will you call him?" inquired Young, after pledging the new arrival +in a cup of cocoa-nut milk. + +"What day is it?" asked Christian. + +"Thursday," answered Martin. + +"Then I'll call him Thursday," said Christian; "it will commemorate the +day." + +"You'd better add `October,' and commemorate the month," said Adams. + +"So I will," said Christian. + +"An' stick on `Seventeen-ninety' to commemorate the year," suggested +Mills. + +"No, there are limits to everything," returned Christian; "three names +are enough. Come, fill up your cups, lads, and drink to Thursday +October Christian!" + +With enthusiasm and a shout of laughter, the toast was pledged in +cocoa-nut milk, and once again Christian's hand was shaken by his +comrades all round. + +The advent of TOC, as Adams called him, (or Toc, as he afterwards came +to be styled), was, as it were, the breaking of the ice. It was +followed ere long by quite a crop of babies. In a few months more a +Matthew Quintal was added to the roll. Then a Daniel McCoy furnished +another voice in the chorus, and Sally ceased to disquiet herself +because of that which had ceased to be a novelty. This all occurred in +1791. After that there was a pause for a brief period; then, in 1792, +Elizabeth Mills burst upon the astonished gaze of her father, and was +followed immediately by another Christian, whom Fletcher, discarding his +eccentric taste for days and months, named Charles. + +By this time Sally had developed such a degree of matronly solicitude, +that she was absolutely intrusted at times with the care of the other +children. In a special manner she devoted herself to little Charlie +Christian, who was a particularly sedate infant. Indeed, solemnity was +stamped upon that child's visage from his birth. This seemed to +harmonise intensely with Sally's sense of fun. She was wont to take +Charlie away from his mother, and set him up on a log, or the rusty +shank of the _Bounty's_ "best bower," prop him up with sticks or +bushes--any rubbish that came to hand--and sit down in front of him to +gaze. Charlie, after the first few months of precarious infancy, became +extremely fat. He used to open his solemn eyes as wide as was possible +in the circumstances, and return the gaze with interest. Unable to +restrain herself, Sally would then open her pretty mouth, shut her +gorgeous eyes, and give vent to the richest peals of laughter. + +"Oh, you's so good, Charlie!" + +She had learned by that time to speak broken English in an infantine +fashion, and her assertion was absolutely true, for Charlie Christian +was preternaturally good. + +The same cannot be said of all the members of this little community. +Ere long, a period approached when the harmony which had hitherto +prevailed was about to be broken. Increasing life had marked their +course hitherto. Death now stepped in to claim his share. + +The wife of John Williams went out one day to gather gulls' eggs among +the cliffs. The women were all in the habit of doing this at times, and +they had become expert climbers, as were also the men, both white and +brown. + +When day began to close, they wondered why Mrs Williams was so late of +returning. Soon her husband became uneasy; then, taking alarm, he went +off to search for her, accompanied by all the men. The unfortunate +woman was found dead at the base of the cliffs. She had missed her +footing and fallen while searching for eggs. + +This accident had at first a deeply solemnising effect on the whole +community. Accustomed though these men were to the sight of death in +some of its worst forms in war, they were awed by this sudden and +unexpected assault of the great enemy. The poor mangled body lying so +quietly among the rocks at the foot of the awful precipice, the sight of +the husband's grief, the sad and silent procession with the ghastly +burden in the deepening gloom of evening, the wailing of the women, and +the awestruck gaze of such of the children as were old enough to know +that something terrible had occurred, though unable to understand it,-- +all conspired to deepen the impression, even on those among the men who +were least easily impressed; and it was with softened feelings of pity +that Quintal and McCoy, volunteering their services on the occasion, dug +the first grave at Pitcairn. + +Time, however, soon wore away these feelings. Williams not only got +over his bereavement easily, but soon began to wish for another wife. +It was, of course, impossible to obtain one righteously in the +circumstances; he therefore resolved to take the wife of Talaloo the +Otaheitan. + +It must not be supposed that all Williams', comrades supported him in +this wicked design. Christian, Young, and Adams remonstrated with him +strongly; but he was obstinate, and threatened to take the boat and +leave the island if they interfered with him. As he was an expert +blacksmith, his comrades could not afford to lose him, and ceased +remonstrating. Eventually he carried out his intention. + +This was, as might have been expected, the beginning of trouble. The +coloured men made common cause of it, and from that time forward began +to plot the destruction of their white masters. What made matters worse +was that Talaloo's wife was not averse to the change, and from that time +became a bitter enemy of her Otaheitan husband. It was owing to this +wicked woman's preference for Williams that the plot was afterwards +revealed. + +One evening, while sitting in Christian's house, Talaloo's wife began to +sing a sort of extempore song, the chorus to which was:-- + + "Why does black man sharpen axe? + To kill white man." + +Hearing this, Christian, who was close at hand, entered the hut and +demanded an explanation. On being informed of the plot of the Otaheitan +men to murder all the whites, a dark frown overspread his face. Hastily +seizing his musket, he loaded it, but it was observed that he put no +bullet in. + +The Otaheitans were assembled at the time in a neighbouring house. +Christian went straight to the house, charged the men with their guilty +intentions, pointed his gun at them, and pulled the trigger. The piece +missed fire. Before he could re-cock, Talaloo leaped through the +doorway, followed by his friend Timoa, and took shelter in the woods. + +The other four men begged for mercy, said that the two who had just left +were the instigators as well as ringleaders in the plot, and promised to +hunt them down and murder them if their own lives should be spared. As +Christian had probably no fixed intention to kill any of the men, and +his sudden anger soon abated, he accepted their excuses and left them. +It was impossible, however, for the mutineers to feel confidence in the +natives after that. The two men who had fled for refuge to the bush did +not return to the settlement, but remained in hiding. + +One day Talaloo's wife went, with some of the other women, to the +southern side of the island to fish from the rocks. They were soon +busily at work. The lines used had been made by themselves from the +fibrous husk of the cocoa-nut. The hooks had been brought on shore from +the _Bounty_. Chattering and laughing with the free-and-easy gaiety of +savages, they plied their work--it seemed more like play--with varying +success. + +Suddenly the wife of Talaloo heard a faint hiss behind her. Turning her +head, she saw her former husband in the bushes. He beckoned to her, and +disappeared. None of the other women appeared to have heard or observed +the man. Presently, Talaloo's wife rose, and going into the woods, +joined her husband. She found him in company with Timoa. + +"Is Talaloo become a dog that he should be driven to live in the bush?" +demanded the man, with a stern air. + +"The white men are strong," answered his wife, with a subdued look; "the +women can do nothing." + +"You can stay with me here in the bush if you will," said Talaloo. "The +white men are strong, but we are stronger. We will kill the white men." + +He turned with an air of offended dignity, and strode away. His wife +meekly followed, and Timoa went with them. + +Now, there was one woman among the fishers whose eyes were sharp and her +hearing was keen. + +This was Susannah, the wife of the midshipman Edward Young. She had +followed Talaloo's wife, saw what occurred, and carried back a report to +the settlement. A council of war was at once held. + +"If we leave these men at liberty," said Williams, "we shall never again +be able to go to rest in security." + +"Something must be done," said Christian, with the air of a man whose +mind wanders far away from the subject in hand. + +"Kill them," suggested McCoy. + +"Yes," said Quintal; "I vote that we get up a grand hunt, run them to +earth, and shoot them like dogs, as they are." + +"Not so easy as you think to hunt down such men among these wild and +wooded hills," said Young. "Besides, it is only Talaloo who has +threatened us; Timoa is guiltless, I think." + +"I'll tell you what we'll do, lads; we'll poison 'em," said Williams. +"I've heard of such a thing bein' done at Otaheite by one of the women. +She knows how to get the poison from some sort of plant, I believe, and +I'm pretty sure that Menalee will help us." + +The plan thus suggested was finally adopted. One of the women made +three puddings, two of which were good, the third was poisoned. Menalee +at once agreed to go to the fugitives, say he had stolen the puddings, +and would be willing to share them. The two good puddings were to be +given to Talaloo's wife and Timoa, the poisoned one to Talaloo himself. +For further security Menalee was to carry a pistol with him, and use it +if necessary. + +The assassin was not long in tracking out his countrymen. + +"You bring us food?" said Talaloo. + +"Yes, I have stolen it. Will you have some?" + +They all accepted the puddings, and Timoa and the woman began to eat; +but Talaloo was quick witted. He observed something unusual in +Menalee's manner, suspected poison, and would not eat his pudding. +Laying it aside, he ate that of his wife along with her. + +Menalee pretended not to notice this. After the others had done eating, +he proposed that they should all go a little farther up into the bushes, +where, he said, he had left his own wife among some breadfruit trees. + +Talaloo agreeing to this, they rose and walked away. The footpath being +narrow, they were obliged to go in single file. Menalee walked behind +Talaloo. After having gone a few paces, the former drew his pistol, +pointed it at the back of his countryman's head, and pulled the trigger, +but it missed fire. Talaloo hearing the click, turned round, saw the +pistol, and immediately fled; but his enemy was swift of foot, soon +overtook him, and the two grappled. A severe struggle ensued, Timoa and +the woman standing by and looking on, but rendering help to neither +party. + +The two combatants were pretty well matched. The pistol had fallen at +the first onset, and for a few minutes it seemed doubtful which should +prove the victor, as they swayed to and fro, straining their dark and +sinewy forms in deadly conflict. At last the strength of Talaloo seemed +to give way, but still he retained a vice-like grasp of his antagonist's +right wrist. + +"Won't you help me?" gasped Talaloo, turning an appealing glance on his +wife. + +"No," cried Menalee, "but she will help me to kill Talaloo." + +The hardened woman picked up the pistol, and going towards her husband +struck him on the head. Menalee quickly finished with his knife what +the murderess had begun. + +For a few minutes the three stood looking at the murdered man in +silence, when they returned to the settlement and told what they had +done. But the assassin's work was not yet over. Another of the +natives, named Ohoo, had fled to the woods, threatening vengeance +against the white men. It was deemed necessary that he too should be +killed, and Menalee was again found to be a willing instrument. Timoa, +who had exhibited such callous indifference at the murder of Talaloo, +was his fitting companion. They soon found Ohoo, and succeeded in +killing him. + +Strange to say, the mutineers, after these foul deeds, dwelt for a long +time in comparative peace and harmony. It seemed as if their worst +feelings had found full vent and been expended in the double murder. No +doubt this state of hollow peace was partly owing to the fact that the +native men, now being reduced to four in number, felt themselves to be +unable to cope with their masters, and quietly submitted to the +inevitable. + +But by degrees the evil spirits in some of the party began to reassert +their power. McCoy and Quintal in particular became very savage and +cruel. They never hesitated to flog or knock down a native on the +slightest pretext, insomuch that these unhappy men were again driven to +plot the destruction of their masters. Adams, Christian, and Young were +free from the stain of wanton cruelty. Young in particular was kind to +the natives, and a favourite both with men and women. + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +DANGERS, JOYS, TRIALS, AND MULTIPLICATION. + +"I'm going to the cliffs to-day, Williams," said Young one morning. +"Will you come?" + +Williams was busy at the forge under the pleasant shade of the great +banyan-tree. Resting his hammer on the anvil, he looked up. + +"No," he answered. "I can't go till I've finished this spade. It's the +last bit of iron we have left that'll serve for such a purpose." + +"That's no reason why you should not let it lie till the afternoon or +to-morrow." + +"True, but I've got another reason for pushing through with it. Isaac +Martin says the want of a spade keeps him idle, and you know it's a pity +to encourage idleness in a lazy fellow." + +"You are right. What is Martin about just now?" + +"Working at the big water-tank. It suits him, a heavy quiet sort of job +with the pick, requiring no energy or thought,--only a sleepy sort o' +perseverance, of which long-legged Isaac has plenty." + +"Come, now," returned Young, with a laugh. "I see you are getting +jealous of Martin's superior intellect. But where are Quintal and +McCoy?" + +"Diggin' in their gardens, I suppose. Leastwise, I heerd Mr Christian +say to Mainmast he'd seen 'em go off in that direction. Mr Christian +himself has gone to his old outlook aloft on the mountains. If he don't +see a sail at last it won't be for want o' keepin' a bright look-out." + +The armourer smiled grimly as he thrust the edge of the half-formed +spade into the fire, and began to blow his bellows. + +"You've got them to work again," said Young, referring to the bellows +which had belonged to the _Bounty_. + +"Ay, patched 'em up after a fashion, though there's a good deal o' +windage somewheres. If them rats git hold of 'em again, the +blacksmith's occupation'll be gone. Here comes Bill Brown; p'r'aps _he_ +won't object to go bird-nestin' with 'ee." + +The armourer drew the glowing metal from the fire as he spoke, and sent +the bright sparks flying up into the leaves of the banyan-tree while the +botanist approached. + +"I'll go, with all my heart," said Brown, on being invited by Young to +accompany him. "We'd better take Nehow with us. He is the best +cliff-man among the natives." + +"That's just what I thought of doing," said Young, "and--ah! here comes +some one else who will be glad to go." + +The midshipman's tone and manner changed suddenly as he held out both +hands by way of invitation to Sally, who came skipping forward, and ran +gleefully towards him. + +Sally was no longer the nude cherub which had landed on the island. She +had not only attained to maturer years, but was precocious both in body +and mind,--had, as we have shown, become matronly in her ideas and +actions, and was clothed in a short petticoat of native cloth, and a +little scarf of the same, her pretty little head being decorated with a +wreath of flowers culled and constructed by herself. + +"No, I can't go," answered Sally to Young's invitation, with a solemn +shake of her head. + +"Why not?" + +"'Cause I's got to look arter babby." + +Up to this period Sally had shown a decided preference for the +ungrammatical language of the seamen, though she associated freely with +Young and Christian. Perhaps her particular fondness for John Adams may +have had something to do with this. + +"Which baby, Sall? You know your family is a pretty large one." + +"Yes, there's a stunnin' lot of 'em--a'most too many for me; but I said +_the_ babby." + +"Oh, I suppose you mean Charlie Christian?" + +"In coorse I means Challie," replied the child, with a smile that +displayed a dazzling set of teeth, the sparkle of which was only +equalled by that of her eyes. + +"Well, but you can bring Charlie along with you," said Young, "and I'll +engage to carry him and you too if you get tired. There, run away; find +him, and fetch him quick." + +Little Sall went off like the wind, and soon returned with the +redoubtable Charles in her arms. It was all she could do to stagger +under the load; but Charlie Christian had not yet attained to facility +in walking. He was still in the nude stage of childhood, and his +faithful nurse, being afraid lest he should get badly scratched if +dragged at a rapid pace through the bushes, had carried him. + +Submitting, according to custom, in solemn and resigned surprise, +Charlie was soon seated on the shoulders of our midshipman, who led the +way to the cliffs. William Brown followed, leading Sally by the hand, +for she refused to be carried, and Nehow brought up the rear. + +The cliffs to which their steps were directed were not more than an +hour's walk from the settlement at Bounty Bay, though, for Sally's sake, +the time occupied in going was about half-an-hour longer. It was a wild +spot which had been selected. The towering walls of rock were rugged +with ledges, spurs, and indentations, where sea-birds in myriads gave +life to the scene, and awakened millions of echoes to their plaintive +cries. There was a pleasant appearance of sociability about the birds +which was powerfully attractive. Even Nehow, accustomed as he was to +such scenes, appeared to be impressed. The middy and the botanist were +excited. As for Sally, she was in ecstasies, and the baby seemed lost +in the profoundest fit of wonder he had experienced since the day of his +birth. + +"Oh, Challie," exclaimed his nurse in a burst of laughter, "what a face +you's got! Jis' like de fig'r'ead o' the _Bounty_." (Sall quoted +here!) "Ain't they bootiful birds?" + +She effectually prevented reply, even if such had been intended, by +suddenly seizing her little charge round the neck and kissing his right +eye passionately. Master Charlie cared nothing for that. He gazed past +her at the gulls with the unobliterated eye. When she kissed him on the +left cheek, he gazed past her at the gulls with the other eye. When she +let him go, he continued to gaze at the gulls with both eyes. He had +often seen the same gulls at a distance, from the lower level of Bounty +Bay, but he had never before stood on their own giddy cliffs, and +watched them from their own favourite bird's-eye-view point; for there +were thousands of them sloping, diving, and wheeling in the airy abyss, +pictured against the dark blue sea below, as well as thousands more +circling upwards, floating and gyrating in the bright blue sky above. +It seemed as if giant snowflakes were trembling in the air in all +directions. Some of the gulls came so near to those who watched them +that their black inquiring eyes became distinctly visible; others swept +towards them with rustling wings, as if intending to strike, and then +glanced sharply off, or upwards, with wild cries. + +"Wouldn't it be fun to have wings?" asked Brown of Sally, as she stood +there open-mouthed and eyed. + +"Oh, _wouldn't_ it?" + +"If I had wings," said Young, with a touch of sadness in his tone, "I'd +steer a straight course through the air for Old England." + +"I didn't know you had such a strong desire to be hanged," said Brown. + +"They'd never hang me," returned Young. "I'm innocent of the crime of +mutiny, and Captain Bligh knows it." + +"Bligh would be but a broken reed to lean on," rejoined Brown, with a +shrug of contempt. "If he liked you, he'd favour you; if he didn't, +he'd go dead against you. I wouldn't trust myself in _his_ hands +whether innocent or guilty. Depend upon it, Mr Young, Fletcher +Christian would have been an honour to the service if he had not been +driven all but mad by Bligh. I don't justify Mr Christian's act--it +cannot be defended,--but I have great sympathy with him. The only man +who deserves to be hanged for the mutiny of the _Bounty_, in my opinion, +is Mr Bligh himself; but men seldom get their due in this world, either +one way or another." + +"That's a powerfully radical sentiment," said Young, laughing; "it's to +be hoped that men will at all events get their due in the next world, +and it is well for you that Pitcairn is a free republic. But come, we +must go to work if we would have a kettle of fresh eggs. I see a ledge +which seems accessible, and where there must be plenty of eggs, to judge +from the row the gulls are making round it. I'll try. See, now, that +you don't get yourself into a fix that you can't get out of. You know +that the heads of you landsmen are not so steady as those of seamen." + +"I know that the heads of landsmen are not stuffed with such conceit as +the heads of you sailors," retorted Brown, as he went off to gather +eggs. + +"Now, Sally, do you stop here and take care of Charlie," said Young, +leading the little girl to a soft grassy mound, as far back from the +edge of the cliff as possible. "Mind that you don't leave this spot +till I return. I know I can trust you, and as for Charlie--" + +"Oh, he never moves a'most, 'xcept w'en I lifts 'im. He's _so_ good!" +interrupted Sally. + +"Well, just keep a sharp eye on him, and we'll soon be back with lots of +eggs." + +While Edward Young was thus cautioning the child, William Brown was busy +making his way down the cliffs to some promising ledges below, and +Nehow, the Otaheitan, clambered up the almost perpendicular face of the +part that rose above them. [See frontispiece.] + +It was interesting to watch the movements of the three men. Each was, +in his own way, venturesome, fearless, and more or less practised in +cliff climbing. The midshipman ascended the perpendicular face with +something of a nautical swagger, but inasmuch as the ledges, crevices, +and projections were neither so well adapted to the hands nor so sure as +ratlines and ropes, there was a wholesome degree of caution mingled with +his confidence. When the wished-for ledge was gained, he gave relief to +his feelings in a hearty British cheer that reverberated from cliff to +cliff, causing the startled sea-gulls to drive the very echoes mad with +their clangour. + +The botanist, on the other hand, proceeded with the extreme care of a +man who knew that a false step or uncertain grip might send him into the +seething mass of foam and rocks below. But he did not hesitate or +betray want of courage in attempting any difficulty which he had made up +his mind to face. + +The proceedings of Nehow, however, seemed little short of miraculous. +He appeared to run up perpendicular places like a cat; to leap where the +others crept, to scramble where his companions did not dare to venture, +and, loosely speaking, to hang on occasionally to nothing by the point +of his nose, his eyelids, or his finger-nails! We say that he appeared +to do all this, but the gulls who watched and followed him in noisy +indignation could have told you, if they had chosen, that his eye was +quick, that his feet and hands were sure, and that he never trusted foot +or hand for one moment on a doubtful projection or crevice. + +For some time all went well. The three men soon returned, each with a +few eggs which they laid on the grass in three little heaps, to be +watched and guarded by Sally, and to be stared at in grave surprise by +Charlie. They carried their eggs in three round baskets without lids, +and with handles which folded over on one side, so that the baskets +could be fitted into each other when not in use, or slung round the +necks of the egg-collectors while they were climbing. + +The last to return to the children was William Brown. He brought his +basket nearly half full of fine eggs, and set it down beside the two +heaps already brought in. + +"Ain't they lovely, Sall?" asked Brown, wiping the perspiration from his +brow with the sleeve of his coat. That same coat, by the way, was very +disreputable--threadbare and worn,--being four years old on the lowest +calculation, and having seen much rough service, for Brown had an +objection to the tapa cloth, and said he would stick to the old coat as +long as it would stick to him. The truth is he felt it, with his worn +canvas trousers and Guernsey shirt, to be in some sense a last link to +"home," and he was loath to part with them. + +"Lovely!" exclaimed Sally, "they's jus' bootiful." Nothing could exceed +"bootiful" in Sally's mind--she had paid the eggs the highest possible +compliment. + +Charlie did them, at the same moment, the greatest possible damage, by +sitting down in the basket, unintentionally, with an awful crash. + +From the gaze of horror that he cast upwards, it was evident that he was +impressed with a strong belief that he had done something wrong, though +the result did not seem to him unpleasant. The gaze of horror quickly +changed into one of alarm when he observed the shocked countenance of +Sally, and he burst into uncontrollable tears. + +"Poor thing," said Brown, lifting him out of the mess and setting him on +his legs. "Never mind, old man, I'll fetch you a better basketful soon. +You clean him up, Sall, and I'll be back in a jiffy." + +So saying, Brown took up his basket, emptied out the mess, wiped it with +a bunch of grass, and descended the short slope to the cliff edge, +laughing as he went. + +Poor Sally's shocked expression had not yet passed off when Charlie came +to a sudden stop, shut his mouth tightly and opened his eyes, as though +to say, "Well, how do you take it now?" + +"Oh, Challie, but you _is_ bad to-day." + +This was enough. The shades of darkest night settled down on Charlie's +miserable soul. Re-shutting his eyes and reopening his mouth, he poured +forth the woe of his inconsolable heart in prolonged and passionate +howling. + +"No, no; O _don't_!" cried the repentant Sally, her arms round his neck +and fondling him. "I didn't mean it. I'm _so_ sorry. It's me that's +bad--badder than you ever was." + +But Charlie refused to be comforted. He flung himself on the grass in +agony of spirit, to the alarm and grief of his poor nurse. + +"Me's dood?" he cried, pausing suddenly, with a blaze of inquiry in his +wet visage. + +"Yes, yes, good as gold--gooder, far gooder!" + +Sally did not possess an enlightened conscience at that time. She would +have said anything to quiet him, but he would not be quieted. + +"Me's dood--O _dood_! ah-o-ee-aw-ee!" + +The noise was bad enough, but the way he flung himself about was worse. +There was no occasion for Sally to clean him up. Rolling thus on the +green turf made him as pure, if not bright, as a new pin; but it had +another effect, which gave Sally a fright such as she had never up to +that time conceived of, and never afterwards forgot. + +In his rollings Charlie came to the edge of the knoll where a thick but +soft bush concealed a ledge, or drop, of about two feet. Through this +bush he passed in a moment. Sally leaped up and sprang to the spot, +just in time to see her charge rolling helplessly down the slope to what +appeared to be certain death. + +There was but a short slope between the bush and the cliff. Rotund +little Charlie "fetched way" as he advanced, despite one or two feeble +clutches at the rocks. + +If Sally had been a few years older she would have bounded after him +like a goat, but she had only reached that period of life which rendered +petrifaction possible. She stood ridged for a few moments with heart, +head, and eyes apparently about to burst. At last her voice found vent +in a shriek so awful that it made the heart of Young, high on the cliffs +above, stand still. It had quite the contrary effect on the legs of +Brown. That cautious man chanced to be climbing the cliff slowly with a +fresh basketful of eggs. Hearing the shriek, and knowing full well that +it meant imminent danger, he leaped up the last few steps of the +precipice with a degree of heedless agility that equalled that of Nehow +himself. He was just in time to see Charlie coming straight at him like +a cannon shot. It was really an awful situation. To have received the +shock while his footing was still precarious would have insured his own +destruction as well as that of the child. Feeling this, he made a +kangaroo-like bound over the edge of the cliff, and succeeded in +planting both feet and knees firmly on a grassy foundation, just in +time. Letting go his burden, he spread out both arms. Charlie came +into his bosom with extreme violence, but he remained firm, while the +basket of eggs went wildly downward to destruction. + +Meanwhile, Sally stood there with clasped hands and glazed eyes, sending +up shriek after shriek, which sent successive stabs to the heart of +Edward Young, as he scurried and tumbled, rather than ran, down from the +upper cliffs towards her. + +In a few minutes he came in pale and panting. A minute later and Nehow +ran round a neighbouring point like a greyhound. + +"All right?" gasped Young. + +"All right," replied Brown. + +"Wheeaow-ho!" exclaimed Nehow, expanding his cavernous mouth with a grin +of satisfaction. + +It is worthy of record that little Sally did not revisit these +particular cliffs for several years after that exciting and eventful +day, and that she returned to the settlement with a beating and grateful +heart. + +It must not be supposed that Charlie Christian remained for any great +length of time "the babby" of that infant colony. By no means. In a +short time after the event which we have just described, there came to +Pitcairn a little sister to Charlie. She was named Mary, despite the +earnest suggestion of Isaac Martin, that as she was "born of a +Wednesday," she ought to be called by that name. + +Of course Otaheitan Sally at once devoted herself to the newcomer, but +she did not on that account forsake her first love. No; her little +brown heart remained true to Charlie, though she necessarily gave him +less of her society than before. + +Then Mrs Quintal gave her husband the additional burden, as he styled +it, of a daughter, whom he named Sarah, for no other reason, that any +one could make out, than the fact that his wife did not like it, and his +friend McCoy had advised him on no account to adopt it. Thus was little +Matthew Quintal also provided with a sister. + +Shortly after that, John Adams became a moderately happy father, and +called the child Dinah, because he had never had a female relation of +that name; indeed, he had never possessed a relation of any kind +whatever that he knew of, having been a London street-boy, a mere waif, +when he first became aware, so to speak, of his own existence. + +About the same time that little Dinah was born, John Mills rushed one +day into the yam-field of Edward Young, where the midshipman was at +work, seized his hand, and exclaimed--"I wish you joy, sir, it's a +_girl_!" + +Not to be out-done in civility, Young carefully watched his opportunity, +and, only four days later, rushed into the yam-garden of John Mills, +where he was smoking, seized his hand, and exclaimed--"I congratulate +you, Mills, it's a _boy_!" So, Young called his daughter Folly, because +he had an old aunt of that name who had been kind to him; and Mills +called his son John, after himself, who, he said, was the kindest friend +he ever had. + +By this time poor Otaheitan Sally became overburdened with care. It +became evident that she could not manage to look after so large a family +of helpless infants, even though her services should only be required +when the mothers were busy in the gardens. Mrs Isabella Christian, +_alias_ Mainmast, was therefore relieved of part of her field duties, +and set apart for infantry drill. + +Thus the rising generation multiplied and grew apace; and merry innocent +laughter and gleeful childlike shouts began to resound among the cliffs +and groves of the lonely refuge of the mutineers. + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +SPORTING, SCHOOLING AND MORALISING. + +Time flew by with rapid wing, and the infant colony prospered in many +ways, though not in all. + +One day John Adams took down his gun from the pegs on which it rested +above the door of his hut. Saying to his wife that he was going to +shoot a few cats and bring home a pig for supper, he sallied forth, and +took the footpath that led to one of the darkest recesses of the lonely +island. + +Lest the reader should imagine that Adams was a cruel man, we must +explain that, several years having elapsed since the landing of the +mutineers on Pitcairn, the cats had by that time multiplied excessively, +and instead of killing the rats, which was their duty, had taken to +hunting and devouring the chickens. For this crime the race of cats was +condemned to death, and the sentence was put in force whenever +opportunity offered. + +Fortunately, the poultry had also multiplied quickly, and the hogs had +increased to such a degree that many of them had been allowed to take to +a wild life in the woods, where they were hunted and shot when required +for food. Sporting, however, was not often practised, because the +gunpowder which had been saved from the _Bounty_ had by this time +sensibly diminished. Strange to say, it did not seem to occur to any of +the men that the bow and arrow might become of use when guns became +useless. Probably they looked upon such weapons with contempt, for they +only made little bows, as playthings for the children, with harmless, +blunt-headed arrows. + +On turning from the clearing into the bush, Adams came on a sight which +amused him not a little. In an open place, partially screened from the +sun by the graceful leaves of palms and bananas, through which was +obtained a glimpse of the sea, Otaheitan Sally was busily engaged in +playing at "school." Seated on the end of a felled tree was Thursday +October Christian, who had become, as Isaac Martin expressed it, a great +lout of a boy for his age. + +Thursday was at the head of the class, not in virtue of his superior +knowledge, but his size. He was a strong-made fellow, with a bright, +intelligent, good-humoured face, like that of his father. Next to him +sat little Matt Quintal, rather heavy and stupid in expression, but +quiet and peaceable in temperament, like his mother. Next came Daniel +McCoy, whose sharp sparkling countenance seemed the very embodiment of +mischief, in which quality he resembled his father. Fortunately for +little Dan, his mother was the gentlest and most unselfish of all the +native women, and these qualities, transmitted to her son, were the +means of neutralising the evil which he inherited from his father. +After him came Elizabeth Mills, whose pretty little whitey-brown face +was the counterpart of her mother's in expression. Indeed, all of these +little ones inherited in a great degree that sweet pliability of +character for which the Otaheitan women were, and we believe still are, +famous. Last, but not least, sat Charlie Christian at the bottom of the +class. + +"Now, hol' up your heads an' pay 'tention," said the teacher, with the +air of authority suitable to her position. + +It may be observed here, that Sally's knowledge of schooling and +class-work was derived from Edward Young, who sometimes amused himself +and the children by playing at "school," and even imparted a little +instruction in this way. + +"Don't wink, Dan'l McCoy," said Sally, in a voice which was meant to be +very stern, but was laughably sweet. + +"P'ease, Missis, Toc's vinkin' too." Thus had Dan learned to express +Thursday's name by his initials. + +There was a touch of McCoy senior in this barefaced attempt to divert +attention from himself by criminating another. + +"I know that Toc is winking," replied Sally, holding up a finger of +reproof; "but he winks with _both_ eyes, an' you does it with only +_one_, which is naughty. An' when you speaks to me, sir, don't say +vink--say wink." + +"Yis, mum," replied little Dan, casting down his eyes with a look of +humility so intense that there was a sudden irruption of dazzling teeth +along the whole class. + +"Now, Toc, how much does two and three make?" + +"Six," replied Thursday, without a moment's hesitation. + +"Oh, you booby!" said Sally. + +"P'ease, mum, he ain't booby, him's dux," said Dan. + +"But he's a booby for all that, sir. You hold you tongue, Dan'l, an' +tell me what three and two makes." + +"P'ease, mum, I can't," answered Dan, folding his hands meekly; "but +p'r'aps Charlie can; he's clebber you know. Won't you ax 'im?" + +"Yes, I will ask 'im. Challie, what's three an' two?" + +If Charlie had been asked how to square the circle, he could not have +looked more innocently blank, but the desire to please Sally was in him +a sort of passion. Gazing at her intently with reddening face, he made +a desperate guess, and by the merest chance said, "Five." + +Sally gave a little shriek of delight, and looked in triumph at Dan. +That little creature, who seemed scarce old enough to receive a joke, +much less to make one, looked first at Charlie and winked with his left +eye, then at Thursday and winked with his right one. + +"You're winkin' again, sir," cried Sally, sharply. + +"Yis, mum, but with _bof_ eyes this time, vich isn't naughty, you know." + +"But it _is_ naughty, sir, unless you do it with both eyes at _once_." + +"Oh, with bof at vunce!" exclaimed Dan, who thereupon shut both eyes +very tight indeed, and then opened them in the widest possible condition +of surprise. + +This was too much for Sally. She burst into a hearty fit of laughter. +Her class, being ever ready to imitate such an example, followed suit. +Charlie tumbled forward and rolled on the grass with delight, little Dan +kicked up his heels and tumbled back over the log in ecstasy, and +Thursday October swayed himself to and fro, while the other two got up +and danced with glee. + +It was while the school was in this disorganised state that John Adams +came upon them. + +"That's right, Sall," he said, heartily, as he patted the child's head. +"You keep 'em at it. Nothin' like havin' their noses held to the +grindstone when they're young. You didn't see anybody pass this way, +did you?" + +"No," replied the child, looking earnestly up into the seaman's +countenance. + +It was a peculiarity of these children that they could change from gay +to grave with wonderful facility. The mere putting of the question had +changed the current of their minds as they earnestly and gravely strove +to recollect whether any one had been seen to pass during the morning. + +"No," repeated Sally, "don't think nobody have pass this mornin'." + +"Yis, there vas vun," said little Dan, who had become more profoundly +thoughtful than the others. + +"Ay, who was that, my little man?" said Adams. + +"Isaac Martin's big sow," replied Dan, gravely. + +The shout of laughter that followed this was not in proportion to the +depth but the unexpectedness of the joke, and John Adams went on his +way, chuckling at the impudence of what he called the precocious snipe. + +In a short time the seaman found himself in a thicket, so dense that it +was with difficulty he could make his way through the luxuriant +underwood. On his left hand he could see the sky through the leaves, on +his right the steep sides of the mountain ridge that divided the island. + +Coming to a partially open space, he thought he saw the yellow side of a +hog. He raised his gun to fire, when a squeaky grunt told him that this +was a mother reposing with her family. He contented himself, therefore, +with a look at them, and gave vent to a shout that sent them scampering +down the hill. + +Soon after that he came upon a solitary animal and shot it. + +The report of the musket and the accompanying yell brought the Otaheitan +man Tetaheite to his side. + +"Well met, Tighty," (so he styled him); "I want you to carry that pig to +Mrs Adams. You didn't see any cats about, did you?" + +"No, sar." + +"Have you seen Mr Christian at the tanks this morning?" + +"Yis, sar; but him's no dere now. Him's go to de mountain-top." + +"Ha! I thought so. Well, take the pig to my wife, Tighty, and say I'll +be back before dark." + +The native threw the animal over his broad shoulders, and Adams directed +his steps to the well-known cave on the mountain-top, where the chief of +the mutineers spent so much of his leisure time. + +After the murder of the two natives, Talaloo and Ohoo, Fletcher +Christian had become very morose. It seemed as if a fit of deep +melancholy had taken entire possession of him. His temper had become +greatly soured. He would scarcely condescend to hold intercourse with +any one, and sought the retirement of his outlook in the cave on the +mountain-top, where few of his comrades ventured to disturb him, save +when matters of importance claimed his immediate attention. + +Latterly, however, a change had been observed in his demeanour. He had +become gentle, almost amiable, and much more like his former self before +the blighting influence of Bligh had fallen on him. Though he seldom +laughed, he would chat pleasantly with his companions, as in days gone +by, and frequently took pains to amuse the children. In particular, he +began to go frequently for long walks in the woods with his own sons-- +little Charlie on his back, and Thursday October gambolling by his side; +also Otaheitan Sally, for that careful nurse refused to acknowledge any +claim to the guardianship of Charlie as being superior to her own, not +even that of a father. + +But Fletcher Christian, although thus changed for the better in many +respects, did not change in his desire for solitude. His visits to the +outlook became not less but rather more frequent and prolonged than +before. + +He took no one into his confidence. The only man of the party who ever +ventured to visit him in his "outlook" was Edward Young; but his visits +were not frequent, though they were usually protracted when they did +take place, and the midshipman always returned from them with an +expression of seriousness, which, it was observed, never passed quickly +away. But Young was not more disposed to be communicative as to these +visits than Christian himself, and his comrades soon ceased to think or +care about the matter. + +With his mind, meditating on these things, John Adams slowly wended his +way up the mountain-side, until he drew near to the elevated hermitage +of his once superior officer, now his comrade in disgrace and exile. + +Stout John Adams felt his blunt, straightforward, seafaring spirit +slightly abashed as he thus ventured to intrude on the privacy of one +for whom, despite his sins and their terrible consequences, he had never +lost respect. It felt like going into the captain's cabin without +orders. The seaman's purpose was to remonstrate with Christian for thus +daily giving himself up, as he expressed it, "to such a long spell o' +the blues." + +Drawing near to the entrance of the cavern, he was surprised to hear the +sound of voices within. + +"Humph, somebody here before me," he muttered, coming to an abrupt +pause, and turning, as if with the intention of retracing his steps,-- +but the peculiarity of the sounds that issued from the cave held him as +if spellbound. + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +CONVERSE IN THE CAVE--CRUELTY, PUNISHMENT, AND REVELRY. + +It was Fletcher Christian's voice,--there could be no doubt about that; +but it was raised in very unfamiliar tones, and it went on steadily, +with inflections, as if in pathos and entreaty. + +"Can he be praying?" thought Adams, in surprise, for the tones, though +audible, were not articulate. Suddenly they waxed louder, and "God be +merciful to me, a sinner!" broke on the listener's ear. "Oh bless and +deliver the men whom I have led astray--poor Edward Young, John Adams, +Isaac Martin--" + +The tones here sank and again became inarticulate, but Adams could not +doubt that Christian was praying, by name, for the rest of his +companions. Presently the name of Jesus was heard distinctly, and then +the voice ceased. + +Ashamed to have been thus unintentionally led into eavesdropping, Adams +coughed, and made as much noise as possible while stooping to pass under +the low entrance to the cave. There was no door of any kind, but a turn +in the short passage concealed the cave itself from view. Before +entering, Adams stopped. + +"May I come in, sir?" he called out. + +"Is that you, Adams? By all means come in." + +Christian was seated, partly in the shadow, partly in the light that +streamed in from the seaward opening. A quiet smile was on his lips, +and his hand rested on an open book. It was the old Bible of the +_Bounty_. + +"Beg pardon, sir," said Adams, touching his hat. "Hope I don't intrude. +I heard you was--was--" + +"Praying," said Christian. "Yes, Adams, I have been praying." + +"Well, sir," said Adams, feeling rather awkward, but assuming an air of +encouragement, "you've got no reason to be ashamed of that." + +"Quite true, Adams, and I'm _not_ ashamed of it. I've not only got no +reason to be ashamed of praying, but I have strong reason to be thankful +that I'm inclined to pray. Sit down, Adams, on the ledge opposite. +You've got something on your mind, I see, that you want to get rid of. +Come, let's have it." + +There was nothing but good-natured encouragement in Christian's look and +tone; nevertheless, John Adams felt it extremely difficult to speak, and +wished with all his heart that he had not come to the cave. But he was +too bold and outspoken a man to be long oppressed with such feelings. +Clearing his voice, he said, "Well, Mr Christian, here's what I've got +to say. I've bin thinkin' for a long time past that it's of no manner +of use your comin' up here day after day an' mopin' away about what +can't be mended, an' goin' into the blues. You'll excuse me, sir, for +bein' so free, but you shouldn't do it, sir. You can't alter what's bin +done by cryin' over spilt milk, an' it comes heavy on the rest of us, +like. Indeed it do. So I've made so bold as to come an' say you'd +better drop it and come along with me for a day's shootin' of the cats +an' pigs, and then we'll go home an' have a royal supper an' a song or +two, or maybe a game at blind-man's-buff with the child'n. That's +what'll do you good, sir, an' make you forget what's past, take my word +for it, Mister Christian." + +While Adams was speaking, Christian's expression varied, passing from +the kindly smile with which he had received his friend to a look of +profound gravity. + +"You are both right and wrong, Adams, like the rest of us," he said, +grasping the sailor's extended hand; "thank you all the same for your +advice and good feeling. You are wrong in supposing that anything short +of death can make me forget the past or lessen my feeling of +self-condemnation; but you are right in urging me to cease moping here +in solitude. I have been told that already much more strongly than you +have put it." + +"Have you, sir?" said Adams, with a look of surprise. + +"Yes," said Christian, touching the open Bible, "God's book has told me. +It has told me more than that. It has told me there is forgiveness for +the chief of sinners." + +"You say the truth, sir," returned Adams, with an approving nod. +"Repenting as you do, sir, an' as I may say we all do, of what is past +and can't be helped, a merciful God will no doubt forgive us all." + +"That's not it, that's not it," said Christian, quickly. "Repentance is +not enough. Why, man, do you think if I went to England just now, and +said ever so earnestly or so truly, `I repent,' that I'd escape swinging +at the yard-arm?" + +"Well, I can't say you would," replied the sailor, somewhat puzzled; +"but then man's ways ain't the same as God's ways; are they, sir?" + +"That's true, Adams; but justice is always the same, whether with God or +man. Besides, if repentance alone would do, where is the need of a +Saviour?" + +Adams's puzzled look increased, and finally settled on the horizon. The +matter had evidently never occurred to him before in that light. After +a short silence he turned again to Christian. + +"Well, sir, to be frank with you, I must say that I don't rightly +understand it." + +"But I do," said Christian, again laying his hand on the Bible, "at +least I think I do. God has forgiven me for Jesus Christ's sake, and +His Spirit has made me repent and accept the forgiveness, and now I feel +that there is work, serious work, for me to do. I have just been +praying that God would help me to do it. I'll explain more about this +hereafter. Meanwhile, I will go with you to the settlement, and try at +least some parts of your plan. Come." + +There was a quiet yet cheerful air of alacrity about Fletcher Christian +that day, so strongly in contrast with his previous sad and even moody +deportment, that John Adams could only note it in silent surprise. + +"Have you been readin' much o' that book up here, sir?" he asked, as +they began to descend the hill. + +"Do you mean God's book?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, yes, I've been reading it, off and on, for a considerable time +past; but I didn't quite see the way of salvation until recently." + +"Ha! that's it; that's what must have turned your head." + +"What!" exclaimed Christian, with a smiling glance at his perplexed +comrade. "Do you mean turned in the right or the wrong direction?" + +"Well, whether right or wrong, it's not for me to say but for you to +prove, Mr Christian." + +This reply seemed to set the mind of the other wandering, for he +continued to lead his companion down the hill in silence after that. At +last he said-- + +"John Adams, whatever turn my head may have got, I shall have reason to +thank God for it all the days of my life--ay, and afterwards throughout +eternity." + +The silence which ensued after this remark was broken soon after by a +series of yells, which came from the direction of Matthew Quintal's +house, and caused both Christian and Adams to frown as they hastened +forward. + +"There's one man that needs forgiveness," said Adams, sternly. "Whether +he'll get it or not is a question." + +Christian made no reply. He knew full well that both McCoy and Quintal +were in the habit of flogging their slaves, Nehow and Timoa, and +otherwise treating them with great cruelty. Indeed, there had reached +him a report of treatment so shocking that he could scarcely credit it, +and thought it best at the time to take no notice of the rumour; but +afterwards he was told of a repetition of the cruelty, and now he seemed +about to witness it with his own eyes. Burning indignation at first +fired his soul, and he resolved to punish Quintal. Then came the +thought, "Who was it that tempted Quintal to mutiny, and placed him in +his present circumstances?" The continued cries of agony, however, +drove all connected thought from his brain as he ran with Adams towards +the house. + +They found poor Nehow tied to a cocoa-nut tree, and Quintal beside him. +He had just finished giving him a cruel flogging, and was now engaged in +rubbing salt into the wounds on his lacerated back. + +With a furious shout Christian rushed forward. Quintal faced round +quickly. He was livid with passion, and raised a heavy stick to strike +the intruders; but Christian guarded the blow with his left arm, and +with his right fist knocked the monster down. At the same time Adams +cut the lashings that fastened Nehow, who instantly fled to the bush. + +Quintal, although partially stunned, rose at once and faced his +adversary, but although possessed of bulldog courage, he could not +withstand the towering wrath of Christian. He shrank backward a step, +with a growl like a cowed but not conquered tiger. + +"The slave is _mine_!" he hissed between his teeth. + +"He is _not_; he belongs to God," said Christian. "And hark 'ee, +Matthew Quintal, if ever again you do such a dastardly, cowardly, brutal +act, I'll take on myself the office of your executioner, and will beat +out your brains. _You_ know me, Quintal; I never threaten twice." + +Christian's tone was calm, though firm, but there was something so +deadly in the glare of his clear blue eyes, that Quintal retreated +another step. In doing so he tripped over a root and fell prone upon +the ground. + +"Ha!" exclaimed Adams, with a bitter laugh, "you'd better lie still. +It's your suitable position, you blackguard." + +Without another word he and Christian turned on their heels and walked +away. + +"This is a bad beginning to my new resolves," said Christian, with a +sigh, as they descended the hill. + +"A bad beginning," echoed Adams, "to give a well-deserved blow to as +great a rascal as ever walked?" + +"No, not exactly that; but--Well, no matter, we'll dismiss the subject, +and go have a lark with the children." + +Christian said this with something like a return to his previous +good-humour. A few minutes later they passed under the banyan-tree at +the side of Adams's house, and entered the square of the village, where +children, kittens, fowls, and pigs were disporting themselves in joyous +revelry. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +TYRANTS AND PLOTTERS. + +Leaving Christian and Adams to carry out their philanthropic intentions, +we return to Matthew Quintal, whom we left sprawling on the ground in +his garden. + +This garden was situated in one of the little valleys not far from +Bounty Bay. Higher up in the same valley stood the hut of McCoy. +Towards this hut Quintal, after gathering himself up, wended his way in +a state of unenviable sulkiness. + +His friend McCoy was engaged at the time in smoking his evening pipe, +but that pipe did not now seem to render him much comfort, for he +growled and puffed in a way that showed he was not soothed by it, the +reason being that there was no tobacco in the pipe. That weed,--which +many people deem so needful and so precious that one sometimes wonders +how the world managed to exist before Sir Walter Raleigh put it to its +unnatural use--had at last been exhausted on Pitcairn Island, and the +mutineers had to learn to do without it. Some of them said they didn't +care, and submitted with a good grace to the inevitable. Others growled +and swore and fretted, saying that they knew they couldn't live without +it. To their astonishment, and no doubt to their disgust, they did +manage to live quite as healthily as before, and with obvious advantage +to health and teeth. Two there were, however, namely, Quintal and +McCoy, who would not give in, but vowed with their usual violence of +language that they would smoke seaweed rather than want their pipes. +Like most men of powerful tongue and weak will, they did not fulfil +their vows. Seaweed was left to the gulls, but they tried almost every +leaf and flower on the island without success. Then they scraped and +dried various kinds of bark, and smoked that. Then they tried the +fibrous husk of the cocoa-nut, and then the dried and pounded kernel, +but all in vain. Smoke, indeed, they produced in huge volumes, but of +satisfaction they had none. It was a sad case. + +"If we could only taste the flavour o' baccy ever so mild," they were +wont to say to their comrades, "the craving would be satisfied." + +To which Isaac Martin, who had no mercy on them, would reply, "If ye +hadn't created the cravin' boys, ye wouldn't have bin growlin' and +hankerin' after satisfaction." + +As we have said, McCoy was smoking, perhaps we should say agonising, +over his evening pipe. His man, or slave, Timoa, was seated on the +opposite side of the hut, playing an accompaniment on the flute to +McCoy's wife and two other native women, who were singing. The flute +was one of those rough-and-ready yellow things, like the leg of a chair, +which might serve equally well as a policeman's baton or a musical +instrument. It had been given by one of the sailors to Timoa, who +developed a wonderful capacity for drawing unmusical sounds out of it. +The singing was now low and plaintive, anon loud and harsh--always wild, +like the song of the savages. The two combined assisted the pipe in +soothing William McCoy--at least so we may assume, because he had +commanded the music, and lay in his bunk in the attitude of one enjoying +it. He sometimes even added to the harmony by uttering a bass growl at +the pipe. + +During a brief pause in the accompaniment Timoa became aware of a low +hiss outside, as if of a serpent. With glistening eyes and head turned +to one side he listened intently. The hiss was repeated, and Timoa +became aware that one of his kinsmen wished to speak with him in secret. +He did not dare, however, to move. + +McCoy was so much taken up with his pipe that he failed to notice the +hiss, but he observed the stoppage of the flute's wail. + +"Why don't you go on, you brute!" he cried, angrily, at the same time +throwing one of his shoes at the musician, which hit him on the shin and +caused him a moment's sharp pain. + +Timoa would not suffer his countenance to betray his feelings. He +merely raised the flute to his lips, exchanged a glance with the women, +and continued his dismal strain. His mind, however, was so engrossed +with his comrade outside that the harmony became worse than ever. Even +McCoy, who professed himself to be no judge of music, could not stand +it, and he was contemplating the application of the other shoe, when a +step was heard outside. Next moment his friend Quintal strode in and +sat down on a stool beside the door. + +"Oh, I say, Matt," cried McCoy, "who put that cocoa-nut on the bridge of +your nose?" + +"Who?" grow led Quintal, with an oath. "Who on the island would dare to +do it but that domineerin' upstart, Christian?" + +"Humph!" answered McCoy, with a slight sneer. He followed this up with +a curse on domineerers in general, and on Fletcher Christian in +particular. + +It is right to observe here that though we have spoken of these two men +as friends, it must not be understood that they were friendly. They had +no personal regard for each other, and no tastes in common, save the +taste for tobacco and drink; but finding that they disliked each other +less than they disliked their comrades, they were thus drawn into a +hollow friendship, as it were, under protest. + +"How did it happen?" asked McCoy. + +"Give us a whiff an' I'll tell 'ee. What sort o' stuff are you tryin' +now?" + +"Cocoa-nut chips ground small. The best o' baccy, Matt, for lunatics, +which we was when we cast anchor on this island. Here, fill your pipe +an' fire away. You won't notice the difference if you don't think about +it. My! what a cropper you must have come down when you got that dab on +your proboscis!" + +"Stop your howlin'," shouted Quintal to the musicians, in order to vent +some of the spleen which his friend's remark had stirred up. + +Timoa, not feeling sure whether the command was meant for the women or +himself, or, perhaps, regarding McCoy as the proper authority from whom +such an order should come, continued his dismal blowing. + +Quintal could not stand this in his roused condition. Leaping up, he +sprang towards Timoa, snatched the flute from his hand, broke it over +his head, and kicked him out of the hut. + +Excepting the blow and the kick, this was just what the Otaheitan +wanted. He ran straight into the bush, which was by that time growing +dark under the shades of evening, and found Nehow leaning against a tree +and groaning heavily, though in a suppressed tone. + +"Quick, come with me to the spring and wash my back," he cried, starting +up. + +They did not converse in broken English now, of course, but in their +native tongue. + +"What has happened?" asked Timoa, anxiously. + +While Nehow explained the nature of the cruel treatment he had just +received, they ran together to the nearest water-course. It chanced to +be pretty full at the time, heavy rain having fallen the day before. + +"There; oh! ha-a! not so hard," groaned the unfortunate man, as his +friend laved the water on his lacerated back. + +In a few minutes the salt was washed out of the wounds, and Nehow began +to feel easier. + +"Where is Menalee?" he asked, abruptly, as he sat down under the deep +shadow of a banyan-tree. + +"In his master's hut, I suppose," answered Timoa. "Go find him and +Tetaheite; fetch them both here," he said, with an expression of +ferocity on his dark face. + +Timoa looked at him with an intelligent grin. + +"The white men must die," he said. + +"Yes," Nehow replied, "the white men shall die." + +Timoa pointed to the lump which had been raised on his shin, grinned +again, and turning quickly round, glided into the underwood like an evil +spirit of the night. + +At that time Menalee was engaged in some menial work in the hut of John +Mills. Managing to attract his attention, Timoa sent him into the woods +to join Nehow. + +When Timoa crept forward, Tetaheite was standing near to a large bush, +watching with intense interest the ongoings of Christian, Adams, and +Young. These three, in pursuance of the philanthropic principle which +had begun to operate, were playing an uproarious game with the children +round a huge bonfire; but there was no "method in their madness;" the +children, excepting Thursday October Christian and Sally, were still too +young for concerted play. They were still staggerers, and the game was +simply one of romps. + +Tetaheite's good-humoured visage was glistening in the firelight, the +mouth expanded from ear to ear, and the eyes almost closed. + +Suddenly he became aware of a low hissing sound. The mouth closed, and +the eyes opened so abruptly, that there seemed some necessary connection +between the two acts. Moving quietly round the bush until he got into +its shadow, his dark form melted from the scene without any one +observing his disappearance. + +Soon the four conspirators were seated in a dark group under shade of +the trees. + +"The time has come when the black man must be revenged," said Nehow. +"Look my back. Salt was rubbed into these wounds. It is not the first +time. It shall be the last! Some of you have suffered in the same +way." + +It scarcely needed this remark to call forth looks of deadly hate on the +Otaheitan faces around him. + +"The white men must die," he continued. "They have no mercy. We will +show none." + +Even in the darkness of that secluded spot the glistening of the eyes of +these ill-treated men might have been seen as they gave ready assent to +this proposal in low guttural tones. + +"How is it to be done?" asked Menalee, after a short pause. + +"That is what we have met to talk about," returned Nehow. "I would hear +what my brothers have to say. When they have spoken I will open my +mouth." + +The group now drew closer together, and speaking in still lower tones, +as if they feared that the very bushes might overhear and betray them, +they secretly plotted the murder of the mutineers. + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +THE INFLUENCE OF INFANCY, ALSO OF VILLAINY. + +While the dark plots referred to in the last chapter were being hatched, +another life was introduced into the little community in the form of a +third child to Fletcher Christian,--a little girl. Much though this man +loved his two boys, a tenderer, though not, perhaps, a deeper region of +his heart was touched by his daughter. He at once named her Mary. Who +can tell the multitude of old memories and affections which were revived +by this name? Might it not have been that a mother, a sister, some lost +though not forgotten one, came forcibly to mind, and accounted, in some +degree at least, for the wealth of affection which he lavished on the +infant from the day of her birth? We cannot tell, but certain it is +that there never was a more devoted father than this man, who in England +had been branded with all that was ferocious, mean, desperate,--this +hardened outlaw, this chief of the mutineers. + +Otaheitan mothers are not particular in the matter of infant costume. +Little Mary's dress may be described in one word--nothing. Neither are +such mothers much troubled with maternal anxieties. Long before a +European baby would have been let out of the hands of mother or nurse, +even for a moment, little Molly Christian was committed to the care of +her delighted father, who daily bore her off to a favourite resort among +the cliffs, and there played with her. + +One day, on reaching his place of retirement, he was surprised to find a +man in possession before him. Drawing nearer, he observed that the man +also had a baby in his arms. + +"Why, I declare, it's Edward Young!" he exclaimed, on going up. + +"Of course it is," said the midshipman, smiling, as he held his own +little daughter Jane aloft. "Do you think you are to have it all to +yourself? And do you imagine that yours is the only baby in the world +worth looking at?" + +"You are right, Young," returned Christian, with the nearest approach to +a laugh he had made for years. "Come now," he added, sitting down on a +rock, and placing little Moll tenderly in the hollow of his left arm, so +as to make her face his friend, "let's set them up, and compare notes; +isn't she a beauty?" + +"No doubt of it whatever; and isn't mine ditto?" asked the midshipman, +sitting down, and placing little Poll in a similar position on his right +arm. + +"But, I say, if you and I are to get on amicably, we mustn't praise our +own babies. Let it be an agreement that you praise my Poll, and I'll +praise your Moll. Don't they make lovely _pendants_! Come, let us +change them for a bit." + +Christian agreeing to this, the infants were exchanged, and thereupon +these two fathers lay down on the soft grass, and perpetrated practical +jokes upon, and talked as much ineffable nonsense to, those two +whitey-brown balls, as if they had been splendid specimens of orthodox +pink and white. It was observed, however, by the more sagacious of the +wondering gulls that circled round them, that a state of perfect +satisfaction was not attained until the babies were again exchanged, and +each father had become exclusively engrossed with his own particular +ball. + +"Now, I say, Fletcher," remarked Young, rising, and placing himself +nearer his friend, "it's all very well for you and me to waste our time +and make fools of ourselves here; but I didn't merely come to show off +my Polly. I came to ask what you think of that rumour we heard last +night, that there has been some sort of plotting going on among the +Otaheitan men." + +"I don't think anything of it at all," replied Christian, whose +countenance at once assumed that look of gravity which had become +habitual to him since the day of the mutiny. "They have had too good +reason to plot, poor fellows, but I have such faith in their native +amiability of disposition, that I don't believe they will ever think of +anything beyond a brief show of rebellion." + +"I also have had faith in their amiability," rejoined Young; "but some +of us, I fear, have tried them too severely. I don't like the looks +they sometimes give us now. We did wrong at the first in treating them +as servants." + +"No doubt we did, but it would have been difficult to do otherwise," +said Christian; "they fell so naturally into the position of servants of +their own accord, regarding us, as they did, as superior beings. We +should have considered their interests when we divided the land, no +doubt. However, that can't well be remedied now." + +"Perhaps not," remarked Young, in an absent tone. "It would be well, +however, to take some precautions." + +"Come, we can discuss this matter as we go home," said Christian, +rising. "I have to work in my yam-plot to-day, and must deliver Molly +to her mother." + +They both rose and descended the slope that led to the village, chatting +as they went. + +Now, although the native men were of one mind as to the slaying of the +Englishmen, they seemed to have some difference of opinion as to the +best method of putting their bloody design in execution. Menalee, +especially, had many objections to make to the various proposals of his +countrymen. In fact, this wily savage was deceitful. Like Quintal and +McCoy among the whites, he was among the blacks a bad specimen of +humanity. + +The consequence was that Timoa and Nehow, being resolved to submit no +longer to the harsh treatment they had hitherto received, ran away from +their persecutors, and took refuge in the bush. + +To those who have travelled much about this world, it may sound absurd +to talk of hiding away in an island of such small size; but it must be +borne in mind that the miniature valleys and hills of the interior were, +in many places, very rugged and densely clothed with jungle, so that it +was, in reality, about as difficult to catch an agile native among them +as to catch a rabbit in a whin-field. + +Moreover, the two desperate men carried off two muskets and ammunition, +so that it was certain to be a work of danger to attempt their +recapture. In these circumstances, Christian and Young thought it best +to leave them alone for a time. + +"You may be sure," said the former, as they joined their comrades, "that +they'll soon tire of rambling, especially when their ammunition is +spent." + +Quintal, who stood with all the other men by the forge watching John +Williams as he wrought at a piece of red-hot iron, and overheard the +remark, did not, he said, feel so sure of that. Them niggers was fond +o' their liberty, and it was his opinion they should get up a grand +hunt, and shoot 'em down off-hand. There would be no peace till that +was done. + +"There would be no peace even after that was done," said Isaac Martin, +with a leer, "unless we shot you along wi' them." + +"It's impossible either to shoot or drown Matt Quintal, for he's born to +be hanged," said McCoy, sucking viciously at his cocoa-nut-loaded pipe, +which did not seem to draw well. + +"That's true," cried Mills, with a laugh, in which all the party except +Christian joined more or less sarcastically according to humour. + +"Oh, mother," exclaimed Otaheitan Sally, going into her hut on tiptoe a +few minutes later, with her great eyes dilated in horror, "the white +mens is talkin' of shootin' Timoa and Nehow!" + +"Never mind, dear," replied her mother in her own language, "it's only +talk. They'll never do such a thing. I'm sure Mr Young did not agree +to help in such a deed, did he?" + +"O no, mother," answered Sally, with tremendous emphasis; "he said it +would be very _very_, wicked to do such tings." + +"So it would, dear. No fear. It's only talk." + +Satisfied with this assurance, Sally went off with a cleared visage to +superintend some operation in connection with her ever-increasing +infantry charge, probably to pay some special attention to her favourite +Charlie, or to chaff "that booby" Thursday October, though, to say +truth, Thursday was no booby, but a smart intelligent fellow. + +The very next day after that, Timoa and Nehow came down to Edward Young +as he was at work alone in his yam-field. This field was at a +considerable distance from the settlement, high up on the mountain-side. +The two men had left their weapons behind them. + +"We's comed for give you a helpin' hand, Missr Yong, if you no lay hands +on us," said Nehow. + +"I have no wish to lay hands on you," replied Young; "besides, I have no +right to do so. You know I never regarded you as slaves, nor did I +approve of your bad treatment. But let me advise you to rejoin us +peaceably, and I promise to do what I can to make things go easier." + +"Nebber!" exclaimed Nehow, fiercely. + +"Well, it will be the worse for yourselves in the long-run," said Young, +"for Quintal and McCoy will be sure to go after you at last and shoot +you." + +The two men looked at each other when he said that, and smiled +intelligently. + +"However, if you choose to help me now," continued Young, "I'll be +obliged to you, and will pay you for what you do." + +The men set to work with a will, for they were fond of the kindly +midshipman; but they kept a bright look-out all the time, lest any of +the other Englishmen should come up and find them there. + +For two or three evenings in succession Timoa and Nehow came to Young's +field and acted in this way. Young made no secret of the fact, and +Quintal, on hearing of it, at once suggested that he and McCoy should go +up and lie in ambush for them. + +"If you do," said Young, with indignation, "I'll shoot you both. I +don't jest. You may depend on it, if I find either of you fellows +skulking near my field when these men are at work there, your lives +won't be worth a sixpence." + +At this Quintal and McCoy both laughed, and said they were jesting. +Nevertheless, while walking home together after that conversation, they +planned the carrying out of their murderous intention. + +Thus, with plot and counterplot, did the mutineers and Otaheitans render +their lives wretched. What with the bitter enmity existing between the +whites and blacks, and the mutual jealousies among themselves, both +parties were kept in a state of perpetual anxiety, and the beautiful +isle, which was fitted by its Maker to become a paradise, was turned +into a place of torment. + +Sometimes the other native men, Tetaheite and Menalee, joined Nehow and +Timoa in working in Young's garden, and afterwards went with them into +the bush, where they planned the attack which was afterwards made. + +At last the lowering cloud was fully charged, and the thunderbolt fell. + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +MURDER! + +The planting time came round at Pitcairn, and all was busy activity in +the little settlement at Bounty Bay. The women, engaged in household +work and in the preparation of food, scarcely troubled themselves to +cast an anxious eye on the numerous children who, according to age and +capacity, rolled, tumbled, staggered, and jumped about in noisy play. +The sun, streaming through the leaves of the woods, studded shady places +with balls of quivering light, and blazed in fierce heat in the open +where the men were at work, each in his respective garden. We have said +that those gardens lay apart, at some distance from each other, and were +partially concealed by shrubs or undulating knolls. + +The garden of John Williams was farthest off from the settlement. He +wrought in it alone on the day of which we write. Next to it was that +of Fletcher Christian. He also worked alone that day. + +About two hundred yards from his garden, and screened from it by a +wooded rising ground, was a piece of plantation, in which John Mills, +William McCoy, and Menalee were at work together. John Adams, William +Brown, and Isaac Martin were working in their own gardens near their +respective houses, and Quintal was resting in his hut. So was Edward +Young, who, having been at work since early morning, had lain down and +fallen into a deep slumber. + +The three native men, Timoa, Nehow, and Tetaheite, were still away in +the woods. If the unfortunate Englishmen had known what these men were +about, they would not have toiled so quietly on that peaceful morning! + +The Otaheitans met in a cocoa-nut grove at some distance to the eastward +of the settlement. Each had a musket, which he loaded with ball. They +did not speak much, and what they did say was uttered in a suppressed +tone of voice. + +"Come," said Timoa, leading the way through the woods. + +The others followed in single file, until they reached the garden where +Williams was at work. Here their movements were more cautious. As they +advanced, they crept along on their knees with the motion of cats, and +with as little noise. They could hear the sound of the armourer's +spade, as he turned up the soil. Presently they came to an opening in +the bushes, through which they could see him, not thirty yards off. + +Timoa drew himself together, and in a crouching attitude levelled his +musket. + +During their absence in the woods, these men had practised shooting at a +mark, doubtless in preparation for the occasion which had now arrived. +The woods and cliffs rang to the loud report, and Williams fell forward +without a cry or groan, shot through the heart. + +The murderers rose and looked at each other, but uttered not a word, +while Timoa recharged his gun. + +The report had, of course, been heard by every one in the settlement, +but it was a familiar sound, and caused neither surprise nor alarm. +McCoy merely raised himself for a moment, remarked to Mills that some +one must have taken a fancy for a bit of pork to supper, and then +resumed his work. + +Christian also heard the shot, but seemed to pay no regard to it. +Ceasing his labour in a few minutes, he raised himself, wiped his +forehead, and resting both hands on his spade, looked upwards at the +bright blue sky. Fleecy clouds passed across it now and then, +intensifying its depth, and apparently riveting Christian's gaze, for he +continued motionless for several minutes, with his clear eye fixed on +the blue vault, and a sad, wistful expression on his handsome face, as +if memory, busy with the past and future, had forgotten the present. It +was his last look. A bullet from the bushes struck him at that moment +on the breast. Uttering one short, sharp cry, he threw both hands high +above his head, and fell backwards. The spasm of pain was but +momentary. The sad, wistful look was replaced by a quiet smile. He +never knew who had released his spirit from the prison-house of clay, +for the eyes remained fixed on the bright blue sky, clear and steadfast, +until death descended. Then the light went out, just as his murderers +came forward, but the quiet smile remained, and his spirit returned to +God who gave it. + +It seemed as if the murderers were, for a few moments, awestruck and +horrified by what they had done; but they quickly recovered. What they +had set their faces to accomplish must now be done at all hazards. + +"Did you hear that cry?" said McCoy, raising himself from his work in +the neighbouring garden. + +"Yes; what then?" demanded Quintal. + +"It sounded to me uncommon like the cry of a wounded man," said McCoy. + +"Didn't sound like that to me," returned Quintal; "more like Mainmast +callin' her husband to dinner." + +As he spoke, Tetaheite appeared at the edge of the garden with a musket +in his hand, the other two natives remaining concealed in the bushes. + +"Ho, Missr Mills," he called out, in his broken English, "me have just +shoot a large pig. Will you let Menalee help carry him home?" + +"Yes;--you may go," said Mills, turning to Menalee. + +The Otaheitan threw down his tools, and joined his comrades in the bush, +where he was at once told what had been done. + +Menalee did not at first seem as much pleased as his comrades had +expected, nevertheless, he agreed to go with them. + +"How shall we kill Mills and McCoy?" asked Timoa, in a low whisper. + +"Shoot them," answered Menalee; "you have three muskets." + +"But they also have muskets," objected Tetaheite, "and are good shots. +If we miss them, some of us shall be dead men at once." + +"I'll tell you what we'll do," said Nehow, who thereupon hastily +detailed a plan, which they proceeded at once to carry out. + +Creeping round through the woods, they managed to get into McCoy's house +by a back window, unobserved. Menalee then ran down to the garden, as +if in a state of great excitement. + +"Oh, Missr McCoy, Timoa and Nehow hab come down from mountain, an' is +robbin' you house!" + +The bait took. McCoy ran up to his house. As soon as he reached the +door there was a volley from within, but McCoy remained untouched. + +Seeing this, and, no doubt, supposing that he must be badly wounded, +Menalee, who had followed him, seized him from behind. But McCoy, being +the stronger man, twisted himself suddenly round, grasped Menalee by the +waist with both hands, and flung him headlong into a neighbouring +pig-sty. He then turned and ran back to his garden to warn Mills. + +"Run for it, Mills," he cried; "run and take to the bush. All the black +scoundrels have united to murder us." + +He set the example by at once disappearing in the thick bush. But Mills +did not believe him. He and Menalee had always been good friends, and +he seemed to think it impossible that they would kill him. He +hesitated, and the hesitation cost him his life, for next moment a +bullet laid him low. + +Meanwhile McCoy ran to warn Christian. Reaching his garden, he found +him there, dead, with the tranquil smile still on his cold lips, and the +now glazed eyes still gazing upwards. One glance sufficed. He turned +and ran back to Christian's house to tell his wife what he had seen, but +the poor woman was sick in bed at the time and could not move. Running +then to Quintal's garden, he found him alive, but quite ignorant of what +was going on. + +"They seem to be wastin' a deal of powder to-day," he growled, without +raising himself, as McCoy came up; "but--hallo! you're blowing hard. +What's wrong?" + +As soon as he heard the terrible story he ran to his wife, who chanced +to be sitting near the edge of his garden. + +"Up, old girl," he cried, "your nigger countrymen are murderin' us all. +If you want to see any of us escape you'd better go and warn 'em. I +shall look after number one." + +Accordingly, with his friend of kindred spirit, he sought refuge in the +bush. + +Mrs Quintal had no desire to see all the white men slaughtered by her +countrymen. She therefore started off at once, and in passing the +garden of John Adams, called to him to take to the bush without delay, +and ran on. + +Unfortunately Adams did not understand what she meant. He, like the +others, had heard the firing, but had only thought of it as a foolish +waste of ammunition. Nothing was further from his thoughts on that +peaceful day and hour than deeds of violence and bloodshed. He +therefore continued at work. + +The four murderers, meanwhile, ran down to Isaac Martin's house, found +him in the garden, and pointing their muskets at him, pulled the +triggers. The pieces missed fire, and poor Martin, thinking probably +that it was a practical joke, laughed at them. They cocked again, +however, and fired. Martin, although he fell mortally wounded, had +strength to rise again and fly towards his house. The natives followed +him into it. There was one of the sledge-hammers of the _Bounty_ there. +One of them seized it, and with one blow beat in the poor man's skull. + +Roused, apparently, to madness by their bloody work, the Otaheitans now +rushed in a body to Brown's garden. The botanist had been somewhat +surprised at the frequent firing, but like his unfortunate +fellow-countrymen, appeared to have not the remotest suspicion of what +was going on. The sight of the natives, however, quickly opened his +eyes. He turned as if to fly, but before he could gain the bushes, a +well-aimed volley killed him. + +Thus in little more than an hour were five of the Englishmen murdered. + +It now seemed as if the revenge of the Otaheitans had been sated, for +after the last tragic act they remained for some time in front of +Brown's house talking, and resting their hands on the muzzles of their +guns. + +All this time Edward Young was lying asleep in ignorance of what was +being done, and purposely kept in ignorance by the women. Having been +told by Quintal's wife, they knew part of the terrible details of the +massacre, but they had no power to check the murderers. They, however, +adopted what means they could to shield Young, who, as we have said, was +a favourite with all the natives, and closed the door of the hut in +which he lay to prevent his being awakened. + +The suspicions of Adams having at length been aroused, he went down to +Brown's house to see what all the firing could be about. The children, +meanwhile, having some vague fears that danger threatened, had run into +their mother's huts. Everything passed so quickly, in fact, that few of +the people had time to understand or think, or take action in any way. + +Reaching the edge of Brown's garden, and seeing the four Otaheitans +standing as we have described, Adams stopped and called out to know what +was the matter. + +"Silence," shouted one of them, pointing his gun. Being unarmed, and +observing the body of Brown on the ground, Adams at once leaped into the +bush and ran. He was hotly pursued by the four men, but being strong +and swift of foot, he soon left them behind. In passing Williams's +house, he went towards it, intending to snatch up some thick garments, +and, if possible, a musket and ammunition, for he had no doubt now that +some of his countrymen must have been killed, and that he would have to +take to the bush along with them. An exclamation of horror escaped him +when he came upon the armourer's body. It needed no second glance to +tell that his comrade was dead. Passing into the house, he caught up an +old blanket and a coat, but there was no musket. He knew that without +arms he would be at the mercy of the savages. Being a cool and +courageous man, he therefore made a long detour through the bush until +he reached his own house, and entered by a back window. His sick wife +received him with a look of glad surprise. + +"Is it true they have killed some of the white men?" she asked. + +"Ay, too true," he replied, quickly; "and I must take to the bush for a +while. Where can I find a bag to hold some yams? Ah, here you are. +There's no fear o' them hurting you, lass." + +As he spoke a shot was heard. The natives had seen and followed him. A +ball, coming through the window, entered the back of his neck and came +out at the front. He fell, but instantly sprang up and leaped through +the doorway, where he was met by the four natives. + +Besides being a powerful man, Adams was very active, and the wound in +his neck was only a flesh one. He knocked down Timoa, the foremost of +the band, with one blow of his fist, and grappling with Nehow, threw him +violently over his prostrate comrade; but Menalee, coming up at the +moment, clubbed his musket and made a furious blow at Adams's head. He +guarded it with one hand, and in so doing had one of his fingers broken. +Tetaheite and Menalee then both sprang upon him, but he nearly +throttled the one, tripped up the other, and, succeeding by a violent +wrench in breaking loose, once more took to his heels. + +In running, the Otaheitans were no match for him. He gradually left +them behind. Then Timoa called out to him to stop. + +"No, you scoundrels," he shouted back in reply, "you want to kill me; +but you'll find it a harder job than you think." + +"No, no," cried Nehow, vehemently, "we don't want to kill you. Stop, +and we won't hurt you." + +Adams felt that loss of blood from his wound was quickly reducing his +strength. His case was desperate. He formed a quick resolve and acted +promptly. Stopping, he turned about and walked slowly but steadily back +towards the natives, with his hands in his pockets and his eyes fixed +sternly upon them. + +"Well, I have stopped, you see," he said, on coming up. "I will take +you at your word." + +"We will do you no harm if you will follow us," said Timoa. + +They then went together to the house of Young. Here they found its +owner, just roused by the noise of the scuffle with Adams, listening to +the explanations of the women, who were purposely trying to lead him +astray lest he should go out and be shot. The entrance of the four +natives, armed and covered with blood, and Adams unarmed and wounded, at +once showed him how matters stood. + +"This is a terrible business," he said in a low tone to Adams, while the +murderers were disputing noisily about going into the woods to hunt down +McCoy and Quintal. "Have they killed many of our comrades?" + +"God knows," said Adams, while Quintal's wife bound up the wound in his +neck. "There has been firin' enough to have killed us all twice over. +I thought some of you were spending the ammunition foolishly on hogs or +gulls. Williams is dead, I know, and poor Brown, for I saw their +bodies, but I can't say--" + +"Fletcher Christian is killed," said Quintal's wife, interrupting. + +"Fletcher Christian!" exclaimed Adams and Young in the same breath. + +"Ay, and Isaac Martin and John Mills," continued the woman. + +While she was speaking, the four Otaheitans, having apparently come to +an agreement as to their future proceedings, loaded their muskets +hastily, and rushing from the house soon disappeared in the woods. + +We shall not harrow the reader's feelings by following farther the +bloody details of this massacre. Let it suffice to add, briefly, that +after retiring from a fruitless search for the white men in the bush, +Menalee quarrelled with Timoa and shot him. This roused the anger of +the other two against Menalee, who fled to the bush and tried to make +friends with McCoy and Quintal. This he appeared to succeed in doing, +but when he was induced by them to give up his musket, he found out his +mistake, for they soon turned it on himself and killed him. Then +Young's wife, Susannah, was induced to kill Tetaheite with an axe, and +Young himself immediately after shot Nehow. + +When McCoy and Quintal were told that all the Otaheitan men were dead +they returned to the settlement. It was a terrible scene of desolation +and woe. Even these two rough and heartless men were awed for a time +into something like solemnity. + +The men now left alive on the island were Young, Adams, Quintal, and +McCoy. In the households of these four the widows and children of the +slain were distributed. The evidences of the bloody tragedy were +removed, the murdered men were buried, and thus came to a close the +first great epoch in the chequered history of Pitcairn Island. + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +MATT QUINTAL MAKES A TREMENDOUS DISCOVERY. + +Upwards of four years had now elapsed since the mutiny of the _Bounty_, +and of the nine mutineers who escaped to Pitcairn Island, only four +remained, with eleven women and a number of children. + +These latter had now become an important and remarkably noisy element in +the colony. They and time together did much to efface the saddening +effects of the gloomy epoch which had just come to a close. Time, +however, did more than merely relieve the feelings of the surviving +mutineers and widows. It increased the infantry force on the island +considerably, so that in the course of a few years there were added to +it a Robert, William, and Edward Young, with a little sister named Dolly +Young, to keep them in countenance. There also came a Jane Quintal and +an Arthur Quintal, who were closely followed by a Rebecca Adams and a +James Young. So that the self-imposed cares and burdens of that pretty, +active, and self-denying little creature, Otaheitan Sally, increased +with her years and stature. + +Before the most of these made their appearance, however, the poor +Otaheitan wives and widows became downcast and discontented. One cannot +wonder at this. Accustomed though they no doubt had been to war and +bloodshed on their native island, they must have been shocked beyond +measure by the scenes of brutality and murder through which they had +passed. The most of them being now without husbands, and the men who +remained being not on very amicable terms among themselves, these poor +creatures seem to have been driven to a state of desperation, for they +began to pine for their old home, and actually made up their minds to +quit the island in one of the _Bounty's_ old boats, and leave the white +men and even the children behind them. See Note 1. + +The old boat turned out to be so leaky, however, that they were +compelled to return. But they did not cease to repine and to desire +deliverance. Gentle-spirited and tractable though they undoubtedly +were, they had evidently been tried beyond their powers of endurance. +They were roused, and when meek people are roused they not unfrequently +give their friends and acquaintances, (to say nothing of those nearer), +a considerable surprise. + +Matthew Quintal, who had a good deal of sly humour about him, eventually +hit on a plan to quiet them, at least for a time. + +"What makes you so grumpy, old girl?" he said one day to his wife, while +eating his dinner under the shade of a palm-tree. + +"We wiss to go home," she replied, in a plaintive tone. + +"Well, well, you _shall_ go home, so don't let your spirits go down. If +you've got tired of me, lass, you're not worth keeping. We'll set to +work and build you a new boat out o' the old un. We'll begin this very +day, and when it's finished, you may up anchor and away to Otaheite, or +Timbuctoo for all that I care." + +The poor woman seemed pleased to hear this, and true to his word, +Quintal set to work that very day, with McCoy, whom he persuaded to +assist him. His friend thought that Quintal was only jesting about the +women, and that in reality he meant to build a serviceable boat for +fishing purposes. Young and Adams took little notice of what the other +two were about; but one day when the former came down to the beach on +Bounty Bay, he could not help remarking on the strange shape of the +boat. + +"It'll never float," he remarked, with a look of surprise. + +"It's not wanted to float," replied Quintal, "at least not just yet. We +can make it float well enough with a few improvements afterwards." + +Young looked still more surprised, but when Quintal whispered something +in his ear, he laughed and went away. + +The boat was soon ready, for it was to some extent merely a modification +of the old boat. Then all the women were desired to get into it and +push off, to see how it did. + +"Get in carefully now, old girls," said Quintal, with a leer. "Lay hold +of the oars and we'll shove you through the first o' the surf. Lend a +hand, McCoy. Now then, give way all--hi!" + +With a vigorous shove the two men sent the boat shooting through the +surf, which was unusually low that day. Young and Adams, with some of +the children, stood on the rocks and looked on. The women lay to their +oars like men, and the boat leaped like a flying-fish through the surf +into deep water. Forgetting, in the excitement of the moment, the +object they had in view, the poor things shouted and laughed with glee; +but they dipped their oars with sad irregularity, and the boat began to +rock in a violent manner. Then Young's wife, Susannah, caught what in +nautical parlance is called "a crab;" that is, she missed her stroke and +fell backwards into the bottom of the boat. + +With that readiness to render help which was a characteristic of these +women, Christian's widow, Mainmast, leaped up to assist the fallen +Susannah. It only wanted this to destroy the equilibrium of the boat +altogether. It turned bottom up in a moment, and left the female crew +floundering in the sea. + +To women of civilised lands this might have been a serious accident, but +to these Otaheitan ladies it was a mere trifle. Each had been able to +swim like a duck from earliest childhood. Indeed, it was evident that +some of their own little ones were equally gifted, for several of them, +led by Sally, plunged into the surf and went out to meet their parents +as they swam ashore. + +The men laughed heartily, and, after securing the boat and hauling it up +on the beach, returned to the settlement, whither the women had gone +before them to change their garments. + +This incident effectually cured the native women of any intention to +escape from the island, at least by boat, but it did not tend to calm +their feelings. On the contrary, it seemed to have the effect of +filling them with a thirst for vengeance, and they spent part of that +day in whispered plottings against the men. They determined to take +their lives that very night. + +While they were thus engaged, their innocent offspring were playing +about the settlement at different games, screaming at times with +vehement delight, and making the palm-groves ring with laughter. The +bright sun shone equally upon the heads that whirled with merriment and +those that throbbed with dark despair. + +Suddenly, in the midst of her play, little Sally came to an abrupt +pause. She missed little Matt Quintal from the group. + +"Where's he gone, Charlie?" she demanded of her favourite playmate, +whose name she had by that time learned to pronounce. + +"I dunno," answered Charlie, whose language partook more of the nautical +tone of Quintal than of his late father. + +"D'you know, Dan'l?" she asked of little McCoy. + +"I dunno nuffin'," replied Dan, "'xcep' he's not here." + +"Well, I must go an' seek 'im. You stop an' play here. I leave 'em in +your care, Toc. See you be good." + +It would have amused you, reader, if you had seen with your bodily eyes +the little creatures who were thus warned to be good. Even Dan McCoy, +who was considered out and out the worst of them, might have sat to +Rubens for a cherub; and as for the others, they were, we might almost +say, appallingly good. Thursday October, in particular, was the very +personification of innocence. It would have been much more appropriate +to have named him Sunday July, because in his meek countenance goodness +and beauty sat enthroned. + +Of course we do not mean to say that these children were good from +principle. They had no principle at that time. No, their actuating +motive was selfishness; but it was not concentrated, regardless +selfishness, and it was beautifully counteracted by natural amiability +of temperament. + +But they were quite capable of sin. For instance, when Sally had left +them to search for her lost sheep, little Dan McCoy, moved by a desire +for fun, went up behind little Charlie Christian and gave him an +unmerited kick. It chanced to be a painful kick, and Charlie, without a +thought of resentment or revenge, immediately opened his mouth, shut his +eyes, and roared. Horrified by this unexpected result, little Dan also +shut his eyes, opened his mouth, and roared. + +The face that Charlie made in these circumstances was so ineffably +funny, that Toc burst into uncontrollable laughter. Hearing this, the +roarers opened their eyes, slid quickly into the same key, and tumbled +head over heels on the grass, in which evolutions they were imitated by +the whole party, except such as had not at that time passed beyond the +staggering age. + +Meanwhile Sally searched the neighbouring bush in vain; then bethinking +her that Matt Quintal, who was fond of dangerous places, might have +clambered down to the rocks to bathe, she made the best of her way to +the beach, at a place which, being somewhat difficult of access from +above, was seldom visited by any save the wild and venturesome. + +She had only descended a few yards when she met the lost one clambering +up in frantic haste, panting violently, his fat cheeks on fire, and his +large eyes blazing. + +"Oh, Matt, what is it?" she exclaimed, awestruck at the sight of him. + +"Sip!--sip!" he cried, with labouring breath, as he pointed with one +hand eagerly to the sea and with the other to the shore; "bin men down +dare!--look, got suffin'! Oh!" + +A prolonged groan of despair escaped the child as he fumbled in a +trousers-pocket and pushed three fingers through a hole in the bottom of +it. + +"It's hoed through!" + +"What's hoed through?" asked Sally, with quick sympathy, trying to +console the urchin for some loss he had sustained. + +"De knife!" exclaimed little Dan, with a face of blank woe. + +"The knife! what knife? But don't cry, dear; if you lost it through +that hole it must be lying on the track, you know, somewhere between us +and the beach." + +This happy thought did not seem to have occurred to Matt, whose cheeks +at once resumed their flush and his eyes their blaze. + +Taking his hand, Sally led him down the track. + +They looked carefully as they went, and had not gone far when Matt +sprang forward with a scream of delight and picked up a clasp-knife. It +was by no means a valuable one. It had a buckhorn handle, and its +solitary blade, besides being broken at the point, was affected with +rust and tobacco in about equal proportions. + +"Oh, Matt, where did you find it?" + +"Come down and you see," he exclaimed, pointing with greater excitement +than ever to the beach below. + +They were soon down, and there, on the margin of the woods, they found a +heap of cocoa-nut shells scattered about. + +"Found de knife dere," said Matt, pointing to the midst of the shells, +and speaking in a low earnest voice, as if the subject were a solemn +one. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Sally, under her breath. + +"An' look here," said Matt, leading the girl to a sandy spot close by. +They both stood transfixed and silent, for there were _strange +foot-prints_ on the sand. + +They could not be mistaken. Sally and Matt knew every foot and every +shoe, white or black, in Pitcairn. The marks before them had been made +by unknown shoes. + +Just in proportion as youth is more susceptible of astonishment than +age, so was the surprise of those little ones immeasurably greater than +that of Robinson Crusoe in similar circumstances. With awestruck faces +they traced the foot-prints down to the water's edge. Then, for the +first time, it struck Matt that he had forgotten something. + +"Oh, me forget de sip--de sip!" he cried, and pointed out to sea. + +Sally raised her eyes and uttered an exclamation of fresh astonishment, +as well she might, for there, like a seagull on the blue wave, was a +ship under full sail. It was far-off, nearly on the horizon, but quite +distinct, and large enough to be recognised. + +Of course the gazers were spellbound again. It was the first real ship +they had ever seen, but they easily recognised it, being familiar with +man's floating prisons from the frequent descriptions given to them by +John Adams, and especially from a drawing made by him, years ago, on the +back of an old letter, representing a full-rigged man-of-war. This +masterpiece of fine art had been nailed up on the walls of John Adams's +hut, and had been fully expounded to each child in succession, as soon +after its birth as was consistent with common-sense--sometimes sooner. + +Suddenly Otaheitan Sally recovered herself. + +"Come, Matt, we must run home an' tell what we've seen." + +Away they went like two goats up the cliffs. Panting and blazing, they +charged down on their amazed playmates, shouting, "A sip! a sip!" but +never turning aside nor slacking their pace until they burst with the +news on the astonished mutineers. + +Something more than astonishment, however, mingled with the feelings of +the seamen, and it was not until they had handled the knife, and visited +the sandy cove, and seen the foot-prints, and beheld the vessel herself, +that they became fully convinced that she had really been close to the +island, that men had apparently landed to gather cocoa-nuts, and had +gone away without having discovered the settlement, which was hid from +their view by the high cliffs to the eastward of Bounty Bay. + +The vessel had increased her distance so much by the time the men +reached the cove, that it was impossible to make out what she was. + +"A man-o'-war, mayhap, sent to search for us," suggested Quintal. + +"Not likely," said Adams. "If she'd bin sent to search for us, she +wouldn't have contented herself with only pickin' a few nuts." + +"I should say she is a trader that has got out of her course," said +Young; "but whatever she is, we've seen the last of her. I'm not sure +that I wouldn't have run the risk of having our hiding-place found out, +and of being hung, for the sake of seeing once more the fresh face of a +white man." + +He spoke with a touch of sadness in his tone, which contrasted forcibly +with the remark that followed. + +"It's little _I_ would care about the risk o' bein' scragged," said +Quintal, "if I could only once more have a stiff glass o' grog an' a +pipe o' good, strong, genuine baccy!" + +"You'll maybe have the first sooner than you think," observed McCoy, +with a look of intelligence. + +"What d'ye mean?" asked Quintal. + +"Ax no questions an' you'll be told no lies," was McCoy's polite +rejoinder, to which Quintal returned a not less complimentary remark, +and followed Young and Adams, who had already begun to reascend the +cliffs. + +This little glimpse of the great outer world was obtained by the +mutineers in 1795, and was the only break of the kind that occurred +during a residence of many years on the lonely island. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. We are led to this conclusion in regard to the children by the +fact that in the various records which tell us of these women attempting +their flight, no mention is made of the children being with them. + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +THE CLOUDS GROW THICKER AND BLACKER. + +This glimpse of a stray vessel left a deep impression on the minds of +the exiles for many days, and it so far influenced the women that they +postponed their scheme of vengeance for some time. + +It must not be supposed, however, that all of those women, whom we have +described as being so gentle in character, were suddenly transformed +into demons. It was only two or three of the more energetic and +passionate among them who stirred up the rest, and forced them to fall +in with their views. These passionate ones were the widows of the men +who had been slain. They not only felt their loss most bitterly, but +became almost mad with the despair caused by their forlorn condition, +and the apparent hopelessness of deliverance. + +The sight of the passing ship had diverted their thoughts for a time, +perhaps had infused a little hope; but when the excitement died down +they renewed their plots against the men and at last made a desperate +attempt to carry them out. + +It was on a dark and stormy night. Thunder was rolling in the sky. +Lightning flashed among the mountain-peaks. Rain, the first that had +descended for many days, fell in fitful showers. It must have seemed to +the women either that the elements sympathised with them, or that the +extreme darkness was favourable to the execution of their plan, for +about midnight one of them rose from her bed, and crept noiselessly to +the corner of her hut, where she had seen Quintal deposit a loaded +musket the previous day. Possessing herself of the weapon, she went +straight to the widow of Fletcher Christian, and wakened her. She rose, +somewhat reluctantly, and followed the woman, whose face was concealed +in a kerchief of native cloth. The two then went cautiously to another +hat, where two of the wives of the murdered Otaheitans awaited them, the +one with a long knife, the other with an axe in her hand. + +They whispered together for a few seconds. As they did so there came a +tremendous crash of thunder, followed by a flash which revealed the dark +heads and glistening eyeballs drawn together in a group. + +"We had better not try to-night," said one voice, timidly. + +"Faint heart, you may stay behind," replied another voice, firmly. +"Come, let us not delay. They were cruel; we will be cruel too." + +They all crouched down, and seemed to melt into the dark earth. When +the next lightning-flash rent the heavens they were gone. + +Lying in his bunk, opposite the door of his house, that night, John +Adams lay half asleep and half-conscious of the storm outside. As he +lay with closed eyes there came a glaring flash of light. It revealed +in the open doorway several pallid faces and glistening eyeballs. + +"A strange dream," thought Adams; "stranger still to dream of dreaming." + +The thunder-clap that followed was mingled with a crash, a burst of +smoke, and a shriek that caused Adams to leap from his couch as a bullet +whistled past his ear. In the succeeding lightning-flash he beheld a +woman near him with an uplifted axe, another with a gleaming knife, and +Edward Young, who slept in his house that night, in the act of leaping +upon her. + +Adams was prompt to act on all occasions. He caught the uplifted axe, +and wrenching it from her grasp, thrust the woman out of the door. + +"There," he said, quietly, "go thy way, lass. I don't care to know +which of 'ee's done it. Let the other one go too, Mr Young. It's not +worth while making a work about it." + +The midshipman obeyed, and going to a shelf in a corner, took down a +torch made of small nuts strung on a palm-spine, struck a light, and +kindled it. + +"Poor things," he said, "I'm sorry for them. They've had hard times +here." + +"They won't try it again," remarked Adams, as he closed the door, and +quietly turned again into his sleeping-bunk. + +But John Adams was wrong. Foiled though they were on this occasion, and +glad though some of them must have been at their failure, there were one +or two who could not rest, and who afterwards made another attempt on +the lives of the men. This also failed. The first offence had been +freely forgiven, but this time it was intimated that if another attempt +were made, they should all be put to death. Fortunately, the courage of +even the most violent of the women had been exhausted. To the relief of +the others they gave up their murderous designs, and settled down into +that state of submission which was natural to them. + +One might have thought that now, at last, the little colony of Pitcairn +had passed its worst days, most of the disturbing elements having been +removed; but there was yet one other cloud, the blackest of all, to +burst over them. One of the world's greatest curses was about to be +introduced among them. It happened thus:-- + +One night William McCoy went to his house up on the mountain-side, +entered it, and shut and bolted the door. This was an unusual +proceeding on his part, and had no connection with the recent attempts +at murder made by the women, because he was quite fearless in regard to +that, and scoffed at the possibility of being killed by women. He also +carefully fastened the window-shutters. He appeared to be somewhat +excited, and went about his operations with an air at once of slyness +and of mystery. + +A small torch or nut-candle which he lighted and set on a bracket on the +wall gave out a faint flickering light, which barely rendered darkness +visible, and from its position threw parts of the chamber into deepest +gloom. It looked not unlike what we suppose would be the laboratory of +an alchemist of the olden time, and McCoy himself, with his eager yet +frowning visage, a native-made hat slouched over his brows, and a piece +of native cloth thrown over his shoulders like a plaid, was no bad +representative of an old doctor toiling for the secrets that turn base +metal into gold, and old age into youth--secrets, by the way, which have +been lying open to man's hand for centuries in the Word of God. + +Taking down from a shelf a large kettle which had formed part of the +furniture of the _Bounty_, and a twisted metal pipe derived from the +same source, he fitted them up on a species of stove or oven made of +clay. The darkness of the place rendered his movements not very +obvious; but he appeared to put something into the kettle, and fill it +with water. Then he put charcoal into the oven, kindled it, and blew it +laboriously with his mouth until it became red-hot. This flameless fire +did not tend much to enlighten surrounding objects; it merely added to +them a lurid tinge of red. The operator's face, being close in front of +the fire as he blew, seemed almost as hot as the glowing coals. + +With patient watchfulness he sat there crouching over the fire for +several hours, occasionally blowing it up or adding more fuel. + +As the experiment went on, McCoy's eyes seemed to dilate with +expectation, and his breathing quickened. After a time he rose and +lifted a bottle out of a tub of water near the stove. The bottle was +attached to one end of the twisted tube, which was connected with the +kettle on the fire. Detaching it therefrom, he raised it quickly to the +light. Then he put it to his nose and smelt it. As he did so his face +lit up with an expression of delight. Taking down from a shelf a +cocoa-nut cup, he poured into it some sparkling liquid from the bottle. +It is a question which at that moment sparkled most, McCoy's eyes or the +liquid. + +He sipped a little, and his rough visage broke into a beaming smile. He +drank it all, and then he smacked his lips and laughed--not quite a +joyous laugh, but a wild, fierce, triumphant laugh, such as one might +imagine would issue from the panting lips of some stout victor of the +olden time as he clutched a much-coveted prize, after slaying some +half-dozen enemies. + +"Ha ha! I've got it at last!" he cried aloud, smacking his lips again. + +And so he had. Long and earnestly had he laboured to make use of a +fatal piece of knowledge which he possessed. Among the hills of +Scotland McCoy had learned the art of making ardent spirits. After many +failures, he had on this night made a successful attempt with the +ti-root, which grew in abundance on Pitcairn. The spirit was at last +produced. As the liquid ran burning down his throat, the memory of a +passion which he had not felt for years came back upon him with +overwhelming force. In his new-born ecstasy he uttered a wild cheer, +and filling more spirit into the cup, quaffed it again. + +"Splendid!" he cried, "first-rate. Hurrah!" + +A tremendous knocking at the door checked him, and arrested his hand as +he was about to fill another cup. + +"Who's that?" he demanded, angrily. + +"Open the door an' you'll see." + +The voice was that of Matthew Quintal. McCoy let him in at once. + +"See here," he cried, eagerly, holding up the bottle with a leer, "I've +got it at last!" + +"So any deaf man might have found out by the way you've bin shoutin' it. +Why didn't you open sooner?" + +"Never heard you, Matt. Was too much engaged with my new friend, I +suppose. Come, I'll introdooce him to you." + +"Look alive, then," growled Quintal, impatiently, for he seemed to have +smelt the spirit, as the warhorse is said to smell the battle from afar. +"Give us hold o' the cup and fill up; fill up, I say, to the brim. +None o' your half measures for me." + +He took a mouthful, rolled it round and round with his tongue once or +twice, and swallowed it. + +"Heh, that's _it_ once more! Come, here's your health, McCoy! We'll be +better friends than ever now; good luck to 'ee." + +McCoy thought that there was room for improvement in their friendship, +but said nothing, as he watched his comrade pour the fiery liquid slowly +down his throat, as if he wished to prolong the sensation. + +"Another," he said, holding out the cup. + +"No, no; drink fair, Matt Quintal; wotever you do, drink fair. It's my +turn now." + +"Your turn?" retorted Quintal, fiercely; "why, you've bin swillin' away +for half-an-hour before I came." + +"No, Matt, no; honour bright. I'd only just begun. But come, we won't +quarrel over it. Here's the other half o' the nut, so we'll drink +together. Now, hold steady." + +"More need for me to give you that advice; you shake the bottle as if +you'd got the ague. If you spill a drop, now, I'll--I'll flatten your +big nose on your ugly face." + +Not in the least hurt by such uncomplimentary threats, McCoy smiled as +he filled the cup held by his comrade. The spirit was beginning to tell +on him, and the smile was of that imbecile character which denotes +perfect self-satisfaction and good-will. Having poured the remainder +into his own cup, he refixed the bottle to the tube of the "still," and +while more of the liquid was being extracted, the cronies sat down on +low stools before the stove, to spend a pleasant evening in poisoning +themselves! + +It may be interesting and instructive, though somewhat sad, to trace the +steps by which those two men, formed originally in God's image, reduced +themselves, of their own free will, to a level much lower than that of +the brutes. + +"Doesn't the taste of it bring back old times?" said McCoy, holding his +cup to the light as he might have held up a transparent glass. + +"Ay," assented Quintal, gradually becoming amiable, "the good old times +before that fool Fletcher Christian indooced us to jine him. Here's to +'ee, lad, once more." + +"Why, when I think o' the jolly times I've had at the Blue Boar of +Plymouth," said McCoy, "or at the Swan wi' the two throttles, in--in--I +forget where, I feel--I feel--like--like--here's your health again, Matt +Quintal. Give us your flipper, man. You're not a bad feller, if you +wasn't given to grumpin' so much." + +Quintal's amiability, even when roused to excess by drink, was easily +dissipated. The free remarks of his comrade did not tend to increase +it, but he said nothing, and refreshed himself with another sip. + +"I really do think," continued McCoy, looking at his companion with an +intensity of feeling which is not describable, "I really do think that-- +that--when I think o' that Blue Boar, I could a'most become poetical." + +"If you did," growled Quintal, "you would not be the first that had +become a big fool on a worse subjec'." + +"I shay, Matt Quintal," returned the other, who was beginning to talk +rather thickly, so powerful was the effect of the liquor on his +unaccustomed nerves; "I shay, ole feller, you used to sing well once. +Come g-give us a stave now." + +"Bah!" was Quintal's reply, with a look of undisguised contempt. + +"Jus-so. 'Xactly my opinion about it. Well, as you won't sing, I'll +give you a ditty myself." + +Hereupon McCoy struck up a song, which, being deficient in taste, while +its execution was defective as well as tuneless, did not seem to produce +much effect on Quintal. He bore it with equanimity, until McCoy came to +a note so far beyond his powers that he broke into a shriek. + +"Come, get some more drink," growled his comrade, pointing to the still; +"it must be ready by this time." + +"Shum more drink!" exclaimed McCoy, with a look of indignant surprise. +Then, sliding into a smile of imbecile good-humour, "You shl-'ave-it, my +boy, you shl-'ave-it." + +He unfixed the bottle with an unsteady hand, and winking with dreadful +solemnity, filled up his companion's cup. Then he filled his own, and +sat down to resume his song. But Quintal could stand no more of it; he +ordered his comrade to "stop his noise." + +"Shtop my noise!" exclaimed McCoy, with a look of lofty disdain. + +"Yes, stop it, an' let's talk." + +"Well, I'm w-willin' t' talk," returned McCoy, after a grave and +thoughtful pause. + +They chose politics as a light, agreeable subject of conversation. + +"Now, you see, 's my 'pinion, Matt, that them coves up't th' Admiralty +don't know no more how to guv'n this country than they knows how to work +a Turk's head on a man-rope." + +"P'r'aps not," replied Quintal, with a look of wise solemnity. + +"Nor'-a-bit--on it," continued McCoy, becoming earnest. "An' wot on +earth's the use o' the Lords an' Commons an' War Office? W'y don't they +slump 'em all together into one 'ouse, an' get the Archbishop o' +Cantingbury to bless 'em all, right off, same as the Pope does. That's +w'ere it is. D'ye see? That's w'ere the shoe pinches." + +"Ah, an' what would you make o' the King?" demanded Quintal, with an +argumentative frown. + +"The King, eh?" said McCoy, bringing his fuddled mind to bear on this +royal difficulty; "the King, eh? Why, I'd--I'd make lop-scouse o' the +King." + +"Come, that's treason. You shan't speak treason in _my_ company, Bill +McCoy. I'm a man-o'-war's man. It won't do to shove treason in the +face of a mar-o'-wa-a-r. If I _am_ a mutineer, w'at o' that? I'll let +no other man haul down my colours. So don't go shovin' treason at me, +Bill McCoy." + +"I'll shove treason w'erever I please," said McCoy, fiercely. + +"No you shan't." + +"Yes I shall." + +From this point the conversation became very contradictory in tone, then +recriminative, and after that personally abusive. At last Quintal, +losing temper, threw the remains of his last cup of spirits in his +friend's face. McCoy at once hit Quintal on the nose. He returned +wildly on the eye, and jumping up, the two grappled in fierce anger. + +They were both powerful men, whose natural tendency to personal violence +towards each other had, up to this time, been restrained by prudence; +but now that the great destroyer of sense and sanity was once again +coursing through their veins, there was nothing to check them. All the +grudges and bitternesses of the past few years seemed to have been +revived and concentrated on that night, and they struggled about the +little room with the fury of madmen, striking out savagely, but with +comparatively little effect, because of excessive passion, coupled with +intoxication, clutching and tugging at each other's whiskers and hair, +and cursing with dreadful sincerity. + +There was little furniture in the room, but what there was they smashed +in pieces. Quintal flung McCoy on the table, and jumping on the top of +him, broke it down. The other managed to get on his legs again, +clutched Quintal by the throat, and thrust him backward with such +violence that he went crashing against the little window-shutters, split +them up, and drove them out. In one of their wildest bursts they both +fell into the fireplace, overturned the still, and scattered the fire. +Fortunately, the embers were nearly out by this time. Tumbling over the +stools and wreck, these men--who had begun the evening as friends, +continued it as fools, and ended it as fiends--fell side by side into +one of the sleeping-bunks, the bottom of which was driven down by the +shock as they sank exhausted amid the wreck, foaming with passion, and +covered with blood. This was the climax; they fell into a state of +partial insensibility, which degenerated at last into a deep lethargic +slumber. + +Hitherto the quarrels and fights that had so disturbed the peace of +Pitcairn, and darkened her moral sky, had been at least intelligently +founded on hatred or revenge, with a definite object and murderous end +in view. Now, for the first time, a furious battle had been fought for +nothing, with no object to be gained, and no end in view; with besotted +idiots for the champions, and with strong drink for the cause. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +AQUATIC AMUSEMENTS. + +Now, it must not be supposed that the wives and widows of these +mutineers gave themselves up to moping or sadness after the failure of +their wild attempt to make their condition worse by slaying all the men. +By no means. By degrees they recovered the natural tone of their mild +yet hearty dispositions, and at last, we presume, came to wonder that +they had ever been so mad or so bad. + +Neither must it be imagined that these women were condemned to be the +laborious drudges who are fitly described as "hewers of wood and drawers +of water." They did indeed draw a good deal of water in the course of +each day, but they spent much time also in making the tapa cloth with +which they repaired the worn-out clothes of their husbands, or +fabricated petticoats for themselves and such of the children as had +grown old enough to require such garments. But besides these +occupations, they spent a portion of their time in prattling gossip, +which, whatever the subject might be, was always accompanied with a +great deal of merriment and hearty laughter. They also spent no small +portion of their time in the sea, for bathing was one of the favourite +amusements of the Pitcairners, young and old. + +Coming up one day to Susannah, the wife of Edward Young, Thursday +October Christian begged that she would go with him and bathe. + +Susannah was engaged in making the native cloth at the time, and laid +down her mallet with a look of indecision. It may be remarked here that +a mallet is used in the making of this cloth, which is not woven, but +beaten out from a state of pulp; it is, in fact, rather a species of +tough paper than cloth, and is produced from the bark of the paper +mulberry. + +"I's got to finish dis bit of cloth to-day, Toc," said Susannah, in +broken English, for she knew that Master Thursday October preferred that +tongue to Otaheitan, though he could speak both, "an' it's gettin' +late." + +"Oh, _what_ a pity!" said TOC, with a look of mild disappointment. + +Now Susannah was by far the youngest and most girlish among the +Otaheitan women, and could not resist an appeal to her feelings even +when uttered only by the eyes. Besides, little Toc was a great +favourite with her. She therefore burst into a merry laugh, gently +pulled Thursday's nose, and said, "Well, come along; but we'll git some +o' the others for go too, an' have some fun. You go klect de jumpers. +Me git de womans." Susannah referred to the older children by the term +"Jumpers." + +Highly pleased, the urchin started off at once. He found one of the +jumpers, namely, Otaheitan Sally, nursing Polly Young, while she +delivered an oracular discourse to Charlie Christian, who sat at her +feet, meekly receiving and believing the most outrageous nonsense that +ever was heard. It is but just to Sally, however, to say that she gave +her information in all good faith, having been previously instructed by +John Adams, whose desire for the good of the young people was at that +period stronger than his love of truth. Wishing to keep their minds as +long as possible ignorant of the outer world, he had told them that +ships came out of a hole in the clouds on the horizon. + +"Yes, Charlie, it's quite true; father Adams says so. They comes out of +a hole on the horizon." + +Charlie's huge eyes gazed in perplexity from his instructor's face to +the horizon, as if he expected to behold a ship emerging from a hole +then and there. Then, turning to Sally again with a simple look, he +asked-- + +"But why does sips come out of holes on de 'rizon?" + +Sally was silenced. She was not the first knowing one who had been +silenced by a child. + +Little Daniel McCoy came up at the moment. Having passed the +"staggering" period of life, he no longer walked the earth in a state of +nudity, but was decorated with a pair of very short tapa trousers, cut +in imitation of seafaring ducks, but reaching only to the knees. He +also wore a little shirt. + +"Me kin tell why ships come out ob de hole in de horizon," he said, with +a twinkle in his eyes; "just for notin' else dan to turn about an' go +back into de hole again." + +"Nonsense, Dan'l!" cried Sally, with a laugh. + +"Nonsense!" repeated Dan, with an injured look. "Didn't you saw'd it +happen jus' t'other day?" + +"Well, I did saw the ship go farer an' farer away, an' vanish," admitted +Sall; "but he didn't go into a hole that time." + +"Pooh!" ejaculated little Dan, "dat's 'cause de hole was too far away to +be seen." + +Further discussion of the subject was prevented by the arrival of +Thursday. + +"Well, Toc, you's in a hurry to-day," said little Dan, with a look of +innocent insolence. + +"We're all to go an' bathe, child'n," cried Thursday, with a look of +delight; "Susannah's goin', an' all the 'oomans, an' she send me for +you." + +"Hurrah!" shouted Dan and Sally. + +"Goin' to bave," cried Charlie Christian to Lizzie Mills, who was +attracted by the cheering, which also brought up Matt Quintal, who led +his little sister Sarah by the hand. Sarah was yet a staggerer, and so +was Dinah Adams, also Mary Christian; Polly Young and John Mills had not +yet attained even to the staggering period--they were only what little +Dan McCoy called sprawlers. + +Before many minutes had elapsed, the whole colony of women, jumpers, +staggerers, and sprawlers, were assembled on the beach at Bounty Bay. + +It could scarcely be said that the women undressed--they merely threw +off the light scarf or bodice that covered their shoulders, but kept on +the short skirts, which were no impediment to their graceful movements +in the water. The jumpers, of course, were only too glad of the excuse +to get out of their very meagre allowance of clothing, and the rest +were, so to speak, naturally ready for the plunge. + +It was a splendid forenoon. There was not a zephyr to ruffle the calm +breast of the Pacific, nevertheless the gentle undulation of that mighty +bosom sent wave after wave like green liquid walls into the bay in +ceaseless regularity. These, toppling over, and breaking, and coming in +with a succession of magnificent roars, finally hissed in harmless foam +on the shingly beach. + +"Now, T'ursday," said Mrs Adams, "you stop here an' take care o' de +sprawlers." + +Adams's helpmate was the oldest of the women, and defective in vision. +Her commands were law. Thursday October would as soon have thought of +disobeying Adams himself as his wife. It was not in his nature, despite +its goodness, to help feeling disappointed at being left in charge of +the little ones. However, he made up his mind at once to the sacrifice. + +"Never mind, Toc," said Young's wife, with a bright smile, "I'll stay +an' keep you company." + +This was ample compensation to Thursday. He immediately flung himself +into the shallow surf, and turning his face to the land, held out his +arms and dared the little ones to come to him. Two of them instantly +accepted the challenge, crept down to the water, and were beaten back by +the next rush of foam. But they were caught up and held aloft with a +shout of glee by Susannah. + +Meanwhile, the women advanced into the deep surf with the small children +on their shoulders, while the others, being able to look after +themselves, followed, panting with excitement for although able to swim +like corks they found it extremely difficult to do battle with the +rushing water. + +Deeper and deeper the foremost women went, until they neared the +unbroken glassy billows. + +"I'll go at de nixt," muttered Mrs Adams to Mary Christian, who was on +her back, clutching tight round her neck. + +The "nixt" was a liquid wall that came rolling grandly in with +ever-increasing force and volume, until it hovered to its fall almost +over the heads of the daring women. Mrs Adams, Mainmast, and Mills's +widow, who were the foremost of the group, bent their heads forward, and +with a graceful but vigorous plunge, sprang straight into the wall of +water and went right through it. The others, though a moment later, +were quite in time. The children also, uttering wild screams in varied +keys, faced the billow gallantly, and pierced it like needles. Another +moment, and they were all safe in deep water on the seaward side, while +the wave went thundering to the shore in a tumultuous wilderness of +foam, and spent its weakened force among the babies. + +The moment the women were safe beyond the rolling influence of these +great waves, in the calm sea beyond, they threw the staggerers from +their shoulders and let them try their own unaided powers, while the +jumpers swam and floated around to watch the result. + +These wonderful infants disported themselves variously in the sea. Mary +Christian wobbled about easily, as if too fat to sink, and Bessy Mills +supported herself bravely, being much encouraged by the presence and the +cheering remarks of that humorous imp Dan McCoy. But Charlie Christian +showed symptoms of alarm, and losing heart after a few moments, threw up +his fat little arms and sank. Like the swooping eagle, his mother +plunged forward, placed a hand under him, and lifted him on her +shoulders, where he recovered equanimity in a few minutes, and soon +wanted to be again sent afloat. When this had gone on for a little +time, the women reshouldered their babies and swam boldly out to sea, +followed at various distances by the youngsters. Of these latter, Sall +of Otaheite was by far the best. She easily outstripped the other +children, and could almost keep pace with the women. + +Meanwhile Thursday October Christian and Susannah Young performed +amazing feats with the infants in the shallow water on the beach. Sarah +Quintal and Johnny Mills gave them some trouble, having a strong +disposition to explore places beyond their depth; but Dinah Adams and +Polly Young were as good as gold, spluttering towards their guardians +when called, and showing no tendency to do anything of their own +immediate free will, except sit on the sand and let the foam rush round +and over them like soap-suds. + +Now, it is well-known that every now and then there are waves of the sea +which seem to have been born on a gigantic scale, and which, emerging +somewhere from the great deep, come to shore with a grander roar and a +higher rush than ordinary waves. + +One such roller came in while no one was on the look-out for it. Its +deep-toned roar first apprised Susannah of its approach, but before she +could run to the rescue its white crest was careering up the beach in +magnificent style. It caught the infants, each sitting with a look of +innocent surprise on the sand. It turned them head over heels, and +swept them up the shingly shore. It tumbled Susannah herself over in +its might, and swept Thursday October fairly off his legs. Having +terminated its career thus playfully, the big wave retired, carrying +four babies in its embrace. But Susannah and Thursday had regained +their footing and their presence of mind. With a brave and, for him, a +rapid spring, Thursday caught little Sarah and Dinah as they were +rolling helpless down the strand, the one by an arm, the other by a leg, +and held on. At the same instant Susannah sprang forward and grasped +Jack Mills by the hair of the head, but poor Polly Young was beyond her +reach. Little Polly was the smallest, the neatest, and the dearest of +the sprawling band. She was rolling to her doom. The case was +desperate. In this emergency Susannah suddenly hurled Jack Mills at +Thursday. The poor boy had to drop the other two in order to catch the +flying Jack, but the other two, sliding down his body, held each to a +Thursday October leg like limpets. The result was that the four +remained firm and safe, while Susannah leaped into the surf and rescued +little Poll. + +It all happened so quickly that the actors had scarcely time to think. +Having reached the dry land, they looked seaward, and there saw their +more practised companions about to come in on the top of a wave. For a +few seconds their heads were seen bobbing now on the top, now between +the hollows of the waves. Then they were seen on a towering snowy crest +which was just about to fall. On the summit of the roaring wave, as if +on a snowy mountain, they came rushing on with railway speed. To an +unpractised eye destruction among the rocks was their doom. But they +had taken good aim, and came careering to the sandy patch where the +little ones sprawled. In another moment they stood safe and sound upon +the land. + +This was but an everyday feat of the Pitcairners, who went up to their +village chatting merrily, and thinking nothing more about the adventure +than that it was capital fun. + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +THE DARKEST HOUR. + +A long time after the events narrated in the last chapter, John Adams +and Edward Young sat together one evening in the cave at the top of the +mountain, where poor Fletcher Christian had been wont to hold his lonely +vigils. + +"I've bin thinkin' of late," said Young, "that it is very foolish of us +to content ourselves with merely fishing from the rocks, when there are +better fish to be had in deep water, and plenty of material at hand for +making canoes." + +"You're right, sir; we ought to try our hands at a canoe. Pity we +didn't do so before the native men was all killed. They knew what sort +o' trees to use, and how to split 'em up into planks, an' all that sort +o' thing." + +"But McCoy used to study that subject, and talk much about it, when we +were in Otaheite," returned Young. "I've no doubt that with his aid we +could build a good enough canoe, and the women would be as able as the +men, no doubt, to direct us what to do if we were in a difficulty. +McCoy is a handy fellow, you know, with tools, as he has proved more +than once since the death of poor Williams." + +Adams shook his head. + +"No doubt, Mr Young, he's handy enough with the tools; but ever since +he discovered how to make spirits, neither he nor Quintal, as you know, +sir, are fit for anything." + +"True," said Young, with a perplexed look; "it never occurred to me +before that strong drink was such a curse. I begin now to understand +why some men that I have known have been so enthusiastic in their outcry +against it. Perhaps it would be right for you and me to refuse to drink +with Quintal and McCoy, seeing that they are evidently killing +themselves with it." + +"I don't quite see that, sir," objected Adams. "A glass of grog don't +do me no harm that I knows of, an' it wouldn't do them no good if we was +to stop our allowance." + +"It might; who can tell?" said Young. "I've not thought much about the +matter, however, so we won't discuss it. But what would you say if we +were to hide the kettle that McCoy makes it in, and refuse to give it up +till the canoe is finished?" + +Again Adams shook his head. + +"They'd both go mad with DT," said he, by which letters he referred to +the drunkard's awful disease, _delirium tremens_. + +"Well, at all events, we will try to persuade him to go to work, and the +sooner the better," said Young, rising and leaving the cave. + +In pursuance of this plan, Young spoke to McCoy in one of his few sober +moments, and got him persuaded to begin the work, and to drink less +while engaged in it. + +Under the impulse of this novelty in his occupation, the unhappy man did +make an attempt to curb himself, and succeeded so far that he worked +pretty steadily for several days, and made considerable progress with +the canoe. + +The wood was chosen, the tree felled, the trunk cut to the proper length +and split up into very fair planks, which were further smoothed by means +of a stone adze, brought by the natives from Otaheite, and it seemed as +if the job would be quickly finished, when the terrible demon by whom +McCoy had been enslaved suddenly asserted his tyrannical power. +Quintal, who rendered no assistance in canoe-building, had employed +himself in making a "new brew," as he expressed it, and McCoy went up to +his hut in the mountain one evening to taste. + +The result, of course, was that he was absolutely incapable of work next +day; and then, giving way to the maddening desire, he and his +comrade-in-debauchery went in, as they said, for a regular spree. It +lasted for more than a week, and when it came to an end, the two men, +with cracked lips, bloodshot eyes, and haggard faces, looked as if they +had just escaped from a madhouse. + +Edward Young now positively refused to drink any more of the spirits, +and Adams, although he would not go quite to that length, restricted +himself to one glass in the day. + +This at first enraged both Quintal and McCoy. The former cursed his +comrades in unmeasured terms, and drank more deeply just to spite them. +The latter refused to work at the canoe, and both men became so +uproarious, that Young and Adams were obliged to turn them out of the +house where they were wont occasionally to meet for a social evening. + +Thus things went on for many a day from bad to worse. Bad as things had +been in former years, it seemed as if the profoundest depth of sin and +misery had not yet been fathomed by these unhappy mutineers. + +In all these doings, it would have gone hard with the poor women and +children if Adams and Young had not increased in their kindness and +consideration for them, as the other two men became more savage and +tyrannical. + +At last matters came to such a crisis that it became once more a matter +of discussion with Young and Adams whether they should not destroy the +machinery by which the spirits were made, and it is probable that they +might have done this, if events had not occurred which rendered the act +unnecessary. + +One day William McCoy was proceeding with a very uncertain step along +the winding footpath that led to his house up in the mountain. The +man's face worked convulsively, and it seemed as if terrible thoughts +filled his brain. Muttering to himself as he staggered along, he +suddenly met his own son, who had grown apace by that time, being nearly +seven years of age. Both father and son stopped abruptly, and looked +intently at each other. + +"What brings you here?" demanded the father, with a look of as much +dignity as it was in his power to assume. + +The poor boy hesitated, and looked frightened. His natural spirit of +fun and frolic seemed of late to have forsaken him. + +"What are 'ee afraid of?" roared McCoy, who had not quite recovered from +his last fit of _delirium tremens_. "Why don't 'ee speak?" + +"Mother's not well," said Daniel, softly; "she bid me come and tell +you." + +"What's that to me?" cried McCoy, savagely. "Come here, Dan." He +lowered his tone, and held out his hand, but the poor boy was afraid to +approach. + +Uttering a low growl, the father made a rush at him, stumbled over a +tree-root, and fell heavily to the earth. Little Dan darted into the +bush, and fled home. + +Rising slowly, McCoy looked half-stunned at first, but speedily +recovering himself, staggered on till he reached the hut, when he wildly +seized the bottle from its shelf, and put it to his lips, which were +bleeding from the fall, and covered with dust. + +"Ha ha!" he shouted, while the light of delirium rekindled in his eyes, +"this is the grand cure for everything. My own son's afraid o' me now, +but who cares? What's that to Bill McCoy! an' his mother's ill too-- +ha!--" + +He checked himself in the middle of a fierce laugh, and stared before +him as if horror-stricken. + +"No, no!" he gasped. "I--I didn't. Oh! God be merciful to me!" + +Again he stopped, raised both hands high above his head, uttered a wild +laugh which terminated in a prolonged yell, as he dashed the bottle on +the floor, and darted from the hut. + +All the strength and vigour which the wretched man had squandered seemed +to come back to him in that hour. The swiftness of youth returned to +his limbs. He ran down the path by which he had just come, and passed +Quintal on the way. + +"Hallo, Bill! you're pretty bad to-night," said his comrade, looking +after him. He then followed at a smart run, as if some new idea had +suddenly occurred to him. Two of the women met McCoy further down, but +as if to evade them, he darted away to the right along the track leading +to the eastward cliffs. The women joined Quintal in pursuit, but before +they came near him, they saw him rush to the highest part of the cliffs +and leap up into the air, turning completely over as he vanished from +their sight. + +At that spot the cliff appeared to overhang its base, and was several +hundred feet high. Far down there was a projecting rock, where +sea-gulls clustered in great numbers. McCoy, like the lightning-flash, +came in contact with the rock, and was dashed violently out into space, +while the affrighted sea-birds fled shrieking from the spot. Next +moment the man's mangled body cleft the dark water like an arrow, +leaving only a little spot of foam behind to mark for a few seconds his +watery grave. + +It might have been thought that this terrible event would have had a +sobering effect upon Matthew Quintal, but instead of that it made him +worse. The death of his wife, too, by a fall from the cliffs about the +same time, seemed only to have the effect of rendering him more savage; +insomuch that he became a terror to the whole community, and frequently +threatened to take the lives of his remaining comrades. In short, the +man seemed to have gone mad, and Young and Adams resolved, in +self-defence, to put him to death. + +We spare the reader the sickening details. They accomplished the +terrible deed with an axe, and thus the number of the male refugees on +Pitcairn was reduced to two. The darkest hour of the lonely island had +been reached--the hour before the dawn. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +THE DAWN OF A BETTER DAY. + +The eighteenth century passed away, and as the nineteenth began its +course, a great and marvellous change came over the dwellers on the +lonely island in that almost unknown region of the Southern Seas. It +was a change both spiritual and physical, the latter resulting from the +former, and both having their roots, as all things good must have, in +the blessed laws of God. + +The change did not come instantaneously. It rose upon Pitcairn with the +sure but gradual influence of the morning dawn, and its progress, like +its advent, was unique in the history of the Church of God. + +No preacher went forth to the ignorant people, armed with the powers of +a more or less correct theology. No prejudices had to be overcome, or +pre-existing forms of idolatry uprooted, and the people who had to be +changed were what might have been deemed most unlikely soil--mutineers, +murderers, and their descendants. The one hopeful characteristic among +them was the natural amiability of the women, for Young and Adams did +not display more than the average good-humour of men, yet these amiable +women, as we have seen, twice plotted and attempted the destruction of +the men, and two of them murdered in cold blood two of their own +kinsmen. + +It may, perhaps, have already been seen that Young and Adams were of a +grave and earnest turn of mind. The terrible scenes which they had +passed through naturally deepened this characteristic, especially when +they thought of the dreadful necessity which had been forced on them-- +the deliberate slaying of Matthew Quintal, an act which caused them to +_feel_ like murderers, however justifiable it may have seemed to them. + +Like most men who are under deep and serious impressions, they kept +their thoughts to themselves. Indeed, John Adams, with his grave +matter-of-fact tendencies and undemonstrative disposition, would +probably never have opened his lips on spiritual things to his companion +if Young had not broken the ice; and even when the latter did venture to +do so, Adams resisted at first with the dogged resolution of an +unbelieving man. + +"We've been awful sinners, John Adams," said Young one afternoon as they +were sauntering home from their plantations to dinner. + +"Well, sir, no doubt there's some truth in what you say," replied Adams, +slowly, "but then, d'ye see, we've bin placed in what you may call awful +circumstances." + +"That's true, that's true," returned Young, with a perplexed look, "and +I've said the same thing, or something like it, to myself many a time; +but, man, the Bible doesn't seem to harmonise with that idea somehow. +It seems to make no difference between big and little sinners, so to +speak, at least as far as the matter of salvation is concerned; and yet +I can't help feeling somehow that men who have sinned much ought to +repent much." + +"Just so, sir," said John Adams, with a self-satisfied air, "you're +right, sir. We have been awful sinners, as you say, an' now we've got +to repent as hard as we can and lead better lives, though, of course, we +can't make much difference in our style o' livin', seein' that our +circumstances don't allow o' much change, an' neither of us has bin much +given to drink or swearin'." + +"Strange!" rejoined Young. "You almost echo what I've been saying to +myself over and over again, yet I can't feel quite easy, for if we have +only got to repent and try to lead better lives, what's the use of our +talking about `Our Saviour?' and what does the Bible mean in such words +as these: `Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.' +`Only believe.' `By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of +yourselves, it is the gift of God.' `By the works of the law shall no +flesh living be justified.'" + +"Do you mean to say, sir, that them words are all out of the Bible?" +asked Adams. + +"Yes, I know they are, for I read them all this morning. I had a long +hunt after the Bible before I found it, for poor Christian never told me +where he kept it. I turned it up at last under a bit of tarpaulin in +the cave, and I've been reading it a good deal since, and I confess that +I've been much puzzled. Hold on a bit here," he added, stopping and +seating himself on a flowering bank beside the path; "that old complaint +of mine has been troubling me a good deal of late. Let's rest a bit." + +Young referred here to an asthmatic affection to which he was subject, +and which had begun to give him more annoyance since the catching of a +severe cold while out shooting among the hills a year before. + +"From what you say, sir," said Adams, thoughtfully, after they had sat +down, "it seems to me that if we can do _nothing_ in the matter o' +workin' out our salvation, and have nothin' to do but sit still an' +receive it, we can't be to blame if we don't get it." + +"But we may be to blame for refusing it when it's offered," returned +Young. "Besides, the Bible says, `Ask and ye shall receive,' so that +knocks away the ground from under your notion of sitting still." + +"P'r'aps you're right, sir," continued Adams, after a few minutes' +thought, during which he shook his head slowly as if not convinced; "but +I can't help thinkin' that if a man only does his best to do his dooty, +it'll be all right with him. That's all that's required in His +Majesty's service, you know, of any man." + +"True, but if a man _doesn't_ do his best, what then? Or if he is so +careless about learning his duty that he scarce knows what it is, and in +consequence falls into sundry gross mistakes, what then? Moreover, +suppose that you and I, having both done our duty perfectly up to the +time of the mutiny, were now to go back to England and say, like the bad +boys, `We will never do it again,' what would come of it, think you?" + +"We'd both be hanged for certain," answered Adams, with emphasis. + +"Well, then, the matter isn't as simple an you thought it, at least +according to _your_ view." + +"It is more puzzlin' than I thought it," returned Adams; "but then +that's no great wonder, for if it puzzles you it's no wonder that it +should puzzle me, who has had no edication whatever 'xcep what I've +picked up in the streets. But it surprises me--you'll excuse me, Mr +Young--that you who's bin at school shouldn't have your mind more clear +about religion. Don't they teach it at school?" + +"They used to read a few verses of the Bible where I was at school," +said Young, "and the master, who didn't seem to have any religion in +himself, read over a formal prayer; but I fear that that didn't do us +much good, for we never listened to it. Anyhow, it could not be called +religious teaching. But were you never at school, Adams?" + +"No, sir, not I," answered the seaman, with a quiet laugh; "leastwise +not at a reg'lar true-blue school. I was brought up chiefly in the +streets of London, though that's a pretty good school too of its kind. +It teaches lads to be uncommon smart, I tell you, and up to a thing or +two, but it don't do much for us in the book-larnin' way. I can +scarcely read even now, an' what I have of it was got through spellin' +out the playbills in the public-house windows. But what d'ye say, sir, +now that we both seem inclined to turn over a new leaf, if you was to +turn schoolmaster an' teach me to read and write a bit better than I can +do at present? I'd promise to be a willin' scholar an' a good boy." + +"Not a bad idea," said Young, with a laugh, as he rose and continued the +descent of the track leading to the settlement. + +The village had by this time improved very much in appearance, good +substantial cottages, made of the tafano or flower wood, and the aruni, +having taken the place of the original huts run up at the period of +landing. Some of the cottages were from forty to fifty feet long, by +fifteen wide and thirteen high. It was evident that ships were, partly +at least, the model on which they had been constructed; for the +sleeping-places were a row of berths opposite the door, each with its +separate little window or porthole. There were no fireplaces, the range +of the thermometer on the island being from 55 degrees to 85 degrees, +and all cooking operations were performed in detached outhouses and +ovens. + +In the chief of these cottages might have been found, among the many +miscellaneous objects of use and ornament, two articles which lay apart +on a shelf, and were guarded by Young and Adams with almost reverential +care. These were the chronometer and the azimuth compass of the +_Bounty_. + +The cottages, some of which had two stories, were arranged so as to +enclose a large grassy square, which was guarded by a strong palisade +from the encroachments of errant hogs, goats, and fowls. This spot, +among other uses, served as a convenient day-nursery for the babies, and +also a place of occasional frolic and recreation to the elder children. + +To the first of these was added, not long after the death of their +respective fathers, Edward Quintal and Catherine McCoy. To John Adams, +also, a daughter was born, whom he named Hannah, after a poor girl who +had been in the habit of chucking him under the chin, and giving him +sugar-plums when he was an arab in the streets of London--at least so he +jestingly remarked to his spouse on the day she presented the new baby +to his notice. + +On the day of which we write, Young and Adams found the square +above-mentioned in possession of the infantry, under command of their +self-elected captain, Otaheitan Sally, who was now, according to John +Adams, "no longer a chicken." Being in her eleventh year, and, like her +country-women generally at that age, far advanced towards big girlhood, +she presented a tall, slight, graceful, and beautifully moulded figure, +with a sweet sprightly face, and a smile that was ever disclosing her +fine white teeth. Her profusion of black hair was gathered into a knot +which hung low on the back of her pretty round head. She was crowned +with a wreath of wild-flowers, made and presented by her troops. It is +needless to say that every one of these, big and little, was +passionately attached to Sally. + +Chief among her admirers now, as of old, was Charlie Christian, who, +being about eight years of age, well grown and stalwart like his father, +was now almost as tall as his former nurse. + +Charlie had not with years lost one jot of that intensely innocent and +guileless look of childhood, which inclined one to laugh while he merely +cast earnest gaze into one's face; but years had given to him a certain +gravity and air of self-possession which commanded respect, even from +that volatile imp, his contemporary, Dan McCoy. + +Thursday October Christian, who was less than a year younger than Sally, +had also shot up into a long-legged boy, and bade fair to become a tall +and sturdy man. He, like his brother, was naturally grave and earnest, +but was easily roused to action, and if he did not himself originate +fun, was ever ready to appreciate the antics and mild wickedness of Dan +McCoy, or to burst into sudden and uproarious laughter at the tumbles or +ludicrous doings of the sprawlers, who rolled their plump-made forms on +the soft grass. + +Not one of the band, however, had yet attained to the age which renders +young people ashamed of childish play. When Young and Adams appeared on +the scene, Sally, her hair broken loose and the wreath confusedly +mingled with it, was flying round the square with Dolly Young on her +shoulder, and chased by Charlie Christian, who pretended, in the most +obvious manner, that he could not catch her. Toc was sitting on the +fence watching them, and perceiving his brother's transparent hypocrisy, +was chuckling to himself with great delight. + +Matt Quintal and Dan McCoy, at the head of two opposing groups, were +engaged in playing French and English, each group endeavouring to pull +the other over a rope laid on the grass between them. + +Several of the others, being too little, were not allowed to join in the +game, and contented themselves with general scrimmaging and skylarking, +while Edward Quintal, Catherine McCoy, and Hannah Adams, the most recent +additions to the community, rolled about in meaningless felicity. + +"Hold on hard," shouted Dan McCoy, whose flushed face and blue eyes +beamed and flashed under a mass of curling yellow hair, and who was the +foremost boy of the French band. + +"I'm holdin' on," cried Matt Quintal, who was intellectually rather +obtuse. + +"Tight," cried Dan. + +"Tight," repeated Matt. + +"There, don't let go--oh! hup!" + +The grasp of Dan suddenly relaxed when Matt and his Englishmen were +straining their utmost. Of course they went back on the top of each +other in a wild jumble, while Dan, having put a foot well back, was +prepared, and stood comparatively firm. + +"You did that a-purpose," cried Matt, springing up and glaring. + +"I know you did it a-purpose," retorted Dan. + +"But--but I said that--that _you_ did it a-purpose," stammered Matt. + +"Well, an' didn't I say that you said that I said _you_ did it +a-purpose?" + +A yell of delight followed this reply, in which, however, Matt did not +join. + +Like his father, Matt Quintal was short in the temper--at least, short +for a Pitcairn boy. He suddenly gave Dan McCoy a dab on the nose with +his fist. Now, as every one must know, a dab on the nose is painful; +moreover, it sometimes produces blood. Dan McCoy, who also inherited a +shortish temper from his father, feeling the pain, and seeing the blood, +suddenly flushed to the temples, and administered to Matt a sounding +slap on the side of the head, which sent him tumbling on the grass. But +Matt was not conquered, though overturned. Jumping up, he made a rush +at Dan, who stood on the defensive. The other children, being more +gentle in their natures, stood by, and anticipated with feelings of awe +the threatened encounter; but Thursday October Christian, who had +listened with eager ears, ever since his intelligence dawned, to the +conversations of the mutineers, here stepped between the combatants. + +"Come, come," said he, authoritatively, in virtue of his greater age and +superior size, "let's have fair play. If you must fight, do it +ship-shape, an', accordin' to the articles of war. We must form a ring +first, you know, an' get a bottle an' a sponge and--" + +An appalling yell at this point nearly froze the marrow in everybody's +bones. It was caused by a huge pig, which, observing that the gate had +been left open, had entered the square, and gone up to snuff at one of +the nude babies, who, seated like a whitey-brown petrifaction, gazed +with a look of horror in the pig's placid face. + +If ever a pig in this sublunary sphere regretted a foolish act, that +Pitcairn pig must have been steeped in repentance to the latest day of +its life. With one howl in unison, the entire field, _minus_ the +infants, ran at that pig like a human tornado. It was of no avail that +the pig made straight for the gate by which it had entered. That gate +had either removed or shut itself. In frantic haste, the unhappy +creature coursed round the square, followed by its pursuers, who soon +caught it by the tail, then by an ear, then by the nose and the other +ear, and a fore leg and two hind ones, and finally hurled it over the +fence, amid a torrent of shrieks which only a Pitcairn pig could utter +or a Pitcairn mind conceive. It fell with a bursting squeak, and +retired in grumpy silence to ruminate over the dire consequences of a +too earnest gaze in the face of a child. + +"Well done, child'n!" cried John Adams. "Sarves him right. Come, now, +to grub, all of you." + +Even though the Pitcairn children had been disobedient by nature, they +would have obeyed that order with alacrity. In a few brief minutes a +profound silence proclaimed, more clearly than could a trumpet-tongue, +that the inhabitants of the lonely island were at dinner. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +THE LAST MAN. + +One morning John Adams, instead of going to work in his garden, as was +his wont, took down his musket from its accustomed pegs above the door, +and sallied forth into the woods behind the village. He had not gone +far when he heard a rustling of the leaves, and looking back, beheld the +graceful form of Sally bounding towards him. + +"Are you going to shoot, father?" she said, on coming up. + +The young people of the village had by this time got into the habit of +calling Adams "father," and regarded him as the head of the community; +not because of his age, for at this time he was only between thirty and +forty years, but because of his sedate, quiet character, and a certain +air of elderly wisdom which distinguished him. Even Edward Young, who +was about the same age, but more juvenile both in feeling and +appearance, felt the influence of his solid, unpretending temperament, +and laughingly acknowledged him King of Pitcairn. + +"No, dear, I'm not goin' to shoot," said Adams, in reply, "I'm only +going up to Christian's outlook to try if I can find somethin' there, +an' I always like to have the old blunderbuss with me. It feels sort of +company, you know, an' minds me of old times; but you'll not understand +what I mean, Sall." + +"No, because I've no old times to mind about," said Sally, with a +peculiar smile. "May I go with you, father?" + +"Of course you may. Come along, lass." + +Adams held out his strong hand. Sally put her peculiarly small one into +it, and the two went slowly up the mountain-track together. + +On reaching the top of a little knoll or plateau, they stopped, and +turned to look back. They could see over the tops of the palm-groves +from that place. The track by which they had ascended was visible here +and there, winding among the flowering shrubs and trees. The village +lay far below, like a gem in a setting of bright green, which contrasted +pleasantly with the warm clouds and the blue sea beyond. The sun was +bright and the air was calm--so calm that the voices of the children at +play came up to them distinctly in silvery ripples. + +"How comes it, Sall, that you've deserted your post to-day?" + +"Because the guard has been relieved; same as you say they do on board a +man-of-war. I left the sprawlers in charge of Bessy Mills, and the +staggerers are shut into the green. You see, I'm feeling a little tired +to-day, and thought I would like to have a quiet walk in the woods." + +She finished this explanation with a little sigh. + +"Dear, dear me!" exclaimed Adams, with a look of amused surprise, +"you're not becomin' sentimental are you, Sally?" + +"What is sentimental, father!" + +"Why, it's a--it's a sort of a feelin'--a sensation, you know, a kind of +all-overishness, that--d'ye see--" + +He stopped short and stared with a perplexed air at the girl, who burst +into a merry laugh. + +"That's one of your puzzlers, I think," she said, looking up slyly from +the corners of her eyes. + +"Well, Sall, that _is_ a puzzler," returned Adams, with a +self-condemning shake of the head. "I never before felt so powerfully +the want o' dictionary knowledge. I'll be shot if I can tell you what +sentimental is, though I _know_ what it is as well as I know what +six-water grog or plum-duff is. We must ask Mr Young to explain it. +He's bin to school, you know, an' that's more than I have--more's the +pity." + +"Well," said Sally, as they proceeded on their way, "whatever senti-- +senti--" + +"Mental," said Adams. + +"Whatever sentimental is, I'm not that, because I'm just the same as +ever I was, for I often want to be quiet and alone, and I often am quiet +and alone in the bush." + +"And what do you think about, Sall, when you're alone in the bush?" said +the seaman, looking down with more interest than usual at the innocent +face beside him. + +"Oh, about heaps and heaps of things. I couldn't tell you in a month +all I think about; but one thing I think most about is a man-of-war." + +"A man-of-war, Sall?" + +"Yes; I would give anything to see a man-of-war, what you've so often +told us about, with all its masts and sails, and bunks and guns and +anchors, and officers and men. I often wonder _so_ much what new faces +would be like. You see I'm so used to the faces of yourself and Mr +Young, and Mainmast and Susannah, and Toc and Matt and Dan and--" + +"Just say the rest o' the youngsters, dear," interrupted Adams. +"There's no use in goin' over 'em all by name." + +"Well, I'm so used to them that I can't fancy how any other faces can be +different, and yet I heard Mr Young say the other day that there's no +two faces in the world exactly alike, and you know there must be +hundreds and hundreds of faces in the world." + +"Ay, there's thousands and thousands--for the matter o' that, there's +millions and millions of 'em--an it's quite true that you can't ever +pick out two that would fit into the same mould. Of course," continued +Adams, in an argumentative tone, "I'm not goin' for to say but that you +could find a dozen men any day with hook noses an' black eyes an' lanky +hair, just as you can find another dozen with turn-up noses an' grey +eyes an' carroty hair; but what I mean to say is, that you won't find no +two of 'em that han't got a difference of some sort somewheres. It's +very odd, but it's a fact." + +"Another puzzler," said Sally, with a laugh. + +"_Just_ so. But what else do you think about, Sall?" + +"Sometimes I think about those fine ladies you've told us of, who drive +about in grand carriages with horses. Oh, these horses; what I would +give to see horses! Have they got tails, father?" + +"Tails!" cried Adams, with a laugh, "of course they have; long hairy +ones, and manes too; that's hair down the back o' their necks, dear. +See here, fetch me that bit of red stone and I'll draw you a horse." + +Sally brought the piece of red stone, and her companion, sitting down +beside a smooth rock, from which he wiped the dust with the sleeve of +his shirt, began, slowly and with compressed lips, frowning eyebrows, +and many a hard-drawn sigh, to draw the portrait of a horse. + +Adams was not an artist. The drawing might have served almost equally +well for an ass, or even for a cow, but Sally watched it with intense +interest. + +"You see, dear," said the artist, commenting as the work proceeded, +"this is his head, with a turn-up--there--like that, for his nose. A +little too bluff, no doubt, but no matter. Then comes the ears, two of +'em, somewhat longish--so, not exactly fore an' aft, as I've made 'em, +but ath'ort ships, so to speak, only I never could understand how +painters manage to make one thing look as if it was behind another. I +can't get behind the one ear to put on the other one nohow." + +"A puzzler!" ejaculated Sally. + +"Just so. Well, you have them both, anyhow, only fore an' aft, as I +said before. Well, then comes his back with a hollow--so, for people to +sit in when they go cruisin' about on shore; then here's his legs-- +somethin' like that, the fore ones straight an' the aft ones crooked." + +"Has he only two legs," asked Sally, in surprise, "one before an' one +behind?" + +"No, dear, he's got four, but I've the same difficulty wi' them that I +had wi' the ears--one behind the other, you know. However, there you +have 'em--so, in the fore-an'-aft style. Then he's got hoofs at the end +o' the legs, like the goats, you know, only not split up the middle, +though why they're not split is more than I can tell; an' there's a sort +o' curl behind, a little above it--the fetlock I think they call it, but +that's far beyond my powers o' drawin'." + +"But you've forgot the tail," said Sally. + +"So I have; think o' that now, to forget his tail! He'd never do that +himself if he was alive. It sticks out from hereabouts. There you have +it, flowin' quite graceful down a'most to his heels. Now, Sally, that's +a horse, an' not much to boast of after all in the way of a likeness, +though I say it that shouldn't." + +"How I _should_ like to see a real one!" said the girl, gazing intently +at the wild caricature, while her instructor looked on with a benignant +smile. + +"Then I often think of the poor people Mr Young is so fond of telling +us stories about," continued Sally, as they resumed their upward path, +"though I'm much puzzled about them. Why are they poor? Why are they +not rich like other people?" + +"There's a many reasons why, dear," continued Adams, whose knowledge of +political economy was limited; "some of 'em don't work, an' some of 'em +won't work, and some of 'em can't work, an' what between one thing an' +another, there's a powerful lot of 'em everywhere." + +Sally, whose thirst for knowledge was great, continued to ply poor John +Adams with questions regarding the poor, until he became so involved in +"puzzlers" that he was fain to change the subject, and for a time they +talked pleasantly on many themes. Then they came to the steep parts of +the mountains, and relapsed into silence. On reaching another plateau +or flat knoll, where they turned to survey the magnificent panorama +spread out before them, Sally said, slowly-- + +"Sometimes when I'm alone in the bush I think of God. Mr Young has +been talking to me about Him lately, and I am wondering and wanting to +know more about Him. Do you know anything about Him, father?" + +John Adams had looked at his simple interrogator with surprise and not a +little perplexity. + +"Well, to tell you the honest truth," said he, "I can't say that I do +know much about Him, more shame to me; an' some talks I've had lately +with Mr Young have made me see that I know even less than I thought I +did. But we'll ask Mr Young to explain these matters to us when we +return home. As it happens. I've come up here to search for the very +book that tells us about God--His own book, the Bible. Mr Christian +used to read it, an' kept it in his cave." + +Soon afterwards the man and child reached the cave referred to. On +entering, they were surprised to find Young himself there before them. +He was reading the Bible, and Adams could not help recalling his +previous visit, when he had found poor Fletcher Christian similarly +occupied. + +"I didn't know you was here, Mr Young, else I wouldn't have disturbed +you," said Adams. "I just came up to see if I could find the book, for +it seems to me that if you agree to carry out your notion of turnin' +schoolmaster, it would be as well to have the school-book down beside +us." + +"_My_ notion of turning schoolmaster," said Young, with a faint smile; +"it was _your_ notion, Adams. However, I've no objection to fall in +with it, and I quite agree about carrying the Bible home with us, for, +to say truth, I don't feel the climbing of the mountain as easy as I +used to." + +Again the faint smile played on the midshipman's lips for a moment or +two. + +"I'm sorry to hear you say that, sir," said Adams, with a look of +concern. + +"And it can't be age, you know," continued Young, in a tone of +pleasantry, "for I'm not much above thirty. I suspect it's that +asthmatic affection that has troubled me of late. However," he added, +in a heartier tone, "it won't do to get downhearted about that. Come, +what say you to begin school at once? We'll put you at the bottom of +the class, being so stupid, and we'll put Sally at the top. Will you +join, Sall?" + +We need scarcely say that Sally, who was always ready for anything, +whether agreeable to her or otherwise, assented heartily to the +proposition, and then and there began to learn to read out of the Bible, +with John Adams for a class-fellow. + +Of course it was uphill work at first. It was found that Adams could +blunder on pretty well with the small words, but made sad havoc among +the long ones. Still his condition was pronounced hopeful. As to +Sally, she seemed to take up the letters at the first sitting, and even +began to form some correct notion of the power of syllables. After a +short trial, Young said that that was quite enough for the first day, +and then went on to read a passage or two from the Bible himself. + +And now, for the first time, Otaheitan Sally heard the old, old story of +the love of God to man in the gift of Jesus Christ. The name of Jesus +was, indeed, not quite unfamiliar to her; but it was chiefly as an oath +that her associations presented it to her. Now she learned that it was +the name of Immanuel, God with us, the Just One, who died that sinful +man might be justified and saved from the power of sin. + +She did not, indeed, learn all this at that time; but she had her +receptive mind opened to the first lessons of the glorious truth on than +summer evening on the mountain-top. + +From this date forward, Edward Young became a real schoolmaster; for he +not only taught Adams to read better than he had ever yet read, but he +daily assembled all the children, except the very little ones, and gave +them instruction in reading out of the Word of God. In all this John +Adams gave him hearty assistance, and, when not acting as a pupil, did +good service in teaching the smaller children their letters. + +But Young went a step further. + +"John Adams," said he, one morning, "it has been much on my mind of late +that God has spared you and me in order that we may teach these women +and children the way of salvation through Jesus Christ." + +"It may be as you say, sir," returned Adams, "but I can't exactly feel +that I'm fit to say much to 'em about that. I can only give the little +uns their A B C, an' p'r'aps a little figurin'. But I'll go in with +you, Mr Young, an' do my best." + +"Thank you, Adams, thank you. I feel sure that you will do well, and +that God will bless our efforts. Do you know, John, I think my +difficulties about the _way_ are somewhat cleared up. It's simpler than +I thought. The whole work of our salvation is already accomplished by +our blessed Lord Jesus. All we have got to _do_ is, _not to refuse it_. +You see, whatever I know about it is got from the Bible, an' you can +judge of that as well as I. Besides the passages that I have already +shown you about believing, I find this, `Come unto me all ye that labour +and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;' and this, `Whosoever +will, let him come;' and this, `Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die.' +So you see there's no doubt the _offer_ is made to every one who will; +and then it is written that the Holy Spirit is able to make us willing. +If God entreats us to `come,' and provides the `way,' what is it that +hinders but unwillingness? Indeed, the Word says as much, for I find it +written, `Ye _will_ not come to me, that ye might have life.'" + +"What you say seems very true, sir," replied Adams, knitting his brows +and shaking his head dubiously; "but then, sir, do you mean to say a +man's good behaviour has nothin' to do with his salvation at all?" + +"Nothing whatever, John, as far as I can make out from the Bible--at +least, not in the matter of _procuring_ his salvation. As a consequence +of salvation, yes. Why, is it not said by the Lord, `If ye love me, +keep my commandments?' What could be plainer or stronger than that? If +I won't behave myself because of love to my Lord, I'll not do it on any +lower ground." + +Still John Adams shook his head. He admitted that the arguments of his +friend did seem unanswerable, but,--in short, he became an illustration +of the truth of the proverb, `A man convinced against his will is of the +same opinion still.' He had promised, however, to render all the aid in +his power, and he was not the man to draw back from his word. When, +therefore, Edward Young proposed to read daily prayers out of the Church +of England Prayer-book, which had been taken from the _Bounty_ with the +Bible and Carteret's _Voyages_, he made no objection; and he was +similarly `agreeable,' as he expressed it, when Young further proposed +to have service forenoon and afternoon on Sundays. + +For some months these various occupations and duties were carried on +with great vigour, much to the interest of all concerned, the native +women being quite as tractable scholars as the children. + +We cannot tell now whether it was the extra labour thus undertaken by +Young, or some other cause, that threw him into bad health; but certain +it is, that a very few months later, he began to feel his strength give +way, and a severe attack of his old complaint, asthma, at last obliged +him to give up the work for a time. It is equally certain that at this +important period in the history of the lonely island, the `good seed' +was sown in `good ground,' for Young had laboured in the name of the +Lord Jesus, and the promise regarding such work is sure: "Your labour is +not in vain in the Lord." + +"I must knock under for a time, John," he said, with a wearied look, on +the occasion of his ceasing to work. He had of late taken to calling +Adams by his Christian name, and the latter had been made unaccountably +uneasy thereby. + +"Never mind, sir," said the bluff seaman, in an encouraging tone. "You +just rest yourself for a bit, an' I'll carry on the school business, +Sunday services an' all. I ain't much of a parson, no doubt, but I'll +do my best, and a man can't do no more." + +"All right, John, I hand it over to you. A short time of loafing about +and taking it easy will set me all to rights again, and I'll resume +office as fresh as ever." + +Alas! poor Edward Young's day of labour was ended. He never more +resumed office on earth. + +Shortly after the above conversation he had another and extremely +violent attack of asthma. It prostrated him completely, so that for +several days he could not speak. Afterwards he became a little better, +but it was evident to every one that he was dying, and it was touching +to see the earnest way in which the tearful women, who were so fond of +him, vied with each other in seeking to relieve his sufferings. + +John Adams sat by his bedside almost continually at last. He seemed to +require neither food nor rest, but kept watching on hour after hour, +sometimes moistening the patient's lips with water, sometimes reading a +few verses out of the Bible to him. + +"John," said the poor invalid one afternoon, faintly, "your hand. I'm +going--John--to be--for ever with the Lord--the dear Lord!" + +There was a long pause, then-- + +"You'll--carry on--the work, John; not in your own strength, John--in +His?" + +Adams promised earnestly in a choking voice, and the sick man seemed to +sink to rest with a smile on his lips. He never spoke again. Next day +he was buried under the palm-trees, far from the home of his childhood, +from the land which had condemned him as a heartless mutineer. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +JOHN ADAMS LONGS FOR A CHUM AND BECOMES A STORY-TELLER. + +Faithful to his promise, John Adams, after the death of Young, did his +best to carry on the good work that had been begun. + +But at first his spirit was very heavy. It had not before occurred to +him that there was a solitude far more profound and overwhelming than +anything he had hitherto experienced. The difference between ten +companions and one companion is not very great, but the difference +between one and none is immeasurable. Of course we refer to that +companionship which is capable of intelligent sympathy. The solitary +seaman still had his Otaheitan wife and the bright children of the +mutineers around him, and the death of Young had drawn out his heart +more powerfully than ever towards these, but they could not in any +degree fill the place of one who could talk intelligently of home, of +Old England, of British battles fought and won, of ships and men, and +things that might have belonged, as far as the women and children were +concerned, to another world. They could only in a slight degree +appreciate the nautical phraseology in which he had been wont to convey +some of his strongest sentiments, and they could not in any degree enter +into his feelings when, forgetting for a moment his circumstances, he +came out with a pithy forecastle allusion to the politics or the +Government of his native land. + +"Oh, you meek-faced brute, if you could only speak!" he exclaimed one +day, dropping his eyes from the sea, on which he had been gazing, to the +eyes of a pet goat that had been looking up in his face. "What's the +use of having a tongue in your head if you can't use it!" + +As may be imagined, the goat made no reply to this remark, but continued +its gaze with somewhat of the solemnity of the man himself. + +For want of a companion, poor Adams at this time took to talking +frequently in a quiet undertone to himself. He also fell a good deal +into Fletcher Christian's habit of retiring to the cave on the +mountain-top, but he did not read the Bible while there. He merely +communed with his own spirit, meditated sadly on the past, and wondered +a good deal as to the probable future. + +"It's not that I ain't happy enough here," he muttered softly to himself +one evening, while he gazed wistfully at the horizon as Christian had +been wont to gaze. "I'm happy enough--more so than what I deserve to +be, God knows--with them good--natured women an' jolly bit things of +child'n, but--but I'm awful hard up for a chum! I do believe that if +Bill McCoy, or even Matt Quintal, was here, I'd get along pretty well +with either of 'em. Ah, poor Quintal! I feel as if I'd never git over +that. If it wasn't murder, it feels awful like it; an' yet I can't see +that they could call it murder. If we hadn't done it he would certainly +have killed both me an' Mr Young, for Matt never threatened without +performin', and then he'd have gone mad an' done for the women an' +child'n as well. No, it wasn't murder. It was necessity." + +He remained silent for some time, and then his thoughts appeared to +revert to the former channel. + +"If only a ship would come an' be wrecked here, now, we could start +fresh once more with a new lot maybe, but I'm not so sure about that +either. P'r'aps we'd quarrel an' fight an' go through the bloody +business all over again. No, it's better as it is. But a ship might +touch in passin', an' we could prevail on two or three of the crew, or +even one, to stop with us. What would I not give to hear a man's voice +once more, a good growlin' bass. I wouldn't be partickler as to +sentiments or grammar, not I, if it was only gruff, an' well spiced with +sea-lingo an' smelt o' baccy. Not that I cares for baccy myself now, or +grog either. Humph! it do make me a'most laugh to think o' the times +I've said, ay, and thought, that I couldn't git along nohow without my +pipe an' my glass. Why, I wouldn't give a chip of a brass farden for a +pipe now, an' as to grog, after what I've seen of its cursed natur', I +wouldn't taste a drop even if they was to offer to make me Lord High +Admiral o' the British fleet for so doin'. But I _would_ like once more +to see a bearded man; even an unbearded one would be better than +nothin'. Ah, well, it's no manner o' use sighin', any more than cryin', +over spilt milk. Here I am, an' I suppose here I shall be to the end o' +the chapter." + +Again he was silent for a long time, while his eyes remained fixed, as +usual, on the horizon. Suddenly the gaze became intent, and, leaning +forward with an eager expression, he shaded his eyes with his hand. + +"It's not creditable," he murmured, as he fell back again into his +former listless attitude, "it's not creditable for an old salt like me +to go mistakin' sea-gulls for sails, as I've bin doin' so often of late. +I'm out o' practice, that's where it is." + +"Come, John Adams," he added, after another pause, and jumping up +smartly, "this will never do. Rouse yourself, John, an' give up this +mumble-bumble style o' thing. Why, it'll kill you in the long-run if +you don't. Besides, you promised Mr Young to carry on the work, and +you must keep your promise, old boy." + +"Yes," rang out a clear sweet voice from the inner end of the cave, "and +you promised to give up coming here to mope; so you must keep your +promise to me as well, father." + +Otaheitan Sally tripped into the cave, and seating herself on the stone +ledge opposite, beamed up in the sailor's face. + +"You're a good girl, Sall, an' I'll keep my promise to you from this day +forth; see if I don't. I'll make a note of it in the log." + +The log to which Adams here referred was a journal or register, which +Edward Young had begun to keep, and in which were inserted the incidents +of chief interest, including the births and deaths, that took place on +the island from the day of landing. After Young's death, John Adams +continued to post it up from time to time. + +The promise to Sally was faithfully kept. From that time forward, Adams +gave up going to the outlook, except now and then when anything unusual +appeared on the sea, but never again to mope. He also devoted himself +with increased assiduity to the instruction of the women and children in +Bible truths, although still himself not very clear in his own mind as +to the great central truth of all. In this work he was ably assisted by +Sally, and also by Young's widow, Susannah. + +We have mentioned this woman as being one of the youngest of the +Otaheitans. She was also one of the most graceful, and, strange to say, +though it was she who killed Tetaheite, she was by nature one of the +gentlest of them all. + +The school never became a prison-house to these islanders, either women +or children. Adams had wisdom enough at first to start it as a sort of +play, and never fell into the civilised error of giving the pupils too +much to do at a time. All the children answered the daily summons to +school with equal alacrity, though it cannot be said that their +performances there were equally creditable. Some were quick and +intelligent, others were slow and stupid, while a few were slow but by +no means stupid. Charlie Christian was among these last. + +"Oh, Charlie, you _are_ such a booby!" one day exclaimed Otaheitan +Sally, who, being advanced to the dignity of monitor, devoted much of +her time to the instruction of her old favourite. "What _can_ be the +matter with your brains?" + +The innocent gaze of blank wonder with which the "Challie" of infancy +had been wont to receive his companion's laughing questions, had not +quite departed; but it was chastened by this time with a slight +puckering of the mouth and a faint twinkle of the eyes that were +suggestive. + +Sitting modestly on the low bench, with his hands clasped before him, +this strapping pupil looked at his teacher, and said that really he did +not know what was wrong with his brains. + +"Perhaps," he added, looking thoughtfully into the girl's upturned orbs, +"perhaps I haven't got any brains at all." + +"O yes, you have," cried Sall, with a laugh; "you have got plenty, if +you'd only use them." + +"Ah!" sighed Charlie, stretching out one of his strong muscular arms and +hands, "if brains were only things that one could lay hold of like an +oar, or an axe, or a sledge-hammer, I'd soon let you see me use them; +but bein' only a soft kind o' stuff in one's skull, you know--" + +A burst of laughter from Sally not only cut short the sentence, but +stopped the general hum of the school, and drew the attention of the +master. + +"Hallo, Sall, I say, you know," said Adams, in remonstrative tone, "you +forget that you're a monitor. If you go on like that we'll have to make +a school-girl of you again." + +"Please, father, I couldn't help it," said Sally, while her cheeks +flushed crimson, "Charlie is such a--" + +She stopped short, covered her face with both hands, and bending forward +till she hid her confusion on her knees, went into an uncontrollable +giggle, the only evidences of which, however, were the convulsive +movements of her shoulders and an occasional squeak in the region of her +little nose. + +"Come now, child'n," cried Adams, seating himself on an inverted +tea-box, which formed his official chair, "time's up, so we'll have a +slap at Carteret before dismissing. Thursday October Christian will +bring the book." + +There was a general hum of satisfaction when this was said, for +Carteret's Voyages, which, with the Bible and Prayer-book, formed the +only class-books of that singular school, were highly appreciated by +young and old alike, especially as read to them by Adams, who +accompanied his reading with a free running commentary of explanation, +which infused great additional interest into that old writer's book. +TOC rose with alacrity, displaying in the act the immense relative +difference between his very long legs and his ordinary body, in regard +to which Adams used to console him by saying, "Never mind, Toc, your +legs'll stop growin' at last, and when they do, your body will come out +like a telescope. You'll be a six-footer yet. Why, you're taller than +I am already by two inches." + +In process of time Carteret was finished; it was then begun a second +time, and once more read through. After that Adams felt a chill feeling +of helplessness steal over him, for Carteret could not be read over and +over again like the Bible, and he could not quite see his way to reading +the Church of England prayers by way of recreation. In his extremity he +had recourse to Sally for advice. Indeed, now that Sall was approaching +young womanhood, not only the children but all the grown people of the +island, including their chief or "father," found themselves when in +trouble gravitating, as if by instinct, to the sympathetic heart and the +ready hand. + +"I'll tell you what to do," said Sally, when appealed to, as she took +the seaman's rough hand and fondled it; "just try to invent stories, and +tell them to us as if you was readin' a book. You might even turn +Carteret upside down and pretend that you was readin'." + +Adams shook his head. + +"I never could invent anything, Sall, 'xcept w'en I was tellin' lies, +an' that's a long while ago now--a long, long while. No; I doubt that I +couldn't invent, but I'll tell 'ee what; I'll try to remember some old +yarns, and spin them off as well as I can." + +The new idea broke on Adams's mind so suddenly that his eyes sparkled, +and he bestowed a nautical slap on his thigh. + +"The very thing!" cried Sally, whose eyes sparkled fully more than those +of the sailor, while she clapped her hands; "nothing could be better. +What will you begin with?" + +"Let me see," said Adams, seating himself on a tree-stump, and knitting +his brows with a severe strain of memory. "There's Cinderella; an' +there's Ally Babby or the fifty thieves--if it wasn't forty--I'm not +rightly sure which, but it don't much matter; an' there's Jack the +Giant-killer, an' Jack and the Pea-stalk--no; let me see; it was a +beanstalk, I think--anyhow, it was the stalk of a vegetable o' some +sort. Why, I wonder it never struck me before to tell you all about +them tales." + +Reader, if you had seen the joy depicted on Sally's face, and the rich +flush of her cheek, and her half-open mouth with its double row of +pearls, while Adams ran over this familiar list, you would have thought +it well worth that seaman's while to tax his memory even more severely +than he did. + +"And then," he continued, knitting his brows still more severely, +"there's Gulliver an' the Lillycups or putts, an' the Pilgrim's +Progress--though, of course, I don't mean for to say I knows 'em all +right off by heart, but that's no odds. An' there's Robinson Crusoe-- +ha! _that's_ the story for you, Sall; that's the tale that'll make your +hair stand on end, an' a'most split your sides open, an' cause the very +marrow in your spine to wriggle. Yes; we'll begin with Robinson +Crusoe." + +Having settled this point to their mutual and entire satisfaction, the +two went off for a short walk before supper. On the way, they met +Elizabeth Mills and Mary Christian, both of whom were now no longer +staggerers, but far advanced as jumpers. They led between them Adams's +little daughter Dinah, who, being still very small, could not take long +walks without assistance and an occasional carry. + +"Di, my pet," cried her father, seizing the willing child, and hoisting +her on his shoulder. "Come, you shall go along with us. And you too, +lassies, if you have no other business in hand." + +"Yes, we'll go with you," cried Bessy Mills. "May was just saying it +was too soon to go home to supper." + +"Come along, then," cried Adams, tossing his child in the air as he +went. "My beauty, you'll beat your mammy in looks yet, eh? an' when +you're old enough we'll tell you all about Rob--" + +He checked himself abruptly, cleared his voice, and looked at Sally. + +"Well, father," said May Christian, quickly, "about Rob who?" + +"Ahem! eh? well, yes, about Rob--ha, but we won't talk about him just +now, dear. Sally and I were havin' some private conversation just now +about Rob, though that isn't the whole of his name neither, but we won't +make it public at present. You'll hear about him time enough--eh, +Sall?" + +The girls were so little accustomed to anything approaching to mystery +or secrecy in John Adams, that they looked at him in silent wonder. +Then they glanced at Sally, whose suppressed smile and downcast eyes +told eloquently that there was, as Adams would have said, "something in +the wind," and they tried to get her to reveal the secret, but Sall was +immovable. She would not add a single syllable to the information given +inadvertently by Adams, but she and he laughed a good deal in a quiet +way, and made frequent references to Rob in the course of the walk. + +Of course, when the mysterious word was pronounced in the village in the +evening, and what had been said and hinted about it was repeated, +curiosity was kindled into a violent flame; and when the entire colony +was invited to a feast that night, the excitement was intense. From the +oldest to the youngest, excluding the more recently arrived sprawlers, +every eye was fixed on John Adams during the whole course of supper, +except at the commencement, when the customary blessing was asked, at +which point every eye was tightly closed. + +Adams, conscious of increased importance, spoke little during the meal, +and maintained an air of profounder gravity than usual until the dishes +were cleared away. Then he looked round the assembled circle, and said, +"Women an' child'n, I'm goin' to tell 'ee a story." + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +THE PITCAIRNERS HAVE A NIGHT OF IT. + +Although John Adams had often, in the course of his residence on +Pitcairn, jested and chatted and taken his share in relating many an +anecdote, he had never up till that time resolved to "go in," as he +said, "for a regular story, like a book." + +"Women an' child'n," he began, "it may be that I'm goin' to attempt more +than I'm fit to carry out in this business, for my memory's none o' the +best. However, that won't matter much, for I tell 'ee, fair an' +aboveboard at the beginnin', that when I come to gaps that I can't fill +up from memory, I'll just bridge 'em over from imagination, d'ye see?" + +"What's imagination?" demanded Dan McCoy, whose tendency to pert +interruption and reply nothing yet discovered could restrain. + +"It's a puzzler," said Otaheitan Sally, in a low tone, which called +forth a laugh from the others. + +It did not take much to make these people laugh, as the observant reader +will have perceived. + +"Well, it _is_ a puzzler," said Adams, with a quiet smile and a +perplexed look. "I may say, Dan McCoy, in an off-hand rough-an'-ready +sort o' way, that imagination is that power o' the mind which enables a +man to tell lies." + +There was a general opening of juvenile eyes at this, as if recent +biblical instruction had led them to believe that the use of such a +power must be naughty. + +"You see," explained Adams, "when a man, usin' his imagination, tells +what's not true, just to deceive people an' mislead 'em, we call it +lyin', but when his imagination invents what's not true merely for the +fun o' the thing, an' tells it as a joke, never pretendin' that it's +true, he ain't lyin', he's only tellin' a story, or a anecdote, or a +parable. Now, Dan, put that in your pipe an' smoke it. Likewise shut +your potato-trap, and let me go on wi' my story, which is, (he looked +impressively round, while every eye gazed, and ear listened, and mouth +opened in breathless attention), the Adventure of Robinson Crusoe an' +his man Friday!" + +All eyes were turned, as if by magic, on Thursday,--as if there must be +some strange connection here. Toc suddenly shut his mouth and hung his +head in confusion at this unexpected concentration of attention on +himself. + +"You've no need to be ashamed, Thursday," said Adams, with a laugh. +"You've got the advantage of Friday, anyhow, bein' a day in advance of +him. Well, as I was about to say, boys an' girls, this Robinson Crusoe +was a seafarin' man, just like myself; an' he went to sea, an' was +shipwrecked on a desolate island just like this, but there was nobody +whatever on that island, not even a woman or a babby. Poor Robinson was +all alone, an' it wasn't till a consid'rable time after he had gone +ashore that he discovered Friday, (who was a black savage), through +seein' his footprint in the sand." + +Adams having burst thus suddenly into the very marrow of his story, had +no reason thereafter to complain either of interruption or inattention. +Neither had he reason to find fault with the wealth of his prolific +imagination. It would have done the soul of a painter good to have +watched the faces of that rapt, eager, breathless audience, and it would +have afforded much material for reflection to a student of mind, had he, +knowing the original story of Robinson Crusoe, been permitted to trace +the ingenious sinuosities and astounding creations by which Adams wove +his meagre amount of original matter into a magnificent tale, which not +only thrilled his audience, but amazed himself. + +In short, he quite justified the assurance formerly given to Sally, that +the story of Robinson Crusoe would make the hair of his hearers stand on +end, their sides almost split open, and the very marrow in their spines +wriggle. Indeed, his version of the tale might have caused similar +results in Robinson Crusoe himself, had he been there to hear it, +besides causing his eyebrows to rise and vanish evermore among the hair +of his head with astonishment. + +It was the same with the Pilgrim's Progress, which he often told to them +afterwards. Simple justice to Adams, however, requires us to state that +he was particularly careful to impress on his hearers that the Pilgrim's +Progress was a religious tale. + +"It's a allegory, you must know," he said, on first introducing it, +"which means a story intended to teach some good lesson--a story which +says one thing and means another." + +He looked pointedly at Dan McCoy here, as if to say, "That's an +exhaustive explanation, which takes the wind out o' _your_ sails, young +man," but Dan was not to be so easily silenced. + +"What's the use, father," he asked, with an air of affected simplicity, +"of a story sayin' one thing an' meanin' another? Wouldn't it be more +honest like if it said what it meant at once, straight off?" + +"P'r'aps it would," returned Adams, who secretly enjoyed Dan's +irrepressible impudence; "but, then, if it did, Dan, it would take away +your chance of askin' questions, d'ye see? Anyhow, _this_ story don't +say what it means straight off, an' that gives me a chance to expound +it." + +Now, it was in the expounding of the Pilgrim's Progress that John +Adams's peculiar talents shone out brilliantly, for not only did he +"misremember," jumble, and confuse the whole allegory, but he so +misapprehended its meaning in many points, that the lessons taught and +the morals drawn were very wide of the mark indeed. In regard to some +particular points, too, he felt himself at liberty to let his genius +have free untrammelled scope, as, for instance, in the celebrated battle +between Christian and Apollyon. Arguing with himself that it was not +possible for any man to overdo a fight with the devil, Adams made up his +mind to "go well in" for that incident, and spent a whole evening over +it, keeping his audience glaring and on the rack of expectation the +whole time. Taking, perhaps, an unfair advantage of his minute +knowledge as a man-of-war's-man of cutlass-drill and of fighting in +general, from pugilistic encounters to great-gun exercise, including all +the intermediate performances with rapiers, swords, muskets, pistols, +blunderbusses, and other weapons for "general scrimmaging," he so +wrought upon the nerves of his hearers that they quivered with emotion, +and when at last he drove Apollyon discomfited from the field, like +chaff before the wind, there burst forth a united cheer of triumph and +relief, Dan McCoy, in particular, jumping up with tumbled yellow locks +and glittering eyes in a perfect yell of exultation. + +But, to return from this digression to the story of Robinson Crusoe. It +must not be supposed that Adams exhausted that tale in one night. No; +soon discovering that he had struck an intellectual vein, so to speak, +he resolved to work it out economically, and with that end in view, +devoted the first evening to a minute dissection of Crusoe's character +as a man and a seaman, to the supposed fitting out and provisioning of +his ship, to the imaginary cause of the disaster to the ship, which, +(with Bligh, no doubt, in memory), he referred to the incompetence and +wickedness of the skipper, and to the terrible incidents of the wreck, +winding up with the landing of his hero, half-dead and alone, on the +uninhabited island. + +"Now, child'n," he concluded, "that'll do for one night; and as it's of +no manner of use sending you all to bed to dream of bein' shipwrecked +and drownded, we'll finish off with a game of blind-man's-buff." + +Need we say that the disappointment at the cutting short of the story +was fully compensated by the game? Leaping up with another cheer, +taught them by the best authorities, and given with true British +fervour, they scattered about the room. + +Otaheitan Sally was, as a matter of course, the first to be blindfolded. + +And really, reader, it was wonderful how like that game, as played at +Pitcairn, was to the same as performed in England. To justify this +remark, let us describe it, and see whether there were any points of +material difference. + +The apartment, let it be understood, was a pretty large one, lighted by +two nut-candles in brackets on the walls. There was little furniture in +it, only a few stools and two small tables, which were quickly thrust +into a corner. Then Sally was taken to the centre of the room by Adams, +and there blindfolded with a snuff-coloured silken bandana handkerchief, +which had seen much service on board of the _Bounty_. + +"Now, Sall, can you see?" asks Adams. + +"No, not one bit." + +"Oh, yes you can," from Charlie Christian, who hovers round her like the +moth round the candle. + +"No, really, I can't." + +"Yes you can," from Dan McCoy, who is on the alert; "I see your piercin' +black eyes comin' right through the hankitchif." + +"Get along, then," cries Adams, twirling Sally round, and skipping out +of the way. + +It is not the first time the women have played at that game, and their +short garments, reaching little below the knees, seem admirably adapted +to it, while they glide about with motions little less easy and agile +than those of the children, and cause the roof to ring with laughter at +the various misadventures that occur. + +Mrs Adams, however, does not join. Besides being considerably older +than her husband, that good woman has become prematurely short-sighted +and deaf. This being so, she sits in a corner, not inappropriately, to +act the part of grandmother to the players, and to serve as an +occasional buffer to such of the children as are hurled against her. + +Now, Otaheitan Sally, having gone rather cautiously about without +catching any one except Charlie--whom she pretends not to know, examines +from head to foot, and then guesses wrong on purpose--becomes suddenly +wild, makes a desperate lunge, as she thinks, at Dan McCoy, and tumbles +into Mrs Adams's lap, amid shouts of delight. + +Of course Dan brought about this incident by wise forethought. His next +success is unpremeditated. Making a pull at Sally's skirt, he glides +quickly out of her way as she wheels round, and hits Mainmast an +unintentional backhander on the nose. This is received by Mainmast with +a little scream, and by the children with an "Oh! o-o" of consternation, +while Sally, pulling down the handkerchief, hastens to give needless +assurance that she is "_so_ vexed," etcetera. Susannah joins her in +condoling, and so does widow Martin; but Mainmast, with tears in her +eyes, (drawn by the blow), and a smile on her lips, declares that she +"don't care a button." Sally is therefore blindfolded again. She +catches Charlie Christian immediately, and feeling that there is no +other way of escaping from him, names him. + +Then Charlie, being blindfolded, sets to work with one solitary end in +view, namely, to capture Sally. The injustice to the others of this +proceeding never enters his innocent mind. He hears no voice but +Sally's; he clutches at nobody but Sally. When he is compelled to lay +hold of any one else, he guesses wrong, not on purpose, but because he +is thinking of Sally. Perceiving this, Sally retires quietly behind +Mrs Adams's chair, and Charlie, growing desperate, makes wild dashes, +tumbling into the corner among the tables and stools, sending the +staggerers spinning in all directions, and finally pitching headlong +into Mrs Adams's lap. + +At last he catches John Adams himself and as there is no possibility of +mistaking him, the handkerchief is changed, and the game becomes more +sedate, at the same time more nervous, for the stride of the seaman is +awful, and the sweep of his outstretched arms comprehensive. Besides, +he has a way of listening and making sudden darts in unexpected +directions, which is very perplexing. + +After a few failures, Adams makes what he calls a wild roll to +starboard, followed instantly by a heavy lurch to port, and pins Dan +McCoy into a corner. + +"Ha! I've grabbed you at last, have I?" says he. + +"Who is it?" shout half-a-dozen voices. + +"Who but Dan'l? There's impudence in the very feel of his hair." + +So Dan is blindfolded. And now comes the tug of war. If it was fast +and furious before, it is maniacal madness now. The noise is +indescribable, yet it fails to waken two infants, who, with expressions +of perfect peace on their innocent faces, repose in two bunks at one +side of the room. + +At last Thursday October tumbles into one of these bunks, and all but +immolates an infant. Mrs Adams is fairly overturned; one table comes +by a damaged leg, the other is split lengthwise, and one of the candles +is blown out. These symptoms are as good as a weather-glass to Adams. + +"Now, then, one and all, it's time for bed," he says. + +Instantly the rioting comes to a close, and still panting from their +exertions, the elder children carry out the tables and rectify their +damages as well as may be, while the younger range the stools round the +wall and sit down on them or on the floor. + +"Fetch the Bible and Prayer-book, Matt Quintal," says Adams. + +They are about to close the evening with worship. It has become +habitual now, and there is no difficulty in calming the spirits of the +children to the proper tone, for they have been trained by a man who is +unaffected and sincere. They slide easily, because naturally, from gay +to grave; and they would as soon think of going to work without +breakfast, as of going to rest without worship. + +A chapter is read with comparative ease by John Adams, for he has +applied himself heartily to his task, and overcome most of his old +difficulties. Then he reads a short prayer, selected from the +Prayer-book. The Lord's Prayer follows, in which they all join, and the +evening comes to a close. + +Trooping from Adams's house, they dispersed to their respective homes. +The lights are extinguished. Only the quiet stars remain to shed a soft +radiance over the pleasant scene; and in a few minutes more the people +of Pitcairn are wrapped in deep, healthy, sound repose. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +REFERS TO THINGS SPIRITUAL AND PHYSICAL. + +It was not until some years had elapsed after the death of Edward Young, +that John Adams became _seriously_ impressed with the great +responsibility of his position. + +In the year 1804 a son was born to him, whom he named George, whether +after the King of England or a relative of his own we are not prepared +to state. After the King very likely, for Adams, although a mutineer, +was a loyal subject at heart, and never ceased to condemn and deplore +the act of mutiny into which, after all, he had been surprised rather +than willingly led. + +This infant, George, was the last of this first generation, and his +father was extremely proud and fond of him. Having already three +daughters, he seemed to have peculiar satisfaction in the advent of a +son; and having latterly acquired the habit of mingling a dash of +Scriptural language with his usual phraseology, he went about the first +day or two after the child's birth, murmuring, "I've gotten a man-child +from the Lord--a man-child, let's be thankful; an' a regular ship-shape, +trim little craft he is too." + +There can be no doubt that the seaman's naturally serious mind became +more profoundly impressed with religion shortly after this event. A +dream which he appears to have had deepened his impressions. Like most +dreams, it was not in itself very definite or noteworthy, but we have no +doubt it was used as a means towards perfecting the good work which had +been already begun. At all events, it is certain that about this time +Adams began to understand the way of life more clearly, and to teach it +more zealously to the little community which was fast growing up around +him. The duties which he had undertaken to fulfil were now no longer +carried on merely because of his promise to Edward Young and a sense of +honour. While these motives did indeed continue to operate with all +their original force, he was now attracted to his labour out of regard +to the commands of God, and a strong desire for the welfare of the souls +committed to his charge. + +Naturally he fell into one or two errors of judgment. Among other +things, he at first imagined that it was his duty to attempt the keeping +of all the Jewish festivals, and to institute a fast twice in the week. +These errors were, however, corrected by increased knowledge in the +course of time. + +But it must not be supposed that this earnest searcher after truth +became ascetic or morose. Despite his mistakes, and the somewhat severe +discipline which he was thereby led to impose on himself and the +community, the effect on him and his large family of the Scriptures-- +pure, unadulterated, and without note or comment--was to create love to +God, to intensify their love for each other, to render them anxious to +imitate the example and walk in the footsteps of Jesus, and to cause +them to _rejoice_ at all times. It was quite evident, ere long, that +the whole community had drunk deeply into the spirit of such passages in +the Word as these:--"Delight thyself in the Lord,"--"By love serve one +another,"--"Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, +rejoice,"--"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, as +unto the Lord and not unto men,"--"Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye +shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you,"--"Let each esteem +other better than himself."--"Whatsoever ye would that men should do +unto you, do ye even so to them."--"Love is the fulfilling of the +law,"--"Let not the sun go down upon your wrath." + +The last text was a favourite one with Adams, who occasionally found +that even among the tractable and kindly troop he had to deal with, sin +was by no means extinct. + +Do not suppose, good reader, that we are now attempting to depict a +species of exceptional innocence which never existed, an Arcadia which +never really had a local habitation. On the contrary, we are taking +pains to analyse the cause of a state of human goodness and felicity, +springing up in the midst of exceptionally unpromising circumstances, +which has no parallel, we think, in the history of mankind; which not +only did exist, but which, with modifications, does still exist, and has +been borne witness to through more than half a century by men of varied +and unquestionable authority, including merchant-skippers, discoverers, +travellers, captains and admirals in the Royal Navy. The point that we +wish to press is, not that the enviable condition of things we have +described is essentially true, but that this condition has been brought +about by the unaided Word of God; that Word which so many now-a-days +would fain underrate, but which for those who are taught by the Holy +Spirit is still the power of God unto salvation. + +The hilarity of the Pitcairners increased rather than diminished as +their love for the Bible deepened. Fun and solemnity are not +necessarily, and never need be, antagonistic. Hand in hand these two +have walked the earth together since Adam and Eve bid each other +good-morning in the peaceful groves of Paradise. They are subject, no +doubt, to the universal laws which make it impossible for two things to +fill the same place at the same time, and they sometimes do get, as it +were, out of step, and jostle each other slightly, which calls forth a +gentle shake of the head from the one and a deprecatory smile from the +other; but they seldom disagree, and never fight. + +Thus it came to pass that though John Adams, as time went on, read more +than ever of the Bible to his audiences, and dilated much on the +parables, he did not dismiss Robinson Crusoe, or expel Gulliver, or put +a stop to blind-man's-buff. On the contrary, waxing courageous under +the influence of success, he cast off his moorings from the skeletons of +the stories to which he had at first timidly attached himself, and +crowding all sail alow and aloft, swept out into the unexplored seas of +pure, unadulterated, and outrageous fiction of his own invention. + +"Them's the stories for me," Daniel McCoy was wont to say, when +commenting on this subject. "Truth is all very well in its way, you +know, but it's a great bother when you've got to stick to it; of course +I mean when story-tellin'." + +Neither John Adams nor his pupils knew at that time, though doubtless +their descendants have learned long ere now, that after all truth is in +very deed stranger than fiction. + +As time passed changes more or less momentous occurred in the lonely +island. True, none of those convulsions which rack and overturn the +larger communities of men on earth visited that favoured spot; but +forces of Nature were being slowly yet surely developed, which began to +tell with considerable effect on the people of Pitcairn. + +They were not, however, much troubled by the ills that flesh is heir to. +Leading, as they did, natural and healthy lives, eating simple and to a +large extent vegetable fare, and knowing nothing of the abominations of +tobacco or strong drink, their maladies were few and seldom fatal. + +John Adams himself had the constitution of a horse. Nevertheless, he +was troubled now and then with a bad tooth, and once had a regular +attack of raging toothache. As none of the people had ever even heard +of this malady, they were much alarmed and not a little solemnised by +its effects on their chief. + +Walking up and down the floor of his house, holding his afflicted jaw +with both hands, the poor man endeavoured to endure it with fortitude; +but when the quivering nerve began, as it were, to dance a hornpipe +inside of his tooth, irrepressible groans burst from him and awed the +community. + +"Is it _very_ bad, John?" asked his sympathetic wife, who was cleaning +up the house at the time. + +"Ho-o-o-rible!" answered John. + +"I'm _very_ sorry, John," said the wife. + +"Oh-o-o-o-oh!" groaned the husband. + +When it became known in the village that Adams was suffering from some +mysterious complaint that nearly drove him mad, two or three of the +children, unable to restrain their curiosity, ran to his house and +peeped in at the open door and windows. The sufferer either disregarded +or did not see them. + +In a few minutes the poor man's steps became more frantic, and another +groan burst from him. Then he stopped in the middle of the room, +uttered a deep growl, and stamped. + +At this the heads of the peeping children disappeared. They gazed at +each other in solemn wonder. They had never seen the like of this +before. To stamp on the floor without an apparent reason, and without +being done in fun, was beyond their comprehension. + +"Where's the tool-box, lass?" gasped Adams suddenly. + +His helpmate brought to him an old hand-box for nails and small tools, +which had once done service in the _Bounty_. + +With eager haste Adams selected a pair of pincers, and, seizing his +tooth therewith, he began to twist. + +At the same time his features began to screw up into an expression of +agony. + +"Howgh!" he exclaimed, between a gasp and a short roar, as the pincers +slipped. And no wonder, for it was a three-fanged grinder of the +largest size, situate in the remote backwoods of the under jaw. + +He tried again, and again failed. Then a third time, and then +discovered that, up to a certain point, his will was free to act, but +that beyond that point, the agony was so intense that the muscles of the +hand and arm refused to act responsive to the will. In other +circumstances he might have moralised on this curious fact. As it was +he only moaned aloud. Two of the children, of peculiarly sympathetic +natures, echoed the moan unintentionally. They immediately vanished, +but soon peeped up again in irresistible curiosity. + +"Old 'ooman," said Adams, "this is out o' sight the worst fit as ever I +had. Just fetch me a bit of that small strong cord out o' the cupboard +there." + +Mrs Adams did as she was bid, and her husband, making a sailor-like +loop on it, fastened the same round his tooth, which was not difficult, +for the evil grinder stood unsupported and isolated in the jaw. + +"Now," said her husband, "you take hold o' the end o' this and haul; +haul hard,--don't be afraid." + +Mrs Adams felt nervous, and remonstrated, but being persuaded after a +time to try again, she gave a vigorous pull, which drew from the unhappy +man a terrible yell, but did not draw the tooth. + +"This'll never do," groaned John, feeling the rebellious molar with his +finger; "it's as firm as a copper bolt yet. Come, wife, I'll try +another plan. You go outside that door an' do what I bid you. Mind, +never you heed what it means; you just obey orders exactly." + +It was not necessary thus to caution poor tractable Mrs Adams. She +went outside the door as bid. + +"Now, then," said her husband, "when I cry, `Pull,' you shut the door +with all your might--with a bang. D'ye hear?" + +"Yes," replied the wife, faintly. + +Fastening the cord once more round the tooth, the wretched sailor +attached the other end to the handle of the door, and retiring till +there was only about eight inches or a foot of "slack" cord left, stood +up and drew a long breath. The glaring children also drew long breaths. +One very small one, who had been lifted on to the window-sill by an +amiable companion, lay there on his breast visibly affected by alarm. + +"Shut the door!" cried Adams. + +There was a tremendous bang, followed by an instantaneous yell. The +children jumped nearly out of their own skins, and the little one on the +window-sill fell flat on the ground in speechless horror; but the tooth +was not yet out. The cord had slipped again. + +"This is becomin' terrible," said Adams, with a solemn look. "I'll tell +'ee what, lass; you run round to the smiddy an' tell Thursday that I +want him d'rectly, an' look alive, old girl." + +Mrs Adams hastened out, and scattering the children, soon returned with +the desired youth. + +And a most respectable youth had Thursday October Christian become at +that time. He was over six feet high, though not quite sixteen years of +age, with a breadth of shoulder and depth of chest that would have +befitted a man of six-and-twenty. He had no beard, but he possessed a +deep bass voice, which more than satisfied John Adams's oft-expressed +wish of earlier days to hear the "sound of a man." + +"Toc," said Adams, holding his jaw with one hand and the pincers in the +other, "I've got a most astoundin' fit o' the toothache, and _must_ git +rid o' this grinder; but it's an awful one to hold on. I've tried it +three times myself wi' them pincers, an' my old 'ooman has tried it wi' +this here cable--once with her fist an' once wi' the door as a sort o' +capstan; but it's still hard an' fast, like the sheet-anchor of a +seventy-four. Now, Toc, my lad, you're a stout young chap for your age. +Just you take them pincers, lay hold o' the rascally thing, an' haul +him out. Don't be afeared. He _must_ come if you only heave with a +will." + +"What, father, do you mean that I'm to lay hold o' that tooth wi' them +pincers an' wrench it bodily out of your head?" + +"That's just about what I do mean, Toc," returned Adams, with a grim +smile. "Moreover, I want you to make no bungle of it. Don't let your +narves come into play. Just take a grip like a brave man, heave away +wi' the force of a windlass, an' don't stop for my yellin'." + +Thus adjured, Thursday October took the pincers, and gazed with a look +of great anxiety into the cavernous mouth that Adams opened to his view. + +"Which one is it, father, asked Toc," rolling up his shirt sleeves to +the shoulder and displaying arms worthy of Vulcan. + +"Man alive! don't you see it? The one furthest aft, with a black hole +in it big enough a'most to stuff my George into." + +Thursday applied the pincers gently. Adams, unable to use clear speech +in the circumstances, said chokingly, "'At's 'e un--'ool away!" which, +interpreted, is, "That's the one--pull away." + +Toc pulled, Adams roared, the children quaked, and the pincers slipped. + +"Oh, Toc, Toc!" cried Adams, with a remonstrative look, such as martyrs +are said to give when their heads are not properly cut off; "is that all +you can do with your big strong arms? Fie, man, fie!" + +This disparaging reference to his strength put poor Thursday on his +mettle. + +"I'll try again, father," he said. + +"Well, do; an' see you make a better job of it this time." + +The powerful youth got hold of the tooth a second time, and gave it a +terrible wrench. Adams roared like a bull of Bashan, but Toc's heart +was hardened now; he wrenched again--a long, strong, and steady pull. +The martyr howled as if his spinal marrow were being extracted. Toc +suddenly staggered back; his arm flew up, displaying a bloody tooth with +three enormous fangs. The "old 'ooman" shrieked, the child on the +window-sill fell again therefrom in convulsions, and the others fled +panic-struck into the woods, where they displayed their imitative +tendencies and relieved their feelings by tearing up wild shrubs by the +roots, amid yells and roars of agony, during the remainder of the day. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. + +TELLS OF AN IMPORTANT MATTER. + +Not very long after this, Thursday October Christian experienced at the +hands of John Adams treatment which bore some slight resemblance to a +species of tooth-drawing. In fact, Adams may be said to have had his +revenge. It happened thus:-- + +Adams was seated, one afternoon, in front of his house on a low stool, +where he was wont to sun himself and smoke an imaginary pipe, while the +children were at play in the grassy square. He was absorbed, +apparently, in what he used to term a brown study. Thursday October, +making his appearance from among the bushes on the opposite side of the +square, leaped the four-foot fence like a greyhound, without a run, and +crossed over. + +Whether it was the leap or the rate at which he had walked home through +the woods, we cannot say; but his handsome face was unusually flushed, +and he stopped once or twice on nearing Adams, as if undecided what to +do. At last he seemed to make up his mind, walked straight up to the +seaman, and stood before him with folded arms. + +"Hallo, Toc," said Adams, rousing himself; "you've caught me napping. +The truth is, I've bin inventin' a lot of awful whackers to spin a yarn +out o' for the child'n. This is Friday, you know, an' as they've bin +fastin', poor things, I want to give 'em what you may call mental food, +to keep their bread-baskets quiet, d'ye see? But you've got somethin' +to tell me, Toc; what is it?" + +"Father," said Thursday,--and then followed a long pause, during which +the youth shifted from one leg to the other. + +"Well, now, Toc," said Adams, eyeing the lad with a twinkling +expression, "d'ye know, I _have_ heard it said or writ somewhere, that +brevity is the soul of wit. If that sayin's true, an' I've no reason +for to suppose that it isn't, I should say that that observation of +yours was wit without either soul or body, it's so uncommon short; too +witty, in short. Couldn't you manage to add something more to it?" + +"Yes, father," said Thursday, with a deprecating smile, "I have come to +ask--to ask you for leave to--to--to--" + +"Well, Toc, you have my cheerful leave to--to--to, and tootle too, as +much as you please," replied Adams, with a bland smile. + +"In short," said Thursday, with a desperate air, "I--I--want leave to +marry." + +"Whew!" whistled Adams, with a larger display of eyeball than he had +made since he settled on the island. "You've come to the point _now_, +and no mistake. You--want--leave--to--marry, Thursday October +Christian, eh?" + +"Yes, father, if you've no objection." + +"Hem! no objection, marry--eh?" said Adams, while his eyebrows began to +return slowly to their wonted position. "Ha! well, now, let's hear; +_who_ do you want to marry?" + +Having fairly broken the ice, the bashful youth said quickly, +"Susannah." + +Again John Adams uttered a prolonged whistle, while his eyebrows sprang +once more to the roots of his hair. + +"What! the widdy?" + +"Yes, Mr Young's widow," replied Thursday, covered with confusion. + +"Well, I never! But this _does_ beat cock-fightin'." He gave his thigh +a sounding slap, and seemed about to give way to irrepressible laughter, +when he suddenly checked himself and became grave. + +"I say, Toc," said he, earnestly, "hand me down the Prayer-book." + +Somewhat surprised, the lad took the book from its shelf, and placed it +on the sailor's knees. + +"Look 'ee here, Toc; there's somethin' here that touches on your case, +if I don't misremember where. Let me see. Ah, here it is, `A man may +not marry his grandmother,' much less a boy," he added, looking up. + +"But, father, Susannah ain't my grandmother," said Toc, stoutly feeling +that he had got an advantage here. + +"True, lad, but she might be your mother. She's to the full sixteen +years older than yourself. But seriously, boy, do you mean it, and is +she willin'?" + +"Yes, father, I do mean it, an' she is quite willin'. Susannah has bin +kinder to me than any one else I ever knew, and I love her better than +everybody else put together. She did laugh a bit at first when I spoke +to her about it, an' told me not to talk so foolishly, an' said, just as +you did, that she might be my mother; but that made no odds to me, for +she's not one bit like my mother, you know." + +"No, she's not," said Adams, with an assenting nod. "She's not like +Mainmast by any means, bein' a deal younger an' better lookin'. Well, +now, Toc, you've given me matter to put in my pipe, (if I had one), an' +smoke it for some time to come--food for reflection, so to speak. Just +you go to work, my lad, as if there was nothin' in the wind, an' when +I've turned it over, looked at it on all sides, gone right round the +compass with it, worked at it, so to speak, like a cooper round a cask, +I'll send for you an' let you know how the land lies." + +When Adams had anything perplexing on his mind, he generally retired to +the outlook cave at the mountain-top. Thither he went upon this +occasion. The result was, that on the following day he sent for +Thursday, and made him the following oration:-- + +"Thursday, my lad, it's not for the likes o' me to fly in the face o' +Providence. If you still remain in earnest about this little matter, +an' Susannah's mind ain't changed, I'll throw no difficulty in your way. +I've bin searchin' the Book in reference to it, an' I see nothin' +particular there regardin' age one way or another. It's usual in Old +England, Toc, for the man to be a deal older than the wife, but there's +no law against its bein' the other way, as I knows on. All I can find +on the subject is, that a man must leave his father and mother, an' +cleave to his wife. You han't got no father to leave, my boy, more's +the pity, an' as for Mainmast, you can leave her when you like, though, +in the circumstances, you can't go very far away from her, your tether +bein' somewhat limited. As to the ceremony, I can't find nothin' about +that in the Bible, but there's full directions in the Prayer-book; so +I'll marry you off all ship-shape, fair an' above board, when the time +comes. But there's one point. Toc, that I feel bound to settle, and +it's this: That you can't be married till you've got a good bit of +ground under cultivation, so that you may be able to keep your wife +comfortably without callin' on her to work too hard. You've bin a busy +enough fellow, I admit, since ever you was able to do a hand's turn, but +you haven't got a garden of your own yet. Now, I'll go up with you +to-morrow, an' mark off a bit o' your father's property, which you can +go to work on, an' when you've got it into something of a for'ard state, +I'll marry you. So--that's a good job settled." + +When Adams finished, he turned away with a profound sigh of relief, as +if he felt that he had not only disposed of a particular and knotty +case, but had laid down a great general principle by which he should +steer his course in all time to come. + +It need scarcely be said that Thursday October was quite prepared to +undertake this probationary work; that the new garden was quickly got +into a sufficiently "for'ard state;" and that, ere long, the first +wedding on Pitcairn was celebrated under circumstances of jubilant +rejoicing. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. + +TREATS OF A BIRTH AND OF DEVASTATION. + +More than eighteen years had now elapsed without the dwellers on that +little isle of the Southern Sea having beheld a visitant from the great +world around them. That world, meanwhile, had been convulsed with +useless wars. The great Napoleon had run through a considerable portion +of his withering career, drenching the earth with blood, and heaping +heavy burdens of debt on the unfortunate nations of Europe. Nelson had +shattered his fleets, and Wellington was on the eve of commencing that +victorious career which was destined, ere long, to scatter his armies; +but no echo of the turmoil in which all this was being accomplished had +reached the peaceful dwellers on Pitcairn, who went on the even tenor of +their way, proving, in the most convincing and interesting manner, that +after all "love is the fulfilling of the law." + +But the year 1808 had now arrived, a year fraught with novelty, +interest, and importance to the Pitcairners. + +The first great event of that year was the birth of a son to Thursday +October Christian, and if ever there was a juvenile papa who opened his +eyes to the uttermost, stared in sceptical wonder, pinched himself to +see if he were awake, and went away into the bush to laugh and rejoice +in secret, that man was TOC. + +"Boys and girls," said Thursday, about a month after the birth, "we'll +celebrate this event with a picnic to Martin's Cove, if you would like +it." + +There was an assumption of fine paternal dignity about Toc when he said +this, which was quite beautiful to behold. His making the proposal, +too, without any reference to John Adams, was noted as being unusual. + +"Don't you think we'd better ask father first?" suggested Otaheitan +Sally. + +"Of course I do," said Toc, on whose ear the word "father" fell +pleasantly. "You don't suppose, do you, that I'd propose to do anything +of importance without his consent?" + +It may strike the supercilious reader here that a picnic, even on +Pitcairn, was not a matter of profound importance, but he must remember +that that particular picnic was to be held in honour of Thursday's baby. +It may be that this remark is thrown away on those who are not in the +position of Thursday. If so, let it pass. + +"We will invite Father Adams to go with us," continued Toc, ingeniously +referring to Adams in a manner suggestive of the idea that there were +other fathers on the island as well as he. + +When Father Adams was invited, he accepted the invitation heartily, and, +slapping Toc on his huge broad back, wished him joy of the "noo babby," +and hoped he might live to see it grow up to have "a babby of its own +similar to itself, d'ye see?" at which remark Toc laughed with evident +delight. + +Well, the whole thing was arranged, and they proceeded to carry the +picnic into effect. It was settled that some were to go by land, though +the descent from the cliffs to the cove was not an easy or safe one. +Others were to go by water, and the water-party was sub-divided into two +bands. One band, which included Susannah and the amazing baby, was to +go in canoes; the other was to swim. The distance by water might be +about eight miles, but that was a mere trifle to the Pitcairners, some +of whom could swim right round their island. + +It turned out, however, that that charming island was not altogether +exempt from those vicissitudes of weather which play such a prominent +part in the picnicry of other and less favoured lands, for while they +were yet discussing the arrangements of the day, a typhoon stepped in +unexpectedly to arrest them. + +It may be that there are some persons in Britain who do not know +precisely what a typhoon is. If they saw or felt one, they would not be +apt to forget it. Roughly speaking, a typhoon is a terrific storm. +Cyclopaedias, which are supposed to tell us about everything, say that +the Chinese name such a storm "Tei-fun," or "hot-wind." No-fun would +seem to be a more appropriate term, if one were to name it from results. +One writer says of typhoons, "They are storms which rage with such +intensity and fury that those who have never seen them can form no +conception of them; you would say that heaven and earth wished to return +to their original chaos." + +Obviously, if this writer be correct, there would be no use in our +attempting to enlighten those "who can form no conception" of the thing. +Nevertheless, in the hope that the writer referred to may be as +ignorant on this point as he is in regard to the "wishes" of "heaven and +earth," we will attempt a brief description of the event which put such +a sudden stop to what may be called the Toc-baby-picnic. + +For several days previously the weather had been rather cloudy, and +there had been a few showers; but this would not have checked the +proceedings if the wind had not risen so as to render it dangerous to +launch the canoes into the surf on the beach of Bounty Bay. As the day +advanced it blew a gale, and Toc congratulated himself on having +resisted the urgent advice of the volatile Dan McCoy to stick at +nothing. + +About sunset the gale increased to a hurricane. John Adams, with +several of the older youths, went to the edge of the precipice, near the +eastern part of the village, where a deep ravine ran up into the +mountains. There, under the shelter of a rock, they discussed the +situation. + +"Lucky that you didn't go, Toc," said Adams, pointing at the sea, whose +waves were lashed and churned into seething foam. + +"Yes, thanks be to God," replied Thursday. + +"It will blow harder yet, I think," said Charlie Christian, who had +grown into a tall stripling of about seventeen. He resembled his father +in the bright expression of his handsome face and in the vigour of his +lithe frame. + +"Looks like it, Charlie. It minds me o' a regular typhoon we had when +you was quite a babby, that blew down a lot o' trees, an' almost took +the roofs off our huts." + +As he spoke it seemed as if the wind grew savage at having been +recognised, for it came round the corner of the rock with a tremendous +roar, and nearly swept Adams's old seafaring hat into the rising sea. + +"I'd ha' bin sorry to lose 'ee," muttered John, as he thrust the glazed +and battered covering well down on his brows. "I wore you in the +_Bounty_, and I expect, with care, to make you last out my time, an' +leave you as a legacy to my son George." + +"Look-out, father!" shouted Matt Quintal and Jack Mills in the same +breath. + +The whole party crouched close in beside the rock, and looked anxiously +upwards, where a loud rending sound was going on. Another moment and a +large cocoa-nut palm, growing in an exposed situation, was wrenched from +its hold and hurled like a feather over the cliffs, carrying a mass of +earth and stones along with it. + +"It's well the rock overhangs a bit, or we'd have got the benefit o' +that shower," said Adams. "Come, boys, it's clear that we're goin' to +have a dirty night of it, an' I think we'd better look to our roofs an' +make all snug. If our ground-tackle ain't better than that o' the tree +which has just gone by the board, we shall have a poor look-out." + +There was much cause for the anxiety which the seaman expressed +regarding the roofs of the houses. Already, before they got back to the +village, part of the roof of one of the oldest huts had been stripped +off, and the women were beginning to look anxiously upwards as they +heard the clattering overhead. + +"Now, lads, all hands to work. Not a moment too soon either. Out wi' +the old tacklin' o' the _Bounty_. Get the tarpaulins up. Lash one over +Toc's hut. Clap some big stones on Quintal's. Fetch the ladders, some +o' you youngsters. Out o' the way, boys. Here, Mainmast; you get the +little 'uns off to their bunks. Fetch me the big sledge-hammer, +Charlie. Look alive, lads!" + +While he shouted these directions, John Adams went to work as actively +as the youngest among them. Every one wrought with a will. In a few +minutes all moveables were carried under shelter, heavy stones were +placed where they were required, tarpaulins and stout ropes were lashed +over roofs and pegged to the ground, shutters and doors were made fast, +and, in short, the whole village was "made snug" for a "dirty night" +with almost as much celerity as if it had been a fully-manned and +well-disciplined ship of the line. + +As John Adams had said, it was not begun a moment too soon. They had +barely finished, indeed, when the heavens appeared to rend with a +blinding flash of lightning. Then came a thunder crash, or, rather, a +series of crashes and flashes, that seemed to imply the final crack of +doom. This was followed by rain in sheets so heavy that it seemed as if +the ocean had been lifted and poured upon the island. To render the +confusion worse confounded, the wind came in what may be called swirls, +overturning trees as if they were straws, and mixing up rain, mud, +stones, and branches in the great hurly-burly, until ancient chaos +seemed to reign on land and sea. + +"It's an awful night," said John Adams, as he sat beside his wife and +listened, while the children, unable to sleep, peeped in awe and wonder +from their several bunks round the room. "God save them that's at sea +this night." + +"Amen!" said Mrs Adams. + +By midnight the typhoon had reached its height. The timbers of the +houses appeared to groan under the strain to which they were subjected. +The whole heavens seemed in a continual blaze, and the thunder came, not +in bursts, but in one incessant roar, with intermittent cracks now and +then. Occasionally there were louder crashes than usual, which were +supposed to be only more violent thunder, but they were afterwards found +to be the results of very different causes. + +"Now, old 'ooman, you turn in," said Adams, when the small hours of +morning had advanced a little. "You'll only be unfit for work to-morrow +if you sit up bobbin' about on your stool like that." + +Mrs Adams obediently and literally tumbled into her bunk without taking +the trouble to undress, while her anxious husband trimmed the lamp, took +down the _Bounty's_ Bible, and made up his mind to spend the remainder +of the night in study. + +Away at the other end of the village, near the margin of the ravine +before referred to, there stood a cottage, in which there was evidently +a watcher, for the rays of his light could be seen through the chinks of +the shutters. This was the house occupied by Thursday October Christian +and his wife and baby. + +Thursday, like Adams, felt the anxieties of fatherhood strong upon him, +and was unable to sleep. He therefore, also like Adams, made up his +mind to sit up and read. Carteret's Voyages claimed his attention, and +he was soon deep in this old book, while his wife lay sound asleep, with +the baby in her arms in the same condition. Both were quite deaf to the +elemental turmoil going on around them. + +The watchful husband and father was still poring over his book, when +there came a noise so deafening that it caused him to start to his feet, +and awoke his wife. "_That_ can't be thunder," he exclaimed, and sprang +to the door. + +The sight that met his gale when he looked out was sufficiently +terrible. Day had begun to dawn, and the grey light showed him a large +mass of earth and trees moving down the ravine. The latter were +crashing and overturning. As he gazed they went bodily over the cliffs, +a mighty avalanche, into the sea. The whole had evidently been loosened +from the rocks by the action of the wind on the trees, coupled with the +deluges of rain. + +But this was not the worst of it. While Thursday was gazing at this +sight, another crash was heard higher up the ravine. Turning quickly in +that direction, he saw the land moving slowly towards him. Immense +masses of rock were borne along with slow but irresistible violence. +Many cocoa-nut trees were torn up by the roots and carried bodily along +with the tough stream of mud and stones and general debris. Some of +these trees advanced several yards in an upright position, and then fell +in dire confusion. + +Suddenly Toc observed to his horror that the mass was slowly bearing +down straight towards his hut. Indeed, so much had his mind been +impressed with the general wreck, that he had failed to observe a few +tons of stones and rubbish which even then appeared on the point of +overwhelming him. + +Without uttering a word he sprang into the hut. + +"What's wrong, Thursday?" asked his wife, in some alarm. + +"Never mind. Hold your tongue, an' hold tight to Dumplin'." + +The baby had been named Charles, after Toc's young brother, and the +inelegant name of "Dumplin'" had been given him to prevent his being +confounded with Charlie, senior. + +Susannah did as she was bid, and the young giant, rolling her and the +baby and the bedclothes into one bundle, lifted them in his +wide-spreading arms and rushed out of the house. + +He had to pass a neighbour's house on the way, which also stood +dangerously near the ravine. Kicking its door open, he shouted, "All +hands, ahoy! Turn out! turn out!" and passed on. + +A few seconds later John Adams, who had gone to sleep with his nose +flattened on the Bible, was startled by the bursting in of his door. + +"Hallo, Toc!" he cried, starting up; "what's wrong, eh?" + +"All right, father, but the ravine is bearin' down on us." + +Thrusting his living bundle into an empty bunk, the stout youth left it +to look after itself, and rushed out with Adams to the scene of +devastation. + +The avalanche was still advancing when they reached the spot, but a +fortunate obstruction had turned it away from the houses. It moved +slowly but steadily downwards like genuine lava, and in the course of a +few hours swept some hundreds of cocoa-nut trees, a yam ground, +containing nearly a thousand yams, one of the canoes, and a great mass +of heterogeneous material, over the cliffs into the sea. Then the +stream ceased to flow, the consternation of the people began to abate, +and they commenced to repair, as far as possible, the damage caused by +that memorable typhoon. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. + +A PICNIC AND A SURPRISE. + +But the cyclone, terrible though it was, did not altogether put an end +to the Dumplin' picnic, if we may be allowed the phrase. It only +delayed it. As soon as the weather cleared up, that interesting event +came off. + +"Who'll go by land and who'll go by water?" asked Thursday, when the +heads of houses were assembled in consultation on the morning of the +great day, for great it was in more ways than one in the annals of +Pitcairn. + +"I'll go by water," said Charlie Christian, who was one of the "heads," +inasmuch as he had been appointed to take charge of the hut which had +been nearly carried away. + +"Does any one know how the girls are going?" asked Matt Quintal. + +"I'm not sure," said John Adams, with one of those significant glances +for which he was noted. "I did hear say that Sally meant to go by land, +but, of course, I can't tell. Girls will be girls, you know, an' +there's no knowing when you have them." + +"Well, perhaps the land road will be pleasanter," said Charlie. "Yes, +now I think of it, I'll go by land." + +"I think, also," continued Adams, without noticing Charlie's remark, +"that some one said Bessy Mills was going by water." + +"You're all wrong, Charlie, about the land road," said Matt Quintal; +"the water is far better. _I_ shall go by water." + +"Dan'l, my lad," said Adams, addressing young McCoy, "which way did +_you_ say you'd go?" + +"I didn't say I'd go any way, father," answered Dan. + +"That may be so, lad, but you'll have to go one way or other." + +"Not of necessity, father. Mightn't I stay at home and take care of the +pigs?" + +"You might," said Adams, with a smile, "if you think they would be +suitable company for you. Well, now, the sooner we start the better. I +mean to go by water myself, for I'm gettin' rather stiff in the legs for +cliff-work. Besides, I promised to give Sarah Quintal a lesson in +deep-sea fishing, so she's goin' with me." + +"Perhaps," observed Dan McCoy, after a pause, "I might as well go by +water too, and if you've no objection to take me in your canoe, I would +lend you a hand wi' the paddle. I would be suitable company for you, +father, you know, and I'm very anxious to improve in deep-sea fishin'." + +"It don't take much fishin' to find out how the wind blows, you blessed +innocents," thought John Adams, with a quiet chuckle, which somewhat +disconcerted Dan; but he only said aloud, "Well, yes, you may come, but +only on condition that you swim alongside, for I mean to carry a cargo +of staggerers and sprawlers." + +"There's only one staggerer and one sprawler now," said Dan, with a +laugh; "your own George and Toc's Dumplin'." + +"Just so, but ain't these a host in themselves? You keep your tongue +under hatches, Dan, or I'll have to lash it to your jaw with a bit o' +rope-yarn." + +"Oh, _what_ a yarn I'd spin with it if you did!" retorted the +incorrigible Dan. "But how are the jumpers to go, and where are they?" + +"They may go as they please," returned Adams, as he led the way to the +footpath down the cliffs; "they went to help the women wi' the victuals, +an' I've no doubt are at their favourite game of slidin' on the waves." + +He was right in this conjecture. While the younger women and girls of +the village were busy carrying the provisions to the beach, those active +little members of the community who were styled jumpers, and of whom +there were still half-a-dozen, were engaged in their favourite game. It +was conducted amid shouts and screams of delight, which rose above the +thunder of the mighty waves that rolled in grand procession into the +bay. + +Ned Quintal, the stoutest and most daring, as well as the oldest of +these jumpers, being over eight years, was the best slider. He was on +the point of dashing into the sea when Adams and the others arrived on +the scene. + +Clothed only with a little piece of tapa cloth formed into breeches +reaching to about the knees, his muscular little frame was shown to full +advantage, as he stood with streaming curly hair, having a thin board +under his arm, about three feet long, and shaped like a canoe. + +He watched a mighty wave which was coming majestically towards him. +Just as it was on the point of falling, little Ned held up the board in +front of him, and with one vigorous leap dived right through the wave, +and came out at the other side. Thus he escaped being carried by it to +the shore, and swam over the rolling backs of the waves that followed it +until he got out to sea. Then, turning his face landward, he laid his +board on the water, and pushing it under himself, came slowly in, +watching for a larger wave than usual. As he moved along, little Billy +Young ranged alongside. + +"Here's a big un, Billy," cried Ned, panting with excitement and +exertion, as he looked eagerly over his shoulder at a billow which +seemed big enough to have wrecked an East Indiaman. + +Billy did not reply, for, having a spice of Dan McCoy's fun-loving +spirit in him, he was intent on giving Ned's board a tip and turning it +over. + +As the wave came up under them, it began as it were to boil on the +surface, a sure sign that it was about to break. With a shout Ned +thrust his board along, and actually mounted it in a sitting posture. +Billy made a violent kick, missed his aim, lost hold of his own board, +and was left ignominiously behind. Ned, caught on the wave's crest, was +carried with a terrific rush towards the shore. He retained his +position for a few seconds, then tumbled over in the tumult of water, +but got the board under him again as he was swept along. + +How that boy escaped being dashed to pieces on the rocks which studded +Bounty Bay is more than we can comprehend, much more, therefore, than we +can describe. Suffice it to say, that he arrived, somehow, on his legs, +and was turning to repeat the manoeuvre, when Adams called to him and +all the others to come ashore an' get their sailin' orders. + +Things having been finally arranged, Adams said, "By the way, who's +stopping to take charge of poor Jimmy Young?" + +A sympathetic look from every one and a sudden cessation of merriment +followed the question, for poor little James Young, the only invalid on +Pitcairn, was afflicted with a complaint somewhat resembling that which +carried off his father. + +"Of course," continued Adams, "I know that my old 'ooman an' Mainmast +are with him, but I mean who of the young folk?" + +"May Christian," said Sally, who had come down to see the water-party +start. "Two or three of us offered also to stay, father, but Jim +wouldn't hear of it, an' said he would cry all the time if we stayed. +He said that May was all he wanted." + +"Dear little Jim," said Adams, "I do believe he's got more o' God's book +into him, small though he is, than all the rest of us put together. An' +he's not far wrong, neither, about May. She's worth a dozen or'nary +girls. Now then, lend a hand wi' the canoe. Are you ready, Mistress +Toc?" + +"Quite," replied the heroine of the day, with a pleased glance in +Thursday's somewhat sheepish face. + +"An' Dumplin', is _he_ ready?" said the seaman. + +The hero of the day was held up in the arms of his proud father. + +"Now then, lads, shove off!" + +In a few minutes the canoe, with its precious freight and Thursday at +the steering-paddle, was thrust through the wild surf, and went skimming +over the smooth sea beyond. Immediately thereafter another canoe was +launched, with John Adams and a miscellaneous cargo of children, women, +and girls, including graceful Bessy Mills and pretty Sarah Quintal. + +"Now then, here goes," cried Matt Quintal, wading deep into the surf. +"Are you coming, Dan?" + +"I'm your man," said Dan, following. + +Both youths raised their hands and leaped together. They went through +the first wave like two stalwart eels, and were soon speeding after the +canoes, spurning the water behind them, and conversing as comfortably on +the voyage as though the sea were their native element. + +Close on their heels went two of the most athletic among the smaller +boys, while one bold infant was arrested in a reckless attempt to follow +by Otaheitan Sally, who had to rush into the surf after him. + +Descended though he was of an amiable race, it is highly probable that +this infant would have displayed the presence of white blood in his +veins had his detainer been any other than Sally; but she possessed a +power to charm the wildest spirit on the island. So the child consented +to "be good," and go along with her overland. + +"Now, are you ready to go?" said Sally to Charlie, who was the only +other one of the band left on the beach besides herself. + +Poor Charlie stood looking innocently into the sparkling face of the +brunette. He did not know what was the matter with him, still less did +he care. He knew that he was supremely happy. That was enough. Sally, +who knew quite well what was the matter--quite as well, almost, as if +she had gone through a regular civilised education--laughed heartily, +grasped the infant's fat paw, and led him up the hill. + +Truly it was a pleasant picnic these people had that day. Healthy and +hearty, they probably came as near to the realisation of heaven upon +earth as it is ever given to poor sinful man to know, for they had love +in their hearts, and their religion, drawn direct from the pure +fountain-head, was neither dimmed by false sentimentality on the one +hand, nor by hypocrisy on the other. + +Perhaps John Adams was the only one of the band who wondered at the +sight, and thanked God for undeserved and unexpected mercy, for he alone +fully understood the polluted stock from which they had all sprung, and +the terrible pit of heathenish wickedness from which they had been +rescued, not by _him_ (the humbled mutineer had long since escaped from +that delusion), but by the Word of God. + +After proceeding a considerable distance along the rocky coast of their +little isle, John Adams ordered the canoes to lie-to, while he made an +attempt to catch a fresh cod for dinner. + +Of course, Matt Quintal and Dan McCoy ranged up alongside, and were +speedily joined by some of the adventurous small boys. Adams took these +latter into the canoe, but the former he ordered away. + +"No, no," he said, while Sarah Quintal assisted to get out the bait and +Bessy Mills to arrange the line. "No, no, we don't want no idlers here. +You be off to the rocks, Matt and Dan, an' see what you can catch. +Remember, he who won't work shall not eat. There should be lots o' +crawfish about, or you might try for a red-snapper. Now, be off, both +of you." + +"Ay, ay, father," replied the youths, pushing off and swimming shoreward +rather unwillingly. + +"I don't feel much inclined to go after crawfish or red-snappers to-day, +Matt, do you?" asked Dan, brushing the curls out of his eyes with his +right hand. + +"No, not I; but we're bound to do something towards the dinner, you +know." + +At that moment there was a loud shouting and screaming from the canoe. +They looked quickly back. Adams was evidently struggling with something +in the water. + +"He has hooked something big," cried Matt; "let's go see." + +Dan said nothing, but turned and made for the canoe with the speed of a +porpoise. His companion followed. + +Adams had indeed hooked a large cod, or something like it, and had +hauled it near to the surface when the youths came up. + +"Have a care. He bolts about like a mad cracker," cried Adams. "There, +I have him now. Stand clear all!" + +Gently did the seaman raise the big fish to the surface, and very +tenderly did he play him, on observing that he was not well hooked. + +"Come along, my beauty! What a wopper! Won't he go down without sauce? +Pity I've got no kleek to gaff him. Not quite so close, Dan, he'll +get--Hah!" + +The weight of the fish tore it from the hook at that moment, and it +dropped. + +Dropped, ay, but not exactly into its native element. It dropped into +Dan's bosom! With a convulsive grasp Dan embraced it in his strong arms +and sank. Matt Quintal dived, also caught hold of the fish with both +hands and worked his two thumbs deep into its gills. By the process +called treading water, the two soon regained the surface. Sarah Quintal +seized Dan McCoy by the hair, Bessy Mills made a grasp at Matt and +caught him by the ear, while John Adams made a grab at the fish, got him +by the nose, thrust a hand into his mouth, which was wide open with +surprise or something else, as well it might be, and caught it by the +tongue. + +Another moment, and a wild cheer from the boys announced that the fish +was safe in the canoe. + +"We're entitled to dinner now, father," said Dan, laughing. + +"Not a bit of it, you lazy boys; that fish is only big enough for the +girls. We want something for the men and child'n. Be off again." + +With much more readiness the youths, now gratified by their success, +turned to the outlying rocks of a low promontory which jutted from the +inaccessible cliffs at that part. Effecting a landing with some +difficulty, they proceeded to look for crawfish, a species of lobster +which abounds there. + +Leaning over a ledge of rock, and peering keenly down into a clear pool +which was sheltered from the surf, Dan suddenly exclaimed, "There's one, +Matt; I see his feelers." + +As he spoke he dived into the water and disappeared. Even a pearl diver +might have wondered at the length of time he remained below. Presently +he reappeared, puffing like a grampus, and holding a huge lobster-like +creature in his hands. + +"That'll stop the mouths of two or three of us, Matt!" he exclaimed, +looking round. + +But Matt Quintal was nowhere to be seen. He, too, had seen a fish, and +gone to beard the lobster in his den. In a few seconds he reappeared +with another crawfish. + +Thus, in the course of a short time, these youths captured four fine +fish, and returned to the canoe, swimming on their backs, with one in +each hand. + +While things were progressing thus favourably at sea, matters were being +conducted not less admirably, though with less noise, on land. + +The canoe containing Mrs Toc and the celebrated baby went direct to the +landing-place at Martin's Cove, which was a mere spot of sand in a +narrow creek, where landing was by no means easy even for these expert +canoemen. + +Here the women kindled a fire and heated the culinary stones, while Toc +and some of the others clambered up the cliffs to obtain gulls' eggs and +cocoa-nuts. + +Meanwhile Charlie Christian and Otaheitan Sally and the staggerer wended +their way overland to the same rendezvous slowly--remarkably slowly. +They had so much to talk about; not of politics, you may be sure, nor +yet of love, for they were somewhat shy of that, being, so to speak, new +to it. + +"I wonder," said Charlie, sitting down for the fiftieth time, on a bank +"whereon time grew" to such an extent that he seemed to take no account +of it whatever; "I wonder if the people in the big world we've heard so +much of from father lead as pleasant lives as we do." + +"Some of 'em do, of course," said Sally. "You know there are plenty of +busy people among them who go about working, read their Bible, an' try +to make other people happy, so of course they must be happy themselves." + +"That's true, Sall; but then they have many things to worry them, an' +you know _we_ haven't." + +"Yes, they've many things to worry them, I suppose," rejoined Sall, with +a pensive look at the ground. "I wonder what sort of things worry them +most? It can't be dressin' up grand, an' goin' out to great parties, +an' drivin' in lovely carriages. Nobody could be worried by that, you +know." + +Charlie nodded his head, and agreed with her entirely. + +"Neither can it be money," resumed Sall, "for money buys everything you +want, as father says, and that can be nothin' but pleasure. If their +yam-fields went wrong, I could understand that, because even you and I +know somethin' about such worries; but, you see, they haven't got no +yam-fields. Then father says the rich ones among 'em eat an' drink +whatever they like, and as much as they like, and sleep as long as they +like, an' _we_ know that eatin' an' drinkin' an' sleepin' don't worry +us, do they, Charlie?" + +Again Charlie accorded unmeasured assent to Sall's propositions. + +"I can understand better," continued Sall, "how the poor ones among 'em +are worried. It must worry 'em a good deal, I should think, to see some +people with far more than they want, when they haven't got half as much +as they want; an' father says some of 'em are sometimes well-nigh +starvin'. Now, it must be a dreadful worry to starve. Just think how +funny it would feel to have nothin' to eat at all, not even a yam! Then +it must be a dreadful thing for the poor to see their child'n without +enough to eat. Yes, the poor child'n of the poor must be a worry to +'em, though the child'n of the rich never are." + +At this point a wild shriek from the little child caused Sally's heart +to bound. She looked up, and beheld the fat legs of her charge fly up +as he went headlong over a precipice. Fortunately the precipice was +only three feet high, so that when Sally and Charlie ran panting to the +spot, he was already on his feet, looking much surprised, but none the +worse for his tumble. + +This incident sobered the inquisitive friends, and brought them back +from fanciful to actual life. They hurried over the remainder of the +journey, and arrived at Martin's Cove just as the picnic party were +beginning dinner. + +Feasting is a commonplace and rather gross subject, having many points +of similitude in all lands. We shall therefore pass over this part of +the day's enjoyment, merely remarking that, what with fish and lobster, +and yams and cocoa-nuts, and bananas and plantains, and sundry compounds +of the same made into cakes, and clear water from the mountain-side, +there was ample provision for the wants of nature. There was no lack, +either, of that feast which is said to flow from "reason" and "soul" +There was incident, also, to enliven the proceedings; for the child who +had come by the overland route with Sally fell into something resembling +a yam-pie, and the hero of the day managed to roll into the oven which +had cooked the victuals. Fortunately, it had cooled somewhat by that +time, and seemed to tickle his fancy rather than otherwise. + +Dinner was concluded; and as it had been preceded by asking a blessing, +it was now closed with thanksgiving. Then Dinah Adams began to show a +tendency to clear up the debris, when Dan McCoy, who had wandered away +with Sarah Quintal in search of shells to a neighbouring promontory, +suddenly uttered a tremendous and altogether new cry. + +"What _is_ he up to now?" said John Adams, rising hastily and shading +his eyes with his hand. + +Dan was seen to be gesticulating frantically on the rocks, and pointing +wildly out to sea. + +The whole party ran towards him, and soon became as wildly excited as +himself, for there, at long last, was a _ship_, far away on the horizon! + +To launch the canoes and make for home was the work of a very few +minutes. No one thought of swimming now. Those who did not go in the +canoes went by the land road as fast as they could run and clamber. In +a short time the gulls were left in undisturbed possession of Martin's +Cove. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT. + +THE FIRST SHIP, AND NEWS OF HOME. + +No wonder that there was wild excitement on the lonely island at the +sight of this sail, for, with the exception of the ship that had been +seen years before, and only for a few minutes, by Sally and Matt +Quintal, no vessel of any kind had visited them during the space of +nineteen years. + +"I've longed for it, old 'ooman, as nobody but myself can understand," +said Adams, in a low, earnest voice to his wife, who stood on the cliffs +beside him. Although nearly blind, Mrs Adams was straining her eyes in +the direction of the strange sail. "And now that it's come," continued +her husband, "I confess to you, lass, I'm somewhat afeared to face it. +It's not that I fear to die more than other men, but I'd feel it awful +hard to be took away from you an' all them dear child'n. But God's will +be done." + +"They'd never take you from us, father," exclaimed Dinah Adams, who +overheard this speech. + +"There's no sayin', Di. I've forfeited my life to the laws of England. +I tell 'ee what it is, Thursday," said Adams, going up to the youth, who +was gazing wistfully like the others at the rapidly approaching vessel, +"it may be a man-o'-war, an' they may p'r'aps want to ship me off to +England on rather short notice. If so, I must go; but I'd rather not. +So I'll retire into the bushes, Toc, while you go aboard in the canoe. +I'll have time to think over matters before you come back with word who +they are, an' where they hail from." + +While Thursday went down to the beach, accompanied by Charlie, to +prepare a canoe for this mission, the ship drew rapidly near the island, +and soon after hove to, just outside of Bounty Bay. As she showed no +colours, and did not look like a man-of-war, Adams began to feel easier +in his mind, and again going out on the cliffs, watched the canoe as it +dashed through the surf. + +Under the vigorous strokes of Thursday and Charlie Christian, it was +soon alongside the strange ship. To judge from the extent to which the +men opened their eyes, there is reason to believe that those on board of +that strange ship were filled with unusual surprise; and well they might +be, for the appearance of our two heroes was not that which voyagers in +the South Pacific were accustomed to expect. The remarks of two of the +surprised ones, as the canoe approached, will explain their state of +mind better than any commentary. + +"I say, Jack, it ain't a boat; I guess it's a canoe." + +"Yes, Bill, it's a canoe." + +"What d'ye make 'em out to be, Jack?" + +"Men, I think; leastwise they're not much like monkeys; though, of +coorse, a feller can't be sure till they stand up an' show their +tails,--or the want of 'em." + +"Well, now," remarked Bill, as the canoe drew nearer, "that's the most +puzzlin' lot I've seen since I was raised. They ain't niggers, that's +plain; they're too light-coloured for that, an' has none o' the nigger +brick-dust in their faces. One on 'em, moreover, seems to have fair +curly hair, an' they wears jackets an' hats with something of a +sailor-cut about 'em. Why, I do b'lieve they're shipwrecked sailors." + +"No," returned Jack, with a critical frown, "they're not just the colour +o' white men. Mayhap, they're a noo style o' savage, this bein' raither +an out-o'-the-way quarter." + +"Stand by with a rope there," cried the captain of the vessel, cutting +short the discussion, while the canoe ranged longside. + +"Ship ahoy!" shouted Thursday, in the true nautical style which he had +learned from Adams. + +If the eyes of the men who looked over the side of the ship were wide +open with surprise before, they seemed to blaze with amazement at the +next remark by Thursday. + +"Where d'ye hail from, an' what's your name?" he asked, as Charlie made +fast to the rope which was thrown to them. + +"The _Topaz_, from America, Captain Folger," answered the captain, with +a smile. + +With an agility worthy of monkeys, and that might have justified Jack +and Bill looking for tails, the brothers immediately stood on the deck, +and holding out their hands, offered with affable smiles to shake hands. +We need scarcely say the offer was heartily accepted by every one of +the crew. + +"And who may _you_ be, my good fellows?" asked Captain Folger, with an +amused expression. + +"I am Thursday October Christian," answered the youth, drawing himself +up as if he were announcing himself the king of the Cannibal Islands. +"I'm the oldest son of Fletcher Christian, one of the mutineers of the +_Bounty_, an' this is my brother Charlie." + +The sailors glanced at each other and then at the stalwart youths, as if +they doubted the truth of the assertion. + +"I've heard of that mutiny," said Captain Folger. "It was celebrated +enough to make a noise even on our side of the Atlantic. If I remember +rightly, most of the mutineers were caught on Otaheite and taken to +England, being wrecked and some drowned on the way; the rest were tried, +and some acquitted, some pardoned, and some hanged." + +"I know nothin' about all that," said Thursday, with an interested but +perplexed look. + +"But I do, sir," said the man whom we have styled Jack, touching his hat +to the captain. "I'm an Englishman, as you knows, an' chanced to be in +England at the very time when the mutineers was tried. There was nine +o' the mutineers, sir, as went off wi' the _Bounty_ from Otaheite, an' +they've never bin heard on from that day to this." + +"Yes, yes!" exclaimed Thursday, with sudden animation, "that's _us_. +The nine mutineers came to our island here, Pitcairn, an' remained here +ever since, an' we've all bin born here; there's lots more of us,--boys +and girls." + +"You _don't_ say so!" exclaimed the captain, whose interest was now +thoroughly aroused. "Are the nine mutineers all on Pitcairn still?" + +Thursday's mobile countenance at once became profoundly sad, and he +shook his head slowly. + +"No," said he, "they're all dead but one. John Adams is his name." + +"Don't remember that name among the nine said to be lost," remarked the +Englishman. + +"I've heard father say he was sometimes called John Smith," said +Thursday. + +"Ah, yes! I remember the name of Smith," said Jack. "_He_ was one of +'em." + +"And is he the only man left on the island?" asked the captain. + +"Yes, the only man," replied Thursday, who had never yet thought of +himself in any other light than a boy; "an' if you'll come ashore in our +canoe, father'll take you to his house an' treat you to the best he's +got. He'll be right glad to see you too, for he's not seen a soul +except ourselves for nigh twenty years." + +"Not seen a soul! D'ye mean to say no ship has touched here for that +length of time?" asked the captain in surprise. + +"No, except one that only touched an' went off without discovering that +we were here, an' none of us found out she had bin here till we chanced +to see her sailin' away far out to sea. That was five years ago." + +"That's very strange and interestin'. I'd like well to visit old Adams, +lad, an' I thank 'ee for the invitation; but I won't run my ship through +such a surf as that, an' don't like to risk leavin' her to go ashore in +your canoe." + +"If you please, sir, I'd be very glad to go, an' bring off what news +there is," said Jack, the English sailor, whose surname was Brace. + +At first Captain Folger refused this offer, but on consideration he +allowed Jack to go, promising at the same time to keep as near to the +shore as possible, so that if there was anything like treachery he might +have a chance of swimming off. + +"So your father is dead?" asked the captain, as he walked with Thursday +to the side. + +"Yes, long, long ago." + +"But you called Adams `father' just now. How's that?" + +"Oh, we all calls 'im that. It's only a way we've got into." + +"What made your father call you Thursday?" + +"'Cause I was born on a Thursday." + +"H'm I an' I suppose if you'd bin born on a Tuesday or Saturday, he'd +have called you by one or other of these days?" + +"S'pose so," said Thursday, with much simplicity. + +"Are you married, Thursday?" + +"Yes, I'm married to Susannah," said Thursday, with a pleased smile; +"she's a dear girl, though she's a deal older than me--old enough to be +my mother. And I've got a babby too--a _splendid_ babby!" + +Thursday passed ever the side as he said this, and fortunately did not +see the merriment which him remarks created. + +Jack Brace followed him into the canoe, and in less than half-an-hour he +found himself among the wondering, admiring, almost awestruck, islanders +of Pitcairn. + +"It's a _man_!" whispered poor Mainmast to Susannah, with the memory of +Fletcher Christian strong upon her. + +"What a lovely beard he has!" murmured Sally to Bessy Mills. + +Charlie Christian and Matt Quintal chancing, curiously enough, to be +near Sally and Bessy, overheard the whisper, and for the first time each +received a painful stab from the green-eyed demon, jealousy. + +But the children did not whisper their comments. They crowded round the +seaman eagerly. + +"You've come to live with us?" asked Dolly Young, looking up in his face +with an innocent smile, and taking his rough hand. + +"To tell us stories?" said little Arthur Quintal, with an equally +innocent smile. + +"Well, no, my dears, not exactly," answered the seaman, looking in a +dazed manner at the pretty faces and graceful forms around him; "but if +I only had the chance to remain here, it's my belief that I would." + +Further remark was stopped by the appearance of John Adams coming +towards the group. He walked slowly, and kept his eyes steadily, yet +wistfully, fastened on the seaman. Holding out his hand, he said in a +low tone, as if he were soliloquising, "At last! It's like a dream!" +Then, as the sailor grasped his hand and shook it warmly, he added aloud +a hearty "Welcome, welcome to Pitcairn." + +"Thank 'ee, thank 'ee," said Jack Brace, not less heartily; "an' may I +ax if you _are_ one o' the _Bounty_ mutineers, an' no mistake?" + +"The old tone," murmured Adams, "and the old lingo, an' the old cut o' +the jib, an'--an'--the old toggery." + +He took hold of a flap of Jack's pea-jacket, and almost fondled it. + +"Oh, man, but it does my heart good to see you! Come, come away up to +my house an' have some grub. Yes, yes--axin' your pardon for not +answerin' right off--I _am_ one o' the _Bounty_ mutineers; the last +one--John Smith once, better known now as John Adams. But where do you +hail from, friend?" + +Jack at once gave him the desired information, told him on the way up +all he knew about the fate of the mutineers who had remained at +Otaheite, and received in exchange a brief outline of the history of the +nine mutineers who had landed on Pitcairn. + +The excitement of the two men and their interest in each other increased +every moment; the one being full of the idea of having made a wonderful +discovery of, as it were, a lost community, the other being equally full +of the delight of once more talking to a man--a seaman--a messmate, he +might soon say, for he meant to feed him like a prince. + +"Get a pig cooked, Molly," he said, during a brief interval in the +conversation, "an' do it as fast as you can." + +"There's one a'most ready-baked now," replied Mrs Adams. + +"All right, send the girls for fruit, and make a glorious spread-- +outside; he'll like it better than in the house--under the banyan-tree. +Sit down, sit down, messmate." Turning to the sailor, "Man, _what_ a +time it is since I've used that blessed word! Sit down and have a +glass." + +Jack Brace smacked his lips in anticipation, thanked Adams in advance, +and drew his sleeve across his mouth in preparation, while his host set +a cocoa-nut-cup filled with a whitish substance before him. + +"That's a noo sort of a glass, John Adams," remarked the man, as he +raised and smelt it; "also a strange kind o' tipple." + +He sipped, and seemed disappointed. Then he sipped again, and seemed +pleased. + +"What is it, may I ax?" + +"It's milk of the cocoa-nut," answered Adams. + +"Milk o' the ko-ko-nut, eh? Well, now, that is queer. If you'd 'a +called it the milk o' the cow-cow-nut, I could have believed it. +Hows'ever, it ain't bad, tho' raither wishy-washy. Got no stronger +tipple than that?" + +"Nothin' stronger than that, 'xcept water," said John, with one of his +sly glances; "but it's a toss up which is the strongest." + +"Well, it'll be a toss down with me whichever is the strongest," said +the accommodating tar, as he once more raised the cup to his lips, and +drained it. + +"But, I say, you unhung mutineer, do you mean for to tell me that all +them good-lookin' boys an' girls are yours?" + +He looked round on the crowd of open-mouthed young people, who, from +six-foot Toc down to the youngest staggerer, gazed at him solemnly, all +eyes and ears. + +"No, they ain't," answered Adams, with a laugh. "What makes you ask?" + +"'Cause they all calls you father." + +"Oh!" replied his host, "that's only a way they have; but there's only +four of 'em mine, three girls an' a boy. The rest are the descendants +of my eight comrades, who are now dead and gone." + +"Well, now, d'ye know, John Adams, _alias_ Smith, mutineer, as ought to +have bin hung but wasn't, an' as nobody would have the heart to hang +now, even if they had the chance, this here adventur is out o' sight one +o' the most extraor'nar circumstances as ever did happen to me since I +was the length of a marlinspike." + +As Mainmast here entered to announce that the pig was ready for +consumption, the amazed mariner was led to a rich repast under the +neighbouring banyan-tree. Here he was bereft of speech for a +considerable time, whether owing to the application of his jaws to food, +or increased astonishment, it is difficult to say. + +Before the repast began, Adams, according to custom, stood up, removed +his hat, and briefly asked a blessing. To which all assembled, with +clasped hands and closed eyes, responded Amen. + +This, no doubt, was another source of profound wonder to Jack Brace, but +he made no remark at the time. Neither did he remark on the fact that +the women did not sit down to eat with the males of the party, but stood +behind and served them, conversing pleasantly the while. + +After dinner was concluded, and thanks had been returned, Jack Brace +leaned his back against one of the descending branches of the +banyan-tree, and with a look of supreme satisfaction drew forth a short +black pipe. + +At sight of this the countenance of Adams flushed, and his eyes almost +sparkled. + +"There it is again," he murmured; "the old pipe once more! Let me look +at it, Jack Brace; it's not the first by a long way that I've handled." + +Jack handed over the pipe, a good deal amused at the manner of his host, +who took the implement of fumigation and examined it carefully, handling +it with tender care, as if it were a living and delicate creature. Then +he smelt it, then put it in his mouth and gave it a gentle draw, while +an expression of pathetic satisfaction passed over his somewhat +care-worn countenance. + +"The old taste, not a bit changed," he murmured, shutting his eyes. +"Brings back the old ships, and the old messmates, and the old times, +and Old England." + +"Come, old feller," said Jack Brace, "if it's so powerful, why not light +it and have a real good pull, for old acquaintance sake?" + +He drew from his pocket flint and tinder, matches being unknown in those +days, and began to strike a light, when Adams took the pipe hastily from +his mouth and handed it back. + +"No, no," he said, with decision, "it's only the old associations that +it calls up, that's all. As for baccy, I've bin so long without it now, +that I don't want it; and it would only be foolish in me to rouse up the +old cravin'. There, you light it, Jack. I'll content myself wi' the +smell of it." + +"Well, John Adams, have your way. You are king here, you know; nobody +to contradict you. So I'll smoke instead of you, if these young ladies +won't object." + +The young ladies referred to were so far from objecting, that they were +burning with impatience to see a real smoker go to work, for the tobacco +of the mutineers had been exhausted, and all the pipes broken or lost, +before most of them were born. + +"And let me tell you, John Adams," continued the sailor, when the pipe +was fairly alight, "I've not smoked a pipe in such koorious +circumstances since I lit one, an' had my right fore-finger shot off +when I was stuffin' down the baccy, in the main-top o' the _Victory_ at +the battle o' Trafalgar. But it was against all rules to smoke in +action, an' served me right. Hows'ever, it got me my discharge, and +that's how I come to be in a Yankee merchantman this good day." + +At the mention of battle and being wounded in action, the old +professional sympathies of John Adams were awakened. + +"What battle might that have been?" he asked. + +"Which?" said Jack. + +"Traflegar," said the other. + +Jack Brace took the pipe out of his mouth and looked at Adams, as though +he had asked where Adam and Eve had been born. For some time he could +not make up his mind how to reply. + +"You don't mean to tell me," he said at length, "that you've never heard +of the--battle--of--Trafalgar?" + +"Never," answered Adams, with a faint smile. + +"Nor of the great Lord Nelson?" + +"Never heard his name till to-day. You forget, Jack, that I've not seen +a mortal man from Old England, or any other part o' the civilised world, +since the 28th day of April 1789, and that's full nineteen years ago." + +"That's true, John; that's true," said the seaman, slowly, as if +endeavouring to obtain some comprehension of what depths of ignorance +the fact implied. "So, I suppose you've never heerd tell of--hold on; +let me rake up my brain-pan a bit." + +He tilted his straw hat, and scratched his head for a few minutes, +puffing the while immense clouds of smoke, to the inexpressible delight +of the open-mouthed youngsters around him. + +"You--you've never heerd tell of Lord Howe, who licked the French off +Ushant, somewheres about sixteen years gone by?" + +"Never." + +"Nor of the great victories gained in the '95 by Sir Edward Pellew, an' +Admiral Hotham, an' Admiral Cornwallis, an' Lord Bridgeport?" + +"No, of coorse ye couldn't; nor yet of Admiral Duncan, who, in the '97, +(I think it was), beat the Dutch fleet near Camperdown all to sticks. +Nor yet of that tremendous fight off Cape Saint Vincent in the same +year, when Sir John Jervis, with nothin' more than fifteen sail o' the +Mediterranean fleet, attacked the Spaniards wi' their twenty-seven ships +o' the line--line-o'-battle ships, you'll observe, John Adams--an' took +four of 'em, knocked half of the remainder into universal smash, an' +sunk all the rest?" + +"That was splendid!" exclaimed Adams, his martial spirit rising, while +the eyes of the young listeners around kept pace with their mouths in +dilating. + +"Splendid? Pooh!" said Jack Brace, delivering puffs between sentences +that resembled the shots of miniature seventy-fours, "that was nothin' +to what followed. Nelson was in that fight, he was, an' Nelson began to +shove out his horns a bit soon after that, _I_ tell you. Well, well," +continued the British tar with a resigned look, "to think of meetin' a +man out of Bedlam who hasn't heerd of Nelson and the Nile, w'ich, of +coorse, ye haven't. It's worth while comin' all this way to see you." + +Adams smiled and said, "Let's hear all about it." + +"All about it, John? Why, it would take me all night to tell you all +about it," (there was an audible gasp of delight among the listeners), +"and I haven't time for that; but you must know that Lord Nelson, bein' +Sir Horatio Nelson at that time, chased the French fleet, under Admiral +Brueys, into Aboukir Bay, (that's on the coast of Egypt), sailed in +after 'em, anchored alongside of 'em, opened on 'em wi' both broadsides +at once, an' blew them all to bits." + +"You don't say that, Jack Brace!" + +"Yes, I do, John Adams; an' nine French line-o'-battle ships was took, +two was burnt, two escaped, and the biggest o' the lot, the great +three-decker, the _Orient_, was blowed up, an' sent to the bottom. It +was a thorough-goin' piece o' business that, _I_ tell you, an' Nelson +meant it to be, for w'en he gave the signal to go into close action, he +shouted, `Victory or Westminster Abbey.'" + +"What did he mean by that?" asked Adams. + +"Why, don't you see, Westminster Abbey is the old church in London where +they bury the great nobs o' the nation in; there's none but _great_ nobs +there, you know--snobs not allowed on no account whatever. So he meant, +of coorse, victory or death, d'ye see? After which he'd be put into +Westminster Abbey. An' death it was to many a good man that day. Why, +if you take even the _Orient_ alone, w'en she was blowed up, Admiral +Brueys himself an' a thousand men went up along with her, an' never came +down again, so far as _we_ know." + +"It must have bin bloody work," said Adams. + +"I believe you, my boy," continued the sailor, "it _was_ bloody work. +There was some of our chaps that was always for reasonin' about things, +an' would never take anything on trust, 'xcept their own inventions, who +used to argufy that it was an awful waste o' human life, to say nothin' +o' treasure, (as they called it), all for _nothin'_. I used to wonder +sometimes why them _reasoners_ jined the sarvice at all, but to be sure +most of 'em had been pressed. To my thinkin', war wouldn't be worth a +brass farthin' if there wasn't a deal o' blood and thunder about it; +an', of coorse, if we're goin' to have that sort o' thing we must pay +for it. Then, we didn't do it for _nothin'_. Is it nothin' to have the +honour an' glory of lickin' the Mounseers an' bein' able to sing +`Britannia rules the waves?'" + +John Adams, who was not fond of argument, and did not agree with some of +Jack's reasoning, said, "P'r'aps;" and then, drawing closer to his new +friend with deepening interest, said, "Well, Jack, what more has +happened?" + +"What more? Why, I'll have to start a fresh pipe before I can answer +that." + +Having started a fresh pipe he proceeded, and the group settled down +again to devour his words, and watch and smell the smoke. + +"Well, then, there was--but you know I ain't a diction'ry, or a +cyclopodia, or a gazinteer--let me see. After the battle o' the Nile +there came the Irish Rebellion." + +"Did that do 'em much good, Jack?" + +"O yes, John; it united 'em immediately after to Old England, so that +we're now Great Britain an' Ireland. Then Sir Ralph Abercromby, he gave +the French an awful lickin' on land in Egypt at Aboukir, where Nelson +had wopped 'em on the sea, and, last of all came the glorious battle of +Trafalgar. But it wasn't all glory, for we lost Lord Nelson there. He +was killed." + +"That was a bad business," said Adams, with a look of sympathy. "And +you was in that battle, was you?" + +"In it! I should just think so," replied Jack Brace, looking +contemplatively at his mutilated finger. "Why, I was in Lord Nelson's +own ship, the _Victory_. Come, I'll give you an outline of it. This is +how it began." + +The ex-man-of-war's-man puffed vigorously for a few seconds, to get the +pipe well alight, he remarked, and collect his thoughts. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. + +JACK BRACE STIRS UP THE WAR SPIRIT OF ADAMS. + +"You must know, John Adams," said Jack Brace, with a look and a clearing +of the throat that raised great expectations in the breasts of the +listeners, "you must know that for a long while before the battle Lord +Nelson had bin scourin' the seas, far and near, in search o' the French +and Spanish fleets, but do what he would, he could never fall in with +'em. At last he got wind of 'em in Cadiz Harbour, and made all sail to +catch 'em. It was on the 19th of October 1805 that Villeneuve, that was +the French admiral, put to sea with the combined fleets o' France and +Spain. It wasn't till daybreak of the 21st that we got sight of 'em, +right ahead, formed in close line, about twelve miles to lee'ard, +standin' to the s'uth'ard, off Cape Trafalgar. + +"Ha, John Adams, an' boys an' girls all, you should have seen that +sight; it would have done you good. An' you should have felt our +buzzums; they was fit to bust, _I_ tell you! You see, we'd bin chasin' +of 'em so long, that we could scarce believe our eyes when we saw 'em at +long last. They wor bigger ships and more of 'em than ours; but what +cared Nelson for that? not the shank of a brass button! he rather liked +that sort o' thing; for, you know, one Englishman is equal to three +Frenchmen any day." + +"No, no, Jack Brace," said John Adams, with a quiet smile and shake of +the head; "'snot quite so many as that." + +"Not _quite_!" repeated Brace, vehemently; "why, it's my opinion that I +could lick any six o' the Mounseers myself. Thursday November Christian +there--" + +"He ain't November yet," interrupted Adams, quietly, "he's only +October." + +"No matter, it's all the same. I tell 'ee, John, that he could wallop +twenty of 'em, easy. There ain't no go in 'em at all." + +"Didn't you tell me, Jack Brace, that Trafalgar was a glorious battle?" + +"In coorse I did, for so it was." + +"Didn't the Frenchmen stick to their guns like men?" + +"No doubt of it." + +"An' they didn't haul down their colours, I suppose, till they was about +blown to shivers?" + +"You're about right there, John Adams." + +"Well, then, you can't say they've got no go in 'em. Don't underrate +your enemy, whatever you do, for it's not fair; besides, in so doin' you +underrate your own deeds. Moreover, we don't allow boastin' aboard of +this island; so go ahead, Jack Brace, and tell us what you did do, +without referrin' to what you think you could do. Mind, I'm king here, +and I'll have to clap you in irons if you let your tongue wag too +freely." + +"All right, your majesty," replied Brace, with a bow of graceful +humility, which deeply impressed his juvenile audience; "I'll behave +better in futur' if you'll forgive me this time. Well, as I was about +to say, when you sent that round shot across my bows and brought me up, +Nelson he would have fought 'em if they'd had ten times the number o' +ships that we had. As it was, the enemy had thirty-three sail of the +line and seven frigates. We had only twenty-seven sail of the line and +four frigates, so we was outnumbered by nine vessels. Moreover the +enemy had 4000 lobsters on board--" + +"Lobsters bein' land sodgers, my dears," remarked Adams, in explanation, +"so-called 'cause of their bein' all red-coated; but the French sodgers +are only red-trousered, coats bein' blue. Axin' your pardon, Brace, go +on." + +The seaman, who had availed himself of the interruption to stir up and +stuff down his pipe, resumed. + +"Likewise one of their line-o'-battle ships was a huge four-decker, +called the _Santissima Trinidad_, and they had some of the best Tyrolese +riflemen that could be got scattered throughout the fleet, as we +afterwards came to find out to our cost. + +"Soon after daylight Nelson came on deck. I see him as plain as if he +was before me at this moment, for, bein' stationed in the mizzen-top o' +the _Victory_--that was Nelson's ship, you know--I could see everything +quite plain. He stood there for a minute or so, with his admiral's +frock-coat covered with orders on the left breast, and his empty right +sleeve fastened up to it; for you must know he had lost his right arm in +action before that, and also his right eye, but the arm and eye that +were left were quite enough for him to work with. After a word or two +with the officers, he signalled to bear down on the enemy in two lines. + +"Then it seemed to have occurred to him that the smoke of battle might +render the signals difficult or impossible to make out, for he +immediately made one that would serve for everything. It was this: `if +signals can't be seen, no captain can do wrong if he places his ship +alongside an enemy.' Of coorse we all knew that he meant to win that +battle; but, for the matter of that, every soul in the fleet, from the +admiral to the smallest powder-monkey, meant--" + +"Boasting not allowed," said Dan McCoy, displaying his fine teeth from +ear to ear. + +The seaman looked at him with a heavy frown. + +"You young slip of a pump-handle, what d'ye mean?" + +"The king's orders," said Dan, pointing to Adams, while the rest of the +Pitcairners seemed awestruck by his presumption. + +The frown slowly left the visage of Jack Brace. He shut his eyes, +smiled benignly, and delivered a series of heavy puffs from the +starboard side of his mouth. + +Then a little squeak that had been bottled up in the nose of Otaheitan +Sally forced a vent, and the whole party burst into hilarious laughter. + +"Just so," resumed Brace, when they had recovered, "that is exactly what +we did in the mizzen-top o' the _Victory_ when we made out the signal, +only we stuck a cheer on to the end o' the laugh. After that came +another signal, just as we were about to go into action, `England +expects that every man will this day do his duty.' The effect of that +signal was just treemendious, _I_ tell you. + +"I noticed at this time that some of Nelson's officers were botherin' +him,--tryin' to persuade him, so to speak, to do somethin' he didn't +want to. I afterwards found out that they were tryin' to persuade him +not to wear his orders, but he wouldn't listen to 'em. Then they tried +to convince him it would be wise for him to keep out of action as long +as possible. He seemed to give in to this, for he immediately signalled +the _Temeraire_ and _Leviathan_, which were abreast of us, to pass +ahead; but in _my_ opinion this was nothin' more than a sly joke of the +Admiral, for he kept carrying on all sail on the _Victory_, so that it +wasn't possible for these ships to obey the order. + +"We made the attack in two lines. The _Victory_ led the weather-line of +fourteen ships, and Collingwood, in the _Royal Sovereign_, led the +lee-line of thirteen ships. + +"As we bore down, the enemy opened the ball. We held our breath, for, +as no doubt you know, messmate, just before the beginnin' of a fight, +when a man is standin' still an' doin' nothin', he's got time to think; +an' he _does_ think, too, in a way, mayhap, that he's not much used to +think." + +"That's true, Jack Brace," responded Adams, with a grave nod; "an', d'ye +know, it strikes me that it would be better for all of us if we'd think +oftener in that fashion when we've got time to do it." + +"You're right, John Adams; you're right. Hows'ever, we hadn't much time +to think that morning, for the shot soon began to tell. One round shot +came, as it seemed, straight for my head, but it missed me by a shave, +an' only took off the hat of a man beside me that was about a fut +shorter than myself. + +"`You see the advantage,' says he, `o' bein' a little feller.' `That's +so,' says I, but I didn't say or think no more that I knows on after +that, for we had got within musket range, and the small bullets went +whistling about our heads, pickin' off or woundin' a man here an' there. + +"It was just then that I thought it time to put my pipe in my pocket, +for, you see, I had been havin' a puff on the sly as we was bearin' +down; an' I put up my fore-finger to shove the baccy down, when one o' +them stingin' little things comes along, whips my best cutty out o' my +mouth, an' carries the finger along with it. Of coorse I warn't goin' +below for such a small matter, so I pulls out my hankerchief, an' says I +to the little man that lost his hat, `Just take a round turn here, Jim,' +says I, `an' I'll be ready for action again in two minutes.' Jim, he +tied it up, but before he quite done it, the round shot was pitchin' +into us like hail, cuttin' up the sails and riggin' most awful. + +"They told me afterwards that Nelson gave orders to steer straight for +the bow of the great _Santissima Trinidad_, and remarked, `It's too warm +work to last long,' but he did not return a single shot, though about +fifty of our men had been killed and wounded. You see, he never was +fond of wastin' powder an' shot. He generally reserved his fire till it +could be delivered with stunnin' effect. + +"Just then a round shot carried away our main-topmast with all her +stun-s'ls an' booms. By good luck, however, we were close alongside o' +the enemy's ship _Redoubtable_ by that time. Our tiller ropes were shot +away too, but it didn't matter much now. The word was given, and we +opened with both broadsides at once. You should have felt the _Victory_ +tremble, John Adams. We tackled the _Redoubtable_ with the starboard +guns, and the _Bucentaur_ and _Santissima Trinidad_ with the port guns. +Of course they gave it us hot and strong in reply. At the same time +Captain Hardy, in the _Temeraire_, fell on board the _Redoubtable_ on +her other side, and the _Fougueux_, another o' the enemy, fell on board +the _Temeraire_; so there we were four ships abreast--a compact tier-- +blazin' into each other like mad, with the muzzles of the guns touchin' +the sides when they were run out, an' men stationed with buckets at the +ports, to throw water into the shot-holes to prevent their takin' fire. + +"It was awful work, I tell you, with the never-stopping roar of great +guns and rattle of small arms, an' the smoke, an' the decks slippery +with blood. The order was given to depress our guns and load with light +charges of powder, to prevent the shot going right through the enemy +into our own ship on the other side. + +"The _Redoubtable_ flew no colours, so we couldn't tell when she struck, +and twice the Admiral, wishing to spare life, gave orders to cease +firing, thinking she had given in. But she had not done so, and soon +after a ball from her mizzen-top struck Nelson on the left shoulder, and +he fell. They took him below at once. + +"Of course we in the mizzen-top knew nothing of this, for we couldn't +see almost anything for the smoke, only here and there a bit of a mast, +or a yard-arm, or a bowsprit, while the very air trembled with the +tremendous and continuous roar. + +"We were most of us wounded by that time, more or less, but kept blazing +away as long as we could stand. Then there came cheers of triumph +mingling with the shouts and cries of battle. The ships of the enemy +were beginning to strike. One after another the flags went down. +Before long the cry was, `Five have struck!' then `Ten, hurrah!' then +fifteen, then twenty, hurrah!" + +"Hurrah! Old England for ever!" cried Adams, starting to his feet and +waving his hat in a burst of irrepressible excitement, which roused the +spirits of the youths around, who, leaping up with flushed faces and +glittering eyes, sent up from the groves of Pitcairn a vigorous British +cheer in honour of the great victory of Trafalgar. + +"But," continued Jack Brace, when the excitement had abated, "there was +great sorrow mingled with our triumph that day, for Nelson, the hero of +a hundred fights, was dead. The ball had entered his spine. He lived +just long enough to know that our victory was complete, and died +thanking God that he had done his duty." + +"That was truly a great battle," said Adams, while Brace, having +concluded, was refilling his pipe. + +"Right you are, John," said the other; "about the greatest victory we +ever gained. It has settled the fleets of France and Spain, I guess, +for the next fifty years." + +"But what was it all for?" asked Bessy Mills, looking up in the sailor's +face with much simplicity. + +"What was it for?" repeated Brace, with a perplexed look. "Why, my +dear, it was--it was for the honour and glory of Old England, to be +sure." + +"No, no, Jack, not quite that," interposed Adams, with a laugh, "it was +to clap a stopper on the ambition of the French, as far as I can make +out; or rather to snub that rascal Napoleon Bonnypart, an' keep him +within bounds." + +"But he ain't easy to keep within bounds," said Brace, putting his pipe +in his pocket and rising; "for he's been knockin' the lobsters of Europe +over like ninepins of late years. Hows'ever, we'll lick him yet on +land, as we've licked him already on the sea, or my name's not--" + +He stopped abruptly, having caught sight of Dan McCoy's twinkling eye. + +"Now, John Adams, I must go, else the Cap'n'll think I've deserted +altogether." + +"Oh, _don't_ go yet; please don't!" pleaded Dolly Young, as she grasped +and fondled the seaman's huge hand. + +Dolly was at that time about nine years of age, and full of enthusiasm. +She was seconded in her entreaties by Dinah Adams, who seized the other +hand, while several of the older girls sought to influence him by words +and smiles; but Jack Brace was not to be overcome. + +"I'll be ashore again to-morrow, p'r'aps, with the Captain, if he +lands," said Brace, "and spin you some more yarns about the wars." + +With this promise they were obliged to rest content. In a few minutes +the visitor was carried over the surf by Toc and Charlie in their canoe, +and soon put on board the _Topaz_, which stood inshore to receive him. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY. + +ADAMS AND THE GIRLS. + +Great was the interest aroused on board the _Topaz_ when Jack Brace +narrated his experiences among the islanders, and Captain Folger +resolved to pay them a visit. He did so next day, accompanied by the +Englishman and some of the other men, the sight of whom gladdened the +eyes and hearts of Adams and his large family. + +Besides assuring himself of the truth of Brace's statements, the Captain +obtained additional proof of the truth of Adams's account of himself and +his community in the form of the chronometer and azimuth compass of the +_Bounty_. + +"How many did you say your colony consists of?" asked Folger. + +"Thirty-five all told, sir," answered Adams; "but I fear we shall be +only thirty-four soon." + +"How so?" + +"One of our lads, a dear boy of about eight years of age, is dying, I +fear," returned Adams, sadly. + +"I'm sorry to hear it, and still more sorry that I have no doctor in my +ship," said Folger, "but I have a smatterin' of doctors' work myself. +Let me see him." + +Adams led the way to the hut where poor James Young lay, tenderly nursed +by Mary Christian. The boy was lying on his bed as they entered, gazing +wistfully out at the little window which opened from the side of it like +the port-lights or bull's-eyes of a ship's berth. His young nurse sat +beside him with the _Bounty_ Bible open on her knees. She shut it and +rose as the strangers entered. + +The poor invalid was too weak to take much interest in them. He was +extremely thin, and breathed with great difficulty. Nevertheless his +face flushed, and a gleam of surprise shot from his eyes as he turned +languidly towards the Captain. + +"My poor boy," said Folger, taking his hand and gently feeling his +pulse, "do you suffer much?" + +"Yes,--very much," said little James, with a sickly smile. + +"Can you rest at all?" asked the Captain. + +"I am--always--resting," he replied, with a pause between each word; +"resting--on Jesus." + +The Captain was evidently surprised by the answer. + +"Who told you about Jesus?" he asked. + +"God's book--and--the Holy--Spirit." + +It was obvious that the exertion of thinking and talking was not good +for poor little James. Captain Folger therefore, after smoothing the +hair on his forehead once or twice very tenderly, bade him good-bye, and +went out. + +"Doctors could do nothing for the child," he said, while returning with +Adams to his house; "but he is rather to be envied than pitied. I would +give much for the _rest_ which he apparently has found." + +"_Give_ much!" exclaimed Adams, with an earnest look. "Rest in the Lord +is not to be purchased by gifts. Itself is the grand free gift of God +to man, to be had for the asking." + +"I know it," was the Captain's curt reply, as he entered Adams's house. +"Where got you the chronometer and azimuth compass?" he said, on +observing these instruments. + +"They belonged to the _Bounty_. You are heartily welcome to both of +them if you choose; they are of no use to me." [See Note.] + +Folger accepted the gift, and promised to write to England and acquaint +the Government with his discovery of the colony. + +"You see, sir," said Adams, with a grave look, while hospitably +entertaining his visitor that afternoon, "we are increasing at a great +rate, and although they may perhaps take me home and swing me up to the +yard-arm, I think it better to run the risk o' that than to leave all +these poor young things here unprotected. Why, just think what might +happen if one o' them traders which are little better than pirates were +to come an' find us here." + +He looked at the Captain earnestly. + +"Now, if we were under the protection o' the British flag--only just +recognised, as it were,--that would go a long way to help us, and +prevent mischief." + +At this point the importunities of some of the young people to hear +about the outside world prevailed, and Folger began, as Jack Brace had +done the day before, to tell them some of the most stirring events in +the history of his own land. + +But he soon found out that the mental capacity of the Pitcairners was +like a bottomless pit. However much they got, they wanted more. +Anecdote after anecdote, story after story, fact after fact, was thrown +into the gulf, and still the cry was, "More! more!" + +At last he tore himself away. + +"Good-bye, and God bless you all," he said, while stepping into the +canoe which was to carry him off. "I won't forget my promise." + +"And tell 'em to send us story-books," shouted Daniel McCoy, as the +canoe rose on the back of the breakers. + +The Captain waved his hand. Most of the women and children wiped their +eyes, and then they all ran to the heights to watch the _Topaz_ as she +sailed away. They watched her till she vanished over that mysterious +horizon which seemed to the Pitcairners the utmost boundary of the +world, and some of them continued to gaze until the stars came out, and +the gulls retired to bed, and the soft black mantle of night descended +like a blessing of tranquillity on land and sea. + +Before bidding the _Topaz_ farewell, we may remark that Captain Folger +faithfully fulfilled his promise. He wrote a letter to England giving a +full account of his discovery of the retreat of the mutineers, which +aroused much interest all over the land; but at that time the stirring +events of warfare filled the minds of men in Europe so exclusively, that +the lonely island and its inhabitants were soon forgotten--at least no +action was taken by the Government--and six years elapsed before another +vessel sailed out of the great world into the circle of vision around +Pitcairn. + +Meanwhile the Pitcairners, knowing that, even at the shortest, a long, +long time must pass before Folger could communicate with the "old +country," continued the even tenor of their innocent lives. + +The school prospered and became a vigorous institution. The church not +less so. More children were born to Thursday October, insomuch that he +at last had one for every working-day in the week; more yam-fields were +cultivated, and more marriages took place--but hold, this is +anticipating. + +We have said that the school prospered. The entire community went to +it, male and female, old and young. John Adams not only taught his +pupils all he knew, but set himself laboriously to acquire all the +knowledge that was to be obtained by severe study of the Bible, the +Prayer-book. Carteret's Voyages, and by original meditation. From the +first mine he gathered and taught the grand, plain, and blessed truths +about salvation through Jesus, together with a few tares of error +resulting from misconception and imperfect reasoning. From the second +he adopted the forms of worship of the Church of England. From the +third he gleaned and amplified a modicum of nautical, geographical, and +general information; and from the fourth he extracted a flood of +miscellaneous, incomplete, and disjointed facts, fancies, and fallacies, +which at all events served the good purpose of interesting his pupils +and exercising their mental powers. + +But into the midst of all this life death stepped and claimed a victim. +The great destroyer came not, however, as an enemy but as a friend, to +raise little James Young to that perfect rest of which he had already +had a foretaste on the island. + +It was the first death among the second generation, and naturally had a +deeply solemnising effect on the young people. This occurred soon after +the departure of the _Topaz_. The little grave was made under the shade +of a palm-grove, where wild-flowers grew in abundance, and openings in +the leafy canopy let in the glance of heaven's blue eye. + +One evening, about six months after this event, Adams went up the hill +to an eminence to which he was fond of retiring when a knotty problem in +arithmetic had to be tackled. Arithmetic was his chief difficulty. The +soliloquy which he uttered on reaching his place of meditation will +explain his perplexities. + +"That 'rithmetic do bother me, an' no mistake," he said, with a grave +shake of the head at a lively lizard which was looking up in his face. +"You see, history is easy. What I knows I knows an' can teach, an' what +I don't know I let alone, an there's an end on't. There's no makin' a +better o' _that_. Then, as to writin', though my hand is crabbed +enough, and my pot-hooks are shaky and sprawly, still I know the shapes +o' things, an' the youngsters are so quick that they can most of 'em +write better than myself; but in regard to that 'rithmetic, it's a +heartbreak altogether, for I've only just got enough of it to puzzle me. +Wi' the use o' my fingers I can do simple addition pretty well, an' I +can screw round subtraction, but multiplication's a terrible business. +Unfort'nitely my edication has carried me only the length o' the fourth +line, an' that ain't enough." + +He paused, and the lively lizard, ready to fly at a moment's notice, put +its head on one side as if interested in the man's difficulty. + +"Seven times eight, now," continued Adams. "I've no more notion what +that is than the man in the moon. An' I've no table to tell me, an' no +way o' findin' it out--eh? Why, yes I have. I'll mark 'em down one at +a time an' count 'em up." + +He gave his thigh a slap, which sent the lively lizard into his hole, +horrified. + +"Poor thing, I didn't mean that," he said to the absent animal. +"Hows'ever, I'll try it. Why, I'll make a multiplication-table for +myself. Strange that that way never struck me before." + +As he went on muttering he busied himself in rubbing clean a flat +surface of rock, on which, with a piece of reddish stone, he made a row +of eight marks, one below another. Alongside of that he made another +row of eight marks, and so on till he had put down seven rows, when he +counted them up, and found the result to be fifty-six. This piece of +acquired knowledge he jotted down in a little notebook, which, with a +quantity of other stationery, had originally belonged to that great +fountain of wealth, the _Bounty_. + +"Why, I'll make out the whole table in this way," he said, quite +heartily, as he sat down again on the flat rock and went to work. + +Of course he found the process laborious, especially when he got among +the higher numbers; but Adams was not a man to be turned from his +purpose by trifles. He persevered until his efforts were crowned with +success. + +While he was engaged with the multiplication problem on that day, he was +interrupted by the sound of merry voices, and soon Otaheitan Sally, +Bessy Mills, May Christian, Sarah Quintal, and his own daughter Dinah, +came tripping up the hill towards him. + +These five, ranging from fifteen to nineteen, were fond of rambling +through the woods in company, being not only the older members of the +young flock, but like-minded in many things. Sally was looked up to by +the other four as being the eldest and wisest, as well as the most +beautiful; and truly, the fine clear complexion of the pretty brunette +contrasted well with their fairer skins and golden or light-brown locks. + +"We came up to have a chat with you, father," said Sally, as they drew +near. "Are you too busy to be bothered with us?" + +"Never too busy to chat with such dear girls," said the gallant seaman, +throwing down his piece of red chalk, and taking one of Sally's hands in +his. "Sit down, Sall; sit down, May, on the other side--there. Now, +what have you come to chat about?" + +"About that dear _Topaz_, of course, and that darling Captain Folger, +and Jack Brace, and all the rest of them," answered Sarah Quintal, with +sparkling eyes. + +"Hallo, Sarah! you've sent your heart away with them, I fear," said +Adams. + +"Not quite, but nearly," returned Sarah. "I would give anything if the +whole crew would only have stayed with us altogether." + +"Oh! how charming! delightful! _so_ nice!" exclaimed three of the +others. Sally said nothing, but gave a little smile, which sent a +sparkle from her pearly teeth that harmonised well with the gleam of her +laughter-loving eyes. + +"No doubt," said Adams, with a peculiar laugh; "but, I say, girls, you +must not go on thinking for ever about that ship. Why, it is six months +or more since it left us, and you are all as full of it as if it had +sailed but yesterday." + +"How can we help it, father?" said Sally. "It is about the most +wonderful thing that has happened since we were born, and you can't +expect us to get it out of our heads easily." + +"And how can we help thinking, and talking too," said Bessy Mills, +"about all the new and strange things that Jack Brace related to us?" + +"Besides, father," said Dinah, "you are quite as bad as we are, for you +talk about nothing else now, almost, except Lord Nelson and the battles +of the Nile and Trafalgar." + +"Come, come, Di; don't be hard on me. I don't say much about them +battles now." + +"Indeed you do," cried May Christian, "and it is only last night that I +heard you muttering something about Trafalgar in your sleep, and you +suddenly broke out with a half-muttered shout like this: `Englan' 'specs +every man'll do's dooty!'" + +May was not a bad mimic. This was received with a shout of laughter by +the other girls. + +While they were conversing thus two tall and slim but broad-shouldered +youths were seen climbing the hill towards them, engaged in very earnest +conversation. And this reference to conversation reminds us of the +curious fact that the language of the young Pitcairners had greatly +improved of late. As they had no other living model to improve upon +than John Adams, this must have been entirely the result of reading. +Although the books they had were few, they proved to be sufficient not +only to fill their minds with higher thoughts, but their mouths with +purer English than that nautical type which had been peculiar to the +mutineers. + +The tall striplings who now approached were Daniel McCoy and Charlie +Christian. These two were great friends and confidants. We will not +reveal the subject of their remarkably earnest conversation, but merely +give the concluding sentences. + +"Well, Charlie," said Dan, as they came in view of the knoll on which +Adams and the girls were seated, "we will pluck up courage and make a +dash at it together." + +"Ye-es," said Charlie, with hesitation. + +"And shall we break the ice by referring to Toc's condition, eh?" said +Dan. + +"Well, it seems to me the easiest plan; perhaps I should say the least +difficult," returned Charlie, with a faint smile. + +"Come, don't lose heart, Charlie," said Dan, with an attempt to look +humorous, which signally failed. + +"Hallo, lads! where away?" said Adams, as they came up. + +"Just bin havin' a walk and a talk, father," answered Dan. "We saw you +up here, and came to walk back with you." + +"I'm not so sure that we'll let you. The girls and I have been having a +pleasant confab, an' p'r'aps they don't want to be interrupted." + +"Oh, we don't mind; they may come," said Di Adams, with a laugh. + +So the youths joined the party, and they all descended the mountain in +company. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +A footnote in Lady Belcher's book tells us that this chronometer had +been twice carried out by Captain Cook on his voyages of discovery. It +was afterwards supplied to the _Bounty_ when she was fitted out for what +was to be her last voyage, and carried by the mutineers to Pitcairn +Island. Captain Folger brought it away, but it was taken from him the +same year by the governor of Juan Fernandez, and sold in Chili to A +Caldeleugh, Esquire, of Valparaiso, from whom it was purchased by +Captain, (afterwards Admiral), Sir T. Herbert for fifty guineas. That +officer took it to China, and in 1843 brought it to England and +transmitted it to the Admiralty, by which department it was presented to +the United Service Museum, in Great Scotland Yard, where the writer saw +it only a few days ago, and was told that it keeps excellent time still. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY ONE. + +TREATS OF INTERESTING MATTERS. + +Of course Charlie Christian gravitated towards Sally, and these two, +falling slowly behind the rest, soon turned aside, and descended by +another of the numerous paths which traversed that part of the mountain. + +Of course, also, Daniel McCoy drew near to Sarah Quintal, and these two, +falling slowly behind, sought another of the mountain-paths. It will be +seen that these young people were charmingly unsophisticated. + +For a considerable time Charlie walked beside Sally without uttering a +word, and Sally, seeing that there was something on his mind, kept +silence. At last Charlie lifted his eyes from the ground, and with the +same innocent gaze with which, as an infant, he had been wont to look up +to his guardian, he now looked down at her, and said, "Sally." + +"Well, Charlie?" + +There was a little smile lurking about the corners of the girl's mouth, +which seemed to play hide-and-seek with the twinkle in her downcast +eyes. + +"Well, Charlie, what are you going to tell me?" + +"Isn't Toc--very--happy?" + +He blushed to the roots of his hair when he said this, and dropped his +eyes again on the ground. + +"Of course he is," replied Sally, with a touch of surprise. + +"But--but--I mean, as--" + +"Well, why don't you go on, Charlie?" + +"I mean as a--a married man." + +"Every one sees and knows that, Charlie." There was another silence, +during which the timid youth cleared his throat several times. At last +he became desperate. + +"And--and--Sally, don't you think that _other_ people might be happy too +if they were married?" + +"To be sure they might," said the girl, with provoking coolness. +"There's Dan McCoy, now, and Sarah Quintal, they will be very happy +when--" + +"Why, how do _you_ know?"--Charlie spoke with a look of surprise and +stopped short. + +The girl laughed in a low tone, but did not reply, and the youth, +becoming still more desperate, said-- + +"But I--I didn't mean Dan and Sarah, when I--Oh, Sally, don't you _know_ +that I love you?" + +"Yes, I know that," replied the girl, with a blush and a little +tremulous smile. "I couldn't help knowing that." + +"Have I made it so plain, then?" he asked, in surprise. + +"Haven't you followed me ever since you were a staggerer?" asked Sally, +with a simple look. + +"O yes, of course--but--but I love you far _far_ more now. In short, I +want to marry you, Sally." + +He had reached the culminating point at last. "Well, Charlie, why don't +you ask father's leave?" said the maiden. + +"And you agree?" he exclaimed, timidly taking her hand. + +"Oh, Charlie," returned Sally, looking up in his face, with an arch +smile, "how stupid you are! Nothing goes into your dear head without +such a deal of hammering. Will you never become wise, and--" + +Charlie became wise at last, and stopped her impudent mouth effectively; +but she broke from him and ran into the woods, while he went down to the +village to tell Adams. + +Meanwhile Daniel McCoy led Sarah Quintal by a round-about path to the +cliffs above Pitcairn. + +Pretty little Sarah was timid, and had a vague suspicion of something +that caused her heart to flutter. + +"I say, Sarah," said the bold and stalwart Dan, "did you ever see such a +jolly couple as Toc and his wife before?" + +"I never saw any couple before, you know," replied the girl, simply, +"except father Adams and his wife." + +"Well, they are an oldish couple," returned Dan, with a laugh; "but it's +my opinion that before long you'll see a good many more couples--young +ones, too." + +"Indeed," said Sarah, becoming much interested, for this was the first +time that any young man had ventured to refer to such a subject, though +she and her female companions had often canvassed the possibilities that +surrounded them. + +"Yes, indeed," returned Dan. "Let me see, now. There's Charlie +Christian and Otaheitan Sally--" + +"Why, how did you come to know _that_?" asked Sarah, in genuine +surprise. + +Dan laughed heartily. "Come to know what?" he asked. + +"That--that he is fond of Sally," stammered Sarah. + +"Why, everybody knows that," returned Dan; "the very gulls must be aware +of it by this time, unless they are geese." + +"Yes, of course," said the poor girl, blushing crimson at the thought of +having been led almost to betray her friend's confidences. + +"Well, then," continued Dan, "Charlie and Sall bein' so fond o' one +another--" + +"I did not say that Sally was fond of Charlie," interrupted Sarah, +quickly. + +"Oh _dear_ no!" said Dan, with deep solemnity; "of _course_ you didn't; +nevertheless I know it, and it wouldn't surprise me much if something +came of it--a wedding, for instance." + +Sarah, being afraid to commit herself in some way if she opened her +lips, said nothing, but gazed intently at the ground as they walked +slowly among the sweet-scented shrubs. + +"But there's one o' the boys that wants to marry _you_, Sarah Quintal, +and it is for him I want to put in a good word to-day." + +A flutter of surprise, mingled with dismay at her heart, tended still +further to confuse the poor girl. Not knowing what to say, she +stammered, "Indeed! Who can it--it--" and stopped short. + +"They sometimes call him Dan," said the youth, suddenly grasping Sarah's +hand and passing an arm round her waist, "but his full name is Daniel +McCoy." + +Sarah Quintal became as suddenly pale now as she had formerly become +red, and struggled to get free. + +"Oh, Dan, Dan, don't!" she cried, earnestly; "_do_ let me go, if you +love me!" + +"Well, I will, if you say I may speak to Father Adams about it." + +Sarah's answer was quite inaudible to ordinary ears, but it caused Dan +to loosen his hold; and the girl, bounding away like a frightened +gazelle, disappeared among the palm-groves. + +"Well," exclaimed Dan, thrusting both hands into his trousers-pockets as +he walked smartly down the hill, "you _are_ the dearest girl in all the +world. There can't be two opinions on that point." + +Dan's world was a remarkably small one, as worlds go, but it was quite +large enough to fill his heart to overflowing at that time. + +In turning into another path he almost ran against Charlie Christian. + +"Well?" exclaimed Charlie, with a brilliant smile. "Well?" repeated +Dan, with a beaming countenance. + +"All right," said Charlie. + +"Ditto," said Dan, as he took his friend's arm, and hastened to the +abode of John Adams, the great referee in all important matters. + +They found him seated at his table, with the big Bible open before him. + +"Well, my lads," he said, with a kindly smile as they entered, "you find +me meditatin' over a verse that seems to me full o' suggestive +thoughts." + +"Yes, father, what is it?" asked Dan. + +"`A prudent wife is from the Lord.' You'll find it in the nineteenth +chapter o' Proverbs." + +The youths looked at each other in great surprise. "It is very +strange," said Charlie, "that you should hit upon that text to-day." + +"Why so, Charlie?" + +"Because--because--we came to--that is to say, we want to--" + +"Get spliced, Charlie; out with it, man. You keep shuffling about the +edge like a timid boy goin' to dive into deep water for the first time." + +"Well, and so it _is_ deep water," replied Charlie; "so deep that we +can't fathom it easily; and this _is_ the first time too." + +"The fact is, you've come to tell me," said Adams, looking at Charlie, +"that you want to marry Otaheitan Sally, and that Dan there wants to +marry Sarah Quintal. Is it not so?" + +"I think, father, you must be a wizard," said Dan, with a surprised +look. "How did you come to guess it?" + +"I didn't guess it, lad; I saw it as plain as the nose on your own face. +Anybody could see it with half an eye. Why, I've seen it for years +past; but that's not the point. The first question is, Are you able to +feed your wives without requirin' them to work too hard in the fields?" + +"Yes, father," answered Dan, promptly. "Charlie helped me, and I helped +him, and so we've both got enough of land enclosed and stocked to keep +our--our--wives comfortably," (even Dan looked modest here!) "without +requiring them to work at all, for a long time at least." + +"Well. I don't want 'em not to work at all--that's good for neither +man, nor woman, nor beast. Even child'n work hard, poor things, while +playin' at pretendin' to work. However, I'm glad to hear you are ready. +Of course I knew what you were up to all along. Now, you'll want to +borrow a few odds an' ends from the general stock, therefore go an' make +out lists of what you require, and I'll see about it. Is it long since +you arranged it wi' the girls?" + +"About half-an-hour," returned Dan. + +"H'm! sharp practice. You'll be the better of meditation for a week or +two. Now, get along with you, lads, and think of the word I have given +you from God's book about marriage. I'll not keep you waitin' longer +than I think right." + +So Dan and Charlie left the presence-chamber of their nautical ruler, +quite content to wait for a couple of weeks, having plenty to keep them +employed, body and mind, in labouring in their gardens, perfecting the +arrangements of their respective cottages, and making out lists of the +various things they required to borrow. In all of which operations they +were lovingly assisted by their intended wives, with a matter-of-fact +gravity that would have been quite touching if it had not been half +ridiculous. + +The list of things to be borrowed was made out in accordance with a +system of barter, exchange, and loan, which had begun in necessity, and +was afterwards conducted on regular principles by Adams, who kept a +systematic journal and record of accounts, in which he entered the +nature and quantity of work performed by each family, what each had +received, and what each was due on account. The exchanges also were +made in a systematic manner. Thus, when one family had too many salt +fish, and another had too much fruit or vegetables, a fair exchange +restored the equilibrium to the satisfaction of both parties; and when +the stores of one family were exhausted, a fresh supply was raised for +it from the general possessions of all the rest, to be repaid, however, +in exact measure when the suffering family should be again in affluence, +through good harvests and hard work. All details were minutely noted +down by Adams, so that injustice to individuals or to the community at +large was avoided. + +It is interesting to trace, in this well-conducted colony, the great +root-principles on which the colossal system of the world's commerce and +trade has been reared, and to recognise in John Adams the germs of those +principles of equity and method which have raised England to her high +commercial position. But still more interesting is it to recognise in +him that good seed, the love of God and His truth, spiritual, +intellectual, and material, which, originated by the Holy Spirit, and +founded in Jesus Christ, produces the "righteousness that exalteth a +nation." + +When the short period of probation was past, Charlie Christian became +the happy husband of the girl whom he had all but worshipped from the +earliest rememberable days of infancy, and Dan McCoy was united to Sarah +Quintal. As in the first case of marriage, Otaheitan Sall was older +than her husband; but in her case the difference was so slight as +scarcely to be worth mentioning. As to appearance, tall, serious, +strapping Charlie _looked_ old enough to have been Sally's father. + +The wedding-day was a day of great rejoicing, considerable solemnity, +and not a little fun; for the religion of the Pitcairners, being drawn +direct from the inspired Word, was the reverse of dolorous. Indeed, the +simplicity of their faith was extreme, for it consisted in merely asking +the question, "What does God wish me to do?" and _doing it_. + +Of course the simplicity of this rule was, in Pitcairn as elsewhere, +unrecognised by ignorance, or rendered hazy and involved by stupidity. +Adams had his own difficulties in combating the effects of evil in the +hearts of his children, for, as we have said before, they were by no +means perfect, though unusually good. + +For instance, one day one of those boys who was passing into the +hobbledehoy stage of life, came with a perplexed air, and said-- + +"Didn't you tell us in school yesterday, father, that if we were good +Jesus would save us?" + +"No, Jack Mills, I told you just the reverse. I told you that if Jesus +saved you you would be good." + +"Then why doesn't He save me and make me good?" asked Jack, anxious to +cast the blame of his indecision about his salvation off his own +shoulders. + +"Because you refuse to be saved," said Adams, pointedly. + +Jack Mills felt and looked somewhat hurt at this. He was one of the +steadiest boys at the school, always learned his tasks well, and was +generally pretty well behaved; but there was in him an ugly, half-hidden +root of selfishness, which he did not himself perceive. + +"Do you remember going to the shore yesterday?" asked Adams, replying to +the look,--for the boy did not speak. + +"Yes, father." + +"And you remember that two little boys had just got into a canoe, and +were pushing off to enjoy themselves, when you ran down, turned them +out, and took the canoe to yourself?" + +Jack did not reply; but his flushed face told that he had not forgotten +the incident. + +"That's right, dear boy," continued Adam, "Your blood tells the truth +for you, and your tongue don't contradict it. So long's you keep the +unruly member straight you'll get along. Well, now, Jack, that was a +sin of unkindness, and a sort of robbery, too, for the canoe belonged to +the boys while they had possession. Did you want to be saved from that +sin, my boy?" + +Jack was still silent. He knew that he had not wished to be saved at +the time, because, if he had, he would have at once returned to the +shore and restored the canoe, with an apology for having taken it by +force. + +"But I was sorry afterwards, father," pleaded the boy. + +"I know you were, Jack, and your guilty conscience longed for +forgiveness. But Jesus did not come to this world to forgive us. He +came to save us--to save this people from their sins; _His_ +people,--_forgiven_ people, my boy,--from their sins. If you had looked +to Jesus, He would have sent His Spirit into you, and brought His Word +to your mind, `Be ye kind one to another,' or, `Whatsoever ye would that +men should do to you, do ye even so to them:' or in some way or other He +would have turned you back and saved you from sin, but you did not look +to Jesus; in short, you refused to be saved just then, and thought to +make up for it by being sorry afterwards. Isn't that the way of it, +Jack?" + +"Yes, father," said Jack, with downcast but no longer hurt looks, for +Adams's tone and manner were very kind. + +"Then you know now, Jack Mills, why you're not yet saved, and you can't +be good till you _are_ saved, any more than you can fly till you've got +wings. But don't be cast down, my lad; He will save you yet. All +you've got to do is to _cease your opposition_, and let Him take you in +hand." + +Thus, or in some such way, did this God-appointed pastor lead his little +flock from day to day and year to year. + +But to return from this digression. + +We have said that the double wedding-day was one of mingled rejoicing, +solemnity, and fun. If you insist on further explanation, good reader, +and want to know something more about the rejoicing, we can only direct +you to yonder clump of blossoming plants in the shade of the palm-grove. +There you will find Charlie Christian looking timidly down into the +gorgeous orbs of Otaheitan Sally as they hold sweet converse of things +past, present, and to come. They have been so trained in ways of +righteousness, that the omission of the world-to-come from their +love-making, (not flirtation, observe), would be as ridiculous as the +absence of reference to the wedding-day. + +On the other side of the same knoll Daniel McCoy sits by the side of +modest Sarah Quintal, his only half-tamed spirit torn by the conflicting +emotions aroused by a compound of jollity, love, joy, thankfulness, and +fun, which render his words too incoherent to be worthy of record. + +In regard to solemnity, reader, we refer you to the little school-room, +which also serves for a chapel, where John Adams, in tones befitting a +bishop and with feelings worthy of an apostle, reads the marriage +service in the midst of the assembled population of the island. He has +a brass curtain-ring which did duty at the marriage of Thursday October +Christian, and which is destined to do duty in similar circumstances in +many coming years. The knots are soon tied. There are no sad tears, +for at Pitcairn there are no partings of parents and children, but there +are many tears of joy, for Adams's words are telling though few, and his +prayers are brief but deeply impressive, while the people, young and +middle-aged, are powerfully sympathetic. The most of the girls break +down when Adams draws to an abrupt close, and most of the youths find it +hard to behave like men. + +They succeed, however, and then the wedding party goes off to have a +spell of fun. + +If you had been there, reader, to behold things for yourself, it is not +improbable that some of the solemnity of the wedding would have been +scattered, (for you, at least), and some of the fun introduced too soon, +for the costumes of the chief actors were not perfect; indeed, not quite +appropriate, according to our ideas of the fitness of things. + +It is not that we could object to the bare feet of nearly all the party, +for to such we are accustomed among our own poor. Neither could we find +the slightest fault with the brides. Their simple loose robes, flowing +hair, and wreaths of natural flowers, were in perfect keeping with the +beauty of their faces. But the garb of guileless Charlie Christian was +incongruous, to say the least of it. During the visit of the _Topaz_ a +few old clothes had been given by the seamen to the islanders, and +Charlie had become the proud possessor of a huge black beaver hat, which +had to be put on sidewise to prevent its settling down on the back of +his neck; also, of a blue dress-coat with brass buttons, the waist and +sleeves of which were much too short, and the tails unaccountably long; +likewise, of a pair of Wellington boots, the tops of which did not, by +four inches, reach the legs of his native trousers, and therefore +displayed that amount of brawny, well-made limbs, while the absence of a +vest and the impossibility of buttoning the coat left a broad, sunburnt +expanse of manly chest exposed to view. But such is the difference of +opinion resulting from difference of custom, that not a muscle of any +face moved when he appeared, save in open admiration, though there was +just the shade of a twinkle for one moment in the eye of John Adams, for +he had seen other, though not better, days. + +Even Dan's excitable sense of the ridiculous was not touched. Himself, +indeed, was a greater guy than Charlie, for he wore a richly-flowered +vest, so tight that it would hardly button, and had been split up the +back while being put on. As he wore a shell-jacket, much too short for +him, this accident to the vest and a portion of his powerful back were +clearly revealed. + +But these things were trifles on that great day, and when the fun did +begin, it was kept up with spirit. First, the greater part of the +population went to the beach for a little surf-sliding. It is not +necessary to repeat our description of that exercise. The waves were in +splendid order. + +It seemed as if the great Pacific itself were pulsating with unwonted +joy. The billows were bigger grander, almost slower and more sedate +than usual. Outside it was dead calm. The fall of each liquid wall was +more thunderous, its roar more deep-toned, and the confusion of the surf +more riotous than ever. For average rejoicers this exercise might in +itself have sufficed for one day, but they were used to it, and wanted +variety; so the youths took to racing on the sands, and the maidens to +applauding, while the elderly looked on and criticised. The small +children went, loosely speaking, mad. + +Some there were who went off on their own accounts, and cast a few of +those shadows which are said to precede "coming events." Others, less +poetically inclined just then, remained in the village to prepare roast +pig, yam-pie, and those various delicacies compounded of fruits and +vegetables, which they knew from experience would be in great demand ere +long. + +As evening descended they all returned to the village, and at sunset +hauled down their flag. + +This flag, by the way, was another souvenir of the _Topaz_. It was an +old Union Jack, for which Adams had set up a flagstaff, having by that +time ceased to dread the approach of a ship. By Jack Brace he had been +reminded of the date of the king's birthday, and by a strange +coincidence that happened to be the very day on which the two couples +were united. Hence there was a double, (perhaps we should say a +treble), reason for rejoicing. As John Adams was now endeavouring to +undo the evils of his former life, he naturally became an enthusiastic +loyalist. On passing the flagstaff he called for three cheers for the +British king, and with his own voice led off the first verse of the +national anthem before hauling down the colours. Thereafter, assembling +round the festive board in the school-room, they proceeded to take +physical nourishment, with the memory of mental food strong upon them. +Before the meal a profound hush fell on all the scene, and the deep +voice of Adams was heard asking a blessing on the food they were about +to receive. Thanks were returned with equal solemnity after meat. Then +the tables were cleared, and games became the order of the evening. +When a point of semi-exhaustion was reached, a story was called for, and +the nautical pastor at once launched into oceans of imagination and +fancy, in which he bid fair to be wrecked and drowned. During the +recital of this the falling of a pin would have been heard, if there had +been such a thing as a pin at Pitcairn to fall. + +Last, but not least, came blind-man's-buff. This exhausted the last +spark of physical energy left even in the strongest. But the mental and +spiritual powers were still vigorous, so that when they all sat down in +quiescence round the room, and Toc took down the family Bible from its +accustomed shelf and set it before Adams, they were all, young and old, +in a suitable state of mind to join in the worship of Him who had given +them the capacity, as well as the opportunity, to enjoy that glorious +and ever memorable day. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY TWO. + +ANOTHER VISIT FROM THE GREAT WORLD. + +If ever there had been a doubt of the truth of the proverb that example +is better than precept, the behaviour of the young men and maidens of +Pitcairn, after the wedding just described, would have cleared that +doubt away for ever. + +The demands upon poor Adams's services became ridiculous, insomuch that +he began to make laws somewhat in the spirit of the Medo-Persic +lawmakers, and sternly refused to allow any man to marry under the age +of twenty years, or any woman under eighteen. Even with this drag on +the wheels, the evil--if evil it were--did not abate, but as time went +on, steadily increased. It seemed as if, the ice having been broken, +the entire population kept on tumbling into the water. + +Among others, our once little friend Matthew Quintal married Bessy +Mills. + +The cares of the little colony now began to tell heavily on John Adams, +for he was what is termed a willing horse, and would not turn over to +another the duties which he could perform with his own hands. Besides +acting the part of pastor, schoolmaster, law-maker, and law-enforcer, he +had to become the sympathetic counsellor of all who chose to call upon +him; also public registrar of events, baptiser of infants, and medical +practitioner. It is a question whether there ever was a man placed in +so difficult and arduous a position as this last mutineer of the +_Bounty_, and it is not a question at all, but an amazing and memorable +fact, that he filled his unique post with statesmanlike ability. + +As time went on, he, of course, obtained help, sympathy, and counsel +from the men and women whom he had been training for God around him; but +he seems to have been loath formally to hand over the helm, either +wholly or in part, to any one else as long as he had strength to steer +the ship. + +We have said that England was too much engaged with her European wars to +give much thought to this gem in her crown, which was thus gradually +being polished to such a dazzling brightness. She knew it was but a +little gem, if gem at all, and at such a distance did not see its +brilliant sheen. Amid the smoke and turmoil of war she forgot it; yet +the God of Battles and the Prince of Peace were winning a grand, moral, +bloodless victory in that lonely little island. + +It was not till the year 1814, six years after the visit of the _Topaz_, +that the solitude of Pitcairn was again broken in upon by visitors from +the outside world. + +In that year two frigates, H.M.S. _Britain_ and _Tagus_, commanded +respectively by Captain Sir F. Staines and Captain Pipon, came +unexpectedly on Pitcairn Island while in pursuit of an American ship, +the _Essex_, which had been doing mischief among the British whalers. + +It was evening when the ships sighted Pitcairn, and were observed by one +of the almost innumerable youngsters with which the island had by that +time been peopled. With blazing eyes and labouring breath, the boy +rushed down the cliffs, bounded over the level ground, and burst into +the village, shouting, "Ships!" + +No warwhoop of Red Indians ever created greater excitement. Pitcairn +swarmed at once to the cliffs with flushed faces, glittering eyes, and +hopeful looks. Yes, there they were, and no mistake,--two ships! + +"They're men-o'-war, father," said Thursday October Christian, a little +anxiously. + +"So I see, lad; but I won't hide _this_ time. I don't believe they'd +think it worth while hangin' me now. Anyhow, I'll risk it." + +Many of the people spent the whole of that night on the cliffs, for, as +it was too late to attempt a landing, Captain Staines did not venture to +approach till the following morning. + +Soon after daybreak the ships were seen to stand inshore, and a canoe +was launched through the surf to meet them. As on the occasion of the +visit of the _Topaz_, Thursday was deputed to represent the islanders. +He was accompanied by Edward Young, now a handsome youth of eighteen +years of age. As on the previous boarding of a ship, Toc amazed the +sailors by shouting in English to "throw him a rope." Being now +possessed of a wardrobe, he had in his heart resolved to appear in a +costume worthy of the great occasion. For this end he had put on a vest +without sleeves, trousers that had done duty in the _Topaz_, and were +much too short, and a beaver hat which he had jauntily ornamented with +cock-tail feathers, and wore very much on the back of his head. + +Thursday met the eager inquiries of Sir F. Staines with his usual +good-humoured off-hand urbanity, and gave his name in full; but a sudden +change came over his face while he spoke--a look of amazement, mingled +with alarm. + +"Look! look there, Ned," he said, in a low tone, laying his hand on his +comrade's shoulder and pointing towards a certain part of the ship. +"What is that?" + +Ned looked with an expression of awe in the direction indicated. + +"What is it that puzzles you?" asked the Captain, not a little amused by +their looks. + +"The beast! the beast!" said Toc. + +"What, d'you mean the cow?" + +"Is it a cow?" asked Toc in wonder. + +"Of course it is. Did you never see a cow before?" + +"No, never. I thought it was a big goat, or a horned sow," returned the +young man, as he approached the quiet animal cautiously. "I say, Ned, +it's a _cow_! It don't look much like the things that father Adams used +to draw, do it?" + +Ned agreed that Adams's representation fell far short of the original, +and for some time they stood cautiously examining the strange creature, +and gently touching its sides. + +Just then a little black terrier came bounding forward and frisked round +the Captain. + +"Ha!" exclaimed Edward Young, with an intelligent look, "I know that +beast, Toc; it's a dog! I'm sure it is, for I have read of such things +in Carteret, and father has described 'em often, so have the women. +They have dogs, you know, on some islands." + +But the surprise and interest raised in them by two animals were nothing +to what they felt on being conducted over the ship and shown all the +details of stores and armament in a man-of-war. The surprise changed +sides, however, when, on being asked to partake of luncheon, these men +stood up, clasped their hands, shut their eyes, and asked a blessing +before commencing to eat, in the familiar phrase, "For what we are about +to receive," etcetera. + +Of course Captains Staines and Pipon went on shore, where they were +received by Adams, hat in hand, and by the rest of the population down +to the minutest infant, for no one would consent to miss the sight, and +there was no sick person to be looked after. Up at the village the pigs +and poultry had it all their own way, and made the most of their +opportunity. + +It was curious to mark the air of respect with which Adams regarded the +naval uniform which had once been so familiar. As he stood conversing +with the officers, he occasionally, in sailor-like fashion, smoothed +down his scanty locks, for although little more than fifty at that time, +care, sorrow, and anxiety had given his countenance an aged and worn +look, though his frame was still robust and healthy. + +In the course of the interview, Captain Pipon offered to give him a +passage to England, with any of his family who chose to accompany him. +To his surprise Adams at once expressed a desire to go. + +We know not whether this was a piece of pleasantry on Adams's part, but +when he sent for his old wife and daughters to tell them of it, the +scene of distress that ensued baffles description. The old woman was in +despair. Dinah Adams burst into tears, and entreated the officers not +to take her dear father away. Her sister Rachel flung her arms round +her father's neck and held on. Hannah Adams clasped her hands and wept +in silent despair, and even George, at that time about ten years of age, +and not at all given to the melting mood, felt a tear of sympathy +trickling down his nose. Of course, when the cause of the ebullition +became known, the whole Pitcairn colony was dissolved in tears or +lamentations, insomuch that Adams gave up all idea of leaving them. We +firmly believe that he never had any intention of doing so, but had +merely thrown out the hint to see what effect it would have. + +Like Captain Folger of the _Topaz_, the captains of the _Britain_ and +_Tagus_ wrote eloquent and enthusiastic letters to the Admiralty about +their discovery, but the dogs of war were still loose in Europe. Their +Lordships at Whitehall had no time to devote to such matters, and once +again the lonely island was forgotten. + +It is a curious coincidence that death came close on the heels of this +visit, as it had come on that of the _Topaz_. Scarcely had the two +frigates left when Matthew Quintal took a fit while out fishing in his +canoe and was drowned. About the same time Jack Mills was killed by +falling from the rocks when out after gulls' eggs. Thus poor Bessy +Quintal lost her husband and brother in the same year, but she was not +without comfort. She had been early taught to carry her cares to Jesus, +and found Him now a very present help. Besides, she had now two little +sons, John and Matthew, who were old enough to fondle her and sympathise +with her to some extent, though they scarce understood her sorrow; and +her fast friend and comforter, Sally Christian, did not fail her in the +hour of need. Indeed, that warm-hearted Otaheitan would have taken poor +Bessy into her house to live with her and Charlie, but for the +difficulty that six riotous little creatures of her own, named Fletcher, +Edward, Charles, Isaac, Sarah, and Maria, already filled it to +overflowing. + +A little more than six years after this, there came a visitant of a rare +and heart-gladdening kind, namely, a parcel of _books_. Although the +Government of England was too busy to think of the far-off isle, there +were Englishmen who did not forget her. The _Society for Promoting +Christian Knowledge_, happening, in 1819, to hear of an opportunity of +communicating with Pitcairn, made up and despatched to it a parcel of +books, containing, besides Bibles and Prayer-books, "works of +instruction fitted for all ages." Who can imagine the delight produced +by this gift to minds which had been well educated and were thirsting +for more knowledge? It must have been as food to the starving; as water +to the dry ground. + +Four years after that, a whale-ship from London, named the _Cyrus_, +touched in passing. + +As this visit was a noteworthy epoch in the lonely island, we shall +devote a new chapter to it. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY THREE. + +NEW ARRIVALS AND STRANGE ADVENTURES. + +"My dear," said Adams one morning to his spouse, as he was about to go +forth to superintend the working of his busy hive, "I'm beginnin' to +feel as if I was gettin' old, and would soon have to lay up like an old +hulk." + +"You've done good service for the Master, John; perhaps He thinks you +should rest now," answered his wife. "You've got plenty able helpers to +take the heavy work off your hands." + +"True, old woman, able, willin', and good helpers, thank God, but they +want a headpiece still. However, there's a deal of life in the old dog +yet. If that dear angel, Otaheitan Sally, were only a man, now, I could +resign the command of the ship without a thought. But I've committed +the matter to the Lord. He will provide in His own good time. +Good-day, old girl. If any one wants me, you know where to send 'em." + +Not many days after that in which these remarks were made a sail was +seen on the horizon. So few and far between had these visitants been +that the excitement of the people was as wild as when the first ship +appeared, and much more noisy, seeing that the juveniles had now become +so very numerous. + +The ship soon drew near. Canoes were sent off to board her. Thursday +October, as of old, introduced himself, and soon the captain and several +men were brought on shore, to the intense joy of the inhabitants. + +One of the sailors who landed attracted Adams's attention in a special +manner, not so much because of his appearance, which was nothing +uncommon, as because of a certain grave, kindly, serious air which +distinguished him. This man's name was John Buffett. Another of the +men, named John Evans, less serious in manner, but not less hearty and +open, made himself very agreeable to the women, especially to old Mrs +Adams, to whom he told a number of nautical anecdotes in an undertone +while the captain was chatting with Adams himself. Buffett spoke +little. + +After spending an agreeable day on shore, the sailors walked down to the +beach towards evening to return to their ship. + +"You lead a happy life here, Mr Adams," said Buffett, in an earnest +tone. "Would you object to a stranger staying among you!" + +"Object!" said Adams, with a quick, pleasant glance. "I only wish the +Lord would send us one; one at least who is a follower of Himself." + +John Buffett said no more, but that same evening he expressed to his +captain so strong a desire to remain behind that he obtained leave, and +next day was sent on shore. + +The sailor named John Evans accompanied him to see him all right and +bring off the latest news; but Evans himself had become so delighted +with the appearance of the place and people, that he deserted into the +mountains, and the ship had to sail without him. + +Thus were two new names added to the muster-roll of Pitcairn. + +John Buffett in particular turned out to be an invaluable acquisition. +He was a man of earnest piety, and had obtained a fairly good education. +Adams and he drew together at once. + +"You'll not object, p'r'aps," said the former on the occasion of their +first talk over future plans, "to give me a lift wi' the school?" + +"Nothing would please me better," answered Buffett. "I'm rather fond o' +teachin', to say truth, and am ready to begin work at once." + +Not only did Buffett thereafter become to Adams as a right arm in the +school, but he assisted in the church services on Sundays, and +eventually came to read sermons, which, for the fixing of them more +effectually on the minds of the people, he was wont to deliver three +times over. + +But Buffett could tell stories as well as read sermons. One afternoon +some of the youngsters caught him meditating under a cocoa-nut tree, and +insisted on his telling the story of his life. + +"It ain't a long story, boys an' girls," said he, "for I've only lived +some six-and-twenty years yet. I was born in 1797, near Bristol, and +was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker. Not takin' kindly to that sort o' +work, I gave it up an' went to sea. However, I'm bound to say, that the +experience I had with the saw and plane has been of the greatest service +to me ever since; and it's my opinion, that what ever a man is, or +whoever he may be, he should learn a trade; ay, even though he should be +a king." + +The Pitcairn juveniles did not see the full force of this remark, but +nevertheless they believed it heartily. + +"It was the American merchant service I entered," continued Buffett, +"an' my first voyage was to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. I was wrecked +there, and most o' the crew perished; but I swam ashore and was saved, +through God's mercy. Mark that, child'n. It wasn't by good luck, or +good swimmin', or chance, or fate, or anything else in the shape of a +second cause, but it was the good God himself that saved, or rather +spared me. Now, I say that because there's plenty of people who don't +like to give their Maker credit for anything, 'cept when they do it in a +humdrum, matter-of-course way at church." + +These last remarks were quite thrown away upon the children, whose +training from birth had been to acknowledge the goodness of God in +everything, and who could not, of course, comprehend the allusions to +formalism. + +"Well," he continued, "after suffering a good deal, I was picked up by +some Canadian fishermen, and again went to sea, to be once again wrecked +and saved. That was in the year 1821. Then I went to England, and +entered on board a ship bound for China, from which we proceeded to +Manilla, and afterwards to California, where I stayed some time. Then I +entered an English whaler homeward bound, intendin' to go home, and the +Lord _did_ bring me home, for he brought me here, and here I mean to +stay." + +"And we're all _so_ glad!" exclaimed Dolly Young, who had now become an +enthusiastic, warm-hearted, pretty young woman of twenty-three summers. + +Dolly blushed as she spoke, but not with consciousness. It was but +innocent truthfulness. John Buffett paused, and looked at her steadily. +What John Buffett thought we are not prepared to say, but it may be +guessed, when we state that within two months of that date, he and Dolly +Young were united in marriage by old Adams, with all the usual +ceremonial, including the curtain-ring which did duty on all such +occasions, and the unfailing game of blind-man's-buff. + +John Evans was encouraged, a few months later, to take heart and do +likewise. He was even bolder than Buffett, for he wooed and won a +princess; at least, if John Adams was in any sense a king, his second +daughter Rachel must have been a princess! Be this as it may, Evans +married her, and became a respected member of the little community. + +And now another of these angel-like visits was looming in the distance. +About twelve years after the departure of the _Britain_ and _Tagus_, one +of H.M. cruisers, the _Blossom_, Captain Beechy, sailed out of the Great +Unknown into the circlet of Pitcairn, and threw the islanders into a +more intense flutter than ever, for there were now upwards of fifty +souls there, many of whom had not only never seen a man-of-war, but had +had their imaginations excited by the glowing descriptions of those who +had. This was in 1825. + +The _Blossom_ had been fitted out for discovery. When Buffett first +recognised her pennant he was in great trepidation lest they had come to +carry off Adams, but such was not the case. It was merely a passing +visit. Three weeks the _Blossom_ stayed, during which the captain and +officers were entertained in turn at the different houses; and it seems +to have been to both parties like a brief foretaste of the land of +Beulah. + +Naturally, Captain Beechy was anxious to test the truth of the glowing +testimony of former visitors. He had ample opportunity, and afterwards +sent home letters quite as enthusiastic as those of his predecessors in +regard to the simplicity, truthfulness, and genuine piety alike of old +and young. + +If a few hours' visit had on former occasions given the community food +for talk and reflection, you may be sure that the three weeks' of the +_Blossom's_ sojourn gave them a large supply for future years. It +seemed to Otaheitan Sally, and Dinah Adams, and Dolly and Polly Young, +and the rest of them, that the island was not large enough now to +contain all their new ideas, and they said so to John Adams one evening. + +"My dears," said John, in reply, laying his hand on that of Sally, who +sat beside him on their favourite confabulation-knoll, which overlooked +Bounty Bay, "ideas don't take up much room, and if they did, we could +send 'em out on the sea, for they won't drown. Ah! Sall, Sall--" + +"What are you thinking of, dear father?" asked Sally, with a sympathetic +look, as the old man stopped. + +"That my time can't be long now. I feel as if I was about worn-out." + +"Oh, _don't_ say that, father!" cried his daughter Hannah, laying her +cheek on his arm, and hugging it. "There's ever so much life in you +yet." + +"It may be so. It _shall_ be so if the Lord will," said Adams, with a +little smile; "but I'm not the man I was." + +Poor John Adams spoke truly. He had landed on Pitcairn a slim young +fellow with broad shoulders, powerful frame, and curling brown hair. He +was now growing feeble and rather corpulent; his brow was bald, his +scanty locks were grey, and his countenance deeply care-worn. No +wonder, considering all he had gone through, and the severe wound he had +received upwards of thirty years before. + +Nevertheless, Hannah was right when she said there was a good deal of +life in the old man yet. He lived after that day to tie the +wedding-knot between his own youngest child George, and Polly Young. +More than that, he lived to dandle George's eldest son, Johnny, on his +knees, and to dismiss him in favour of his little brother Jonathan when +that child made his appearance. + +But before this latter event the crowning joy of John Adams's life was +vouchsafed to him, in the shape of a worthy successor to his Pitcairn +throne. + +The successor's name was neither pretty nor suggestive of romance, yet +was closely allied with both. It was George Nobbs. He arrived at the +island in very peculiar circumstances, on the 15th of November 1828, and +told his story one afternoon under the banyan-tree to Adams and Buffett, +and as many of the young generation as could conveniently get near him, +as follows:-- + +"Entering the navy at an early period of life, I went through many +vicissitudes and experiences in various quarters of the globe. But +circumstances induced me to quit the navy, and for a short time I +remained inactive, until my old commander offered to procure me a berth +on board a ship of eighteen guns, designed for the use of the patriots +in South America. + +"Accepting the offer, I left England early in 1816 for Valparaiso, and +cruised there for sixteen months, taking many prizes. While on board of +one of our prizes I was taken prisoner, and carried into Callao, where I +and my comrades were exposed to the gaze and insults of the people. +Here, for many months, I walked about the streets with fifty pounds +weight of iron attached to me, on a spare diet of beans and Chili +peppers, with a stone at night for a pillow. We were made to carry +stones to repair the forts of the place. There were seventeen of us. +Five or six of our party died of fever and exposure to the sun, after +which our guardians became careless about us. We managed to get rid of +our irons by degrees, and at length were left to shift for ourselves. +Soon after, with some of my comrades, I escaped on board a vessel in the +bay, and succeeded in getting put on board our own vessel again, which +was still cruising in these seas. + +"Entering Valparaiso in the latter part of 1817, I had now an +opportunity of forwarding about 140 pounds to my poor mother in England, +who was sorely in need of help at the time. Some time after that I went +with a number of men in a launch to attempt the cutting out of a large +merchant ship from Cadiz. We were successful, and my share of the +prize-money came to about 200 pounds, one hundred of which I also sent +to my mother. After this I took a situation as prize-master on board a +vessel commanded by a Frenchman. Deserting from it, I sought to +discover a road to Guayaquil through the woods, where I suffered great +hardships, and failed in the attempt." + +The adventurer paused a few seconds, and looked earnestly in Adams's +countenance. + +"I am not justifying my conduct," he said, "still less boasting." + +"Right you are, Nobbs," said Adams, with an approving nod. "Your line +of life won't stand justification according to the rule of God's book." + +"I know it, Adams; I am merely telling you a few of the facts of my +life, which you have a right to know from one who seeks an asylum among +your people. Well, returning to the coast, I went on board an English +whaler, by the captain of which I was kindly treated and landed at +Talcahuans. I had not been long there, when, at midnight, on the 7th +May, in the year 1819, the Chilian garrison, fifteen in number, was +attacked by Benevades and his Indian troops. A number of the +inhabitants were killed, the town was sacked, and a large number of +prisoners, myself included, carried off. Next morning troops from +Concepcion came in pursuit, and rescued us as we were crossing a river. + +"Soon after this affair I returned to Valparaiso, and engaged as first +officer of a ship named the _Minerva_, which had been hired by the +Chilian Government as a transport to carry out troops to Peru. Having +landed the troops, I took part, on 5th November, in cutting out a +Spanish frigate named the _Esmeraldas_ from under the Callao batteries. +This affair was planned and headed by Lord Cochrane. Owing to my being +in this affair I was appointed to a Chilian sloop of war, and received a +lieutenant's commission. + +"I will not take up your time at present with an account of the various +cuttings-out and other warlike expeditions I was engaged in while in the +Chilian service. It is enough to refer to the last, which ended my +connection with that service. Having been sent in charge of a boat up a +river, to recover a quantity of property belonging to British and +American merchants, which had been seized by the miscreant Benevades, we +set off and pulled up unmolested, but finding nothing of consequence, +turned to pull back again, when volleys of musketry were poured into us +from both banks. We saw no one, and could do nothing but pull down as +fast as possible, losing many men as we went. At last a few horsemen +showed themselves. We had a carronade in the bow, which we instantly +turned on them and discharged. This was just what they wanted. At the +signal, a large boat filled with soldiers shoved out and boarded us. We +fought, of course; but with so many wounded, and assailed by superior +numbers, we had no chance, and were soon beaten. I received a +tremendous blow on the back of the neck, which nearly killed me. +Fortunately I did not fall. Those who did, or were too badly wounded to +walk, were at once thrown into the river. The rest of us had our +clothes stripped off, and some rags given us in exchange. A pair of +trousers cut off at the knees, a ragged poncho, and a sombrero fell to +my share. We were marched off to prison, where we lay three weeks. +Every Chilian of our party was shot, while I and three other Europeans +were exchanged for four of Benevades's officers. + +"Soon after this event, while at Valparaiso, I received a letter from my +dear mother telling me that she was ill. I quitted the Chilian navy at +once, and went home, alas! to see her die. + +"In 1822 I went to Naples, and was wrecked while on my way to Messina. +In the following year I went to Sierra Leone as chief mate of a ship +called the _Gambia_. Of nineteen persons who went out in that ship, +only the captain, two coloured men, and myself lived to return." + +"Why, Mr Nobbs," interrupted John Buffett at this point, "I used to +think I'd seen a deal o' rough service, but I couldn't hold a candle to +you, sir." + +"It is an unenviable advantage to have of you," returned the other, with +a sad smile. "However, I'm getting near the end now. In all that I +have said I have not told you what the Lord has done for my soul. +Another time I will tell that to you. At present it is enough to say, +that I had heard of your little island here, and of the wonderful +accounts of it brought home at various times. I had an intense longing +to reach it and devote my life to the service of Jesus. I sold all my +little possessions, resolving to quit England for ever. But I could +find no means of getting to Pitcairn. Leaving England, however, in +November 1825, I reached Calcutta in May 1826, sailed thence for +Valparaiso in 1827, and proceeded on to Callao. Here I fell in with +Bunker, to whom you have all been so kind. Finding no vessel going in +this direction, and my finances being nearly exhausted, I agreed on a +plan with him. He had a launch of eighteen tons, a mere boat, as you +know, but, being in bad health and without means, could not fit her out. +I agreed to spend my all in fitting this launch for sea, on the +understanding that I should become part proprietor, and that Bunker +should accompany me to Pitcairn. + +"Well, you see, friends, we have managed it. Through the mercy of God +we have, by our two selves, made this voyage of 3500 miles, and now I +hope that my days of wandering are over, and that I shall begin here to +do the work of the Prince of Peace; but, alas! I fear that my poor +friend Bunker's days are numbered." + +He was right. This bold adventurer, about whose history we know +nothing, died a few weeks after his arrival at Pitcairn. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR. + +FAREWELL! + +And now, at last, approached a crisis in the Life of Pitcairn, which had +indeed been long foreseen, long dreaded, and often thought of, but +seldom hinted at by the islanders. + +Good, patient, long-enduring John Adams began to draw towards the end of +his strange, unique, and glorious career. For him to live had been +Christ, to die was gain. And he knew it. + +"George Nobbs," said he, about four months after the arrival of the +former, "the Lord's ways are wonderful, past finding out, but always +sure and _safe_. Nothing puzzles me so much as my own want of faith, +when there's such good ground for confidence. But God's book tells me +to expect even that," he added, after a pause, with a faint smile. +"Does it not tell of the _desperately_ wicked and deceitful heart?" + +"True, Mr Adams," replied his friend, with the term of respect which he +felt constrained to use, "but it also tells of salvation to the +_uttermost_." + +"Ay. I know that too," returned Adams, with a cheery smile. "_Well_ do +I know that. But don't mister me, George. There are times when the +little titles of this world are ridiculous. Such a time is now. I am +going to leave you, George. The hour of my departure is at hand. +Strange, how anxious I used to feel! I used to think, what if I am +killed by a fall from the cliffs, or by sickness, and these poor +helpless children should be left fatherless! The dear Lord sent me a +rebuke. He sent John Buffett to help me. But John Buffett has not the +experience, or the education that's needful. Not that I had education +myself, but, somehow, my experience, beginnin' as it did from the _very_ +beginnin', went a long way to counterbalance that. Then, anxious +thoughts _would_ rise up again. Want of faith, nothing else, George, +nothing else. So the Lord rebuked me again, for he sent _you_." + +"Ah, father, I hope it is as you say. I dare hardly believe it, yet I +earnestly hope so." + +"_I_ have no doubt, now," resumed Adams. "You have got just the +qualities that are wanted. Regularly stored and victualled for the +cruise. They'll be far better off than ever they were before. If I had +only trusted more I should have suffered less. But I was always +thinking of John Adams. Ah! that has been the great curse of my +life--_John Adams_!--as if everything depended on him. Why," continued +the old man, kindling with a sudden burst of indignation, "could _I_ +have saved these souls by merely teaching 'em readin' and writin', or +even by readin' God's book to 'em? Isn't it read every day by thousands +to millions, against whom it falls like the sea on a great rock? Can +the absence of temptation be pleaded, when here, in full force, there +have been the most powerful temptations to disobedience continually? If +that would have done, why were not all my brother mutineers saved from +sin? It was not even when we read the Bible that deliverance came. I +read it for ten years as a sealed book. No, George, no; it was when +God's Holy Spirit opened the eyes and the heart, that I an' the dear +women an' child'n became nothin', and fell in with His ways." + +He stopped suddenly, as if exhausted, and his new friend led him gently +to his house. Many loving eyes watched him as he went along, and many +tender hearts beat for him, but better still, many true hearts prayed +for him. + +That night he became weaker, and next day he did not rise. + +When this became known, all the settlement crowded to his house, while +from his bed there was a constant coming and going of those who had the +right to be nearest to him. Nursed by the loving women whom he had +led--and whose children's children he had led--to Jesus, and surrounded +by men whom he had dandled, played with, reared, and counselled, he +passed into the presence of God, to behold "the King in his beauty," to +be "for ever with the Lord." + +May we join him, reader, you and I, when our time comes! + +On a tombstone over a grave under the banyan-tree near his house, is the +simple record, "John Adams, died 5th March 1829, aged 65." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +And here our tale must end, for the good work which we have sought to +describe has no end. Yet, for the sake of those who have a regard for +higher things than a mere tale, we would add a few words before making +our farewell bow. + +The colony of Pitcairn still exists and flourishes. But many changes +have occurred since Adams left the scene, though the simple, guileless +spirit of the people remains unchanged. + +Here is a brief summary of its history since 1829. + +George Nobbs had gained the affections of the people before Adams's +death, and he at once filled the vacant place as well as it was possible +for a stranger to do so. + +In 1830 the colony consisted of nearly ninety souls, and it had for some +time been a matter of grave consideration that the failure of water by +drought might perhaps prove a terrible calamity. It was therefore +proposed by Government that the people of Pitcairn should remove to +Otaheite, or, to give the island its modern name, Tahiti. There was +much division of opinion among the islanders, and Mr Nobbs objected. +However, the experiment was tried, and it failed signally. The whole +community was transported in a ship to Tahiti in March 1831. + +But the loose manners and evil habits of many of the people there had +such an effect on the Pitcairners that they took the first opportunity +of returning to their much-loved island. John Buffett and a few +families went first. The remainder soon followed in an American brig. + +Thereafter, life on the Lonely Island flowed as happily as ever for many +years, with the exception of a brief but dark interval, when a +scoundrel, named Joshua Hill, went to the island, passed himself off as +an agent of the British Government, misled the trusting inhabitants, and +established a reign of terror, ill-treating Nobbs, Buffett, and Evans, +whom for a time he compelled to quit the place. Fortunately this +impostor was soon found out and removed. The banished men returned, and +all went well again. + +Rear-Admiral Moresby visited Pitcairn in 1851, and experienced a warm +reception. Finding that the people wished Mr Nobbs to be ordained, he +took him to England for this purpose. The faithful pastor did not fail +to interest the English public in the romantic isle of which God had +given him the oversight. During his visit he was presented to the +Queen, who gave him portraits of herself and the Royal family. The +Society for the Propagation of the Gospel placed Mr Nobbs on their +missionary list, with a salary of 50 pounds per annum. + +Soon after this the increasing population of Pitcairn Island rendered it +necessary that the islanders should find a wider home. Government, +therefore, offered them houses and land in Norfolk Island, a penal +settlement from which the convicts had been removed. Of course the +people shrank from the idea of leaving Pitcairn when it was first +proposed, but ultimately assented, and were landed on Norfolk Island, +hundreds of miles from their old home, in June 1856. On this lovely +spot the descendants of the mutineers of the _Bounty_ have lived ever +since, under the care of that loved pastor on whom John Adams had +dropped his mantle. + +We believe that the Reverend George H. Nobbs is still alive. At all +events he was so last year, (1879), having written a letter in June to +the Secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, in +which, among other things, he speaks of the "rapidly increasing +community, now numbering 370 persons." He adds--"I am becoming very +feeble from age, and my memory fails me in consequence of an operation +at the back of my neck for carbuncle two years since;" and goes on to +tell of the flourishing condition of his flock. + +In regard to the other personages who have figured in our little tale, +very few, perhaps none, now survive. So late as the year 1872 we read +in a pamphlet of the "Melanesian Mission," that George Adams and his +sister, Rachel Evans, (both over seventy years of age), were present at +an evening service in Norfolk Island, and that Arthur Quintal was still +alive, though quite imbecile. But dear Otaheitan Sally and her loving +Charlie and all the rest had long before joined the Church above. + +There was, however, a home-sick party of the Pitcairners who could by no +means reconcile themselves to the new home. These left it not very long +after landing in 1856, and returned to their beloved Pitcairn. +Multiplying by degrees, as the first settlers had done, they gradually +became an organised community; and now, while we write, the palm-groves +of Pitcairn resound with the shouts of children's merriment and with the +hymn of praise as in days of yore. A.J.R. McCoy is chief magistrate, +and a Simon Young acts as minister, doctor, and schoolmaster, while his +daughter, Rosalind Amelia, assists in the school. + +In a report from the chief magistrate, we learn that, although still out +of the beaten track of commerce, the Pitcairners are more frequently +visited by whalers than they used to be. Their simplicity of life, +manners, and piety appears to be unchanged. He says, among other +things:-- + +"No work is done on the Sabbath-day. We have a Bible-class every +Wednesday, and a prayer-meeting the first Friday of each month. Every +family has morning and evening prayers without intermission. We have a +public or church library, at which all may read. Clothing we generally +get from whalers who call in for refreshments. No alcoholic liquors of +any kind are used on the island, except for medical purposes. A +drunkard is unknown here." + +So the good seed sown under such peculiar circumstances at the beginning +of the century continues to grow and spread and flourish, bringing forth +fruit to the glory of God. Thus He causes light to spring out of +darkness, good to arise out of evil; and the Lonely Island, once an +almost unknown rock in the Pacific Ocean, was made a centre of blessed +Christian influence soon after the time when it became--the refuge of +the mutineers. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lonely Island, by R.M. 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