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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Turned Adrift, by Harry Collingwood
+
+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: Turned Adrift
+
+Author: Harry Collingwood
+
+Illustrator: Edward S. Hodgson
+
+Release Date: March 17, 2008 [EBook #24859]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TURNED ADRIFT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+Turned Adrift, by Harry Collingwood.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+This is a very fast-moving book by a master of nautical writing.  You
+will enjoy it, and especially so if you listen to it as an audiobook.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+TURNED ADRIFT, BY HARRY COLLINGWOOD.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+THE SEIZURE OF THE "ZENOBIA".
+
+The _Zenobia_--A1 at Lloyd's--was a beautiful little clipper barque of
+376 tons register, and so exquisitely fine were her lines that her
+cargo-carrying capacity amounted to but a few tons more than her
+register tonnage; in fact, the naval architect who designed her had been
+instructed to ignore altogether the question of cargo capacity, and to
+give his whole attention to the matter of speed, and most faithfully had
+he carried out his instructions.
+
+For the _Zenobia_ had been designed and built to the order of the firm
+which owned the famous "Queen" line of sailing clippers trading between
+London and Natal; and the aim of the Company was to drive off all
+competitors and secure the monopoly of the passenger trade between
+London and the Garden Colony.  And there was only one way in which that
+aim could be accomplished, namely, by carrying passengers to and fro in
+less time and greater comfort than any of the competing lines.  The
+question of cargo did not matter so very much, for at that time--that is
+to say, about the year 1860--the steam service to South Africa was very
+different from what it is to-day.  The steamers were small, slow, and
+infrequent; Natal was just then attracting a big influx of well-to-do
+people from England; passenger rates were high--as also, for that
+matter, was the freight on such special merchandise as was at that time
+being carried out to the colony--and those who took credit to themselves
+for their foresight believed that there was big money to be made in the
+sailing passenger trade.  Needless to say, the competition between the
+different lines was exceedingly keen: but the owners of the "Queen" line
+were a very rich corporation; they were prepared to sink money in the
+effort to secure a monopoly; and the _Zenobia_ was the latest outcome of
+their rather speculative policy.
+
+At the moment when this story opens--namely, about two bells of the
+middle watch, on the night of 24 January, 1862--or rather in the early
+morning of 25 January, to be exact--the barque was somewhere about
+latitude 25 degrees south, and longitude 27 degrees west.  I have not
+the precise figures by me, nor do they very greatly matter.  The night
+was fine, clear, and starlit, with the moon, well advanced in her fourth
+quarter, hanging a few degrees above the eastern horizon, and shedding
+just enough light to touch the wave crests immediately beneath her with
+soft flashes of ruddy golden light.  The wind was piping up fresh from
+the south-east, and the little clipper was roaring through it under all
+plain sail to her royals, with the yeast slopping in over her starboard
+rail at every lee roll and her lee scuppers all afloat; for quick
+passages were the order of the day, quick passages meant "carrying on",
+and Mr Stephen Bligh, the chief mate and officer of the watch, was
+living fully up to the traditions of the service.  This was the
+_Zenobia's_ second outward voyage.  Her first trip had been accomplished
+in the unprecedentedly brief period of forty-six days; and it was now
+the ambition of her skipper and his two mates to beat even that
+brilliant record.  And at the moment there seemed an excellent prospect
+that this laudable ambition might be achieved, for the morrow would only
+be our twenty-fourth day out.  We had been extraordinarily lucky in the
+matter of crossing the line, having slid across it with a good breeze,
+which had run us into the south-east Trades without the loss of a
+moment; and those same south-east Trades--or something remarkably like
+them--were still piping up fresh, although we were by this time well
+beyond their ordinary southern limits.
+
+Our ship's company amounted to twenty-four all told, namely, Captain
+John Roberts, our skipper; Mr Stephen Bligh, our chief mate; Mr Peter
+Johnson, our second mate; Dr John Morrison, our surgeon--ours being one
+of the few ships in the trade which at that time carried a doctor--the
+boatswain, carpenter, sailmaker, cook, two stewards, twelve men--of whom
+eight were A.B.'s and four only O.S.--and last, but not least--in our
+own estimation--two apprentices, Tom Bainbridge, in his fifth year of
+apprenticeship, being one, while I, Mark Temple, just turned seventeen
+years of age, and in the third year of my apprenticeship, was the other.
+There was not much love lost between Bainbridge and myself, by the way,
+for he was of a sullen, sulky temper, and had tried hard to bully me
+when I first made his acquaintance in the old _Boadicea_ before joining
+the _Zenobia_.  But our mutual ill feeling did not greatly matter, for
+he was in the port watch and I in the starboard, so we very rarely met
+except when it was a case of "all hands"; consequently we had not very
+much opportunity to quarrel.  And in addition to the above we carried
+twenty cuddy passengers, of whom six were men, while the remainder
+consisted of nine ladies and five children.  I am afraid the above
+details are not very interesting, but it is necessary to give them in
+order that the reader may fully understand what is to follow.
+
+As I have already mentioned, this story may be said to have had its
+beginning about two bells in the middle watch--or about one o'clock in
+the morning--on a certain specified date; for until then there had been
+nothing out of the ordinary to distinguish the voyage from any other.
+But some five minutes after I had struck two bells, in accordance with
+the chief mate's instructions, and the lookout on the topgallant
+forecastle had responded with the usual cry of "All's well!" one of the
+forecastle hands came slouching along aft, and, ascending the poop
+ladder with a certain suggestion of haste and trepidation, approached
+the mate.
+
+"Will ye mind steppin' for'ard a minute, sir?" he enquired.  "There's a
+strong smell o' burnin' down in the fo'c'sle, and--"
+
+"A strong smell of burning?" interrupted Mr Bligh.  "The dickens there
+is!  Yes, of course I'll go.  Temple," turning to me, "just keep a
+lookout for a minute or two while I'm gone, will ye?"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," I replied; and the mate dashed down the poop ladder and
+went scurrying away forward, regardless of the drenching showers of
+spray that came flying in over the weather cathead with every mad plunge
+of the overdriven ship.
+
+For the next five minutes I paced anxiously to and fro along the weather
+side of the poop, with my ears wide open for any sudden outcry that
+might confirm the awful suspicion of fire having broken out below; but I
+heard nothing save the continuous hiss and roar of the sea under the lee
+bow and along the bends, the heavy slop of water in over the rail with
+every lee roll of the ship, and the thunder and piping of the wind
+aloft, and I was beginning to hope that it was no worse than a false
+alarm, when the man who a few minutes previously had come aft to summon
+the mate came running--yes, positively running--along the deck again.
+He stumbled up the poop ladder and came to me, puffing and panting, with
+every sign of the most extreme agitation, and delivered his message.
+
+"Mr Temple!" he gasped--the skipper always insisted upon the
+"midshipmen" apprentices being "Mistered" by the foremast hands, upon
+the ground that we were officers, if only in embryo--"Mr Temple, the
+mate says will ye please slip below and quietly call Cap'n Roberts
+without disturbin' the passengers.  Ye are to tell him that the ship's
+afire in the forehold, and that Mr Bligh will be much obliged if he'll
+come for'ard to the fo'c'sle at once.  And when ye've done that, ye're
+to continue your lookout on the poop until ye're relieved."
+
+"Ay, ay, Mason, I'll do that," I answered.  Then, as we turned together
+to leave the poop, I asked: "Is the matter serious, Mason?  Has Mr
+Bligh actually found the seat of the fire; and is there a chance of our
+being able to master it?"
+
+"Can't say, as yet," answered the man.  "We ain't actually found the
+fire; but it's there all right."
+
+I shivered involuntarily, although the night was warm, for I happened to
+know that a good deal of the cargo which we were carrying was of a
+highly combustible character, such as furniture, pianos, Manchester
+goods, and the like, to say nothing of several cases of sporting
+ammunition.  I knew that if once the fire happened to get a good hold
+upon such material as that the chances were all against our being able
+to master it, especially in such a strong breeze as was then blowing.
+
+And if we should be compelled to leave the ship--!
+
+I thought of those poor helpless women and children peacefully sleeping
+down below, and of what their plight might be if we were driven to take
+to the boats out there in the heart of the South Atlantic, hundreds of
+miles from the nearest land.
+
+Tiptoeing my way to the skipper's cabin, I rapped gently with my
+knuckles on the panel of the door, and bent my head to listen for a
+reply.  I knew that Captain Roberts was a light sleeper, and judged that
+it would not take much to awake him.  Nor was I mistaken, for
+immediately following upon my low knock came the quiet reply:
+
+"Hillo! who is there, and what is it?"
+
+"It is I--Temple--sir," I replied.  "May I enter?"
+
+For answer I heard the light thud of bare feet inside the cabin as the
+skipper sprang from his bunk; and the next instant the door quietly
+opened and Captain Roberts stood before me.
+
+"What is it, Temple?" he demanded.  "Anything wrong?"
+
+"Yes, sir, I'm afraid there is," I replied in low tones.  "Mr Bligh is
+down in the forecastle, and he has just sent a message aft to me
+directing me to call you and say that he is afraid fire has broken out
+in the fore hold, and that he will be much obliged if you will kindly go
+to him at once."
+
+"Fire!" ejaculated the skipper.  "In the fore hold, you say?  Humph!  I
+don't notice any smell of it here," and he started sniffing violently as
+he stooped for his slippers and put them on.  "Who gave the alarm?"
+
+"Mason, sir," I replied.  "He came aft, just after two bells, and
+reported a strong smell of burning down in the forecastle.  Mr Bligh
+went for'ard at once, leaving me to keep a lookout on the poop; and he
+had been gone about five minutes when Mason again came aft with a
+message directing me to call you."
+
+"I see," answered the skipper.  "Very well," as he emerged from his
+cabin and quietly closed the door behind him, "you go back to the poop
+and keep an eye upon the ship.  I shall not be long."  And with one
+bound, as it seemed to me, he was out on deck and running forward.  As
+for me, I returned to my station on the poop, which I anxiously paced
+backward and forward in momentary expectation of hearing the call for
+"All hands!"
+
+But when I came to look more closely it appeared that any such formal
+call would be quite superfluous, for presently a light flashed out from
+the windows of the small house just abaft the foremast, in which the
+boatswain, carpenter, sailmaker, cook, and the two stewards were
+berthed, and by its rather feeble beams I perceived that the fore deck
+was full of men crouching under the shelter of the topgallant
+forecastle; I presumed, therefore, that upon the first alarm of fire
+they had turned out and dressed, and had been sent on deck by the mate
+to be out of the way while the investigation below was being made.  It
+was about this time that I noticed, with keen satisfaction, the fact
+that the wind was not blowing quite as strongly as it had been during
+the earlier part of the watch.
+
+I was beginning to think that the skipper was remaining below rather a
+long time, and was drawing the most disquieting conclusions from the
+circumstance, when one of the crew--a man whom I recognised as Owen
+Lloyd, generally known among his messmates as "Welshy"--came aft and
+entered the little house abaft the main hatch, where Bainbridge and I
+had our lodging.  A few seconds later a small glimmer from the open door
+showed that the man was lighting the lamp which illuminated our
+snuggery; and a minute or two afterwards Lloyd emerged again and went
+forward, while Bainbridge also stepped out on deck and disappeared
+beneath the break of the poop.  He was gone some three or four minutes,
+then reappeared, accompanied by Mr Johnson, the second mate, whom he
+had evidently been directed to call, for the pair immediately proceeded
+forward at a trot.  I decided that the matter was assuming a distinctly
+serious aspect.  Some five minutes later Bainbridge came aft, and,
+ascending to the poop, remarked to me in his usual surly, offhand
+manner:
+
+"You're wanted at once in the forecastle, Temple, and I'm to keep the
+lookout in your place."
+
+"Right!"  I replied.  "How are they getting on for'ard?  Have they found
+the fire yet?"
+
+"Go and look for yourself, sonny, and don't waste valuable time in
+stopping to ask silly questions," was the ungracious reply I received;
+and I suppose it was the reflection that it served me right for
+persisting in my attempts to be civil to the lout that drove out of my
+head the thought which had flashed into it for an instant, that it was
+rather queer that the skipper should have sent for me at a moment when
+Bainbridge was actually on the spot and would serve his purpose quite as
+well.  So, all unsuspectingly, I trundled away forward, and, flinging my
+legs over the coaming of the fore scuttle, dropped down into the
+forecastle, noting _en passant_ that a dozen or more of the hands were
+still huddling together under the shelter of the topgallant forecastle.
+As I was in the very act of swinging myself down off the coaming I
+thought I caught the sound of a subdued chuckle emanating from somebody
+among this group; but before I had time to give the matter a thought, or
+wonder what might be the cause of such ill-timed mirth, my feet reached
+the deck of the forecastle, and I found myself the centre of a group of
+some half a dozen of the crew, with the slush lamp swinging violently
+with the motion of the ship, and darting its feeble rays hither and
+thither as it hung suspended from a smoky beam overhead.  And in that
+same instant I caught a momentary glimpse of the forms of Captain
+Roberts, Mr Bligh, and Mr Johnson, bound hand and foot, and with gags
+in their mouths, huddled up in three of the recently vacated bunks.  As
+for the supposed fire, there was neither sight nor smell of it.
+
+"What the--" I began.  But before I could utter another sound I felt my
+head dragged violently back and a big gag thrust between my jaws, while
+my arms and legs were at the same instant seized by powerful hands and
+lashed so securely that I could not have moved either of them by so much
+as an inch, no, not to save my life.  The work was done with the speed
+and precision that might be expected of men accustomed to the
+manipulation of ropes and the tying of knots; and then I was lifted off
+my feet and flung with scant ceremony into one of the unoccupied bunks.
+
+"There! that's the last one; the passengers can be left until to-morrer
+mornin' to be dealt with," exclaimed a voice which I recognised as that
+of "Welshy".  "And now, lads," the voice continued, "let's go on deck
+and take some of the `muslin' off her; there's no use in strainin' the
+hooker all to pieces, and Bainbridge says as we're quite far enough
+south a'ready."
+
+Bainbridge!  Could it be possible that Bainbridge was mixed up with this
+vile conspiracy?  For conspiracy it was, clearly enough, to obtain
+possession of the ship without the necessity to fight for her; the bound
+forms of the skipper and the two mates--to say nothing of myself--proved
+it beyond a doubt.  And a very cunningly devised scheme it was, too,
+ably planned and most efficiently executed--the enticement of the mate
+into the forecastle by the suggestion of fire; then, after just the
+right lapse of time, the fictitious message to the skipper through me,
+followed by the summons of the second mate, and, finally, the capture of
+my insignificant self.  It was much too subtle a scheme to be evolved by
+the uninventive brain of the average British shellback, and I fancied
+that I recognised a certain Bainbridge-like neatness of touch and finish
+in it all.  But perhaps I was prejudiced, for I never liked the fellow.
+Yet, if he was not in it, why was he still free, instead of being down
+in the forecastle, a captive, like the rest of us?  I remembered now
+that on several occasions I had seen him fraternising with the men
+for'ard during the dog-watches; but I had thought nothing of it at the
+time beyond reflecting that to me it seemed to be rather bad form on his
+part, and not by any means conducive to good discipline.
+
+As I recalled these occasions to mind, while I lay there in that close,
+evil-smelling bunk, I idly wondered whether he had used them for the
+purpose of seducing the men from their duty and allegiance and
+persuading them to join him in this outrageous act of unprovoked mutiny.
+For unprovoked it most assuredly was: the owners were most liberal
+providers, the food was the best obtainable, and the allowance of it far
+exceeded the Board of Trade scale; the men had grog as well as lime
+juice served out to them regularly every day; the skipper was easy-going
+with them to a degree; and neither of the mates could, by the wildest
+stretch of imagination, be termed a slave-driver, although of course
+both exacted a certain amount of daily work; and, finally, the afternoon
+watch below was never called upon except when necessity demanded it; in
+short, the _Zenobia_ was as comfortable a ship as any sailor need wish
+to go to sea in.  No; I was certain that this atrocious seizure of the
+ship had not originated in discontent on the part of the men, who were
+neither better nor worse than the average British seaman.  They had been
+played upon by skilful hands; their baser passions had been so strongly
+appealed to that their better judgment had been blinded; and I felt
+morally convinced that there was not a man among the legitimate
+occupants of the forecastle who possessed the ability to do this thing.
+
+Then, I asked myself, who was the master spirit who had contrived so
+effectually to blind and mislead those simple-minded men, and so
+powerfully to influence them that they had eventually permitted
+themselves to be betrayed into an act that converted them into outlaws,
+with every man's hand against them?  And why had they done it?  They had
+no grievance, real or imaginary, against any of their officers: that
+fact was patent from the manner in which the seizure of the ship had
+been effected; there had been none of the brutal violence, the
+bloodshed, which usually accompanies a mutiny upon the high seas.  Then
+why, I mentally repeated, had the men mutinied at all?
+
+And the answer that came to my mind was--Bainbridge!  Yes, prejudice and
+ill feeling apart, I could think of no other individual in the ship with
+the will and the disposition to concoct and carry out such a scheme.  To
+begin with, he was the only discontented person, so far as I knew, on
+the ship.  And his discontent was of that dangerous kind which is
+dissatisfied not with any one particular thing, but with everything.  He
+was poor and--as I understood--practically friendless, except for an
+uncle who had apprenticed him to the sea in order to get rid of him; he
+was restive under discipline, his character being strongly imbued with
+that false pride which chafes at a subordinate position.  I had often
+heard him declare that he was born to be a leader of men, and had
+laughed at what seemed to me to be his inordinate conceit.  He hated
+work as heartily as he loved trashy, sensational literature; and he
+displayed a quite childish love of dainty food and showy clothes.  And
+these were not his only faults: he was an unblushing liar; he scoffed at
+such old-fashioned virtues as honesty and truth and godliness; he
+sneered at me every time that he found me on my knees offering up my
+morning and nightly petitions to my Maker; he was cruel when he had the
+chance to be so; and, in short, he seemed surcharged with gall and
+bitterness.
+
+He possessed only one redeeming point, so far as I could ever discover,
+and that was that he was a splendid navigator.  He prided himself upon
+his skill with the sextant, and often used to assert--in that cynical
+way of his that might be either jest or earnest, one could never tell
+which--that some day he would become a pirate king and establish himself
+magnificently on some fair island of the Pacific!  Heavens! thought I,
+could it be possible that the fellow had actually been in earnest, and
+that this mutiny was the outcome of his evil ambition?  It certainly
+looked very much like it.
+
+Meanwhile, during the time that these thoughts and speculations had been
+running through my head, the hands on deck had been noisily engaged in
+shortening sail, and from the time that they took about the job, and the
+easier, more buoyant movements of the ship, I conjectured that they had
+taken in not only the royals, but also the topgallantsails, together
+with, probably, the flying jib and a few of the lighter staysails.
+Then, when the mutineers had done all that they deemed necessary in the
+way of shortening sail, four of them came down into the forecastle, and
+with the aid of a rope, the bight of which was passed round our bodies,
+the skipper, the mates, and I were hauled up on deck and carried into
+the fore house, where we found the boatswain, Chips, and Sails as
+securely trussed up as ourselves.  And there, still gagged and bound
+helplessly hand and foot, we were left to our meditations until, after a
+very eternity, as it seemed, of extreme discomfort, first came the
+daylight and finally eight bells of the morning watch, when the sliding
+door of the house was thrust open and one of the men entered--a fellow
+named Adams.
+
+After looking at us meditatively for a moment, and carefully examining
+our lashings to assure himself that they still held firmly, he removed
+the gags from our mouths--for which I, for one, was profoundly
+thankful--and informed us that breakfast was about to be brought to us,
+and that our hands would be loosed to enable us to partake of it.  But
+he warned us that his instructions were to shoot at the slightest sign
+of an attempt on our part to break out of the house, or the slightest
+uplifting of our voices, and to give point to the statement he exhibited
+a fully loaded revolver, which Captain Roberts at once recognised as his
+own personal property.
+
+"And pray, who gave you those instructions, Adams?" demanded the
+skipper.
+
+"I ain't allowed to say," answered the man.  "But I was to tell you," he
+continued, "that you ain't none of yer permitted to talk to any of us
+men, or to ask us any questions; and if you persist in doin' so you're
+to be gagged again."
+
+"Very well," agreed the skipper artfully; "then we will not ask you
+anything that you feel you ought not to tell.  But I suppose you will
+have no objection to tell me, without asking, what has been done with
+regard to the passengers?"
+
+"The gen'lemen have been lashed up, same as yourselves, and locked away,
+two in a cabin; while the women folk and the kids is locked up all safe
+in the other cabins; so there ain't no chancet of none of 'em bein' able
+to slip for'ard and help yer anyways.  And now, don't you ask me nothin'
+more, because I ain't goin' to answer yer," replied Adams, with some
+show of testiness.
+
+"But I suppose you can tell us, if you choose, what your new skipper,
+Bainbridge, is going to do with us," I insinuated.  "He is not going to
+keep us cooped up here until a man-o'-war comes along and captures the
+ship, is he?"
+
+"Now, look 'e here, Mister Temple, don't you go for to try to pump me,
+or it'll be the worse for yer," expostulated Adams.  "I ain't got
+nothin' against you, and I don't want to hurt yer if I can help it, but
+s'help me!  I'll have to shove that there gag back into yer mouth if you
+don't clap a stopper on that tongue of yours.  Ah, here comes cooky with
+the grub!" he announced, with a sigh of relief, as the "Doctor" made his
+appearance at the door with a well-loaded tray.
+
+The picture which that tray presented was conclusive evidence that,
+whatever might be the ultimate intentions of the mutineers toward us,
+they did not mean to starve us to death, for the breakfast that was
+placed before us consisted of the best that the steward's pantry could
+produce.  And we all did the fullest justice to it, even the skipper
+making a hearty meal, although I believe it was not so much because he
+had a good appetite as that he had a very shrewd suspicion of what lay
+before him, and was exceedingly doubtful as to when he would next have
+the opportunity to sit down to a good, well-cooked meal.  As for me, I
+was healthily hungry, and was altogether too young and of too sanguine a
+temperament to feel very anxious as to what was to be the outcome of the
+adventure; moreover, I was unburdened by responsibility of any sort, and
+I therefore ate and drank until I was fully satisfied.
+
+We were still busy with our breakfasts when an alteration in the motion
+of the ship apprised us all of the fact that the helm had been put up,
+and that we were now running off with the wind on our port quarter; and
+the next moment we heard a voice, which I instantly recognised as
+Bainbridge's, summoning the men to the braces.  The yards were trimmed
+very nearly square, then came an order to loose, sheet home, and hoist
+away the topgallantsails and royals; next the men who had gone aloft to
+loose those sails were ordered to rig out the port studdingsail-booms
+and to set the royal and topgallant studdingsails on their way down; and
+finally the topmast and lower studdingsails were set, and the _Zenobia_
+went rolling and wallowing away to the westward under every rag that
+could be packed upon her.
+
+No remark was made upon this so long as the man Adams remained with us;
+but when at length we had finished our breakfast, had reluctantly
+submitted to be trussed up again--because we could not help ourselves,
+and nothing could be gained by offering an unavailing resistance--and
+were once more shut in and left to ourselves, the skipper turned to Mr
+Bligh and remarked:
+
+"Now, what does the scoundrel mean by this shift of helm, think you?  We
+are only about four or five degrees to the southward of Rio at this
+moment.  Can the man be such a fool as to think of running in until he
+sights the coast and then turning us adrift to get ashore as best we
+can?  Because, if he does, we'll have a British man-o'-war after him in
+no time."
+
+"I don't believe the boy is quite such an ass as that; indeed, I regard
+him as being very far from an ass--except in this one particular
+instance of organising this mutiny," answered Bligh.  "I haven't the
+slightest notion of what he intends to be after, but I think we may be
+quite certain that Bainbridge won't give us much of a chance to report
+him until he has had time to get well out of the neighbourhood.  What
+say you, Johnson?  He was in your watch, and you should know him a good
+deal better than I do."
+
+"If you are speaking of Bainbridge," answered the second mate, "I fully
+agree with you that he is very far from being a fool--quite the other
+way about, indeed; and from what I know of the young villain I should
+say that he may be depended upon to give us the smallest possible chance
+of reporting him quickly.  My opinion is this.  So far, and up to the
+moment of shifting her helm, the _Zenobia_ has been following the usual
+ship track to the south'ard and round the Cape; hence we have been
+liable to fall in at any moment with other ships, which would not
+exactly suit Bainbridge's book.  Therefore he has shifted his helm and
+is now running off the track far enough to avoid meeting with other
+ships.  In my opinion he will continue so to run until he considers
+himself quite out of danger; but what he will do afterward, and how he
+will dispose of us, I'll leave it to a better guesser than myself to
+imagine.  The only thing that I feel at all certain about is that he
+will not murder us; if he had intended to do that he would not have
+taken such elaborate pains to get us alive and uninjured into his
+power."
+
+"Quite so; I fully agree with you there," returned the skipper.  "The
+thing that I can't fathom is the young scoundrel's motive for taking the
+ship, and what he proposes to do with her now that he has her.  By the
+way, Mr Temple, it was you, I think, who first named Bainbridge as the
+ringleader of this rascally job; what led you to fix it upon him so
+pat?"
+
+"Well, sir," said I, "the fact is that after they brought us in here and
+left us, bound hand and foot and gagged, so that we could neither move
+nor talk, I endeavoured to beguile the time by asking myself who was
+responsible for the seizure of the ship, and then trying to find an
+answer to the question."  And forthwith I proceeded to give a resume of
+the cogitations which had ultimately led to my fixing the blame for the
+affair upon Bainbridge's shoulders.  In the course of my remarks I
+happened to mention that at first I had been inclined to suspect the man
+nicknamed "Welshy", but that I had soon come to the conclusion that the
+fellow had not the brains necessary to plan such a _coup_ and carry it
+out to a successful conclusion in the masterly manner which had
+distinguished the actual operation.
+
+"Ah! but `Welshy' was in it, though," cut in the boatswain.  "I know he
+was; for he and Bainbridge was for ever gettin' away together by
+theirselves and talkin' by the fathom.  `Welshy' is one of these here
+Socialist buckos who's got the notion that all hands ought to be on the
+same level, and that nobody ought to have more of anything than anybody
+else; he's a rare hand at preachin' about equality and the rights o'
+man, is `Welshy', and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it turned out
+that 'twas he as first give Mr Bainbridge the idee of seizin' the ship.
+And even if he wasn't, I know that he is pretty well mixed up in it,
+for he was everlastin'ly yarnin' about the hardships and wrongs of
+sailormen, and throwin' out hints, like.  I didn't take no notice of 'em
+at the time--in fac' Chips and I used to argufy with and laugh at him;
+but now, since this here mutiny job have happened, I seem to see that
+all his talk had a purpose, and that he was feelin' around, like, with
+the idee of findin' out how many of us might be depended upon to back up
+him and Bainbridge in the seizure of the ship."
+
+"And it would appear that he was successful in winning over all hands
+except you three," remarked the skipper.  "Did he ever attempt to sound
+either of you?"
+
+"Ay, that he did, sir; lots o' times, now that I comes to think of it,"
+answered the boatswain.  "But nothin' what you might call definite, you
+understand.  I s'pose he pretty soon saw that Chips and Sails and me
+weren't likely to have any truck wi' such an idee as mutiny and seizin'
+the ship, so he soon knocked off talkin' to us about it.  I reckon that
+he used to report to Bainbridge pretty often, tellin' him what he had
+said, and how we had took it; and I expect it was Mr B. who told him
+not to say anything more to us about it."
+
+"Yes," agreed the skipper, "I fancy you have got the hang of the thing
+pretty accurately, bos'n; but it was a pity that it never occurred to
+either of you to mention the matter to me or Mr Bligh.  It would have
+given us a notion of what was brewing, and put us on our guard."
+
+But Murdock, Parsons, and Simpson all vehemently protested that Lloyd's
+remarks were of so very general a character, and bore so striking a
+resemblance to the ordinary "grousing" universally met with in a ship's
+forecastle, which really means nothing, that it never occurred to either
+of them to attach any especial significance to what unfortunately had
+proved to be an exceptional case.  A great deal more was said upon the
+matter before it was dropped; but the remarks were mostly of a desultory
+character, and as they have no particular bearing upon the thread of
+this story it is unnecessary to repeat them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+TURNED ADRIFT.
+
+The _Zenobia_ continued to run to the westward during the whole of that
+day before a wind that steadily softened down, hour after hour, until by
+two bells in the first dog-watch it was little more than a mere
+breathing, scarcely strong enough to keep the heavy courses filled.  And
+we could tell by the motion of the ship that the sea as well as the wind
+was going down, for by the time that the above-named hour arrived we
+were bowing and swaying upon the fast-subsiding swell as easily and
+gently as though the ship had been a cradle rocked by a mother's hand.
+
+Things had been tolerably quiet out on deck during the forenoon, but
+later on, when the men had turned-to after their dinner, we heard sounds
+outside the house which indicated a considerable amount of activity on
+the part of the mutineers; the booms and planks which were stowed on the
+roof of our prison were overhauled, and several of them were flung down
+on deck; then "Welshy" came in and cast loose the carpenter, ordering
+him to bring his chest of tools outside.  This was presently followed by
+the sounds of sawing and hammering; later on we heard certain orders
+being given which indicated that the mast and yard tackles were being
+sent aloft; and finally there was a great commotion and laughing out on
+deck, intermingled with the alarmed bleatings of some sheep, which were
+housed in the longboat.
+
+"Ah," ejaculated the skipper as these last-named sounds reached our
+ears, "I know what that means!  They are clearing out the longboat
+preparatory to getting her over the side, and mean to turn us adrift in
+her.  And not us only, but also the unfortunate passengers; for if they
+had not intended to send them as well as ourselves away, they would have
+kept the longboat and given us one of the quarter boats, which would
+have been amply big enough to have accommodated us seven--or six, if
+they mean to keep Chips with them."
+
+"He won't stay, sir, you may take my word for that," observed the
+boatswain.  "Parsons is a straight chap--as straight as they make 'em;
+and you'll find that he's not the sort of man to have no truck wi'
+mutineers--not he!"
+
+"But they may compel him to stay," objected the skipper.  "He would be a
+very useful sort of man for them to have with them, and they may not
+give him the choice of going or staying."
+
+"Yes, that's very true," agreed Murdock.  "But if they asks him to stay
+he'll say `No', and likewise give 'em to understand that if they keep
+him by force he won't do no work for 'em.  And they knows Chips, and
+understands that if he says a thing like that he'll stick to it, if it's
+only to spite 'em.  No, I don't believe as they'll want to keep any man
+against his will, because that always means trouble, sooner or later,
+and Muster Bainbridge is far too 'cute to run the risk of anything of
+that sort.  Besides, there's Joe Caton--he says as he sarved his time in
+a shipbuilder's yard, and is as good a ship's carpenter as you'll find
+goin'; he's stoppin' with 'em of his own accord, I reckon, and
+Bainbridge will be satisfied with him."
+
+"Well, perhaps it may be so; we shall soon know," agreed the skipper.
+"But," he continued, with a sigh of anxiety, "if they mean to turn the
+passengers as well as ourselves adrift--and I feel assured that they
+do--I wish Bainbridge would let me advise him in the matter of fixing up
+the longboat for the reception of the women and children.  They will
+need many little comforts that an inexperienced lad, such as he is, will
+never think of; and it will be bad enough for the poor souls, even if
+everything that is possible is done for their welfare.  And the longboat
+alone will not be big enough to take us all with any degree of safety,
+to say nothing of comfort."
+
+"We must watch for an opportunity, and give him our views upon the
+matter," said the chief mate.  "I wonder whether--"
+
+At that moment the sliding door of the house in which we were confined
+was thrust back, and Lloyd--otherwise "Welshy"--entered.  And behind
+him, ranged up athwart the deck outside, were to be seen a number of the
+seamen, each with a rifle in his hand and a cutlass girt about his
+waist.  It was evident that the mutineers had lost no time in hunting up
+the ship's arm chest--at that time an almost obsolete item of a ship's
+equipment--and providing themselves with the means of effectually
+suppressing anything in the nature of resistance on our part, or an
+attempt to recapture the ship.
+
+"Good a'ternoon, gen'lemen," observed "Welshy", with a grin that might
+indicate either triumph or an attempt at ingratiation; "splendid weather
+for a boat trip, ain't it?  I'm come to cast yer loose, and I dare say
+ye'll be much obliged to me--for it can't be very comfortable to sit
+there, hour a'ter hour, with your feet lashed together and your hands
+tied behind your backs; but, ye see, we agreed as it was best to take no
+risks, and then there'd be no call for bloodshed--I dare say you all
+understands what I means.  Yes,"--as he proceeded to cast off the
+skipper's lashings--"I've come to cast ye all adrift.  But let me warn
+ye all not to dream of attemptin' anything foolish, for we've got the
+ship and we means to keep her; and them rifles is all loaded with ball
+cartridge, and the men as carries 'em'll shoot to kill if e'er a one of
+'em sees any of you doin' what you didn't ought to do.  You understand,
+Cap'n?  And you, Mr Mate?  And the rest of yer?"
+
+At these pointed questions we severally intimated that we understood,
+for indeed we could do nothing else.  Whereupon the glowering scoundrel
+resumed:
+
+"That's all right, and just as it should be.  We ain't none of us got
+nothin' against e'er a one of yer, and we don't want to have no
+vi'lence, if it can be helped--and there won't be none onless you
+yourselves brings it about.  But if you does--well, stand clear, that's
+all I got to say.  Now, we bein' all agreed that we don't want no
+vi'lence nor bloodshed nor nothin' in any ways disagreeable, and also
+bein' agreed that we prefers to have this here ship all to our own
+selves, it have been decided to send you gents, and the ladies and
+gen'lemen aft, away in the longboat, to go just exac'ly where you
+bloomin' well likes.  There's twenty-eight of yer, all told, includin'
+the women and kids; and the longboat'll just comfortably hold yer all,
+with provisions and water for three weeks.  Our new skipper, Cap'n
+Bainbridge, says that in this weather, and wi' this purty little breeze,
+you ought to be able to make the South American coast in ten days,
+easy."
+
+"Ten days!" exploded the skipper.  "Yes, no doubt--if this wind holds
+and the fine weather lasts.  But suppose that it doesn't, what then?"
+He pulled himself up short, panting and breathless with anger, got a
+pull upon himself, recovered his self-control, and then said, in a
+perfectly quiet and steady voice:
+
+"Look here, Lloyd, you are a seaman of experience, and ought to
+understand--and do understand, I have no doubt--that to send a heavily
+loaded open boat away upon a ten days' voyage with only three weeks'
+provisions and water is--well--practically downright murder.  I must see
+your--er--Mr Bainbridge about this, I really must; and you must arrange
+that I have an opportunity to do so.  I cannot and will not undertake
+the responsibility of such a voyage as that which is proposed, nor, I am
+sure, will Mr Bligh or Mr Johnson.  I shall simply refuse to go in the
+boat."
+
+"And I too," added the chief mate.
+
+"Ditto," tersely added Johnson.
+
+"You'll refuse to go, eh?" snarled Lloyd.  "And suppose we makes yer;
+suppose--"
+
+"There is no use in supposing anything," interrupted the skipper.  "You
+profess to be anxious to avoid anything in the nature of force or
+bloodshed.  Very well; I tell you that there will be both if you
+scoundrels persist in turning us all adrift under such circumstances as
+you have named.  No, stand back; don't attempt violence with me, my fine
+fellow.  I am free now, and if you dare to lay your filthy hands upon me
+I will kill you with this," and he shook his clenched fist savagely in
+Lloyd's face.  "Now," he continued authoritatively, "go aft and tell
+Bainbridge that I want to see him--that I must and will speak to him
+before I leave this ship."
+
+To my great surprise the man obediently turned away, and, with a
+low-spoken word or two to the armed men who remained on guard outside
+the door, swung round the end of the house and walked aft, as we could
+tell by the sound of his receding footsteps.
+
+He was absent about a quarter of an hour, during which Captain Roberts
+quietly cast off the chief mate's lashings, then the pair of them
+released Mr Johnson and the boatswain, who in turn released the
+sailmaker and myself, all being done under the eyes of the armed guard
+before the door, who looked stolidly on without protest by word or deed.
+We had scarcely done this when we became aware that the ship was being
+brought to the wind; and presently the order was given to man the
+braces.  There were the usual "Yo-ho! yo-hip! round with her, boys!" and
+the like cries, which the British merchant seaman deems it necessary to
+indulge in when he is pulling and hauling; and presently we understood
+that the ship was hove-to on the starboard tack, with her head to the
+northward.  Then the order was given to man the capstan; and the men
+were heaving round when Lloyd returned, and, with a grin of
+comprehension at finding us all released from our bonds, informed the
+skipper that Bainbridge was willing to see him.  Whereupon Captain
+Roberts left us, and, escorted by "Welshy", went aft.
+
+Meanwhile, we who were left behind in the forward house gathered from
+the various sounds which reached us that the longboat was now being
+hoisted out; and presently we heard the heavy splash of her as she was
+dropped into the water alongside.  This was followed by an order to
+overhaul and unhook the yard tackles; and in the comparative silence
+that then ensued we occasionally caught the alternate murmur of the
+skipper's and Bainbridge's voices: but they were speaking in ordinary
+conversational tones, and the multitudinous sounds of the ship--the
+faint rustle of canvas aloft, the patter of reef-points, the creaking of
+the yards and timbers, the wash of water alongside, and the subdued hum
+of many voices on deck--prevented us from catching a word of what was
+being said.  However, we gathered that Captain Roberts had been
+protesting against turning so many people adrift in the longboat alone,
+for presently we heard Bainbridge shout an order to lower away the
+captain's gig, which, next to the dinghy and jollyboat, was the smallest
+boat belonging to the ship.  But she was roomy enough to accommodate ten
+people comfortably, without ballast, or seven with provisions and water
+enough to last her crew for three weeks; and I considered that if
+Bainbridge was indeed going to give us the gig as well as the longboat,
+with, of course, an adequate supply of provisions and water, we should
+be able to manage tolerably well in anything short of a gale.
+
+Presently Lloyd, who appeared to be acting as Bainbridge's lieutenant,
+came forward again and entered the house.  "Now, then, gen'lemen," he
+remarked, with the grin which he seemed to think it necessary to assume
+when addressing us, "the longboat's all ready, and the passengers is
+waitin' to go down into her, so you'd better come along and see to the
+stowin' of 'em.  And Mr Bainbridge have agreed to let you have the gig
+also; so you ought to be as happy and comfortable as sandboys.  But
+don't forget what I told yer about our not wantin' to have no trouble
+nor bloodshed.  The ship's ours, and we means to keep her, so if you
+wants to go away with whole skins, what you've got to do is to get from
+alongside as quick as possible, and without makin' no trouble; for as
+sure as any of ye attempts to make trouble there'll be bloodshed, and
+don't you forget it.  Mr Bligh, you and Mr Johnson be to go first and
+see to the stowin' of the passengers; and when the longboat's got her
+complement the rest of yer can foller."
+
+"You are not taking any chances, Lloyd, are you?" laughed Mr Bligh
+sarcastically, as he rose to his feet.  "Although all hands of you
+appear to be armed, you are not going to run the risk of having too many
+of us loose out on deck at once, for fear of what we might do, eh?
+Well, you are a fine, courageous lot of mutineers, I must say!  You
+wouldn't even chance a fight with a single one of us when you started
+out to take the ship, but must needs entice us for'ard, one man at a
+time, upon the pretence that fire had broken out in the hold.  Ugh!  I
+don't envy Bainbridge his crew of bold buccaneers--not a little bit!"
+and with a scornful laugh he swaggered out on deck, followed by the
+second mate.
+
+A minute later we heard his voice speaking to the passengers and calling
+upon them by name, one by one, to pass down the side, the women and
+children first.  And it was pitiful to hear the low moaning and sobbing
+of some of the poor creatures as they reluctantly left the firm,
+spacious deck of the ship and fearfully clambered down the side ladder
+into the dancing longboat, which looked so small and dangerous a refuge
+in comparison with the bulk of the barque.  The embarkation of the
+passengers proceeded slowly, because of the women and children among
+them, all of whom were frightened, while many of them were weeping
+bitterly, despite the best efforts of husbands, fathers, brothers, and
+male friends to encourage them.  But at length the last passenger went
+down over the side and was assigned his place in the longboat, and then
+Lloyd again came forward and summoned those of us who remained in the
+house to follow him; and as we passed out on deck and started to walk
+aft to the gangway, the five armed seamen who had mounted guard over us
+followed at our heels.
+
+As we cleared the galley, which formed part of the structure in which we
+had all been confined, the whole of the after part of the ship, from the
+fore end of the main hatchway, came into view, and we saw that the
+vessel was indeed, as we had supposed, hove-to on the starboard tack,
+with her mainyard laid almost square, the mainsail brailed up, and the
+remainder of her canvas set; and the fabric was full of the sound of a
+gentle creaking of timbers, trusses, and parrals, and the soft rustling
+of the white cloths overhead.  She had no way on her, but was curtsying
+and rolling gently on a long, sluggish swell that came creeping up from
+the eastward.  Apart from the swell, the sea was quite smooth, its
+surface being scarcely wrinkled into a pure, delicate blue tint by the
+easterly breeze, which had died down to so gentle a zephyr, that the
+lighter canvas and even the topsails flapped to the masts with every
+heave and dip of the hull.  The sky was cloudless, save away down toward
+the west, where a great mass of vapour, broken up into small patches,
+blazed crimson and gold in the rays of the declining sun, and gilded and
+reddened the sleepy undulations beneath it.
+
+Bainbridge, with his peaked cap thrust aggressively to the back of his
+head, his brass-buttoned blue serge jacket opening to display his white
+shirt and flowing black silk necktie, and also, incidentally, a brace of
+revolvers, suggestively stuck in the broad elastic belt which girt his
+waist, and with a smile of insolent triumph upon his dark, saturnine,
+but otherwise rather good-looking face, stood alone at the break of the
+poop, with both hands thrust deep into his trousers pockets and his
+white-canvas-shod feet planted wide apart, watchfully regarding the
+proceedings on the main deck beneath him; while the whole of the crew,
+with the exception of the cook and the five men who constituted our
+especial bodyguard, were drawn up athwart the deck and along the face of
+the poop structure, each man armed with a rifle, and with a sheathed
+cutlass girt about his waist.  Captain Roberts and Mr Bligh stood
+together at the open lee gangway, through which and above the lee rail
+could be seen the tossing masts of the longboat.
+
+As our little party approached him the skipper turned, and, after
+running his eye over us for a moment, said:
+
+"Mr Temple, I shall be obliged to ask you, the carpenter, and Sails to
+go with Mr Johnson in the gig.  The longboat is already pretty well
+crowded, considering that part of her complement consists of women and
+children.  You will find that the gig already has four breakers of fresh
+water in her, which will serve for ballast, but you will have to
+provision her from the longboat, as Bainbridge absolutely refuses to
+give us so much as another biscuit.  You will find Mr Johnson already
+in her.  Just jump down and lend him a hand, if you please."
+
+The gig, with her mast already stepped, was lying outside the longboat,
+with Mr Johnson in her, while Chips, in the longboat, was overhauling
+the stock of provisions in the latter and passing a certain portion into
+the gig according to the second mate's instructions.  It was a bit of a
+job to get to her across the crowded longboat, but I had just stepped
+into her and was about to address Johnson when I stopped short, for I
+heard Captain Roberts's voice raised in a final appeal to the men.
+
+"My lads," he said in a loud, clear voice, "before I quit the ship I
+want to give you a last chance to undo the evil that you have this day
+done, and to avert from yourselves the punishment that most surely
+awaits you if you persist in following the path into which you have been
+beguiled by a plausible young scoundrel--"
+
+"Meaning me, eh, Skipper?" jeered Bainbridge, with a harsh laugh, from
+the poop above.
+
+"Even now, men," continued the captain, ignoring Bainbridge's
+interruption, "at this last moment, it is not too late for you to
+withdraw from your unholy compact and return to your duty.  You are not
+to blame for what has happened; you have simply been deceived and led
+astray by one who ought to have known better than to tempt you to a step
+which can only end in your destruction.  I ask you to lay down those
+arms and place yourselves at my mercy; and I promise you, upon my honour
+as a seaman and a gentleman, that if you will do so not one of you
+except your ringleader shall ever hear another word about the matter--"
+
+"Stop!  Shut up!  Not another word, as you value your life!" yelled
+Bainbridge, suddenly flying into a fury and whipping a revolver out of
+his belt.  "So that is your little game, is it?  You would bribe those
+men to betray me, to put me into your power!  Very well!  Now you jump
+down into that longboat at once; and if you dare to open your mouth
+again and speak another word of temptation to the men, I'll blow your
+head off," and he wound up with an oath.
+
+But Captain Roberts was not to be deterred so easily from seizing the
+only opportunity that had thus far presented itself by which he might
+make an effort to regain the command of the ship and his ascendancy over
+her crew, nor was he at all the sort of man to be frightened from his
+duty by the flourishing of a pistol before his eyes.  It was his duty to
+nullify this mutiny if he could, and therefore he turned to the men
+again.
+
+"Lads," he said, "bethink yourselves.  What sort of a future is to be
+yours if you persist--?"
+
+Crack!  Bainbridge's pistol barked out from the poop, and poor Captain
+Roberts reeled back, clutching his breast, from which the red blood was
+spouting, into the arms of Mr Bligh, who was standing close by him.
+And Bainbridge, startled perhaps at what he had done--for the skipper
+had always behaved like a father to him--lost the last vestige of his
+self-control, and became in a moment the very personification of a
+raving, bloodthirsty maniac.  Levelling his still smoking revolver at
+Bligh, he commanded the latter, with a very tornado of curses, instantly
+to place the body of the captain in the longboat and shove off from the
+ship's side forthwith, unless he wished to share the skipper's fate.
+
+Still supporting the swooning body of the captain in his arms, Bligh
+allowed his gaze to search in turn the face of each of the armed men who
+now clustered round him, and seeing nothing to justify the hope that a
+further appeal would meet with the least success, replied:
+
+"All right, my lad, I'm going--worse luck for you!  Here, one of you,"--
+to the crew--"just drop your shooting-iron for a minute, if you're not
+afraid of me, and lend me a hand to lower the skipper over the side,
+will ye?"  Then, as one of the men mechanically obeyed, the mate
+murmured in his ear: "I'm sorry for you silly buckos, for this means the
+hang-man's noose for all hands of you.  But there's time for you yet.
+If you repent before we're out of sight, all you have to do is to bear
+up in chase of us and run the ensign up to the fore royal-mast-head.  I
+shall know what that means, and you'll have no reason to regret it.  Now
+then," aloud, as the two took the skipper's body between them,
+"handsomely does it.  Below there, boatswain, just ease the captain
+down, and lay him in the main sheets where the doctor can get to work
+upon him."
+
+Between them they somehow contrived to get the unfortunate skipper's
+body down the side and into the sternsheets of the longboat, where Dr
+Morrison at once proceeded to examine the wound; and the moment that
+this was done Mr Bligh scrambled down the side ladder, made his way aft
+among the women and children, who were huddled together, most of them
+sobbing quietly with their faces buried in their hands, seized the
+tiller, and, thrusting it hard-over, gave the word to shove off and make
+sail.  The order was promptly obeyed, and five minutes later the
+longboat, with the gig towing astern, was running off to leeward, with
+both standing lugs and her jib set; while those of us who were watching
+the barque saw her head sheets trimmed aft and her mainyard swung as she
+slowly gathered way and stood to the nor'ard and eastward, close-hauled
+on the starboard tack.
+
+We had been under way about ten minutes when Mr Bligh hailed Mr
+Johnson to haul up alongside; and when we had done so he said:
+
+"Mr Johnson, now that Captain Roberts is so seriously hurt I shall want
+you to come into the longboat with me, because I am the only one at
+present capable of navigating her, and--you understand me, I'm sure.
+Temple, you will have to take command of the gig, and do the best you
+can with her.  That young scoundrel has not permitted any of us to bring
+our sextants with us; he has not even given us a chart, or so much as a
+boat compass, so we shall have to do the best we can without them.  But
+I have been considering the situation, and have come to the conclusion
+that our best plan will be to make for Rio, which, according to my rough
+reckoning, bears about west and by no'th, true; distant, say, twelve
+hundred miles: and we shall have to shape our course for it, as nearly
+as we can, by the sun and stars.  This plan has the advantage that by
+continuing to steer a westerly course we are bound to hit the South
+American coast somewhere, even if we should miss Rio; and we also stand
+a very good chance of falling in with and being picked up by something
+bound round the Horn.  So much for that part of the business.  Next, as
+we are a bit crowded here, and the boat is rather deeper than I like,
+you will have to take the boatswain in exchange for Mr Johnson; and--"
+he paused and ran his eye speculatively over the crowd in the longboat.
+Then, addressing them generally, he said, "I wonder whether one of you
+gentlemen would care to go in the gig with Mr Temple?  As you can all
+see and feel for yourselves, we are rather uncomfortably crowded aboard
+here, and the boat would be all the safer if she were relieved of the
+weight of even one of you, while there is plenty of room in the gig, and
+she is just as safe as the longboat.  I suppose I need not tell you that
+Temple is an excellent seaman and navigator, while the gig is the faster
+boat of the two and will probably arrive at least a couple of days ahead
+of us."
+
+A pause of a few seconds' duration followed this appeal, and then a Mr
+Cunningham--who happened to be the only unattached male passenger among
+the party--arose and said:
+
+"If you consider the change desirable I shall be very pleased to go in
+the gig; in fact, I am the only male passenger who has no `encumbrance'
+with him in the shape of wife or child, therefore it will make no
+difference at all to me which boat I happen to be in."
+
+"That being the case, we will make the exchange at once, and then you,
+Temple, had better make sail and get over the ground as fast as you
+can," said Mr Bligh.
+
+And therewith the gig was hauled up close alongside the longboat and the
+transfer at once effected, Mr Johnson turning over to the bigger boat
+while the boatswain and Mr Cunningham joined us in the gig.  The
+transfer was not a lengthy process, for Bainbridge had not permitted any
+of us to bring away any of our belongings, and at that moment the
+richest of us had only what he or she happened to be wearing in the way
+of clothing.  Then, as the chief mate cast off our painter and thrust
+the two boats apart, he said:
+
+"Make sail, Temple, and crack on for all you are worth.  And, as soon as
+you get in, report the mutiny, get the British Consul to send out a tug
+or something, with provisions and water, to look for us; and see that he
+reports the matter at once to the nearest naval station within reach, so
+that the men-o'-war may be dispatched to seek the _Zenobia_, and get
+hold of her before she has time to do very much mischief.  And don't
+forget that your course is west and by no'th--or, as near as may be, in
+the eye of the setting sun when he reaches the horizon.  Goodbye, and a
+quick passage to you!"
+
+"Goodbye, sir," I returned; "and the same to you!  I trust that the
+doctor will be able to put the captain on his feet again by the time
+that you get in.  I will remember all your instructions, and lose not a
+moment in carrying them out directly we arrive.  Goodbye, all!  Hoist
+away, bos'n; and, Simpson, boom out the sheet with that boathook."
+
+The sun was by this time within ten minutes of his setting, and glowed,
+a great, palpitating disk of incandescent red, through a thin veil of
+innumerable small, closely clustering clouds that stretched in gorgeous
+tints of gold, crimson, and purple against a background of very pale
+green, right athwart the horizon ahead, their colours being brilliantly
+reflected in the softly rippling, slowly moving undulations that came
+creeping up after us, heaving us gently up on their ample breasts and
+then sweeping on ahead of us straight toward the sinking luminary.  The
+wind had just strength enough in it to keep the sheet of our single lug
+from sagging into the water, and the gig was sliding smoothly along,
+with the small sound of lapping, gurgling water under her, at the rate
+of about three knots in the hour, leaving behind her a thin, swirling
+wake of small bubbles and tiny whirlpools that vanished upon the breast
+of the next on-coming swell.  The longboat, under fore and main standing
+lugs and a small jib, deeply loaded as she was, was doing a knot less
+than ourselves, and we soon passed and slid ahead of her; while away
+down in the north-eastern board, broad on our starboard quarter, the
+topsails and upper canvas of the barque shone primrose-yellow above the
+ridges of the swell as she stood away from us, heading about
+nor'-north-east, close-hauled on the starboard tack.
+
+There was every prospect that we were about to have a fine night, almost
+too fine, in fact, to suit us: for although light winds meant smooth
+water, which in its turn meant safety for deeply laden open boats, we
+had a long road before us and not too many provisions or too much water
+for our sustenance during our journey; and for my own part, if I could
+have had my choice, I would have preferred a little more wind, provided
+that it was fair--even although it involved a somewhat heavier sea--to
+help us on our way.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+WE START OUR VOYAGE IN THE GIG.
+
+The first matter to which I gave consideration, after we were fairly
+under way, and had parted company with the longboat, was that of food
+and drink; and I began by taking stock roughly of what we had, and
+jotting down the items in my pocket-book.  To begin with, we had four
+five-gallon breakers of fresh water--twenty gallons in all.  Then we had
+two sacks of cabin bread, which, by a partial count, I estimated to
+contain about three hundred biscuits altogether.  And in addition to
+these we had one dozen tins of ox tongue; six small tins of potted
+meats; four jars of marmalade and two of jam; two bottles of pickles;
+four bottles of lime juice; one bottle of brandy; and two bottles of
+rum.  When I had jotted everything down I made a few calculations, and
+then I spoke.
+
+"Shipmates," I said,--"and I include you, Mr Cunningham, in the term,
+for this misfortune puts us all upon the same footing--you no doubt
+heard Mr Bligh say, a little while ago, that according to his reckoning
+we are somewhere about twelve hundred miles from Rio, which is our
+nearest port.  That means a twelve days' voyage, with a fair wind all
+the time, blowing fresh enough to keep us going, hour after hour, at the
+rate of five knots.  Now, those of us who have used the sea don't need
+to be told that such a favourable condition of affairs is so exceedingly
+unlikely that it is scarcely worth talking about.  To begin with, we are
+making a bad start, for instead of doing our five knots we are doing
+little if anything more than half that, with every prospect of a flat
+calm within the next three or four hours.  Therefore I think it will be
+wise of us to recognise, at the outset, that our voyage is a good deal
+more likely to take twenty days than it is to be accomplished in ten.
+
+"Of course, in saying this I am regarding the matter from its most
+unfavourable point of view.  I remember that we have had easterly winds
+without a break ever since we crossed the line, and it may be that the
+Trades are extending unusually far south just now, and that we are still
+on the southerly fringe of them.  If this should prove to be the case we
+shall be all right, for by steering a west and by no'th course we shall
+be edging to the nor'ard and working our way back into the permanent
+trade winds.  But, on the other hand, this easterly wind may not be the
+trade wind at all--and my own opinion is that it is not--in which case
+we may expect a westerly breeze--that is to say, a foul wind--at any
+moment; and I think we should only be acting with common prudence to
+take such a probability into consideration.
+
+"Now, this brings me to the question of food and water.  As you have
+seen, I have been taking stock of what we have, and making a few
+calculations, with the following result.  First, with regard to the
+fresh water.  We have just twenty gallons of it, or one hundred and
+sixty pints.  If we could be certain of making our voyage in ten days
+that amount of water would afford sixteen pints per day to be equally
+divided between the five of us, which is a fraction over three pints per
+day per man, or, say, half a pint at each of three meals and another
+half-pint at three intervals between meals.  Little enough, you will
+say.  Very true; yet I think we must endeavour to do with less.  We must
+try to be satisfied with four half-pints per day of twenty-four hours
+per man, by which means we shall be able to make our water last sixteen
+days, and in sixteen days many things may happen: we may end our voyage,
+if we have luck; or we may be picked up; or we may have rain enough to
+enable us to replenish our water supply.  But since neither of these
+things may happen, we ought, in common prudence, to determine at the
+outset not to drink more than four half-pints per man per day; and I
+think we may be able to manage upon that without any very great
+hardship.  What say you?"
+
+"I think we can manage it, if we set our minds to do it," at once
+answered Mr Cunningham, and after a little further talk the boatswain,
+carpenter, and sailmaker also agreed to make the attempt.  In the same
+way we arrived at a determination to be satisfied with four biscuits per
+day each, with a suitable proportion of tongue, potted meat, jam, and
+what not; and we also agreed upon the quantity of spirits which was to
+constitute each man's daily allowance, Cunningham being of opinion that
+a very small allowance of stimulant would be almost a necessity, seeing
+that our food was to be so restricted in quantity.  And then, having
+settled this important question, we piped to supper, each man receiving
+the exact quantity of food agreed upon; and when we had finished we were
+all of the one opinion, namely, that although our appetites were far
+from being satisfied, it would be quite possible for us to sustain life
+under such conditions for a fortnight or three weeks without serious
+deterioration of either health or strength.
+
+By the time supper was over it had fallen dark, and we had lost sight of
+both the longboat and the barque.  It was a magnificent night, the sky a
+deep indigo cloudless blue, studded with myriads of stars, the water
+perfectly smooth, save for the long, low undulations of the swell; and
+the only fault that I had to find with the weather was that there was
+too little wind, the breeze having died down until we were making
+scarcely two knots in the hour.  Fortunately we had no difficulty in the
+matter of determining our course, for it happened that Mr Cunningham
+wore a small compass attached to his watch chain as a charm; and after I
+had made the necessary allowance for variation we soon managed, with the
+assistance of this miniature compass and a match, to pick upon a star
+low down on the horizon by which we could steer a fairly straight course
+for at least a couple of hours, at the expiration of which it would, of
+course, be easy to pick another.
+
+Then we arranged the matter of watches.  There were four of us in the
+boat who were sailors, and my first proposal was that each of us should
+take a watch of three hours; but Mr Cunningham would not hear of this.
+He was, it appeared, a civil engineer by profession, but he had a
+natural love of the sea and all matters pertaining to sea life, and was
+quite an enthusiastic amateur yachtsman, with a sufficient knowledge of
+the way to handle a boat to justify me fully in entrusting him with
+temporary charge of the gig, at least in fine weather; and he insisted
+on taking his fair share of whatever work there might be to do.  We
+therefore decided that he also should be allowed to stand a watch.  I
+undertook to stand the first watch, from six o'clock to nine; and, this
+being arranged, the boatswain, carpenter, and sailmaker at once disposed
+themselves for sleep, two upon the thwarts and the third coiled up in
+the eyes of the boat, while Cunningham, who declared that he had no
+inclination for sleep, placed himself beside me in the sternsheets and
+began to chat in a low tone of voice, so that he might not disturb the
+others.
+
+Naturally the subject uppermost in our minds was the mutiny, and we
+began to talk about it.  I happened to express some surprise that
+Bainbridge had allowed the doctor to leave the ship, upon which
+Cunningham gave vent to a low chuckle of amusement.
+
+"My dear chap," he said, "Bainbridge didn't dare to keep him.  He fully
+intended to do so at first, and acquainted Morrison with the fact, but
+the doctor wouldn't have it at any price--swore that if he were not
+allowed to leave with the rest of us he would poison all hands within a
+week!  After that, Bainbridge was only too glad to let him go."
+
+We continued to chat for some time upon the subject, wondering what
+possible motive Bainbridge could have for proceeding to such an extreme
+as that of capturing the ship; by what means he had contrived to win the
+men over; and how he had managed to do it without exciting the slightest
+suspicion, and so on: and then Cunningham began to speak of himself.  He
+was, it appeared, an orphan, twenty-eight years of age, without a single
+friend in the world who felt enough interest in him to care what might
+become of him.  He had already explained, a little earlier in the
+evening, that he was by profession a civil engineer; and he now went on
+to tell me that, entirely without friends or influence as he was, he had
+found it so difficult to make headway in England that he had at last
+determined upon going out to Natal, in which colony, it being
+comparatively speaking a new country, he had hoped to find some scope
+for his professional knowledge.  "But that," he added, "is all knocked
+on the head by that young villain, Bainbridge, who has not only
+prevented me from reaching Natal, but has actually turned me adrift in
+an open boat to fetch up who knows where, with only the clothes I stand
+in.  And yet, not exactly that either," he corrected himself with a
+quiet chuckle of amusement; "for although my expensive surveying
+instruments and all my kit are on board the _Zenobia_, I contrived to
+get at my trunks this morning and extract therefrom a bag containing one
+hundred and forty sovereigns, as well as my telescope and half a dozen
+sticks of tobacco, all of which I carefully secreted about my person and
+have with me now."
+
+"Well," returned I, "if that is the case you may call yourself lucky,
+for you will find a hundred and forty British sovereigns exceedingly
+useful when we get ashore; as for your telescope, it may prove of the
+utmost value to us before this trip is over.  You are considerably
+better off than I am, for I was allowed to leave the ship with literally
+only the clothes that I am wearing.  The remainder of my clothes,
+together with my sextant, nautical and other books, and some sixteen
+pounds odd in cash, are still in my berth aboard the barque, if that
+swab has not already seized them.  But of course I am hoping to find a
+ship at Rio, aboard which I may be able to work my passage home; and
+once back in London the owners are bound to find me another berth."
+
+"But supposing there shouldn't happen to be a ship at Rio in which you
+can work your passage home.  What will you do in that case?" asked
+Cunningham.
+
+"Oh," I said, "I should simply have to take the first berth I could
+find, irrespective of where the vessel might happen to be bound for!
+Or, in the last resort, I can place myself in the hands of the British
+Consul, and be sent home as a shipwrecked seaman."
+
+"I see," said Cunningham thoughtfully.  "But," he resumed, after a
+moment's silence, "there is no need for you to adopt either of these
+courses, you know, old chap.  My hundred and forty sovereigns will be
+quite sufficient to see us both comfortably home from Rio, and you can
+repay me whenever you happen to be able."
+
+I very heartily thanked the young civil engineer for his exceedingly
+generous offer, but protested that I could not possibly accept it--that,
+in fact, there was not the least likelihood that things would turn out
+so badly in Rio as to compel me to avail myself of his generosity; but
+nothing would satisfy my companion short of a definite promise that I
+would accept his help should matters result awkwardly upon our arrival.
+Eventually I very reluctantly yielded to his importunities and gave him
+the required promise, and thus began a sincere friendship between us
+that was only further strengthened by the long series of remarkable
+adventures that lay ahead of us both, although at that moment we little
+dreamed that anything out of the ordinary run of events was to befall
+either of us.
+
+Toward the end of my watch the breeze evinced a slight tendency to
+freshen, and when at nine o'clock I handed over the charge of the boat
+to the boatswain, and Cunningham and I disposed ourselves to secure such
+sleep as might come to us, we were slipping along through the water at
+the rate of a good honest four knots in the hour.
+
+As may be imagined, my sleep that night was of a somewhat intermittent
+character, for a boat's thwart is not the most comfortable bed in the
+world, and I was fully conscious of the responsibility that had been
+laid upon me to guide the gig, and the lives which had been entrusted to
+her, over the trackless ocean, without the aid of chart or nautical
+instruments of any kind save the toy compass attached to Cunningham's
+watch chain.  I was well aware that my only hope of success lay in the
+keeping of the most accurate account possible of the boat's progress and
+direction, and, therefore, was up and looking about me at least half a
+dozen times during the night.
+
+The fine weather continued all through the hours of darkness, and during
+the boatswain's and carpenter's watches the wind gradually freshened up,
+until by three o'clock, when Chips called the sailmaker to relieve him,
+the boat was buzzing merrily along at a speed of between six and seven
+knots; but after that the wind began to soften rapidly away again, until
+at length, when the sun swept into view above the eastern horizon, we
+scarcely had steerage way, and half an hour later it fell a flat calm.
+We accordingly lowered the sail, and, this done, I directed Simpson, the
+sailmaker--who was the lightest of us, and therefore the least likely to
+capsize the boat--to shin up to the masthead and see if he could detect
+any sign of the longboat or the barque, and incidentally take a good
+look round the entire horizon upon the off-chance of there being a sail
+anywhere in sight; but he reported the horizon bare in every direction
+except in the eastern board, where he fancied he could occasionally
+detect a faint something that might possibly be the sails of the
+longboat, although he was by no means sure even as to that, opining that
+what he had seen, if indeed he had seen anything at all, might be the
+distant fin of a prowling shark.
+
+The mention of sharks gave me an idea, and I asked my companions whether
+perchance any of them happened to have any small stuff about them out of
+which we might contrive to make a fishing line; whereupon Chips, with a
+smile, requested me to vacate my seat in the sternsheets for a moment,
+and, opening the locker in the after thwart of the boat, produced an
+excellent cod line, with hooks and sinker all complete, explaining that
+as soon as he gathered an inkling of what Bainbridge intended on the
+previous day, he contrived, while engaged in knocking up a temporary pen
+for the sheep, to filch the said line out of the cook's galley and to
+secrete it, afterward seizing an opportunity to transfer it to the gig's
+locker when he learned that she was about to be turned over to us.
+There happened to be a piece of dry shrivelled bait still transfixed
+upon one of the hooks; we therefore dropped it over the side, paid out
+the line, made fast the inner end to one of the thwarts, and forthwith
+forgot all about it in the small bustle of getting breakfast.
+
+But while we were still engaged upon the meal we suddenly became aware
+that our fishing line was being violently agitated, and upon hauling it
+in found that we had been fortunate enough to hook a young dolphin about
+two feet long.  Now, raw dolphin is not exactly an appetising dish,
+especially to those who, like ourselves, possessed nothing keener than a
+really strong, healthy hunger; still, there was the fish, so much to the
+good as supplementary to our rather meagre breakfast allowance, and--
+well, in short we--at least the boatswain, carpenter, sailmaker, and
+myself--managed to eat nearly half of him.  Cunningham had not yet
+arrived at the starvation-point where raw fish could be devoured with a
+relish, and he declined to share our banquet, for which I did not blame
+him; but really, after I had succeeded in so far conquering my prejudice
+against raw food as to nibble cautiously at my portion, I found that it
+was by no means so repulsive as I had imagined.  And although it was
+certainly not at all inviting it was undoubtedly nutritious; and when at
+length I finished my breakfast, not only was my hunger completely
+satisfied, but I felt refreshed and invigorated after my meal.
+
+Breakfast disposed of, Simpson once more shinned aloft and took another
+look round; but there was still nothing in sight--indeed, how should
+there be, seeing that there was no wind to fan anything into our ken?
+He could not now even discern the faint appearance to the eastward which
+he had imagined might indicate the position of the longboat, but that of
+course might be due to the fact that, like ourselves, they had lowered
+their now useless canvas.  With not a breath of air stirring it was
+intensely hot, the rays of the unclouded sun beating down upon us
+fiercely as the breath of a furnace, and I inwardly execrated that
+scoundrel Bainbridge and his lawless crew as I thought of the crowded
+longboat and the hapless women and children--to say nothing of the
+wounded skipper--pent up in her, with nothing to protect them from the
+pitiless heat and glare.
+
+"Well, shipmates," I said, "we shall do ourselves no good by lying here
+idly sweltering.  This calm may last for a week, for aught that we can
+tell; there is not the slightest sign of a breeze springing up, so far
+as I can see.  I propose, therefore, that instead of doing nothing we
+strike the mast, out oars, and go in search of a wind.  There is no
+need," I continued, seeing signs of a protest on the faces of my
+companions, "for us to exert ourselves very greatly; and we can scarcely
+make ourselves hotter than we are, do what we will.  I therefore suggest
+that we throw out the oars and paddle quietly ahead upon our proper
+course.  We ought to be able to get three knots out of the boat with
+little exertion, and every mile of progress means so much to the good:
+moreover, I want you all to remember that we cannot afford to lie idly
+here; our stock of provisions will only last a certain time, and just
+picture to yourselves what our condition will be if, through suffering
+ourselves to be delayed by calms, these provisions--and our water--
+should become exhausted before we reach land or are picked up.  My idea
+is that four of us should pull while the fifth steers, and that at the
+end of one hour by the watch he who steers should relieve one of us at
+the oars, so that every four hours each of us will get one hour's rest.
+Now, what say you, lads?  It is Mr Cunningham's watch, therefore let
+him take the first spell at the yoke lines."
+
+It was easy enough to see that the others did not like the idea of
+working at the oars in that blistering sun, nor was that to be wondered
+at; but my reminder to them of the possibilities in store for us should
+our provisions and water be exhausted before relief in some shape or
+other came to us had its effect.  With many grumblings and imprecations
+at the inopportune calm, they set to work to strike the mast, ship the
+rowlocks, and get out the oars; and five minutes later, myself pulling
+stroke, and Cunningham in the sternsheets with the yoke lines in his
+hands and his compass charm on the seat beside him, we were moving
+quietly and easily to the westward at a speed of quite three knots.
+
+Fortunately for us the gig was a particularly good boat of the whaleboat
+type, built for speed, long and flat on the floor, with beautiful lines;
+and apart from the low swell, which did not trouble us at all, the water
+was smooth as oil.  When, therefore, we had once got way upon the boat
+it was an easy matter to keep her going without very much exertion.  But
+hot!  Only those who have been exposed in an open boat at sea in a
+tropical calm can in the least understand or appreciate what we
+suffered.  The sun's rays, striking almost vertically down upon our
+heads, and reflected upward again from the shining surface of the water,
+scorched us like fire, and before the first hour had passed my face was
+_so_ painful that I scarcely dared touch it.  And oh, how we perspired!
+In less than ten minutes my singlet and drawers--which were all that I
+had on, having like the rest stripped off all the rest of my clothing--
+were as wet as though I had been overboard.  And the natural result of
+such profuse perspiration was that we soon became intolerably thirsty.
+I don't know which of us was the first to suffer from this cause, but I
+know that I had not been at my oar more than twenty minutes when I began
+to feel that I would willingly give everything I possessed for a good
+long cooling draught of spring water.  However, I clenched my teeth and
+said nothing, for I knew perfectly well that if the word "thirst" were
+once mentioned all hands would instantly begin to clamour for water, and
+I might have the greatest difficulty in restraining the others from
+making a raid upon the breakers, regardless of consequences.
+
+But, after all, my self-restraint was of little practical value, for
+presently the carpenter flung the loom of his oar athwart the boat until
+it rested upon the gunwale, and, tossing his clenched fists above his
+head, cried in a husky, unnatural tone of voice:
+
+"Great jumpin' Gehosophat, how thirsty I am!  Mr Temple, I votes we
+knock off long enough to have a drink all round.  I'm as dry as a
+limekiln inside; my tongue's beginnin' to rattle again' my teeth, an'--"
+
+"The more reason why you should keep it quiet, Chips," I retorted
+sharply.  "Thirsty!  Of course you are; so are we all, for that matter:
+but there is no reason why we should yelp about it.  And as for having a
+drink, you know as well as I do that, with the small quantity of water
+which we have in the boat, it has been necessary for us to pledge
+ourselves solemnly to take no more than a certain quantity daily, and we
+must wait for our next drink until dinner-time comes along--"
+
+"But, Mr Temple," interrupted the sailmaker, who with the others,
+myself included, had now cocked his oar, "our proper 'lowance of water
+is 'alf a pint at each meal, and another 'alf a pint at some other time.
+Can't we 'ave that there hextry 'alf pint now?"
+
+"No, you certainly cannot," I answered, as well as I was able to speak
+for the saliva that gathered in my mouth at the mere thought of that
+nectar-like half-pint of water.  "If you did, you would be as thirsty as
+ever within the next half-hour, and then you would be sorry enough that
+there was no more water coming to you, except at meal times, for the
+rest of the day.  But I'll tell you what I'll do.  It is now," glancing
+at my watch, "within three minutes of nine o'clock.  At ten we will take
+a spell of ten minutes, and each man shall then have the third part of
+half a pint of water, with a suspicion of rum in it as a pick-me-up.
+Then at twelve we shall dine, and each man shall have his half-pint; at
+three o'clock we will have another third of half a pint; at six we shall
+have supper; and at nine o'clock, if we find that we really require it,
+we will have the remaining third of half a pint.  Now, that is the best
+I can do; it is the only thing that we dare do, and we must just make
+the best of it."
+
+"Yes," agreed Cunningham, "you are quite right, Mr Temple; we must be
+satisfied with our strict allowance, and ask for no more.  But there is
+one thing we may do to ease our thirst, and it is wonderfully
+efficacious.  Let each man take off his clothes, saturate them with salt
+water, and put them on again soaking wet.  If we do this, say, once
+every half-hour, we shall find ourselves marvellously refreshed, and
+quite able to wait for a drink until the proper time for it arrives."
+
+"Ay," said I, "I have heard of that trick before, and a splendid one it
+is, too, I believe, although I have never had occasion to try it until
+now.  Let us test it at once, lads.  I remember once hearing a man say
+that if shipwrecked people would only keep their clothes thoroughly
+saturated with salt water, they could practically manage to do without
+drinking at all."  And without further ado I stripped off my singlet and
+pants, wrung the perspiration out of them, plunged them over the side,
+and put them on again, my example being immediately followed by the
+others.  Then, the time having arrived for Cunningham to take a spell at
+the oar, he exchanged places with the sailmaker, and we again proceeded.
+
+The sensation of coolness imparted by the contact of our wet clothing
+with our bodies was very refreshing, and as long as it lasted we were
+able to pull a quick, steady stroke that put us along at the rate of
+about three knots with little or no fatigue.  The worst of it was that
+it did not last long, for within ten minutes the sun had dried our
+clothes again, and we began to perspire once more.  But we soon found a
+simple remedy for this by ceasing work just long enough to enable us to
+pour two or three buckets of water over each other, and then getting to
+work again; and although these frequent stoppages no doubt had the
+effect of retarding our progress to some extent, I do not think our
+actual loss of speed was very great, for the refreshment derived from
+these often-repeated sousings was such that we were able to put a good
+deal more life and vigour into our work than would otherwise have been
+possible.  As regards the alleged abatement of thirst, although I did
+not experience any perceptible relief during the first half-hour of the
+experiment, I certainly did afterwards, and so did the others; and
+although at ten o'clock we each avidly took our third of half a pint of
+water, there were no further complaints of thirst.  And here let me
+mention, for the benefit of any reader who may be so unfortunate as to
+find himself at any time in a similar predicament, that I then made the
+important discovery that the most effectual method of assuaging thirst
+with a very limited quantity of water is not to gulp it down and have
+done with it, but to sip it slowly, about a teaspoonful at a time, and
+retain each sip in the mouth at least half a minute before swallowing
+it.  The amount of comfort--not to say enjoyment--relief, and
+refreshment thus obtainable is nothing short of marvellous.
+
+But, despite every device that we could think of to obtain relief, our
+sufferings during that day were terrible; for although, by assiduously
+sousing each other with salt water at frequent intervals, we contrived
+to avoid the worst torments of thirst, our faces, arms, and hands--in
+fact all the exposed portions of our bodies, were so frightfully
+scorched by the sun that even before knocking-off work to take our
+midday meal we had begun to blister, and by nightfall our faces and arms
+were covered with blisters.  And all through that interminable day we
+toiled on and on at the oars, with not a shred of cloud to be seen in
+any direction, the blazing sun scorching us remorselessly, and the sea
+all round us a polished, shining, gently undulating, colourless plain,
+unbroken by so much as a solitary ripple, save those created by our oar
+blades, the passage of the gig through the water, the occasional dash of
+half a dozen flying-fish out of the sea under the boat's stem, and once
+or twice the thin wake cut by the dorsal fin of a cruising shark.
+
+But about three-quarters of an hour before sunset the carpenter, who was
+then steering the boat, shouted: "Hurrah, my bullies, there's a change
+of some sort comin' at last!  See the edge of that there cloud liftin'
+over the sea line ahead?  That means wind, or I'll eat my hat; ay, and
+p'rhaps rain too.  What do you think, Mr Temple?"
+
+With one accord we all cocked our oars, and, standing up, I took a good
+long look ahead, secretly welcoming, I will confess, the excuse to cease
+pulling for a minute or two; for my back was by this time aching
+frightfully, and the skin of my thumbs, just where they joined the
+hands, was so completely chafed away that the flesh was red, raw, and
+bleeding.  Yes, there was the edge of a cloud, distinct enough, the
+white, clean-cut, sharp-edged upper portion of a big thunder cloud,
+unless I was greatly mistaken.  And it was rising fast, too, so fast
+that, even as I stood gazing at it, it fully doubled its area and
+permitted us a glimpse of the soft, slaty-blue tint merging into the
+white.
+
+"Yes," I agreed, replying to Parsons' question, "the change is coming
+all right, and it will not be very long before it is here.  Lay in your
+oars, men.  I think, in prospect of what that cloud promises, that we
+may venture to spare ourselves any further ash-flourishing to-day, for
+we shall have a breeze before very long, with thunder, lightning, and
+rain as well, unless I am greatly mistaken.  And we will pipe to supper
+at once, so that we may be able to get our meal in peace and quietness,
+and have it over and done with before the breeze comes.  We are likely
+enough to have plenty of other matters than eating and drinking to think
+about and attend to when that happens."
+
+The oars were laid in, willingly enough, for the other four were in just
+as bad a plight as I was.  Cunningham, indeed, was far worse, for,
+unlike ours, his hands were soft and tender, and when, after the oars
+had been laid in, he stretched out his hands, palms upwards, and showed
+them to me, they presented a positively sickening sight.  But when I
+murmured my regret and commiseration he only smiled and expressed the
+conviction that they would be all right again in a week, for he was one
+of the pluckiest men I ever met, grit all through, straight as a die,
+and with not a bad spot anywhere in him; he was, in fact, everything
+that we are apt to think a typical Briton should be.
+
+We lost no time in getting the meal that we called by courtesy "supper";
+and within half an hour had disposed of it, and were waiting patiently
+for whatever was to come.  But while it was still calm and light I had
+the mast stepped, and sent the sailmaker aloft to take a good,
+comprehensive look round and see whether he could discover any sign of a
+sail; and no sooner had he, with much pain and tribulation, climbed to
+the top of his precarious perch than he sang out that he could just see,
+in the northern board, what looked like the heads of a ship's royals.
+Of course he could not tell in which direction she was bound, for, like
+ourselves, she was becalmed, and slowly "boxing the compass," that is to
+say, her head was pointing first one way and then another; but while he
+was aloft, clinging to the boat's masthead, and watching the stranger in
+the hope of being able to make some further discovery concerning her,
+her people started to clew up and furl her royals, which circumstance
+Simpson duly reported.  It served as a hint to us in the gig, for if the
+stranger had detected symptoms that her royals would presently be too
+much for her, it was high time for us to look after ourselves; and we
+accordingly proceeded forthwith to close-reef our lug, and otherwise
+make such preparations as were possible to enable us effectively to meet
+the onslaught of the threatened squall.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+AT THE MERCY OF WIND AND SEA.
+
+That a squall was indeed brewing was by this time perfectly evident; for
+while we had been getting our supper the cloud which had made its
+appearance on the western horizon had rapidly risen, and now hung, an
+enormous lowering mass of livid purple vapour, in the western heavens,
+covering an arc of the horizon of fully a hundred degrees, completely
+hiding the setting sun, and towering aloft until its upper edge was
+nearly overhead.  Yet so far there was not a breath of wind, and the
+surface of the sea remained an unbroken, polished mirror, perfectly
+reflecting the hues of the overhanging cloud to the westward and the
+deep rich azure of the sky away down toward the east; and when Simpson
+again climbed the boat's mast to take a final look at the stranger, he
+reported her naked mastheads as standing up black, sharp, and motionless
+against the soft primrose tones of the northern sky.
+
+Some ten minutes later, and just as the brief twilight of that region
+had begun to veil the scene, we saw a faint glimmer of lightning in the
+heart of the now slowly advancing cloud, and a few seconds after the low
+mutter of thunder reached our ears.  And before the rumble of this had
+died away there suddenly darted from the bosom of the cloud a long,
+vivid, baleful, sun-bright flash that seemed to strike into the sea
+within a quarter of a mile of us, immediately followed by so stupendous
+a crash that it caused the very timbers of our boat to vibrate and
+tremble--or so I verily believed.  And as though that flash had been a
+signal, the great cloud seemed suddenly to burst apart, and the next
+moment we were enveloped in a very deluge of rain, which fairly roared
+as it threshed the surface of the sea all round us.
+
+"The bread! the bread!"  I shouted.  "Cover it with the tarpaulin and
+keep it dry.  If we let it get wet it will be spoiled," and immediately
+we all made a dash for the two bags of biscuits and hastily enveloped
+them in a small sheet of tarpaulin that Chips had had the forethought to
+toss into the gig while she was being lowered from the davits.
+
+"Now," said I, as soon as we had taken such precautions as were possible
+for the preservation of our bread, "spread out the sail, from gunwale to
+gunwale, right across the boat.  This rain is far too precious to be
+wasted.  That's your sort, bos'n, make a good deep sag in the middle of
+the sail--it will soon fill at this rate; and then we can all drink as
+much as we please, and put what more we can catch into the broached
+breaker, filling it until it overflows.  Find the pannikin, one of you;
+there is enough for a drink round already."
+
+The hollow sail filled with the sweet, tepid rainwater faster than we
+could drink it; and before the rain ceased we had each emptied the pint
+pannikin twice and had filled the broached breaker right up to the edge
+of its bung-hole.  Then we had another drink all round, after which we
+bathed our smarting, blistered hands in the cooling liquid before
+emptying it into the sea.  The downpour lasted for perhaps twelve
+minutes; then it ceased as suddenly as it had begun--as suddenly as
+though a tap had been turned off up aloft--and we had an opportunity
+once more to look around us.  And, glancing instinctively to the
+westward in the first instance--for that was where we expected the wind
+to come from--the first thing we saw, in the fast-deepening twilight,
+was a broad belt of dark water, flecked here and there with white, about
+a mile distant, and advancing in our direction.
+
+"Hurrah, lads!"  I exclaimed, "here comes the breeze--a foul one it is
+true, but even a foul wind, so long as there is not too much of it, is
+better than none at all.  Set the lug for a board on the port tack;
+since we can't go straight to our port I'll make a board to the nor'ard,
+which will at least be going in the right direction.  Yes, bos'n," in
+reply to a question from that functionary, "keep the sail close-reefed;
+we shall have all the wind we want, and a little over, before very long,
+unless I am greatly mistaken."
+
+The wind swooped down upon us in a fierce little flurry that careened
+the gig to her gunwale, despite the careful tending of the sheet by the
+boatswain; then, with all hands of us sitting well up to windward, the
+boat gathered way and darted off upon a course that was as nearly as
+might be due north-west, lying well down to it, with the spray from the
+short, choppy seas that the squall instantly whipped up showering in
+over her sharp weather bow at every plunge, and quickly drenching us to
+the skin.  But there was worse to come, for the wind was freshening
+every moment and rapidly kicking up a short, steep, choppy sea, the
+surges of which smothered us with spray as the gig leaped viciously at
+them under the steadily increasing pressure of the wind upon her
+close-reefed lugsail; so that within a very few minutes it was taking
+one hand all his time to keep the boat free of water by continually
+baling with the bucket, although we eased the craft as much as possible
+by keeping the weather-leech of the sail ashiver most of the time.
+
+"Just our luck!" growled the boatswain, as he slacked the sheet to a
+still fiercer puff.  "If this had been a fair wind, now, we could have
+shown whole canvas to it, and would have been reelin' off our seven, or
+even eight knots as easily as possible.  But, as it is, we can't make no
+headway agin it; and the time ain't far off, in my opinion, when we'll
+have to up stick and run afore it."
+
+"We'll not do that until we are obliged," said I.  "I don't feel at all
+like losing, in the course of two or three hours, the ground that we
+have made by the hardest day's work that I ever did in my life.  No,
+Murdock, when we can't face it any longer we will lash the oars together
+and ride to them as a sea anchor at the full scope of our painter.  They
+will keep the boat head-on to wind and sea, and we shall ride as
+comfortably that way as any other; while, although our drift will
+probably amount to as much as three knots every hour, we shall not lose
+nearly as much ground as we should by scudding before--"
+
+I was interrupted by the sailmaker, who was sitting far enough forward
+to be able to see some distance past the luff of the sail.  Seaman-like,
+he was instinctively keeping a lookout, and he now suddenly turned and
+yelled:
+
+"Sail ho! close aboard on the lee bow.  Hard up, Mr Temple; hard up,
+sir, and keep her broad away, or that chap'll run us down."
+
+There was an urgency and imperativeness in the man's tones which made it
+clear enough that there was no time for investigation.  I therefore did
+the only thing that remained to be done under the circumstances, namely,
+trusted to the correctness of Sails's judgment and implicitly followed
+his directions, dragging the tiller hard up, and at the same time
+calling upon the boatswain to ease off the sheet still further.  Under
+the pressure of her weather helm the boat at once fell broad off; and as
+she did so I saw, through the rapidly deepening darkness, a great black
+blotch swing into view past the luff of our sail, which the next instant
+resolved itself into the shape of a big, hulking brigantine, wallowing
+along down toward us with her topsail-yard down on the cap, her reef
+tackles bowsed up, and eight men on her yard busily engaged in reefing
+her topsail.  It was not yet so dark but that those men must have seen
+us distinctly--in fact one of them paused in his work to flourish his
+hand at us; yet, but for the sailmaker's watchfulness, the craft would
+have driven right over us!  There could be no doubt of the fact that her
+crew had seen us, for, in addition to the man who waved to us from the
+yard, there were two men pacing her monkey poop aft who paused in their
+march to look at us as we drove past each other; yet, although we yelled
+to them frantically to heave-to and pick us up, they made no movement to
+do anything of the sort, and ten minutes later the craft vanished in the
+darkness.  The light was too poor to enable us to read the name on her
+stern as she swept past us, but she had all the look of a
+Portuguese-built craft; and, justly or unjustly, the Portuguese have
+gained rather a sinister reputation for callousness and inhumanity in
+their behaviour toward people circumstanced as we were at that moment.
+
+"I s'pose they thinks we're out here in a hopen boat for pleasure and
+the fun o' the thing," was the boatswain's sarcastic comment upon their
+behaviour, prefaced by a stream of profanity, as the vessel disappeared
+from our view.
+
+As soon as we realised that the crew of the brigantine had no intention
+of heaving-to and picking us up we again brought the gig to the wind.
+But we soon found that this would not do: the wind and sea were both
+rapidly becoming too much for us, and to continue fighting against them
+meant the speedy swamping or capsizal of the boat.  We therefore adopted
+the plan which I had been expounding to the boatswain when the
+brigantine hove into view, securely lashing the four oars of the boat
+together in a bundle, bending the extreme end of our painter to the
+middle of the bundle, and launching the whole overboard, at the same
+time lowering the sail and striking the mast, when the drag of the boat
+upon the oars brought her head to wind and sea, and enabled her to ride
+in comparative safety and comfort, although a breaking sea occasionally
+slopped in over her bows, necessitating the frequent employment of the
+bucket as a baler.
+
+There was very little sleep for any of us that night, for within an hour
+it was blowing really hard, with a heavy, steep sea that frequently
+broke aboard us, causing us intense discomfort as the water rushed aft
+and surged about our feet and legs to the wild plunging of the boat, and
+keeping one or another of us constantly busy baling to prevent the boat
+from being swamped.  We were thankful that we had not the added
+discomfort of cold to contend with, for, hard though it blew, the wind
+was quite warm; yet, even so, it was unpleasant enough, since we were in
+the greatest peril every moment of that long, weary night, our utmost
+efforts being continually required to keep the boat above water.  But,
+notwithstanding everything, it was a fine, exhilarating experience; for,
+added to the joy of battle with the elements, there was the wild
+grandeur of the scene, the great masses of black cloud scurrying athwart
+the sky, with little patches of starlit blue winking in and out between,
+the roar and swoop of the wind, and the menacing hiss of the
+phosphorescent foam-caps as they came rushing down upon the boat in
+endless succession, all combining together to form a picture the like of
+which, as viewed from a wildly leaping, half-swamped, spray-smothered
+open boat, it is given to comparatively few men to look upon.
+
+The gale lasted all through the night, breaking at sunrise; but although
+the sky cleared with the coming of the dawn, the wind continued to blow
+so strongly that it was not until the sun had crossed the meridian that
+it again became possible for us to make sail upon the boat: and
+meanwhile we found that during the night it had hauled round from the
+north-west, and was therefore still practically dead in our teeth.  But
+the moment that the sea had gone down enough to render sailing once more
+possible, we got under way and headed westward close-hauled upon the
+starboard tack, under a double-reefed sail; and I took fresh heart when
+presently I saw that, even under the exceedingly unfavourable conditions
+then prevailing--and they were about as unfavourable as they could
+possibly be--the boat was keeping a good luff, hanging well to windward,
+thanks to an exceptionally deep keel, and making about four knots of
+headway every hour.
+
+My hopes rose high that even yet, despite the delays which we had
+already experienced, we might be able to cover the distance to the coast
+before our provisions gave out; for if we were doing well under almost
+the worst conditions that could possibly befall us, what might we not do
+when those conditions improved?  And they certainly did improve as the
+afternoon wore on, for the wind eventually dropped sufficiently to
+permit us to shake out our reefs and sail the boat under whole canvas,
+while with the moderating of the wind the sea also went down and ceased
+to break, although the swell still ran very high.  But it was only the
+heavily breaking seas that were really dangerous to us; and now that we
+no longer had them to fear we drove the gig for all that she was worth,
+luffing her through the fresher puffs, hawsing her up to windward fathom
+by fathom, and generally handling her as though we were sailing her in a
+race, as indeed we were in a sense--a race against time.
+
+We continued to do exceedingly well all through that afternoon, and
+indeed up to about midnight; but the wind was softening all the time,
+and shortly after midnight our speed began to slacken, until by daylight
+of the next morning it had once more fallen to less than three knots.
+Moreover, the weather was by no means satisfactory in appearance; there
+were no actual clouds to be seen in the sky, but instead of being a
+clear, deep, rich blue, as it ought to have been, and as it no doubt
+would have been had there been fine weather in prospect, the entire
+vault of heaven was veiled in a thick, steamy, colourless haze, through
+which the sun showed as a feeble, shapeless blotch of white.  There was
+barely enough wind, still dead against us, to fan us along at a bare two
+knots; but I did not like the look of the sea, which, despite the almost
+total absence of wind, was in a strange state of unrest, the long heave
+of the swell being overrun by small, short, choppy miniature seas, which
+seemed to leap up at brief intervals without visible cause, and then
+curled over and fell in a casual, sloppy manner that suggested the idea
+that they would have liked to break but could not summon up the energy
+to do so.
+
+But whatever else they may have failed to do, these sloppy seas managed
+to retard the way of the boat through the water very considerably, and
+to fill our souls with exasperation; for they were distinctly hindering
+our progress, while we could see no valid reason why they should exist
+at all.  They had the appearance of having sprung up solely to delay us,
+and for no other purpose whatever.  More than once, when I felt
+exceptionally impatient at our miserably slow rate of progress, I had it
+on the tip of my tongue to propose that we should again take to the
+oars; but I did not actually speak the words, for in the first place I
+doubted whether the gain in speed would be sufficient to justify the
+expenditure of strength, and in the next place our hands were by this
+time in such a frightful condition of rawness that the idea of proposing
+what would make them very much worse seemed to smack of downright
+cruelty, unless I could urge some more valid reason than the mere desire
+to get ahead a little faster.  And our situation just then was scarcely
+desperate enough for that.
+
+It was very shortly after midday, and we were all gathered aft partaking
+of the meal that we dignified with the name of dinner, when the
+boatswain, who was sitting on the after thwart, facing me, suddenly
+paused in the act of conveying a piece of biscuit to his mouth, stared
+intently over my shoulder for a moment, and then sprang to his feet,
+shading his eyes with his hand.
+
+"What is it, Murdock?"  I asked, turning as I spoke in the direction
+toward which he was gazing, "do you--?"
+
+"Sail ho!" interrupted the boatswain, pointing eagerly with his hand.
+"Do ye see her, Mr Temple, sir?"
+
+"Ay, I do," I answered, as I caught sight of a faint pearly gleam afar
+off on the north-eastern horizon.  "Mr Cunningham, will you kindly lend
+me your telescope for a moment?"
+
+"Certainly, with pleasure," answered Cunningham, producing the
+instrument from his pocket.  It was not a very big affair, being only
+about six inches long by perhaps an inch and a half in diameter, but it
+was a three-draw tube, measuring about one foot nine inches long when
+fully extended, and, for its size, was the most splendid instrument I
+had ever used.  I quickly brought it to bear upon the distant gleam,
+which the lenses instantly resolved into the heads of the fore and main
+royals of a craft--either a barque or a brig--standing to the southward.
+When I had finished with the instrument the boatswain took a squint
+through it, and after him the carpenter and the sailmaker; and when they
+had had their turn Cunningham applied it to his eye.  As the boatswain
+passed the telescope over to Chips he turned to me eagerly and looked at
+me hard with _so_ expressive an eye that I instantly read what was in
+his mind.  I shook my head.
+
+"We could never do it, Murdock," I said.  "She's too far to the
+south'ard.  Had she borne three, or even a couple of points farther to
+the nor'ard I might have felt inclined to risk it; but--"
+
+"What are you talking about?" demanded Cunningham.  "Is it a question of
+whether we can or cannot intercept that ship?  Because if it is, I am
+most emphatically in favour of our making the attempt.  Mind you, I do
+not say that we can actually intercept her; but I believe we might
+manage to get close enough to her to be seen, for she is almost certain
+to have a man or two aloft at work upon her rigging."
+
+"Yes, ye're right, Mr Cunnin'ham; that's exactly my notion," eagerly
+agreed the boatswain.  "I believe that by runnin' away off in about this
+here direction," pointing away toward the south--east, "we ought to lift
+her pretty nigh to her rail by the time that she draws up abreast of us;
+and if we can do that we stands a very good chance of bein' seen.  I
+haven't no great faith in our prospec's of fetchin' Rio; and if we gets
+half a chance of bein' picked up by a ship, we ought to take it.
+Moreover than that, I don't like the look of the weather none too well;
+and I'd a deal rather spend the comin' night aboard that ship than in
+this here gig."
+
+There was certainly good, sound reason and common sense in Murdock's
+words, and particularly in what he said about the weather; so I turned
+to the carpenter, to ascertain his view of the matter.
+
+"What do you say, Chips?"  I asked.  "Are you of opinion that we shall
+be justified in losing ten or fifteen miles of ground upon the
+off-chance of being able to close with yonder craft near enough to be
+seen?"
+
+"Why, yes, Mr Temple, I certainly am," answered Chips.  "I won't go so
+far as to say that we'll be actually able to manage it; but I think it's
+our dooty to have a good try for it.  I'm like the bos'n, I've got a
+sort of feelin' that we ain't goin' to fetch Rio this trip--"
+
+"All right, then," I said; "you three constitute the majority, even if
+Sails happens to think as I do--"
+
+"Ah, but I don't, Mr Temple!" interrupted Simpson.  "I agrees with the
+bos'n--"
+
+"Then round we go," I interrupted in my turn; and, putting the helm hard
+up, I bore away, the sail jibed over, and off we went almost dead before
+the wind, heading about south-east, and bringing the stranger about a
+point and a half abaft our port beam.
+
+Sailing before the wind was a very different matter from plugging to
+windward with the sheet flattened well in, and although our shift of
+helm had the effect of making it seem that the wind had suddenly died
+away almost to nothing, there was no longer that heart-breaking
+smack-smack of the small seas against our weather bow which had seemed
+to retard our way in such an exasperating fashion.  On the contrary,
+with the sheet eased well off and the lug boomed out with the boathook
+so that the yard swung square across the length of the boat, we went
+sliding smoothly away to leeward with a long, easy, buoyant motion, a
+pleasant, musical gurgling of water along our bottom planking, and a
+swift gliding past us of tiny air bubbles and occasional morsels of weed
+that told us we were now travelling at the rate of quite four knots.
+
+For the first half-hour the stranger did not appreciably alter her
+bearing relative to the boat, which seemed to indicate that we were
+practically holding our own with her, and our hopes soared high,
+especially as within that brief period we had raised her royals and the
+heads of her topgallantsails above the horizon.  But when this latter
+circumstance enabled us to see that she had her starboard topgallant
+studdingsails set, my enthusiasm flagged again, for I argued that she
+must be a slow-coach indeed if, with the breeze then blowing and
+studdingsails set, she could not do any better than four knots.  I held
+my peace, however, for there was no use in damping the hopes of the
+others, while there was always the possibility that if any of her hands
+happened to be employed aloft, the eye of one or another of them might
+chance upon our sail, which, small though it was, ought to be perfectly
+visible at a distance of five or six miles, even in that somewhat hazy
+atmosphere.  But by the end of the first hour after we had begun our
+chase it became apparent that she had the heels of us, for although we
+were still steering exactly the same course as at first, she had drawn
+up square abeam of us.  And there it was imperatively necessary that we
+should keep her if we did not wish her to slip past us, even although
+the keeping of her there should entail upon us the necessity to edge
+gradually away, thus bringing our own course ever more nearly parallel
+to hers, instead of causing the two steadily to converge.  Then, about
+the end of the second hour of the chase, by which time we had lifted the
+stranger's main topsail-yard above the horizon, and had discovered that
+she was barque-rigged, the breeze suddenly freshened up sufficiently to
+add an extra knot and a half to our speed.  But this was a misfortune
+rather than otherwise for us: for although it increased our speed, it
+also increased that of the stranger, when it reached her, which it did
+about ten minutes later; and whereas it added only about a knot and a
+half to our rate of travel, it probably quickened up her pace by more
+than double that amount, as was painfully apparent from the increased
+frequency with which we were obliged to edge away to keep her square
+abeam.  And now the anxiety which I had all along felt began to be
+shared by the others, one or another of whom kept Cunningham's telescope
+continually bearing upon the barque.  They began to fidget where they
+sat, to mutter and grumble under their breath, and to cast frequent
+looks at the sky astern, which had not materially altered its aspect
+since the morning, except that the haze had thickened somewhat.  At last
+the boatswain could restrain himself no longer.
+
+"If this here humbuggin' breeze'd only drop," he grumbled, "we'd out
+oars and pull to her.  But it ain't goin' to drop, that's the worst of
+it, it's agoin' to freshen still furder; and that cussed old hooker's
+goin' to run away from us, that's what she's agoin' to do.  Let's have a
+look at that there glass again, Mr Cunnin'ham," he continued.  "I can't
+make out what they're a-thinkin' about aboard her.  It's fine weather,
+and surely there ought to be some work to be done aloft."  Here he got
+the telescope to bear upon her for at least the tenth time since the
+chase had begun, and relapsed into temporary silence, while he subjected
+every visible part of her to a most searching scrutiny.  Presently he
+resumed, with animation: "Ah!  I thought it'd be strange if her bos'n
+couldn't find somethin' that wanted doin' aloft in such fine weather as
+this.  Just you take this here glass, Mr Temple--Chips'll catch hold of
+the tiller for a minute or two--and see if there ain't a man sittin'
+astride of her weather main tawps'l-yardarm doin' somethin' or other."
+
+I handed over the tiller to Chips, took the telescope, and raised the
+eyepiece to my eye.  Instantly I had a small but exquisitely clear
+picture of the three masts of the distant barque, from the level of the
+second reef-band of her main topsail upward, with every rope and piece
+of rigging and gear, even to the reef-points of the topsail, rising and
+falling upon the horizon line with the lift of the ship upon the swell.
+And there, sure enough, at the point named by the boatswain, but tucked
+away in the shadow of the weather clew of the topgallantsail, so that it
+was not very easy to make him out, I saw what I certainly took to be the
+figure of a man.  And that the boatswain and I were not mistaken
+presently became apparent, for, while I still looked, the fellow
+leisurely swung himself on to the foot rope and began to lay in along
+the yard.
+
+"Quick!"  I exclaimed, "we must attract his attention somehow, for he
+has finished his job and is laying in off the yard.  Off with your
+jacket, Sails, and jump up on the thwart and wave it for all you are
+worth!"
+
+The sailmaker tore off his white canvas jacket, and, grasping it by one
+arm, sprang up on the mast thwart and waved it furiously, while I kept
+the telescope focused upon the slowly moving figure of the distant
+seaman.  But the man worked his way steadily in, swung himself off the
+yard to the topmast rigging, and, with the merchant sailor's usual
+deliberation, descended until he vanished below the horizon line,
+seemingly without giving a single glance at the widespreading surface of
+sea that stretched away for miles on either side of him.
+
+"That will do, Sails," I said; "you may belay your flourishing, and get
+down off the thwart.  That shellback has gone down on deck without so
+much as a glance in our direction."
+
+"Laid down, have he, without stoppin' so much as to take a look round?"
+snarled the boatswain savagely, dashing his clenched fist down on the
+gunwale.  "I'll be jiggered if I can understan' what's comin' to the
+sailorman as sails these here seas.  Fust there was that there Portugee,
+as went past without stoppin' to pick us up, although they see'd us, and
+must 'ave knowed that we was castaways; and now here's this here
+bloomin' barque, manned by chaps as don't seem to think it worth while
+to give a look round while they're aloft, to see whether there's any
+poor sailormen washin' about in distress.  But she ain't British, I'll
+take my Bible oath o' that; the British shellback don't do that there
+sort o' thing.  Why, when I first went to sea we was never ordered aloft
+but what the skipper used to say: `Take a good look round, men, afore
+you comes down again.  We never knows when we may be passin' within
+sight of some poor unfortunate, perishin' of hunger and thirst, and
+prayin' to be sighted and picked up!'"
+
+"Well," said I, "I am afraid it is all up with us, so far as that barque
+is concerned.  Nevertheless, we will stick to her as long as she remains
+in sight.  Another hand may be sent aloft aboard her before she
+disappears; or the wind may drop--although I confess I see no sign of it
+at present.  And in any case it is comforting, in a way, to know that we
+are in the track of the south-bound ships; we are certain to sight
+others within the next day or two, and it will be pretty poor luck if we
+cannot intercept one or another of them."
+
+But although I spoke so confidently I am afraid that I was not very
+successful in cheering up my companions in misfortune.  This second
+disappointment was producing its effect upon them; they were becoming
+depressed and pessimistic; and although they all agreed that the proper
+thing to do was to hang on to the distant barque, in the hope of
+eventually attracting the attention of somebody aboard her, I could see
+that we were all fully convinced that the attempt would result in
+failure.
+
+And so it did.  We chased that barque until the sun set and the shades
+of night hid her from our sight; and although about mid-afternoon we got
+so close to her that her lower yards showed above the horizon when she
+lifted on the swell, and kept the telescope bearing upon her all the
+time, no more hands were sent aloft, and as the afternoon progressed she
+steadily drew away from us again, until when at length we lost sight of
+her in the gathering darkness only her royals and the upper halves of
+her topgallantsails were showing above the horizon.  And all this time
+so absorbed were we in the chase that we were scarcely conscious of the
+fact that the wind was steadily freshening every minute, the result
+being that, when at length we were compelled to abandon the hope of
+being seen and picked up, we suddenly awoke to the fact that it was
+blowing quite a strong breeze, and that it had kicked up such a high,
+steep sea that it was no longer possible for us to round-to and ride to
+a sea anchor as we had done on the night but one before.  We were
+therefore obliged to scud before the wind all night under whole canvas,
+to avoid being pooped and swamped by the breaking seas that
+remorselessly chased us.
+
+That was a harassing, anxious night for all hands of us, for by midnight
+it was blowing what is generally termed a fresh gale, that is, a breeze
+strong enough to compel a ship of, say, a thousand tons to reduce canvas
+to single-reefed topsails; and that, to us, in a small open boat, was
+about equivalent to what a hurricane would be to the bigger craft.
+There was no sleep for any of us, for we were in constant, imminent
+danger, and it taxed the resources of all hands to their utmost limit
+all through the night to keep the boat from being overwhelmed.  The
+chief danger to an open boat under such circumstances arises from the
+fact that, lying so low in the water as she does, her sail becomes
+becalmed every time that she settles into the trough of a sea, and she
+gradually loses way.  Then, as she is hove up on the breast of the next
+following sea, her sail suddenly fills again, and those in her have to
+be careful that, in filling, it does not jibe over, for if it did so it
+would certainly capsize the boat.  But in guarding against that danger
+another of equal magnitude is incurred, for unless the boat is kept dead
+stern-on to the sea the chances are that she will broach-to and be
+filled by the breaking head of the sea when it overtakes her.  When it
+comes to be remembered that this twofold peril threatens an open boat
+about twice a minute hour after hour, as long as the gale continues,
+some faint idea may be gained of the anxiety and discomfort we were
+called upon to endure on the occasion which I am now attempting to
+describe.  And while the anxiety of all is sufficiently acute, the man
+who is most worried is the one who is at the helm, for the behaviour of
+a craft under such circumstances is in one respect distinctly and
+harassingly peculiar: at the most perilous moment of all, which is the
+moment before she is actually overtaken by the breaking crest of the
+wave, she is apt to refuse to answer her helm, and he who is steering
+her loses all control over her; she seems to be seized with a perverse
+determination to take a broad sheer one way or the other, with
+disastrous results, despite a hard-over helm, and then the only thing to
+be done to retrieve the situation is to effect a lightning shift of helm
+against all your past experience and your better judgment.  But
+notwithstanding this, it generally has the desired effect, the reason
+commonly assigned being that, contrary to what is usually supposed, the
+body of water constituting the head of a sea actually has a quick
+forward motion, and when this overtakes a craft, large or small, which
+is only beginning to gather fresh headway, the result is practically the
+same as though she were going astern instead of ahead, and the helm must
+be manipulated accordingly.  Whether this is really the true explanation
+of the curiously awkward phenomenon of which I have spoken I cannot say;
+but I know that the phenomenon occurs, and that it placed us in
+the direst peril at least half a hundred times during that
+never-to-be-forgotten night, a peril from which, it appeared to me, we
+each time escaped by the very skin of our teeth, and by what seemed to
+be nothing short of a series of miracles.  True, we are told that the
+days of miracles are long past; but, after all, who knows?
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+THE "MARTHA BROWN" OF BALTIMORE.
+
+All through the night, and until nearly noon next day, were we compelled
+to continue scudding before the gale; and a pretty crew of scarecrows we
+looked when the morning at length dawned and disclosed us to each
+other's vision, drenched to the skin with flying spray, haggard and
+red-eyed with fatigue and the want of sleep, and each wearing that
+peculiar and indescribable expression of countenance that marks the man
+who has been face to face for hours with imminent death.  But about four
+bells in the forenoon watch the gale suddenly broke, the sky cleared,
+and the wind moderated so rapidly that just before noon, by carefully
+watching our opportunity, we were at length able to round-to and once
+more ride to our makeshift sea anchor.  Then, the boat riding dry--that
+is to say, shipping no water--we baled her out, and next proceeded to
+overhaul our stock of provisions, with the object of ascertaining what
+damage, if any, it had sustained through the constant drenching of the
+seas to which we had been exposed.  Our bread--or biscuit--and water
+were all that we were really anxious about, the remainder being packed
+in tins, jars, or bottles, and it was a great relief to us to find that,
+thanks to the precautions which we had taken, nothing had suffered to
+any very serious extent.
+
+Then I went to work to calculate our position as nearly as I could,
+although the roughness of my data rendered it exceedingly difficult to
+arrive anywhere near the mark; but at length, by patient and careful
+figuring, I reached the exceedingly unsatisfactory conclusion that not
+only had we lost all the ground previously gained, but we were somewhere
+about thirty miles south of the spot where Bainbridge had sent us
+adrift!
+
+And then our thoughts turned to the longboat, and we began to ask
+ourselves and each other how she had fared.  We were still afloat, it is
+true, but only because of our long-continued and almost superhuman
+exertions, while our boat was an exceptionally good one and by no means
+overloaded.  How it would be with our consort, overcrowded with
+helpless, terror-stricken women and children, and perilously deep in the
+water, we scarcely dared to think; for, with the recollection of what we
+had recently passed through still vivid in our minds, we had little
+difficulty in conjuring up a very graphic picture of what would be the
+state of affairs aboard the longboat under the same circumstances.  Of
+course there was the possibility that, more fortunate than ourselves,
+she had been seen and her party rescued by a passing ship; but, failing
+that, we felt that we dared not entertain the slightest hope that she
+still survived.  No good end, however, was to be served by speculating
+upon the possibilities of disaster to our friends.  We therefore
+proceeded to get a meal as soon as we had straightened up matters as far
+as was possible; and while we ate and drank we discussed the important
+question of what we should do next.  Our recent experiences had been of
+such a character as to convince us that our prospects of reaching Rio
+before our stock of provisions should be consumed--if ever--were
+exceedingly slight.  On the other hand, we had already had ocular
+demonstration of the fact that we were not far from the track of
+south-bound craft; we therefore eventually arrived unanimously at the
+conclusion that, taking all things into consideration, the best thing we
+could do was to cruise to the northward, in the hope that within the
+next few days we should be fortunate enough to fall in with some vessel
+the skipper of which would be humane enough to pick us up and perhaps
+land us at the nearest port.
+
+It was so near sunset before the sea moderated sufficiently to enable us
+again to make sail that we ultimately determined to remain as we were,
+riding to our sea anchor all night, in order that all hands might have
+the opportunity to secure a good night's rest before resuming our battle
+with wind and sea.  For after all, now that we had definitely abandoned
+the idea of attempting to make Rio, or indeed any part of the South
+American coast, it did not greatly matter whether we were under way or
+not; a ship was just as likely to come along and find us where we then
+were as anywhere else.  And although we had resolved to take a night's
+rest before resuming our struggle, we of course intended to keep an
+anchor watch of one hand, who would look after the weather and the boat
+and also otherwise maintain a sharp lookout, so that, in the event of a
+sail heaving in sight, she should not be permitted to slip past us
+without an effort on our part to intercept her.
+
+The night passed uneventfully, wind and sea gradually moderating all
+through the hours of darkness, until, by the dawn of the following day,
+both had so far gone down that we could once more make sail upon the gig
+with perfect safety.  It is true that there was still a rather heavy
+swell running, but even that was fast diminishing, and there was no sea
+to speak of, the wind being of the strength known to sailors as a
+"royal" breeze, that is to say, a wind of so moderate a force that a
+ship of ordinary size could show her royals to it.
+
+The sailmaker's watch ended a few minutes after sunrise, and when he
+called the rest of us our first business was to wash the sleep out of
+our eyes by dipping our heads into a bucket of clear, sparkling salt
+water, dipped up from over the side; after which we proceeded to perform
+our toilets as well as our very limited resources permitted, the next
+thing in order being breakfast.  And while this was being prepared--the
+preparation consisting merely in the apportioning to each individual of
+his just and proper allowance of food--Simpson shinned up to the
+masthead to take a look round the horizon, and thus enable us to get the
+earliest possible intimation of the approach of a ship, should one
+chance to be in our neighbourhood.
+
+The man had scarcely reached his perch--which, after all, was only about
+six feet above our heads when we stood up--when he emitted a joyous yell
+of:
+
+"Sail ho!  Hurrah, my bullies, here she comes, pretty nigh straight down
+for us, if these eyes of mine ain't deceivin' of me!"
+
+"What do you make her out to be, Sails?"  I demanded.
+
+"Can't tell yet, sir," answered Simpson.  "All as I can see just at
+present is the head of a--well, it may be a royal, or it may be the head
+of the to'garns'l of a schooner.  And I'm inclined to think it's a
+schooner, because it looks sharp and clear like, as though it wasn't so
+very far off.  Yes, I reckon that there blessed bit of white ain't much
+more'n ten mile away."
+
+"And how does she bear?"  I asked.
+
+"Dead to wind'ard as ever she can be," was the cheering reply.  "And
+headin' for us just as straight as she can come.  Hurrah, my buckos!
+There's no mistake about it this time; she's boun' to pick us up, unless
+she happens to be another of them there puddin'-headed Portugees what
+don't seem to believe in pickin' up pore shipwrecked mariners," Sails
+ended, with a sudden note of disgust in his voice.
+
+"Portugee or no Portugee, she will pick us up; I'll see to that," said
+I.  "We'll not give her the chance to refuse; we'll just lie doggo where
+we are until she is within a mile or two of us, and then we'll up lug
+and run her aboard, whether her people like it or not."
+
+"Ay, ay, that's your sort, Mr Temple," agreed the boatswain.  "No more
+slippin' past and wavin' hands for me; if they don't want to pick us up,
+we'll just have to make 'em, that's all.  I've had enough of boat
+sailin' to last me for the rest of me bloomin' life, and enough of
+sleepin' on thwarts, too.  I means to sleep in a dry fo'c'sle to-night
+in spite of all the Portugee swines in creation."
+
+"All right, Simpson," I hailed.  "You had better come down now and get
+your breakfast.  By the time that we have finished, yonder craft will be
+visible to all of us, and then we shall be able to judge what is best to
+be done."
+
+We made a good hearty breakfast that morning, both eating and drinking a
+little more than our strict allowance, I am afraid, for we all seemed to
+be possessed of the same undoubted conviction that, with the appearance
+of the stranger to windward, our troubles were now all over, and that
+therefore the necessity to husband our limited resources carefully no
+longer existed.
+
+The strange sail appeared to be a fairly fast craft, for before we had
+quite finished our breakfast the head of her canvas appeared above the
+horizon to us, even though we were still sitting upon the thwarts, and
+we immediately brought Cunningham's telescope to bear upon her.  The
+first glimpse that I caught of her through the lenses satisfied me that
+she was a small vessel, the quickness and violence of her movements--for
+she was rolling heavily--bearing unmistakable evidence of that fact; and
+ten minutes later we discovered her to be topsail-schooner rigged.  She
+was evidently making the utmost of the fair wind, for she had topmast
+and lower studdingsails set on both sides; and she was coming dead down
+the wind direct for us.  We waited patiently where we were until she had
+risen hull-up, revealing herself through the telescope as a very
+handsome, smart-looking little schooner, with very white sails, which
+looked as though made of cotton canvas; and then we got our sea anchor
+inboard, cast the oars adrift in readiness for instant use should we
+need them, and got under way, working the boat to and fro in short tacks
+immediately athwart the schooner's hawse, while Simpson stood on a
+thwart to windward, waving a rag to attract attention, the boatswain
+meanwhile keeping the telescope steadfastly bearing upon the approaching
+craft.
+
+We had just tacked for the second time when Murdock, with his eyes still
+glued to the telescope, shouted:
+
+"They see us! they see us!  There's a couple of chaps standin' by her
+starboard cathead lookin' at us under the sharp of their hands.  And now
+one of 'em has turned round and is looking aft; he's reportin' of us to
+the hofficer of the watch, he is--I can see him hollerin' with one hand
+to the side of his mouth while he p'ints with the other.  Yes; and now
+there's another chap runnin' for'ard to join the first two; he'll be the
+mate, I reckon--or p'rhaps the skipper.  And now the third man's lookin'
+at us too.  Keep on wavin', Sails; don't let there be no mistake about
+what we wants.  The third man's runnin' aft again.  He's goin' to call
+the Old Man, I reckon."  A pause of about half a minute ensued, and then
+the boatswain resumed:
+
+"No, he ain't; he's gone aft to get his glass.  Yes, that's it; and now
+he's bringin' it to bear upon us.  Wave, Sails, wave, you skowbank, for
+all you're worth.  Yes; that's--Hurrah! it's all right, bullies, they're
+not agoin' to leave us behind; they're chaps of the right sort, they
+are!  See that, Mr Temple?  There's in stuns'ls; they're agoin' to
+shorten sail and round-to, to pick us up.  But they seem to be
+thunderin' short-handed.  They'll be past us and away to loo'ard long
+afore they can get them stuns'ls in.  Better bear up and run down afore
+it, hadn't we, sir, so's not to keep 'em waitin'?"
+
+The suggestion was a good one, for they had at least two studdingsails--
+those set on the starboard side--to take in before they could round-to,
+and from the rate at which they were getting the first in I could see
+that, as Murdock had said, the little vessel would run past us before
+they could get in the other.  So I put up the helm and bore away, easing
+off the sheet, and when we were running off square before the wind I
+began to edge the boat gradually in toward the line of the schooner's
+course.  By this manoeuvre we gave them a little more time to shorten
+sail, since we were still about a mile ahead of them and were now
+travelling in the same direction as themselves, although the schooner
+was fast overhauling us.  But by the time that she was abreast of us,
+and only about a hundred feet distant, both her starboard studdingsails
+were in, and she was ready to round-to.  Then a man came to the rail and
+hailed us.
+
+"Boat ahoy!" he shouted.  "I guess you're shipwrecked, ain't you, and
+want to be picked up."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," I answered; "that is so.  May we run alongside?"
+
+"Sure!" he replied heartily.  "I'll come to the wind on the starboard
+tack, when you can pass under my starn and come alongside at the lee
+gangway."
+
+I waved my hand by way of thanks and to show that I understood, and let
+run the sheet of the lug to allow him to draw ahead and take room to
+round-to; and presently he eased down his helm and brought the schooner
+to the wind, keeping his yards square and hauling his jib sheets over to
+windward to check the little vessel's way.  We were thus afforded an
+excellent view of the craft, and a little beauty she was, as clean built
+and finely modelled as a yacht--for which, indeed, she might easily have
+been mistaken, except for the fact that her sails were not big enough.
+She was painted all black from her rail to her copper, with the bust of
+a woman, painted white, for a figurehead, and the name _Martha Brown_,
+with the word Baltimore--her port of registry--painted in white letters
+on her stern.  She appeared to be in little more than deep-ballast trim,
+and I began to wonder whither she was bound even before we got alongside
+her.
+
+The getting alongside required a little management, for there was a fair
+amount of swell running, and the schooner was rolling heavily; but we
+managed it all right, and were met at the gangway, upon boarding the
+little vessel, by the individual who had hailed us.  He was a typical
+Yankee, tall, thin, and somewhat cadaverous-looking as to features, with
+a clean-shaven upper lip, a short goatee beard, and light hair, slightly
+touched with grey, worn so long that it came down over the collar of his
+coat, which was of faded blue cloth, adorned with brass buttons.  His
+trousers were braced up high enough to reveal his ankles, and he wore a
+pair of ancient red morocco slippers upon his otherwise naked feet.  His
+head was adorned with a peakless cap of what looked like wolfskin,
+fitted with a pair of flaps to tie down over the ears, but now fastened
+together at the crown.
+
+Although the man presented a distinctly quaint ensemble, there was a
+genial, kindly twinkle in his eyes that caused me to take to him on the
+spot as he extended his hand and said, with a slight drawl and a strong
+Yankee accent:
+
+"Walcome, strangers, to the _Marthy Brown_.  I guess you've been havin'
+a rough time by the looks of you.  How long, now, have ye been knockin'
+about in that boat?"
+
+"This is our fifth day in her, Mr--er--er--" I answered.
+
+"I reckon you're gropin' around after my name, Mister," he interrupted.
+"It's Ephraim Brown--very ginerally razeed down to Eph by my friends--
+and I'm master and owner of this here schooner, named a'ter my old woman
+away back to Baltimore.  I guess your name is--"
+
+"Mark Temple," I hastened to reply.  "My companions are respectively Mr
+Edward Cunningham, late a cuddy passenger aboard the British barque
+_Zenobia_--of which vessel I was one of the apprentices; William
+Murdock, boatswain; Joseph Parsons, carpenter; and James Simpson,
+sailmaker, all of the same ship."
+
+"I'm downright glad to meet you all," replied Mr Ephraim Brown, shaking
+hands all round again with much cordiality.  Then he stepped to the
+taffrail and looked down at the gig, which had been passed astern.
+
+"I guess that's a very tidy-lookin' boat of yourn, and there don't seem
+to be nothin' partic'lar the matter with her.  I reckon she's quite
+worth hoistin' in, ain't she, Mister?" he remarked.
+
+"Yes, indeed she is," I replied.  "She has brought us safely through
+some pretty heavy weather, and I should be very sorry to see her cast
+adrift."
+
+"Cast adrift nothin'!  That ain't old Eph Brown's way," retorted the
+skipper briskly.  "Is she very heavy?"
+
+"On the contrary, she is an exceedingly light boat when empty," I
+replied.
+
+"Ah!" remarked my interlocutor.  "Then I guess we'll have all that
+stuff--your stock of provisions, I reckon--out of her, and then we'll
+unship the lee gangway and run her inboard fisherman fashion.  It'll be
+quicker than riggin' tackles; and I'm in an almighty big hurry."  He
+faced forward and hailed a couple of his men.  "You, Sam and Pete, lay
+aft here and lend a hand to get the stuff out of this boat."
+
+"But there is no need to trouble your people, Captain," I interrupted.
+"We will empty her ourselves in a brace of shakes.  Murdock and Chips,
+just jump down into the gig and pass those things out of her.  Haul her
+close up under the counter, and we will pass you down a rope's end over
+the taffrail to sling them to."
+
+"Yes, I guess that'll do the trick," agreed the skipper.  "And you, Sam
+and Pete," he continued, turning to the two men who still lingered,
+"turn-to and unship the lee gangway, ready to run the boat inboard when
+she's cleared.  We'll stow her, right side up, alongside of the
+longboat."
+
+A quarter of an hour later saw the gig hauled inboard and snugly stowed,
+after which the _Martha Brown_ was kept away upon her course and the
+studdingsails were rehoisted, our boatswain, carpenter, and sailmaker
+lending a hand, while Cunningham and I remained aft, chatting with our
+new friend.  As the last rope was belayed the skipper stepped to the
+skylight, peered down through it, and then turned and struck eight
+bells.  Almost immediately afterward a lad emerged from the cabin
+companion, went forward to the little galley, and presently reappeared
+bearing a large covered dish in one hand and a capacious coffee-pot in
+the other.
+
+"Aha!" exclaimed Brown, smacking his lips in anticipation, "breakfast;
+and I guess it smells good.  Now I reckon that you 'uns have been upon
+pretty short commons this last few days, and'll be in good shape to
+enj'y a square meal.  I guess you two'll have to mess in the cabin along
+o' me; the hands for'ard'll look a'ter the rest of your crowd."
+
+At the skipper's invitation Cunningham and I forthwith followed him
+below to an exceeding small but very comfortable cabin, upon the tiny
+table of which was set out a quite unexpectedly enticing meal, to which
+Brown helped us both with most hospitable liberality.  For a little
+while we ate and drank in silence; but presently, when we had taken the
+keen edge off our appetites, our kindly host asked for details of the
+circumstances under which we had come to be knocking about in mid-ocean
+in an open boat.
+
+"Waal, I'll be sugared!" he ejaculated, after I had related to him in
+detail the incidents connected with the seizure of the _Zenobia_ by her
+crew, under the leadership of Bainbridge; "if that don't beat
+everything!  And you say that the skunk means to set up in business as a
+pirate?  But is this here barque of yourn armed?  Do she mount any guns?
+Because, if she don't, how do that crowd of toughs reckon they're goin'
+to hold up and rob a ship?"
+
+I shrugged my shoulders.  "I haven't the slightest notion," I replied;
+"but, knowing Bainbridge so well as I do, I have no doubt that he has a
+scheme of some sort in his head."
+
+"Waal," agreed the skipper, "if he's pretty cute he may p'rhaps bluff a
+skipper or two; but I guess he'll very soon be euchred--a man-o'-war'll
+nab him afore he can say `Jack Robinson'.  And now," he continued,
+"about you 'uns.  From things said while you was spinnin' that yarn of
+the mutiny I seemed to get a sort of notion that you'd like me to put ye
+ashore as soon as possible.  Is that the idee?"
+
+"Precisely," I said.  "Mr Cunningham, here, naturally wishes to return
+to England with as little delay as may be; and as for myself, I am
+equally anxious, because, until I can get into touch with the owners of
+the _Zenobia_, and be placed by them in another ship, I am losing time."
+
+"I see," commented the skipper meditatively; "yes, I reckon I kinder
+understand the situation.  By the by, did you say, just now, that you
+was a purty good navigator, or did I only fancy it?"
+
+"I don't remember having exactly said such a thing," I replied; "but
+possibly I may have implied as much.  Anyhow, I think I am justified in
+saying that I am navigator enough to take a ship from any one part of
+the world to any other."
+
+"Ah!" returned the skipper; "I had an idee that I'd understood as much.
+Now, then, just listen to me.  I guess I can't put ye ashore until we
+arrives at Punta Arenas, away down there in the Magellan Straits,
+because the solid fact is that I'm in a most tarnation, all-fired hurry
+to get into the Pacific.  Of course I'll be very willin' to tranship ye
+into a homeward-bounder, if we happens to fall in with one--and you
+really wants to go.  But I've been thinkin' matters over a bit while
+we've been talkin', and I've a proposition to make that maybe'll suit ye
+just as well as goin' back to the old country.  I s'pose you've noticed
+that I haven't got nary a mate with me?"
+
+"Well," I confessed, "to tell you the truth, I've been wondering how it
+is that I have not yet seen him."
+
+"You ha'n't seen him because I guess he ain't here to see," remarked the
+skipper.  "I been unfort'nit in the matter o' mates this trip," he
+continued.  "My reg'lar mate what always sails with me is my nevvy,
+Abr'am Brown, as slick a youngster as ever I wish to see.  But he met
+with an accident the day before we sailed; trod on a banana peel, fell
+awk'ardly, broke his right leg, had to go to the hospital, and I had to
+look round in a hurry for somebody to take his place.  Got a chap that
+looked all right; but we hadn't been to sea above forty-eight hours when
+he made a bad break--got so tarnation drunk that I couldn't get him out
+of his bunk for a night and a day.  And a'ter that he kept on soakin' on
+the sly--though where he got the liquor from I couldn't find out to save
+my life--until things come to such a pass that if it hadn't been that I
+was in such a tarnation hurry I'd have put in somewhere and fired him.
+Wisht I had, now.  But I didn't; and the end of it was that he went
+crazy, jumped overboard, and was drowned, one dark night when we'd been
+out just three weeks.
+
+"Now, my proposition is this.  You look real smart, and are a good
+navigator, while I'm short of a mate.  If you care to accept the
+position I'll sign ye on at the same rate of pay--namely, thirty dollars
+a month--that the other chap was gettin'.  Now, what d'ye say?"
+
+"But I don't even know yet where you are bound for, or what is the
+probable duration of the voyage," I objected.  "Naturally I should like
+to know these particulars before binding myself."
+
+"Sure," agreed the skipper, in nowise offended at my apparent
+hesitation.  "Well then," he continued, "I'm boun' for a certain spot in
+the Pacific, for a certain very partic'lar reason: and if you agree to
+sign on I'll tell ye the reason, and just exactly where the spot is; but
+if you don't sign on it won't matter to you where I'm goin', or what I'm
+out after.  That's one of the reasons for this here v'yage.  T'other is
+to trade off a lot of truck what I've got down below, for sandalwood.
+And when I've got a full cargo of the wood I propose to go on to Canton,
+sell it, and buy tea with the proceeds; said tea to be sold in due
+course at New York, where the v'yage will end.  And I reckon that the
+trip'll run into all of eight or nine months."
+
+"And a jolly fine trip it will be," remarked Cunningham.  "I wish I had
+your chance, Temple; I would take it like a shot."
+
+"You don't say?" remarked the skipper, eyeing Cunningham earnestly.
+"But then, you see, you ain't a sailor," he observed.
+
+"No, that is very true," returned Cunningham.  "By profession I am a
+civil engineer.  But I am also a keen yachtsman; and I know something
+more than the rudiments of navigation.  But of course," he added
+hastily, "I have not the qualifications which would fit me for the berth
+that you are offering to Temple."
+
+"N-o; I reckon not," agreed the skipper meditatively.  "Still--p'rhaps I
+might be able to find a use for ye--if ye cared to come along--upon such
+terms as I could see my way to offer ye."
+
+"Well," remarked Cunningham, with a laugh, "we can discuss that later
+on--if Temple accepts your offer."
+
+Meanwhile I had been thinking rapidly.  There was no very especial
+reason why I should return to England at once, for I had no relatives to
+be anxious over my disappearance, the only individuals who were in the
+least interested in me being my late father's trustees, to whom I could
+write from Punta Arenas.  Then the voyage of the _Martha Brown_, as
+sketched by her skipper, rather appealed to me; sandalwood collecting
+meant a call at several of the South Sea Islands, and the South Sea
+Islands and romance were synonymous terms with me at that time.  Also,
+the pay was good, exceptionally good for such a berth as that of mate of
+a ninety-ton schooner; and although I should probably sacrifice my
+indentures, that was a matter that gave me very little concern.
+Altogether I felt very strongly disposed to close with Brown's offer,
+the only really serious obstacle in the way being the fact that I felt I
+had a duty to perform to the three seamen who had formed part of our
+little company in the gig.  First-rate fellows they were, all three of
+them, knowing their vocation to its smallest detail, and thoroughly at
+home aboard a ship in blue water, though ashore they were as guileless
+and helpless as babes, ready to fall an easy prey to the first land
+shark that got scent of them.  If I could be sure of arranging at Punta
+Arenas for their conveyance to England, either as shipwrecked seamen or
+otherwise, and thus discharging my responsibility so far as they were
+concerned, I would not hesitate for a moment.  I decided to put the
+matter to the skipper, and did so, there and then.
+
+"Ah!" he said, "I was goin' to speak to you about them there men of
+yourn.  D'ye think they'd be inclined to sign on with me for this here
+v'yage?"
+
+"Really, I do not know in the least," I replied, regarding him with
+astonishment.  "If you like I will--"
+
+"It's like this, you see," he interrupted me, no doubt observing my look
+of surprise.  "There's six hands in this here schooner's fo'c'sle--three
+to each watch; and when I shipped 'em I reckoned that with me, the mate,
+the cook, and the cabin boy there'd be plenty of us for all the work
+we'd have to do.  But just when we was startin'--we was actually castin'
+off the warps at the time--a letter was handed to me that, bein' busy
+just then, I put into my pocket and forgot all about until a couple of
+days a'terwards, when we'd cleared Cape Henry and was fairly out to sea.
+Then, while I was goin' through my pockets, huntin' for something else,
+I comes across this here letter, and opened it.  And I tell you, Mister,
+that there was news in it that made me sit up and feel mighty anxious
+all of a sudden to get away round to the Pacific as quick as possible.
+And it made me feel, too, that I wisht I had three or four more men
+along.  So if your chaps are willin' to sign on with me I'll be glad to
+have 'em.  Pay--well, they're good men, you tell me--say, twenty a
+month."
+
+I glanced forward and saw that all three of the men were on deck,
+smoking, and chatting with the two hands who, with the man at the wheel,
+constituted the watch.
+
+"They are on deck, I see," said I.  "If you like I will mention your
+proposal to them, and see how they take it."
+
+"I'll take it very kindly if you will, Mister," answered the skipper;
+and without more ado I beckoned them to join me in the waist, where I
+laid the skipper's offer before them, while the Old Man himself and
+Cunningham remained chatting animatedly together close by the companion,
+where much of the foregoing conversation had taken place upon our
+adjournment from the breakfast table.
+
+I soon found that, with the careless, happy-go-lucky temperament of the
+British merchant sailor, all three men were perfectly willing to ship
+for the voyage--about which they had already heard something from the
+forecastle hands with whom they had been fraternising--especially when I
+told them that I had been offered the position of mate and felt strongly
+disposed to accept it; and accordingly I led them aft there and then,
+and informed the skipper that we all accepted his offer, and without
+further ado we went below and signed articles.
+
+When, after signing, we all returned to the deck, and the three English
+seamen had gone forward, Cunningham came up to me and said, laughingly:
+
+"You will be interested to learn, Temple, that our worthy friend here,
+Captain Brown, has also offered me a post, which I have accepted.  As
+nearly as I can define it, the position is that of honorary second mate;
+it carries with it no pay, but in lieu of that I am to be perfectly free
+to leave the schooner whenever I please, and am to live in the cabin,
+receive cabin rations, and obtain, free of cost, an entirely new outfit
+of clothes from the slop chest.  What do you think of my bargain?"
+
+"I consider it a very fair one," said I, "with perhaps a slight
+advantage in favour of the skipper.  For although of course he could
+doubtless do perfectly well without you, your grub and a new rig-out
+will not cost him very much; and in return for that he will get--as long
+as you choose to remain with us--the ability to sleep in all night with
+a perfectly easy mind: for I can assure the captain," and I here turned
+to that individual, who was standing by, intently listening to all that
+was said, "that although you are not a professional seaman you are quite
+sailor enough to take care of this schooner during your watch.  Also you
+are a man of intellect and education, well-read, musical, and with an
+inexhaustible fund of intensely interesting conversation, so that I
+think Captain Brown will find in you a very agreeable companion."
+
+"Ay, ay, you've just hit it, Temple," cut in the skipper.  "That's just
+what I thought when I was listenin' to you two fellers talkin' at
+breakfast-time.  Says I to myself: `Now, here's two chaps with the
+speech and manners of gentlefolks, chaps as can hold their own with
+anybody when it comes to talkin', and yet they're sailors too--at least
+one of 'em is; and if you, Eph Brown, what have never had no more
+eddication than what you could pick up, could only persuade them two to
+jine yer in this here v'yage, you'd have such a chance as you've never
+had before to learn gentlefolks' manners, to talk proper, and ginerally
+to comport yourself in such a fashion as'd make your dear old Marthy fit
+to bust herself with pride to see and hear ye when ye get back home
+again, 'specially as you hopes to strike it rich this trip.'  So there
+you are, gents: you can call me Cap'n as often as you likes--it sounds
+good, and makes me feel as though I was some punkins--but otherwise I'd
+like you to talk to me and behave to me just as if we was all eq'als;
+and whenever you hear me makin' a bad slip up in the matter of language,
+I'll take it very kindly of ye if you'll just pull me up with a round
+turn and p'int out where I've gone wrong."
+
+It was rather an amusing proposal, certainly, for a shipmaster to make
+to his officers, but the old fellow was so transparently frank in
+recognising his shortcomings, and so earnestly anxious to have them
+remedied, that both Cunningham and I entered quite heartily into the
+spirit of the thing, and readily undertook to do everything that lay in
+our power to polish up his manners and speech in readiness for the
+surprise which he proposed to spring upon his "dear old Marthy" upon his
+return to Baltimore.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+SKIPPER BROWN RELATES A REMARKABLE STORY.
+
+"And now, gents," said the skipper, when we had satisfactorily arranged
+the important and rather delicate matter referring to the improvement of
+his speech and deportment, "I'm sorter hankerin' to have a talk with you
+both about that there letter I was tellin' you of a while ago--the
+letter that was handed to me just as we was makin' a start from
+Baltimore, and that I forgot all about until we was fairly out to sea.
+
+"This here letter told me--But stop a bit; if I want you to understand
+the thing properly, and I surely do, I guess I'll have to give you the
+whole history of it from the very beginnin'.  Along about three months
+ago, just after I'd got home from my last v'yage, I happened to have a
+bit of business to attend to that called for a trip over to New York;
+and when I'd got through with what I had to do, the fancy took me to
+stay over for a day or two and have a look round, me not havin' been in
+New York for quite a number of years before, you'll understand.  And
+while I was doin' my lookin' around I must needs go nosin', like a fool,
+down into the Bowery.  And down there I runs up agin a ragged skeleton
+that looks me hard in the face and hails me with: `Hello, Eph Brown,
+what cheer?  Blamed if you ain't the very chap that I've been most
+wantin' to see.'
+
+"I guess I was pretty well struck of a heap, for I didn't reckernise the
+chap from Adam; all I noticed was that he didn't seem to ha' had a bath
+since his mother give him one as a baby, that he was dressed in clo'es
+that ought by rights to have belonged to a scarecrow, that he was that
+thin and cadaverous he might have just escaped from the Morgue, and that
+his breath was reekin' of cheap whisky.
+
+"`Now, who in Tom Hawkins may you be?' says I; for, you see, the feller
+knowed my name all right, yet, seein' where we was, and what the man
+looked like, I sorter suspicioned that he wasn't exactly square, and was
+tryin' to get at me.
+
+"`What!' he says; `d'ye mean to say as ye don't remember me--Abe
+Johnson--what used to play with yer in the old days when we was boys
+together away in dear old Nantucket?'--Nantucket, you'll understand,
+gents, bein' the place where I was born.
+
+"`No,' says I, `I don't, and that's the cold, solid truth.  But if
+you're really Abe Johnson you'll remember the names of a few people in
+Nantucket, and a few of the things that we done together.  Where, f'r
+instance, did I live when you knew me?'
+
+"Well, he told me where I lived, give me the names of a lot of people
+that we both used to know, and reminded me of a good many things that we
+done together that I'd clean forgot all about until he mentioned 'em.
+Oh yes, he was Abe, sure; and when he see that he'd satisfied me upon
+that p'int, he told me a real downright pitiful tale, and struck me for
+ten dollars.  He was right away down on his luck, he said; and I guess
+he was speakin' the truth, if looks went for anything.
+
+"Now, Abe never had amounted to much when I knew him; he was just a
+low-down, ornery cuss every way that you looked at him.  But I was
+al'ays a bit tender-hearted, and I sorter pitied the feller; so a'ter I
+passed over the ten-spot to him I took him into a restyrong and filled
+him up with a good square meal.  And while we was eatin' he told me a
+long yarn about what he'd been doin'; how he'd tried fust one thing and
+then another, and had finally took to the sea.  And it seemed that his
+bad luck had follered him there, for he'd ended up by bein' shipwrecked
+upon one of them uncharted reefs that you runs up agin sometimes in the
+Pacific, he bein' the only survivor out of the whole crowd.  If he was
+tellin' me the truth he must ha' had a pretty rough time on that reef,
+for he described it as bein' as bare as the back of your hand, with
+nothin' to eat but birds' eggs and clams, and only a small, tricklin'
+stream of brackish, scarcely drinkable water to quench his thirst with.
+And he was on that there reef five solid months afore a whaler comed
+along and, seein' his signals, took him off, and later transferred him
+to another ship that brought him home.
+
+"Now when Abe had got this far with his yarn he begun to get mysterious,
+sunk his voice to a whisper, and asked if he could trust me.  I told him
+that he best knew whether he could or not, and that anyway, if the thing
+was a secret, I didn't want to hear anything about it.
+
+"`Ah, but,' says he, `there's a fortune in it--a fortune for both of us,
+Eph, if I can only trust you.'
+
+"`Well,' I says, `as I told ye before, that's for you to decide.  But if
+you're agoin' to trust me, get along with your trustin', for I reckon
+I've had about enough of this 'ere place; I don't like the looks of the
+folks I sees around me, not a little bit, and I'm growin' sorter keen to
+get out of it.'
+
+"`All right,' he says, `let's git.'  So we got, and made our way to
+Central Park, where we found a seat in a quiet, secluded spot, and sat
+ourselves down.  And there, a'ter sayin' as he'd got a secret that he
+must share with somebody if he was to get any good out of it, and that I
+was the only reely honest feller he knowed, Abe up and told me how,
+a'ter he'd built a bit of a raft out of some of the wreckage of the
+ship, so's he could go off fishin' in her, he one day happened to hit
+upon a big bed of pearl-oysters, thousan's--millions of 'em!  He sorter
+guessed what they was when he first set eyes on 'em, as he looked down
+through the clear green water, and tried to get down to 'em by divin'.
+But that wa'n't no good; the water was too deep--a good five fathom he
+said there was over 'em--and then there was sharks about too.  So he
+unlaid a bit o' rope from the wreckage, knocked some nails out o' some
+o' the timber that had druv ashore, and fixed up a sorter small grapple,
+with which he went gropin' out on this here oyster bed.  But the thing
+wasn't of much account, accordin' to what Abe himself said.  First he'd
+got to git it just so over a oyster afore it'd take holt; and then, when
+he'd hooked one, as often as not the blamed thing'd let go agin afore he
+got the oyster up out o' water: consequently it come to this, that with
+all his gropin' he only managed to land four oysters altogether.  But
+out of them four two had pearls in 'em, one bein' as big as a small
+marble, while the others was little 'uns--three of 'em--'bout the size
+of cherry stones.
+
+"Well, he took care of them there pearls, and managed to bring 'em home
+with him.  And then, 'stead of takin' of 'em to a respectable jeweller,
+he must needs try to trade 'em off to a Chinaman!  Of course you can
+guess what happened.  The Chink purtended that he was game to buy, took
+Abe to his house--leastways the Chink said it was his--doped Abe, stole
+the pearls, and vamoosed!
+
+"Then, a few days a'terwards, along comes I; and when Abe reckernised me
+he made up his mind in a minute what he'd do.  First of all he offered
+to sell me the secret of the whereabouts of the oyster bed for fifty
+thousand dollars!  Only fifty thousand, mind yer, and nothin' but his
+bare word for it that there was so much as a single oyster in the place!
+I got up to go away and leave him; and then he asked me if I was game
+to go shares with him--he to give me the secret, I to go out to the
+Pacific and fish up the pearls, and the two of us to divide equally when
+I got back home again.  Well, that was somethin' more like a business
+proposition, and after a lot o' talk I agreed; and he give me the
+latitood and longitood of the place right there, afore I left him, I
+givin' him a hundred dollars on account, to carry him along a bit until
+he could get a job.  Then I went back home to Baltimore and began to
+figure upon the best way to work the scheme.  I wa'n't rich enough to
+make the trip purely as a speculation, so at last I hit upon the
+sandalwood idea, which I reckon'll pay the expenses of the v'yage and
+return me a profit, even if I don't find nary a pearl, although I've a
+very good notion that they're where Abe said they was.  The next thing I
+did was to get a few p'ints upon the ins-and-outs of sandalwood tradin';
+and when I'd done that I started out to get my stock of notions,
+overhaul the schooner and make her ready for the v'yage, and look about
+for a crew of men that I could be sure wouldn't play no tricks after
+we'd got hold of the pearls.
+
+"We sailed from Baltimore the day a'ter Christmas, and, as we was
+castin' off, this here letter that I told ye about was handed aboard.
+And when I come to open it, what d'ye think was the news in it?  Reckon
+you'll never guess.  I've got a cousin 'way over in Nantucket--he's
+pretty well-to-do--and findin' myself runnin' a bit short o' money when
+it come to fittin' out the schooner, I went over to him, told him all
+about Abe and the pearls, and asked him to lend me a thousand dollars to
+leave with my old Marthy, to keep her goin' while I was away.  He knows
+me, and let me have the dollars straight away.  Well, this here letter
+was from him; and what it said was that he was writin' in a hurry to
+tell me that he'd just heard, quite by accident, that Abe was dead--died
+in hospital in New York, havin' been run over and fatally injured by an
+express wagon two days a'ter I'd left him.  And--this is where the
+trouble comes in--afore he died he sent post-haste for his
+brother-in-law, Abner Slocum, to go to him to oncet, as he had somethin'
+most terrible partic'lar to tell him.  Abner went; and although my
+cousin don't know what Abe told him, he guesses it had somethin' to do
+with the pearls, because when Abner got back after buryin' Abe he went
+to work in a most tremenjous hurry to get his schooner, the
+_Kingfisher_, ready for sea, observin' the greatest secrecy about it,
+and refusin' to say what the hurry was, or where he was boun' to.  But
+he was layin' in such a big stock of provisions and water that people
+got talkin' about it; and that was how my cousin got to hear what was
+goin' on.  But he didn't get to hear of it until just at the very last,
+which was on the day that the _Kingfisher_ went to sea, which was two
+days before Christmas!  So, you see, this Abner Slocum was in such a
+tarnation hurry to git away that he wouldn't even wait to spend
+Christmas with his wife and kiddies.  Now, what d'ye make of that yarn?"
+
+"Well," said Cunningham, "I am bound to admit, Captain, that it looks
+very much as though your friend Abe, finding himself upon his deathbed,
+had sent for his brother-in-law and divulged to him the secret of the
+oyster bed.  Probably when he found himself dying, and realised that he
+could derive no personal benefit from his discovery, he wished that the
+wealth should go to his own family."
+
+"That's how I figure it out," agreed the skipper.  "But I reckon that my
+claim's just as good as Abner's, Abe havin' entered into a business
+agreement with me.  Besides, it isn't as though Abner'd make good use of
+the money when he'd got it.  I know Abner Slocum through and through,
+and I tell you, gents, that he's out-and-out the very worst character in
+all Nantucket--a real, downright hard case, and--well, everything that's
+bad; and if he happens to get any o' them pearls he'll just drink
+hisself to death in three months, and most likely kill his wife into the
+bargain."
+
+"Then in that case," said I, "it seems to me that it will be a great
+deal better that he should not have any of them."
+
+"Well, that's just my view of it too," agreed the skipper.  "But I guess
+he's goin' to do his level best to get hold of 'em," he continued.  "I
+reckon that Abe must ha' told him that he'd parted with his secret to
+me, and that I was fittin' out to go in search of them there oysters,
+and that's the reason why he was so all-fired anxious to get to sea
+before me.  And as a matter o' fact he did it; he sailed three clear
+days ahead of me, and must ha' been just about off Cape Henry when we
+cleared it.  So it's a race between the two schooners which'll get there
+fust, and, barrin' accidents, I reckon it's goin' to be a neck-and-neck
+one, for the _Kingfisher's_ the smartest schooner sailin' out o'
+Nantucket; and although Abner Slocum's such a downright `bad man' I'll
+say this for him--there ain't a better seaman sailin' under `Old Glory'
+than what he is.
+
+"Now, gents, this here is my idee.  I'm agoin' to carry on, night and
+day, to get to that there spot in the Pacific where them pearls be; and
+when I gets there I'm goin' to scrape up as many oysters as ever I can
+lay hands on.  And when I've got 'em, and have realised upon 'em, I
+shall look upon half of the proceeds as belongin' to Abe, or--he bein'
+dead--his heirs.  But I mean to take partic'ler care that, let the heirs
+be who they may, that skunk Abner don't touch a penny of the money.  If
+it turns out that Abner's children is the heirs, then I'm goin' to
+app'int trustees to look a'ter the money for 'em until a'ter Abner's
+dead, and then they can have it."
+
+"Bravo, Captain!" exclaimed Cunningham, patting the skipper approvingly
+on the back.  "A most wise and honourable decision to have arrived at, I
+call it; and, so far as I am concerned, I'll do all I can to help you to
+carry it out.  By the way, how do you propose to obtain the oysters when
+you arrive at the spot where, according to your friend Abe, they are to
+be found?"
+
+"How do I intend to get 'em?" repeated the skipper.  "Why, with a trawl,
+of course.  I've got some specially strong trawlin' gear aboard, made o'
+purpose for the job."
+
+"I see," commented Cunningham.  "It did not occur to you to get any
+diving gear, I suppose?"
+
+"Well--no, it didn't, and that's a fact," answered the skipper.  "But I
+guess we'll find that the trawl'll work all right," he added cheerfully.
+
+"Yes, no doubt," agreed Cunningham.  "But of course," he added, "the
+diving system would have worked very much more rapidly, because, you
+see, if you had happened to possess a set of diving gear you could have
+anchored the schooner right over the bed, sent your diver down with two
+large sacks, or nets, and while he filled one you could have hauled up
+the other and emptied it into the bins or barrels ranged round the decks
+in readiness to be conveyed ashore and emptied after the day's work on
+the bed was over.  In that manner you could have secured several
+thousands of oysters daily."
+
+"Ay, I reckon we could.  But I guess we'll have to be content to work
+with the trawl, seein' that we've neither divin' gear nor diver aboard,"
+replied the skipper, rather regretfully.
+
+"Well, I am not quite so sure about that," observed Cunningham
+thoughtfully.  "I have the germ of an idea in my head, and will see if I
+cannot develop it.  Do you happen to have any rubber hose on board?"
+
+"Sure!" replied the skipper.  "Got a hundred feet of brand new hose for
+washin' decks with.  It's a bit extravagant, I know, but I 'low it'll
+pay in the long run."
+
+"It most certainly will, and very handsomely too, if I can put my idea
+into shape.  Have you used the hose at all yet?" asked Cunningham.
+
+"Used it every mornin' since we left Baltimore," replied the skipper.
+
+"Then let me earnestly beg you not to use it any more, just for the
+present at least," entreated the engineer.
+
+"Just as you say," answered the skipper cheerfully.  "We've got our old
+canvas hose stowed away somewhere.  I'll have it routed out."
+
+"Right," agreed Cunningham.  "And while I'm keeping my watch on deck
+I'll think over this scheme of mine.  I should rather like you to get
+the better of that man--what is his name?--oh yes, Slocum!"
+
+"Yes, that's all right," assented the skipper.  "But--look here, if that
+there scheme of yourn has to do with divin', Mister, who's goin' to do
+the divin'?  I don't know nothin' about it."
+
+"But I do," remarked Cunningham cheerfully.  "I'll do the diving if I
+can only work out this idea that has come to me.  And I believe I can."
+
+From this point the conversation drifted away into generalities, and
+finally the skipper went below, leaving me in charge of the deck and of
+the forenoon watch.  Later on Brown informed me that the late mate's
+cabin was entirely at my service, while Cunningham was inducted into a
+small spare stateroom which was in use as a sort of extra sail-room, but
+which the skipper ordered to be cleared out for the engineer's
+accommodation.  Also, it appeared that when the late mate went overboard
+he left behind him a very fine sextant, which the skipper had purchased
+at the auction of the effects of the deceased, and this instrument he
+allowed me to use.
+
+We, the new arrivals aboard the _Martha Brown_, shook down into our
+positions with a degree of promptitude that excited the liveliest
+admiration of the skipper.  He was a shrewd old fellow, however, and for
+the first two days after our arrival he remained on deck all day, and
+was frequently up and down during the night, frankly confessing that he
+was anxious to observe the manner in which his new officers performed
+their duties; but after that he announced his intention to sleep in all
+night, laughingly declaring that as he was now employing two mates he
+saw no reason why he should not leave them to do the work and take his
+ease like a gentleman.  He was good enough to express his complete
+satisfaction with my abilities as a navigator, and opened his eyes in
+astonishment when he saw that I was not content with a mere daily
+observation of the meridian altitude of the sun, but used as well such
+comparatively intricate problems as those of the double altitudes,
+lunars, altitudes of the stars, and Great Circle sailing.  But what
+gratified him most of all, I think, was the fact that before we had been
+aboard two days I had got Simpson, the sailmaker, at work upon an
+enormous jack-yard gaff-topsail for use in light winds, the only
+gaff-topsail that the schooner had hitherto possessed being a trumpery
+little jib-headed affair which she could carry in quite a strong breeze.
+I also caused a set of preventer backstays to be fitted, which enabled
+us to carry an amount of canvas in a breeze that would otherwise have
+been impossible.
+
+We certainly did carry on in a manner that sometimes made the old man
+gasp with astonishment, for hitherto he had been in the habit of sailing
+his schooner in a very jog-trot fashion; but now we handled her as we
+would have done a racer, and it was surprising to see how, day after
+day, her mileage increased, and how rapidly her track on the chart
+stretched southward.  The skipper, in his groping, cautious way, had
+fully intended to make sure of his position by heading for and sighting
+the Falklands before attempting to make the Straits, but I told him I
+regarded that as an utterly useless waste of time, and worked out a
+Great Circle track direct for Cape Virgins, at the entrance to the
+Straits, to his mingled consternation and delight.  "If you don't cast
+the schooner away between you," he said, "I guess we'll get to that
+there oyster bank early enough to clean it out before the _Kingfisher_
+arrives; for, smart seaman as Slocum thinks hisself, I reckon he ain't a
+patch on you for carryin' on."
+
+For the first three or four days after our arrival on board the _Martha
+Brown_, Cunningham devoted his energies entirely to the task of
+qualifying himself to take charge of a watch, looking after the ship,
+and generally polishing up his somewhat rusty seamanship; but he very
+quickly settled into his place, and then, whenever he had a spare
+moment, he got to work with a pencil and paper, making sketches and
+calculations.  Then, one evening in the second dog-watch, he brought to
+me a sheet of paper on which he had sketched the outline of a human
+figure; he first showed me this, and then, producing a tape measure, he
+desired me to measure him very accurately, jotting down upon the diagram
+the several measurements as I called them out.
+
+Then, a day or two afterwards, I found him busily at work with a
+quantity of light, thin, iron rod, which he had routed out from among
+the ship's stores.  This rod he cut up into carefully measured lengths,
+and he welded and riveted these together, with the aid of a portable
+forge which he had rigged up on the lee side of the fore deck, until, in
+the course of a week, he had constructed some half a dozen light but
+strong skeleton frames.  Having tried and proved these to his
+satisfaction, he procured an empty oak barrel, and, taking it carefully
+to pieces, set the carpenter to work to saw, cut out, and carefully
+plane up a number of thin strips from the staves.  Then, when he had got
+as many of these strips as he required, he had small holes bored in them
+in certain positions, and, by means of a quantity of fine wire,
+proceeded to bind them carefully and strongly to the skeleton frames
+which he had previously made.  And when he had done that, to my
+amazement he calmly proceeded to induct himself into them, with my
+assistance, and I then saw that the whole affair constituted a complete
+body armour of a kind, helmet and all.  But, even then, I had no idea of
+what he was driving at until he condescended to explain.
+
+"This," he said, "is the foundation of my diving suit, which will be
+complete when I have covered it with a double thickness of well-oiled
+canvas.  The framework of thin rod will keep the water pressure off my
+body; the battens will support the outer covering of canvas and prevent
+it from bursting; and you will see that by the arrangement which I have
+adopted I secure ample flexibility for my purpose.  Then, as soon as we
+arrive at our destination, I intend to have one of the screw deck-lights
+bodily removed and temporarily fixed in my helmet, which will enable me
+to see what I am doing when under water.  Of course I shall need weights
+to hold me down; and my air will come down to me through the rubber deck
+hose, one end of which will be let into the back of my helmet, while the
+other will be firmly secured to some portion of the schooner where it
+will be out of the way.  Of course it will be a very rough-and-ready,
+makeshift affair, but I believe it will prove fairly efficient for the
+purpose."
+
+Cunningham's next business was to cut out and have sewn together for
+himself a single garment which combined the functions of stockings,
+trousers, and shirt.  This was made of a double thickness of stout
+canvas, each thickness being well coated on both sides with two coats of
+boiled oil.  It was a weird-looking garment, as it was intended to fit
+on outside the armour arrangement which he called his diving suit; but
+it was merely intended to exclude the water, and when it was finished
+and fitted I saw that it would serve its purpose perfectly well, and
+there seemed to be no reason why he should not be able to work in it at
+the bottom of the sea perfectly well.  And he completed the whole affair
+by firmly attaching one end of the rubber hose pipe to the back of his
+helmet.
+
+We made Cape Virgins on the day and at the hour, and almost the minute,
+which I had predicted, to the intense admiration and delight of the
+skipper; and reached Punta Arenas, in the Strait of Magellan, on the
+afternoon of the same day.  Here we came to an anchor, and Brown,
+Cunningham, and I went ashore, the skipper's business being to arrange
+for the refilling of our water tanks and the supply of a quantity of
+fresh meat, Cunningham's just to take a look round and stretch his long
+legs a bit, and mine to report the seizure of the _Zenobia_ by
+Bainbridge and the crew, and to post to the owners a letter upon the
+same subject which I had prepared at my leisure.  Our first enquiry was
+as to whether the _Kingfisher_ had passed, and Brown's delight was great
+when he learned that thus far nothing had been seen of her.
+
+We left Punta Arenas shortly after noon on the day following that of our
+arrival, still with no sign of the _Kingfisher_, and, being lucky enough
+to get a fine little slant of wind, safely accomplished the dangerous
+passage and entered the Pacific on the evening of the succeeding day.
+The slant of wind held long enough to enable us to gain an offing of a
+trifle over a hundred miles, and then it died away and left us becalmed
+and rolling gunwale under on the long Pacific swell.
+
+Yes, there could be no doubt that the _Martha Brown_ knew how to roll;
+it was my first experience of her in a flat calm and a heavy swell, and
+had we not hastily rigged rolling tackles I verily believe that she
+would have rolled the masts out of her.  Even the skipper, proud as he
+was of her, felt obliged to make some sort of apology for her, which he
+wound up by saying: "But some day a smarty'll come along and invent some
+way of turnin' this here rollin' to account as a means of propulsion,
+and then you'll see that builders'll fashion all ships upon the model of
+the _Marthy_."
+
+"Eh?  What's that?  Just say that again, Captain," remarked Cunningham,
+who, it being the second dog-watch, happened to be on deck.
+
+The skipper said it again.
+
+"Y-e-es," agreed Cunningham, thoughtfully, "y-e-es, I shouldn't wonder;"
+and he walked away contemplatively.
+
+"Now I wouldn't be so very powerful surprised if he was to turn out to
+be the smarty that I just mentioned," observed the skipper, jerking his
+thumb toward where Cunningham stood gazing abstractedly over the
+taffrail, with his feet wide apart and his hands locked behind him,
+balancing himself to the violent movements of the little vessel.
+
+"Possibly," I agreed.  "Cunningham is of a very inventive turn of mind.
+But to convert the rolling motion of a ship into a forward movement is a
+pretty tall order, and would probably require exceedingly complicated
+machinery.  The idea is by no means new, and I believe several inventors
+have had a turn at it; but nothing practical seems to have come of it as
+yet."
+
+Nothing further was said upon the subject just then; but, the calm
+continuing all night and all the next day, I several times caught
+Cunningham with paper before him and a pencil in his hand, sketching and
+calculating.  And when the next day also proved calm, and our
+observations showed that we had not progressed a couple of miles upon
+our journey, the skipper again addressed Cunningham upon the subject,
+asking him half-jestingly if he had not yet been able to devise some
+scheme to turn the eternal rolling to account.
+
+"Oh yes!" answered Cunningham; "I dare say I could rig up some sort of
+an arrangement, if it were worth while.  But it would be rather a
+cumbersome contrivance to ship and unship, and I would not recommend it
+unless there is likely to be much of this sort of thing between here and
+our destination."
+
+"Well," said the skipper, "I reckon we may depend pretty certainly upon
+at least a fortnight of ca'ms afore we arrive at that there oyster bed;
+and it'd be worth a whole lot to me to get there a fortnight ahead of
+the _Kingfisher_.  What's the thing like that you've invented, Mister,
+and could we knock it up out o' the stuff as we've got aboard?"
+
+"Oh yes!" answered Cunningham, "I have kept strictly in mind our
+capabilities in the preparation of my sketch.  I could easily devise a
+much better and more efficient concern, I am sure; but that would be
+quite useless to you, because we have neither the materials nor the
+skilled labour aboard to produce it.  But," he continued, producing a
+pencil and paper and beginning to sketch rapidly, "I think we might
+manage to knock together a contrivance of this sort.  There would be two
+of them, you understand, one on each side of the ship.  This represents
+a stout timber frame, which would be secured in place by short lengths
+of chain bowsed taut by tackles, so that it would remain rigidly in
+position.  It would reach from the rail down to about three feet below
+the surface of the water.  This outrigger arrangement, which should be
+about nine feet long, will serve as the attachment for what we may call
+a fin, made of flexible planking securely fixed at its fore end to the
+outrigger, but quite free to move at the other end.  Now this fin, being
+submerged when the frame is fixed in place, will be acted upon by the
+pressure of the water as the ship rolls, and will bend alternately
+upward and downward at an angle, the effect being that every time the
+ship rolls the bent fin will force backward a considerable quantity of
+water, or, what is the same thing, will have a tendency to thrust the
+ship forward at a rate which I estimate at--well, say about three knots
+per hour."
+
+"Three knots an hour," repeated the skipper.  "'Tain't very much, is it?
+I thought, maybe, that you'd be able to fix up somethin' that 'd shove
+her along at about ten or twelve knots."
+
+Cunningham laughed as he shook his head.  "Come, come, Captain!" he
+protested, "be reasonable.  To get ten or twelve knots out of this
+schooner you would require a steam engine of some eighty to a hundred
+horse power."
+
+"Ay," admitted the skipper, rather unwillingly, "I s'pose I should.
+Three knots an hour.  That's, in round figures, seventy miles from noon
+to noon.  And that, for, say, fourteen days, is--how much?"
+
+"Nine hundred and eighty miles; call it a thousand," answered
+Cunningham.
+
+"A thousand miles.  Jings!  It mounts up when you come to look at it
+that way," averred the skipper.  "Look here, Mister," he continued,
+after thinking for a minute, "how long do you reckon it would take you
+to fix up that concarn of yours?"
+
+"Oh, not very long," answered Cunningham.  "The very roughest of
+workmanship would do, so long as it was strong.  I dare say Chips and I
+could put it together in--well--say four days."
+
+"Four days," repeated the skipper; "four days.  Then I reckon you better
+go ahead straight away; and turn it out as quick as ever you can, for
+this here ca'm looks as though it meant to last a goodish while yet.
+The glass is high an' steady, with an upward tendency, if anything, and
+I don't see no sign of wind anywheres about."
+
+Within an hour Cunningham and Chips were hard at work upon the
+contrivance for circumventing the "ca'ms", and before knocking-off time
+they had got on deck all the timber they required, and some of it sawn
+to its proper length.  The next day saw the completion of the cutting,
+sawing, and planing; and then came a fresh westerly breeze which enabled
+us to lay up within about two points of our course for the next five
+days, during which Cunningham completed his work, all but the bolting on
+of the fins, which could be done in about ten minutes.  Then the wind
+gradually veered until we were not only enabled to lay our course, but
+had it a couple of points free, when, the wind being light, our big
+jack-yard gaff-topsail came into play with magnificent effect, pushing
+the little hooker along at about six knots, when but for it she would
+scarcely have done four.  And finally it fell calm again, and the
+schooner lost steerage way altogether.  There was again every sign that
+the calm was likely to be prolonged--in fact, we were in the latitudes
+of the "Doldrums", or calms that occur just to the north and south of
+the Trade winds, where, as on the Line, the calms sometimes last for
+weeks at a stretch.  It was therefore an excellent opportunity to test
+Cunningham's contrivance, and we accordingly proceeded to bolt it up and
+fix it in position.  It was rather an awkward and cumbersome
+arrangement, demanding the united strength of all hands to get it over
+the side, and it took us a full hour to get both parts fixed firmly and
+to Cunningham's satisfaction.  But it had not been in position five
+minutes before we saw that it was going to prove a success; for not only
+did it serve to steady the little vessel, and ease her rolling to a
+considerable extent, but she immediately began to gather way, and within
+half an hour was slipping along through the water at the rate of a shade
+over four knots by the log.  The skipper was enchanted.  "Furl
+everything, Mr Temple," he said, "and head her due no'th.  We'll just
+meander along now under bare poles until we runs into the south-east
+Trades; and when once we hits them we'll be all right, and needn't start
+tack nor sheet again until we reaches our oyster bed."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+THE PEARL-OYSTER BED.
+
+We caught the south-east Trade winds the next day, very light at first,
+but gradually freshening as we ran farther into them; and then, as soon
+as we found ourselves fairly in the grip of the true breeze, with the
+water rippling blue and crisply all about us, we got the schooner under
+canvas once more, hoisted our "fins" inboard, and bore away upon a
+nor'-west course, with starboard studdingsails and big gaff-topsail set
+and dragging like a team of cart horses.  A week of this sort of thing
+carried us to the calm belt under the Line; and here we once more
+brought our "fins" into action, using them for three whole days and a
+trifle over before we touched the southernmost fringe of the north-east
+Trades, when we again went bowling along under all plain sail, that
+being as much as we could conveniently show to a beam wind.  Finally, on
+a certain morning immediately after breakfast, I climbed to the
+topgallant yard, armed with Cunningham's telescope, which I had borrowed
+for the occasion, and, looking straight ahead, saw--just where I had
+expected to see it, namely, some fifteen miles beyond our jibboom end--a
+patch of white water, some three miles in length, stretching north and
+south right athwart the schooner's hawse.  It was the coral reef upon
+which, if the skipper's friend Abe Johnson had spoken truth, that worthy
+had suffered shipwreck, followed by all the horrors of complete solitude
+for five solid months; and some two miles beyond which lay--according to
+Abe--the rich pearl-oyster bed that was the real object of the _Martha
+Brown's_ visit to this lonesome spot in the heart of the Pacific.
+
+"See anything, Mr Temple?" hailed the skipper from the quarterdeck, in
+a voice tense with excitement.
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," I replied.  "It is there, right enough, as plain as mud
+in a wine-glass, about fifteen miles off, and stretching right athwart
+our hawse.  You had better luff a point, sir, and go round its northern
+extremity."
+
+"Luff a p'int it is," answered the skipper, directing the helmsman.
+Then, as the schooner came to her new course, "How's that, Mr Temple?"
+
+"Excellent, sir," I replied; "we shall just nicely clear the northern
+end of the reef if she is kept at that."
+
+"D'ye see anything else besides the reef, Mr Temple?" asked the
+skipper,--"anything, I mean, in the shape of another schooner, for
+instance?"
+
+"Nothing at all, sir," I answered.
+
+"That's all right, then," answered the skipper in a tone of exuberant
+satisfaction.  "I guess you don't need to stay up there no longer, do
+ye?"
+
+I slung the telescope round my neck by its strap, and then, swinging off
+the yard, slid down to the deck hand over hand by way of the topgallant
+backstay, walking aft and joining the skipper and Cunningham as soon as
+my feet touched the planks.
+
+"So the reefs there, all right, is it?" remarked Brown, as I joined the
+pair and returned the telescope with thanks to its lawful owner.  "There
+ain't no chance of a mistake, I s'pose?"
+
+"No chance at all," I replied confidently.  "It is there as plain as the
+nose on one's face.  If you remember, I told you yesterday that,
+provided the breeze held, we should be at anchor in the lagoon by noon
+to-day; and so we shall."
+
+"Ay, ay," answered Brown.  "I remember your sayin' so.  And I didn't
+doubt your word, not for a second, for you're an A1 navigator, and no
+mistake.  Never knowed a better.  But I was just a little bit afeard
+that Abe might ha' been playin' it on me, or else that his riggers might
+ha' got a bit mixed.  But I reckon it's a square deal, since you say
+that the reefs there.  What do it look like?"
+
+"From aloft it presents the precise appearance that you described to
+me," I said.  "A bare reef, almost awash, with not a thing upon it,
+except a few birds which I could just make out circling in the air above
+it."
+
+"Ay, that'll be it, sure enough," agreed Brown.  "I remember Abe
+speakin' about them birds.  Their eggs, some clams that he knocked off
+the rocks, and a fish or two that he managed to catch later on was all
+that the pore feller had to eat for five everlastin' months--and raw at
+that."
+
+It was just five bells when we weathered the northern extremity of the
+reef and bore away to look for the entrance to the lagoon.  I was then
+aloft again, for the sake of the more extended view obtainable from the
+height of the topgallant yard; and as we swept past the reef, and I
+looked down upon it, I thought I had never seen a more ghastly place for
+a solitary human being to be cast away upon.  It was composed,
+apparently, of nothing but coral, upon which the everlasting surf was
+gradually casting up a deposit of sand, which, when dry, the wind was as
+gradually distributing over its surface.  Here and there I observed dark
+patches which I took to be seaweed, partly buried in the sand; and there
+was a tolerably well defined tide-mark, consisting apparently of more
+seaweed, and flotsam of various kinds cast up by the surf.
+
+But the most remarkable thing about the island was the multitude of
+birds, gulls principally.  There were thousands of them in the air about
+the reef, and many more thousands of them sitting on the reef itself.
+The time was no doubt coming when the guano of these birds, their dead
+bodies, and the refuse of their food, mingling and agglomerating with
+the sand and rotting seaweed, would form an extraordinarily rich soil,
+upon which a few coconuts, drifting across the illimitable ocean, would
+be cast up by the surf, and, becoming buried, would sprout, throw out
+roots and shoots, and become trees, as has happened in the case of so
+many others of the Pacific islands.  But at that moment there was not a
+green thing upon it.
+
+The atoll, as a whole, was almost perfectly circular in shape, having a
+diameter of about four miles; and for purposes of description it may be
+spoken of as consisting of three parts, namely, the island, the lagoon,
+and the encircling reef.  The island, which, being dry, was of course
+the highest part of the atoll, measured about three and a quarter miles
+long, and was crescent-shaped, being about three-eighths of a mile wide
+in the middle, tapering off north and south in the form of the cusps of
+the crescent moon; and from the extremities of the two cusps there swept
+away the encircling reef which enclosed the lagoon in a very perfect
+natural breakwater, having the inevitable opening as nearly as might be
+in its middle, just opposite the widest part of the island.  But
+although I have spoken of the island as being the highest part, it must
+not be supposed that even this rose any considerable height above the
+level of the ocean, its highest point, as we subsequently ascertained,
+being only a bare six feet above the water's surface.
+
+I was fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of the passage through the
+reef almost immediately after going aloft; we therefore had no
+difficulty in hitting it off, and, conning the schooner from the
+crosstrees, I took her through without a hitch, our anchor plunging into
+the placid waters of the lagoon a few minutes after the skipper had
+struck six bells.
+
+"Well, gents," Brown remarked, rubbing his hands, as, having been
+forward to supervise the mooring of the ship in my absence aloft, he
+came aft and joined Cunningham and myself, while the crew took to the
+rigging and went aloft to furl the canvas, "here we are at last; and
+ne'er a sign of the _Kingfisher_ anywhere about.  Did ye happen to
+notice anything at all like a h'yster bank anywhere near while you was
+aloft, Mr Temple?"
+
+"Yes, sir, I did," answered I.  "I took a good look round while we were
+coming in, and I noticed a distinct discoloration of the water about a
+mile out, as dead to leeward of the island as it can possibly be.  I
+have no doubt we shall find that to be the shoal of which your friend
+spoke.  And there was another thing I noticed while I was aloft, and
+which I will take this opportunity of mentioning.  The island is
+literally covered with birds, sir, and, unfortunate as is the necessity,
+I am afraid that our very first task must be to kill every one of them."
+
+"Kill off them birds, Mr Temple?" echoed the skipper, in a tone of
+mingled surprise and indignation.  "Why, what harm are they adoin'?"
+
+"None at all at present, sir.  But--by the way, how do you propose to
+obtain the pearls which you hope to procure from the oysters in yonder
+bed?"
+
+"Well," answered the skipper, "I had it in my mind to take the schooner
+out to the bed every mornin' and anchor her right on top of it.  Then I
+thought of lowerin' the boats, and, as the oysters comes up, dischargin'
+'em into the boats, one boat at a time, until we've got a fair cargo,
+a'ter which that boat'll be sent ashore in charge of, say, two men; and
+Number 2 boat'll be loadin' while Number 1 is goin' ashore and comin'
+back.  And when the oysters is took ashore, my plan is to spread 'em out
+on the island and let 'em rot in the sun, an'--ah yes! now I see what
+you means about them blamed birds.  They'll just go for them rottin'
+oysters an' play the very Ole Gooseberry with 'em--is that what you
+mean?"
+
+"Precisely," I said.  "They will attack the decaying oysters, and you
+will probably lose about three-fourths of your pearls."
+
+"Ay, I see; I see," murmured the "Old Man".  "It seems a most tarnation
+pity," he continued regretfully, "but I guess we'll have to do it--or
+lose most o' them pearls."
+
+"It will be an endless job, too--to say nothing of the pity of it--to
+kill off all those thousands of birds," remarked Cunningham.  "But
+perhaps, after all, it may not be necessary to resort to such extreme
+measures as that.  Have you any firearms on board, Captain?"
+
+"You bet I have, and ammunition too," answered the skipper, with a grin.
+"You don't catch old Eph Brown venturin' his property on an expedition
+like this here--among savages, too, when we gets away down among the
+islands a'ter that there sandalwood--without bringin' along the means to
+defend it.  I got a dozen muskets and six shot guns down below; and I
+reckon I can get the lot out in ten minutes."
+
+"Then," said Cunningham, "I'll tell you what we will do, Captain, if you
+are agreeable.  Let Temple and me have a couple of those shot guns, with
+a moderate quantity of ammunition, and we will go ashore and shoot a
+sufficient number of those birds to make them thoroughly afraid of
+anything resembling the human figure.  Then, when we have done that, we
+will rig up a scarecrow on the leeward extremity of the island, where I
+suppose you will deposit your oysters to undergo the process of decay,
+and see how that acts before we attempt anything in the nature of actual
+wholesale slaughter."
+
+"Yes," assented the skipper eagerly, "I guess that plan's well worth
+tryin', and I'm much obliged to ye for thinkin' of it.  I don't want the
+death of any more o' them birds laid to my door than what there's
+actooal need for, for they're purty creeturs, and, when all's said and
+done, God made 'em, same's He made you and me.  But I'm afeard that a
+few of 'em'll have to die, so the job might as well be done at once.
+I'll go down below and get them shot guns, and you and Mr Temple might
+as well go ashore directly after dinner."
+
+Accordingly, as soon as our midday dinner was over, the gig--our gig--
+was hoisted out, and Cunningham and I, with two hands for a crew, and
+with a shot gun each, together with a double pocketful of cartridges,
+went ashore to perform the exceedingly unpleasant but necessary task of
+frightening the birds so effectually that they would not be likely to
+interfere to any very great extent with our pearling operations.  At the
+last moment, just before shoving off from the schooner's side,
+Cunningham shouted to the cook to pass down into the boat the biggest
+basket that he could find, and this the "Doctor" did, with the result
+that when we landed on the island we carried with us a basket capable of
+holding quite one hundred gulls' eggs.
+
+We had already decided that the southern extremity of the island was the
+proper place upon which to deposit our oysters, when obtained, because
+by placing them there the exceedingly offensive odour which would be
+generated by the process of decay would be carried away by the wind over
+the open sea, while by anchoring the schooner as far to windward as
+possible we might hope to escape in a very great measure, if not
+altogether, the annoyance of the smell; therefore, upon landing, we
+started operations at the south end of the island by driving the birds
+away from there.
+
+But our task was by no means so easy as we had anticipated; for so
+extraordinarily tame were the birds that they positively refused to rise
+at our approach, actually permitting themselves to be caught and their
+necks to be wrung rather than take the trouble to get out of our way.
+Certainly they resisted actual capture most vigorously, fighting us with
+beak and wing, and many a sharp peck and severe blow did we receive
+within the first ten minutes of our operations; but they would not take
+to flight, or make the slightest attempt of any kind to avoid us.
+Consequently at length, and very much against our will, we were obliged
+to open fire upon them, and it was not until the creatures saw the
+struggles and heard the piteous cries of the wounded among them that
+they at length began to grasp the fact that we were enemies, and
+dangerous.  And even then it was not until we had killed some three
+hundred of them that they seemed to have fully learned their lesson, and
+took to flight at our approach.  While this wretched work of slaughter
+was proceeding the two men with the basket followed in our footsteps and
+collected the eggs from the abandoned nests, choosing the cleanest as
+being most likely to be fresh; so that, upon our return to the schooner
+that night, the cook got to work, and all hands supped sumptuously upon
+boiled and fried gulls' eggs, while we in the cabin regaled ourselves
+upon savoury omelette, followed by pancakes.
+
+After supper Cunningham and I, with an old, discarded suit of clothes
+belonging to the skipper, rigged up a most realistic scarecrow, ready
+for transportation to the shore the first thing next morning.
+
+We were all astir at daybreak next day; and while the hands, under the
+skipper's supervision, hoisted out the longboat and jollyboat and passed
+them astern ready for towing, and then proceeded to wash down the decks,
+Cunningham and I took the gig, and, carefully depositing our scarecrow
+in the sternsheets, pulled ashore and set up the figure, the birds
+taking to the air with loud, plaintive cries the moment that we stepped
+ashore.  Then, having set up the figure, which represented a man
+carrying a gun, we returned to the schooner, observing with
+satisfaction, as we did so, that the birds seemed indisposed to settle
+again, but, after wheeling in the air over the island for some time,
+winged their way out to sea.
+
+By the time that we got back to the schooner breakfast was ready, and
+all hands were at once piped to the meal, regardless of the hour, the
+word at the same time being passed that everybody would be expected on
+deck again within twenty minutes.  But no such warning was needed, for
+the forecastle hands by this time knew as well as the afterguard what we
+had come to this lonesome spot for, and were as eager as ourselves not
+only to see how the adventure would "pan out"--to use their own
+expression--but also to gain the utmost possible advantage over the
+_Kingfisher_ and her people, whom they regarded as would-be lawless
+poachers upon our own private property; therefore when we of the cabin
+returned to the deck after a hasty meal, which we had bolted in less
+than a quarter of an hour, all hands were on deck, ready and waiting for
+orders.  Accordingly no sooner did the skipper poke his head out of the
+companion and bellow the order to loose all fore-and-aft canvas than the
+group on the forecastle split itself up into sections, one section
+actually running aft to cast loose the mainsail, while a second attacked
+the foresail, a third laid out to loose the jibs, and the fourth and
+last proceeded to fix the levers of the patent windlass and to heave in
+the slack of the cable.
+
+A quarter of an hour sufficed us to get the canvas set and the anchor
+broken out of the sand; and then, as the schooner paid off and filled,
+Cunningham proceeded to get his diving gear on deck and to make ready
+for the great experiment, while I sprang into the fore rigging and made
+my way aloft to the topsail-yard, from which to con the schooner out
+through the reef in the first place, and afterwards to look out for the
+oyster bed.  We could not possibly have had a finer day for the
+beginning of our operations, for the sky was a clear, rich, deep blue,
+dappled here and there at intervals with small patches of Trade-cloud,
+which looked like bits of cotton wool, drifting solemnly athwart the
+azure, while the Trade wind was blowing very moderately, and there was
+no sea to speak of.
+
+I had scarcely got myself comfortably settled upon the topsail-yard when
+the skipper hailed me from where he stood aft close alongside the
+helmsman.
+
+"Tawps'l-yard, there!" he shouted.  "I s'pose you don't happen to see
+nothin' of that there blamed _Kingfisher_ anywhere about, do ye, Mr
+Temple?"
+
+I sent my gaze slowly and searchingly right round the entire rim of the
+horizon.  The air was so crystal-clear that no glass was needed to aid
+the eye.  Had there been as much as three or four feet of a
+royal-masthead showing above the horizon I could not have failed to
+detect it, but there was nothing; the horizon was absolutely bare in
+every direction, and I so reported it.  The skipper waved his hand by
+way of reply, and I forthwith turned my attention to the business in
+hand, which was that of conning the schooner through the passage in the
+reef.
+
+Twenty minutes later we were outside, rising and falling easily upon the
+long Pacific swell; and the moment that it was prudent for us to do so
+we starboarded our helm a trifle and kept away for the slightly
+discoloured patch of water that seemed to mark the position of the shoal
+upon which we expected to find the boundless wealth of the extensive bed
+of pearl-oysters spoken of by the departed Abe.  Ten minutes sufficed us
+to run down to it, and the moment that we reached it I saw that we had
+not come upon a wild-goose chase.  The oysters were there, all right,
+thousands, millions of them, showing up as a light-brown patch, nearly
+ten acres in extent, clearly distinguishable through the crystal-clear
+water.  I allowed the schooner to run to about the very centre of the
+patch, and then shouted for the anchor to be let go.
+
+Meanwhile all halyards had been let run two or three minutes earlier,
+and the canvas was rolled up anyhow, everybody, from the skipper to the
+cabin boy, seeming to be suddenly seized with a perfect delirium of
+excitement.  As for me, I went down on deck by way of the backstays, and
+at once proceeded to lend Cunningham a hand to get into his makeshift
+diving rig, which he was very carefully overhauling.  And while this was
+doing, four of the hands came along with a twenty-five-foot ladder,
+heavily weighted at the bottom with pigs of iron ballast, which
+Cunningham had caused to be constructed; and this they launched over the
+side, allowing it to hang plumb up and down, well secured, just abaft
+the main rigging.  This was for Cunningham to descend by; and upon
+looking over the side I saw that it reached to within about four feet of
+the surface of the oyster bed.  The getting of Cunningham into his suit,
+and the arranging of all the preliminaries, such as the rigging of a
+derrick wherewith to hoist to the surface the nets of oysters after
+Cunningham had filled them, the hauling of the longboat alongside to
+receive the first load, and so on, kept us busy for a full half-hour,
+during which the skipper paced to and fro, urging us to hurry, and
+gnawing his finger nails to the quick in his excitement and impatience.
+
+But at length everything was ready, even to the shovel which Cunningham
+was to use for shovelling the oysters into the nets; and with the upper
+end of the air hose securely made fast to the main rigging, close to
+where I stood with the signal line coiled in my hands ready for paying
+out, and with a stout sword bayonet girt about his waist as a defence
+against the possible attack of prowling sharks, the amateur diver was
+assisted to climb the rail and get his feet upon the topmost rung of the
+ladder, after which he was left to his own devices.  We had taken the
+precaution to send a good man aloft in a boatswain's chair, bent to the
+end of the gaff-topsail halyards, to keep a lookout for sharks, and he
+had reported none in sight; we therefore hoped that we should not suffer
+any very serious interruption from them, and Cunningham went over the
+side with the utmost confidence, I keeping my eye on him as he
+cautiously descended the ladder rung by rung, and paying out the signal
+line in such a manner as always to maintain a very light strain upon it.
+
+At length I saw him step off the bottom rung of the ladder and gingerly
+lower himself to the surface of the oyster bed, having reached which he
+gave a single tug of his signal line to indicate that he was all right.
+Then, after pausing for a moment, apparently to take a good look round,
+he cast off the shovel from the end of the line by which it had been
+lowered, and proceeded methodically to shovel the oysters, just as they
+came, into one of the nets, which had also been lowered within his
+reach.  Ten minutes of steady work now ensued, at the end of which he
+gave the signal to hoist away, and up came our first spoils, probably
+about five hundred oysters, which were swung over the longboat and
+emptied into her, the second net having meanwhile been lowered down to
+the diver.
+
+And now there occurred a somewhat diverting episode; for no sooner was
+the first net-load of oysters discharged into the longboat than the
+skipper, unable any longer to endure the suspense, scrambled over the
+side, armed with a formidable jack knife, and, leaping down into the
+boat, seized an oyster and proceeded to force it open with the blade of
+his knife, no doubt fully expecting to find at least one pearl of price
+in it.  But, alas! the poor man was doomed to disappointment, for there
+was no sign or vestige of pearl in the fish, save the lovely iridescent
+lining of the two shells.  A second attempt fared no better, and the
+disappointed seeker flung the shells far from him with a muttered
+something that sounded not unlike an imprecation.  But the good man was
+not to be so easily put off.  A third oyster was seized and savagely
+wrenched open, and this time three diminutive seed pearls rewarded his
+perseverance.  Yet still he was not satisfied.  A fourth oyster was
+opened, and proved a blank; a fifth was seized, and as the two shells
+were forced apart a magnificent pearl was revealed, together with some
+six or eight much smaller ones.  A shout of triumph apprised us all of
+the fact that at last the search had proved successful; and the next
+moment up came the skipper, his face aflame with delight and excitement,
+to show all and sundry what a pearl looked like when fresh taken from
+the parent fish.
+
+Meanwhile the process of filling, hoisting, and emptying the nets went
+steadily on for the best part of an hour, and then Cunningham signalled
+that he was coming to the surface, some three thousand oysters having by
+that time been secured.  When Cunningham presently appeared, and the
+glass of his helmet was unscrewed, he informed us that his makeshift
+suit was perfectly watertight, and answered its purpose even better than
+he had dared to expect, and that he had come up simply because he felt
+fatigued with his unaccustomed work and needed a little rest.  The
+skipper thought this a good opportunity to change boats, so he sent away
+the longboat with her load in charge of a couple of men, giving them
+instructions how to dispose of the oysters; and the gig was hauled up
+alongside in her place.  Then the boatswain, who had all along
+manifested the utmost interest in the diving question, volunteered to
+change places with Cunningham and do a spell of shovelling: but the
+engineer explained that he could take another turn below quite easily,
+and proposed, as an amendment, that the boatswain should take on the
+afternoon shift; and, this being arranged, he again descended and
+resumed operations.
+
+Then in due course there came a brief respite while everybody went to
+dinner, half an hour being allowed for the meal, at the expiration of
+which time operations went on uninterruptedly until about half an hour
+before sunset, when we were perforce obliged to cease work, in order to
+get the schooner back into the lagoon before nightfall.  But we had done
+not at all badly; for I had kept a rough--a very rough--account of the
+number of oysters that had been brought to the surface that day, not
+counting them, of course, but just estimating the number that had come
+up in each net, and when I came to total up I found that, unless my
+calculations were a long way out, we must have secured at least
+twenty-five thousand oysters as a reward for our day's work.
+
+But this by no means ended with the mooring of the schooner in the
+lagoon, for when that was done there still remained the oysters to be
+laid out in rows upon the southern extremity of the island; and we soon
+found that the landing and laying of them out was a much more lengthy
+process than the getting of them up from the sea bottom.  Very
+fortunately for us, we had arrived at the island when the moon was four
+days old, and in that exquisitely clear atmosphere a moon of even that
+age affords a very useful amount of light, of which we availed ourselves
+to empty the boats and make all ready for the next day before finally
+knocking-off work.
+
+The next day was, with a rather notable exception, just a repetition of
+the day which had preceded it.  The weather was as fine, and matters
+worked even more smoothly, for almost every hour revealed to us some
+little improvement that might be made in our methods of work, which we
+promptly adopted.  Thus, for example, the boatswain having proved
+himself to be quite an expert diver, it was arranged that Cunningham and
+he should work spell and spell about, each man working two hours and
+then taking two hours' complete rest.  On this, our second day upon the
+bank, Cunningham and the boatswain had each been down once, the dinner
+hour had arrived and passed, and Cunningham was down again, working with
+tremendous energy--for a friendly rivalry had already arisen between him
+and the boatswain as to who could send up the most oysters--while I
+stood in the main chains, tending the signal line and intently watching
+the toiling figure diligently shovelling oysters away down below in the
+cool green shadow of the schooner's hull.  As on the previous day, we
+had a man aloft for the express purpose of keeping a lookout for sharks,
+but every time we hailed him his reply was that there were no sharks in
+sight.
+
+Suddenly, as I stood watching Cunningham, a great greyish-brown object
+slid lazily along beneath me, and paused immediately above the toiling
+diver.  A single glance sufficed me to identify it as a shark, full
+twenty feet in length; and I instantly sent down the pre-arranged danger
+signal, while the man at the masthead yelled: "Shark ho! right over the
+diver!"  I sang out to the two men who were in the boat receiving the
+oysters as they came up to seize a couple of oars and violently splash
+the surface of the water with them, in the hope that the sound would
+drive the brute away--for, after all, the shark, voracious as it is, is
+a timid creature, easily frightened by any sudden or unaccustomed noise.
+And the attempt met with at least partial success, for the shark
+instantly darted away a few yards; but it as suddenly turned, and,
+apparently quite undismayed by the splashing, slowly came back.
+
+Meanwhile, however, Cunningham had dropped his shovel, and, having drawn
+the sword bayonet with which he was armed, stood quite quietly on the
+defensive, alertly on the watch.  Evidently the shark did not quite know
+what to make of the strange creature on the sea bottom, for he now began
+to swim rapidly to and fro, making short tacks each way of a few yards
+only, eyeing Cunningham intently all the while.  Then, before we could
+do anything in the nature of intervention, the brute suddenly wheeled
+and made a dash straight for the engineer.  So lightning swift was the
+onslaught that the only thing I distinctly saw was the quick whisk of
+the creature's tail as it turned, and the sudden dart of the great body,
+followed by an equally sudden writhing movement; then in an instant the
+great fish appeared to be enveloped in a cloud of red, in which it
+almost disappeared; and the next thing I distinctly realised was that it
+was gone, while, the red cloud slowly dissipating, Cunningham was
+presently revealed in the very act of recovering his shovel for the
+purpose of resuming work.  I signalled to him to come up at once, but he
+replied with a vigorous negative, and the next moment he was hard at
+work again.
+
+A minute or two later the man aloft hailed: "I guess Mr Cunningham have
+give that there shark his gruel; for there he is, away out there on the
+starboard quarter, in his dyin' flurry!"  And, sure enough, there the
+brute was, on the surface, about a hundred and fifty yards away,
+twisting and splashing in the midst of a boil of pink foam; and a few
+minutes later the struggles ceased altogether, and the monster floated
+quiescent and awash, dead, one of its great pectoral fins and a narrow
+strip of its white belly just showing above the surface.  I was terribly
+afraid that the smell of blood, and of the dead carcass, would attract
+other sharks to the neighbourhood, and so further imperil Cunningham's
+safety--for sharks are reputed to possess an extraordinarily keen scent;
+but nothing of the kind happened.  The dead shark slowly drifted away
+and was finally lost sight of, and we finished our day's work without
+further interruption.
+
+Thus matters went steadily on for a fortnight, by which time we had
+accumulated some three hundred and eighty thousand oysters, and had laid
+them out upon the island to undergo the process of decay in the
+scorching rays of the sun.  And that they were undergoing that process
+at a very rapid rate our olfactory nerves soon informed us; for the
+odour of them became perceptible as early as the fourth day, while by
+the end of the fortnight it was so strong as to be scarcely endurable
+even on the oyster bank itself, which was about a mile to leeward of the
+island, although, by berthing the schooner every night right up in the
+weather corner of the lagoon, we managed to avoid getting more than an
+occasional whiff of it during the hours devoted to rest.
+
+By the end of the fortnight, however, we discovered that even the
+accumulation of wealth by scooping up pearl-oysters from the bottom of
+the sea may become monotonous after a while, especially when the
+accumulation is for somebody else's benefit; therefore, with one accord,
+we petitioned "Old Man" Brown to give us a change of occupation by
+allowing us to amuse ourselves searching for pearls among the rotting
+fish, which now covered a considerable portion of the leeward half of
+the island.  And Brown gladly jumped at the proposal; for he was every
+day growing more anxious lest the _Kingfisher_ and her crew of "toughs"
+should heave in sight and become troublesome, and was more than willing
+to make sure of such spoil as we had already accumulated.  Therefore, on
+a certain morning, instead of getting the schooner under way and
+proceeding to the oyster bank, as usual, the longboat was hauled
+alongside, and, attired in our very oldest clothes, armed with a ship's
+bucket each, and provided with a plentiful supply of disinfectant cloths
+to fasten over our mouths and nostrils upon reaching the field of
+action, all hands of us, except the cook and the cabin boy, got into her
+and pulled away for the shore.
+
+The air was literally darkened by the immense numbers of birds that had
+returned to the island, attracted by the odour, after having been driven
+off, and we soon saw that a few of the bolder of them had summoned up
+courage to settle among our oysters, despite the scarecrow which we had
+set up; but they took to flight immediately upon our approach, and
+hovered over us all day, uttering their melancholy cries with such
+persistency, and creating such a volume of sound, that we could scarcely
+hear our own voices.
+
+However, we were there not to talk but to work.  Upon stepping ashore
+the first thing we did, after securing the boat, was to fill our buckets
+with clean salt water, in which to wash and deposit any pearls that we
+might find; next we swathed our mouths and nostrils with the
+disinfecting cloths; and then, told off by the skipper, each of us took
+a row of the decaying fish and proceeded to search carefully the putrid
+matter for what many people regard as the most lovely gems in the world.
+
+There is no need for me to dilate upon the disagreeable, not to say
+disgusting nature of the task upon which we now found ourselves engaged;
+it may safely be left to the imagination of the reader, and I will
+content myself with merely placing upon record the fact that it was
+infinitely worse than even Cunningham or I had anticipated--and we
+believed that we had gauged the objectionable character of the work
+pretty accurately.  But, so far at least as I was concerned, I soon
+forgot the sickeningly offensive nature of my work in the interest
+attaching to it, for I had not been five minutes engaged upon it when I
+came upon a most superb pearl, perfectly globular in shape, with the
+exquisite sheeny lustre peculiar to gems of what are termed the first
+water, and, as nearly as might be, an inch in diameter.  Such a find as
+this was more than enough to make me forget all the disagreeableness of
+the work upon which I was engaged, and to stimulate my curiosity to its
+highest pitch.  Accordingly I proceeded with zest, and within an hour
+had secured a round dozen of good-sized pearls--although none of them
+approached the first in size--together with a sufficient quantity of
+smaller pearls to fill about one-third of an ordinary half-pint tumbler.
+Nor was this first hour of mine an exceptionally fortunate one, for
+when we knocked off work at the end of the day my total find amounted to
+no less than one hundred and seven pearls, ranging in size from half an
+inch in diameter up to a monster that measured just over an inch and a
+quarter, while of smaller gems I had more than sufficient to fill two
+tumblers.  And when we all came to compare notes together upon our
+return on board I found that I was by no means the most fortunate one of
+the party, the skipper's total and those of three of the forecastle
+hands considerably exceeding mine in quantity.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+THE "KINGFISHER" OF NANTUCKET.
+
+It was on the third day of our repulsive work among the decaying oysters
+that the expected happened.  We were all assiduously at work as usual,
+groping with our fingers among the rotting fish for the sudden sensation
+of hardness which proclaimed the presence of the gems, when one of the
+party, straightening himself up for a moment to take the kinks out of
+his backbone, let out a sudden yell of: "Sail ho!"
+
+"Where away?" demanded the skipper, starting to his feet and staring
+about him; and in a moment all hands of us were standing up and
+following the "Old Man's" example.  There was no need for a reply to the
+skipper's question, for we had but to look to see the stranger
+instantly--a topsail-schooner, about five miles distant, coming up from
+the southward, close-hauled, under a press of sail.
+
+Brown stood staring intently at her for a full minute or more; then he
+shouted:
+
+"Yes, that's the gol-darned _Kingfisher_, right enough, ne'er a doubt of
+it!  All hands to the boat, and let's get off to the _Marthy_.  I
+wouldn't be a bit surprised if that Slocum and his crowd tries to make
+trouble when they find us here before 'em."
+
+"Why do you think so, Captain?" demanded Cunningham.  "Surely there are
+enough oysters here for both of us, aren't there?"
+
+"Well, yes, I reckon there are," agreed Brown, somewhat doubtfully.
+"But I guess Slocum won't think so; he'll want the whole blamed lot."
+
+I thought this rather good, remembering, as I did, that previous to our
+arrival, and before we knew how extensive was the bed, the skipper had
+been straining every nerve to reach the island before his rival, with
+the avowed intention of sweeping the shoal clean if he could before the
+arrival of the _Kingfisher_.  I said nothing, however, but, seizing the
+bucket containing the pearls which I had gathered during the morning,
+hastened away with the others toward where the longboat was moored.  The
+moment that the last man was in we cast off, threw out our oars, and
+gave way for our own vessel, for the stranger was coming up hand over
+fist, and Brown was very anxious to be on board before the arrival of
+the _Kingfisher_, in order that he might be fully prepared for all
+eventualities.
+
+We reached the _Martha_ a few minutes before the stranger hove in stays
+to fetch the passage through the reef; and Brown at once went below,
+taking with him a couple of hands, routed out the arms and ammunition
+chests, and served out to each man a gun, a brace of Colt revolvers, and
+a cutlass, together with a liberal supply of ammunition for the
+firearms, at the same time instructing us to load our weapons and have
+them ready for instant use, but to keep them out of sight until it
+became apparent that they would be required.
+
+By the time that our preparations were complete, the stranger--now
+identifiable beyond all question as the _Kingfisher_, since she carried
+her name legibly painted in white letters upon her head-boards--had
+passed through the reef and, taking in her canvas as she came, was
+steering for a berth about a cable's length from where the _Martha_ lay;
+and a few minutes later she put down her helm, came head to wind, and
+presently let go her anchor.  Meanwhile the skipper, Cunningham, and I
+had been diligently taking stock of her through our glasses, with the
+object of ascertaining how many hands she carried, and we agreed that
+there were but eight in sight, which, counting also the cook and
+steward, gave her a complement of ten all told against fourteen of us,
+which fact caused our skipper to chuckle with satisfaction.
+
+That we were not to be kept long in suspense with regard to the
+intentions of the newcomers soon became sufficiently evident, for the
+_Kingfisher_ had scarcely swung to her anchor when a dory was launched,
+and, with three people in her, two at the oars and the third sitting in
+the sternsheets, came pulling toward the _Martha Brown_.
+
+Five minutes later the little craft swept up alongside, one of our
+people hospitably dropped a rope's end into her to hang on by, and the
+man in the sternsheets--a long, angular, big-boned individual, about six
+feet three inches in height, apparently about thirty-four years of age,
+with a thick thatch of reddish-brown hair, and an equally thick beard
+and moustache of the same colour, and attired, despite the intense heat,
+in a heavy pilot cloth jacket and trousers, a blue worsted jersey, a fur
+cap, and sea-boots reaching above his knees--uncoiling his long limbs,
+rose in the boat, and, with a nimbleness strangely at variance with his
+ungainly appearance, climbed the side, swung himself in over our low
+rail, and flung a quick, enquiring glance round the deck.
+
+"Mornin'!" he remarked briefly in a surly tone of voice to the skipper,
+Cunningham, and myself, as we stepped forward to meet him.  "I see this
+here schooner's the _Marthy Brown_ o' Baltimore.  Which o' you 'uns is
+the cap'n of her?"
+
+"I am," answered our "Old Man," stepping forward.  "Name of Ephraim
+Brown.  This here is my first officer, Mr Mark Temple, and this is Mr
+Cunnin'ham, my second officer."
+
+"Jerushy!  First and second officers, eh?" exclaimed the stranger in a
+fine tone of irony.  "My, but you air puttin' on style, Cap'n, and no
+mistake!  I'm plain Abner Slocum, cap'n and owner of the schooner
+_Kingfisher_, sailin' out o' Nantucket; and my first, second, third, and
+fourth mate is all rolled into one under the name o' Dan'l Greene.
+That's him--the red-headed feller in the Scotch cap helpin' t'other 'un
+to roll up my schooner's mains'l.  Well, Cap'n Brown, I've took the
+liberty to come aboard your ship to ask what you happens to be doin'
+here, if I ain't presumin' too much."
+
+"May I ask what business that is of your'n, Cap'n--eh--um--Slocum?"
+demanded Brown blandly.
+
+"Cert'nly you may," retorted Slocum, with elaborate politeness, which,
+however, vanished the next instant.  "An' it won't take me half a second
+to answer ye," he continued truculently.  "It's business o' mine because
+this 'ere island, and everything in the sea for three mile round it,
+happens to belong to me--left me by my deceased brother-in-law, Abr'am
+Johnson.  And I don't want, and won't have--you hear me!--won't have
+nobody trespassin' on my property.  So the sooner you 'uns gits, the
+better it'll be for all parties.  And now I hopes you understan's.  And
+there's another thing.  By the all-fired smell o' that island I reckon
+that you've been poachin' on my pearl-'yster bank.  Now, I dunno whether
+you knows it or not, but by the laws of the United States of Ameriky
+pearl poachin' is felony, and the poacher is liable to be put away for
+ten years or so in Sing Sing.  But I don't want to be hard upon nobody;
+so if you'll just hand over to me the pearls that you've poached, I'm
+agreeable to let ye all go free, and say nothin' more about it."
+
+"You don't say!" ejaculated Brown, apparently overwhelmed by such royal
+clemency.  "Well, then, I guess--But stop a minute; I sure was very near
+forgettin' something.  You say that this here island's yours, eh?  Well,
+then, I s'pose you've got your title deeds and all that to prove it,
+eh?"
+
+"Title deeds be--" began Slocum, with an ugly snarl.  Then he pulled
+himself up sharp.  "I sure have, to hum," he answered.  "But natchrally
+I didn't bring sich vallyable papers along with me, for fear of losin'
+'em.  And then again I didn't expect to find nobody here to dispute my
+title.  See?"
+
+"No," said Brown, "I don't see; and that's a solid fact.  What I do see
+is somethin' like this here.  I'm cruisin' in the Pacific in this here
+schooner o' mine, and one day we sights this here island, and comes in
+to have a look at it.  We lowers a boat and pulls ashore, and what do we
+find?  We finds that the place is uninhabited, with nary a sign that
+anybody's ever set eyes on it before.  Anyway, it's uninhabited, and
+it's miles and miles away from any other land; therefore it don't belong
+to nobody, and accordin'ly I takes possession of it.  So you see, Cap'n,
+you're all wrong about it bein' your'n.  It's mine; and if I was measly
+and cantankerous I'd prob'ly order you to take your schooner outer my
+harbour at once.  But I ain't that sorter man: I'm lib'ral and
+free-handed to a fault; I ain't no greedy grab-all, not by a long chalk,
+so you may stay in this here harbour o' mine so long as you've a mind
+to.  But, you understan', you ain't none of yer to go ashore without my
+leave; an'--"
+
+"Oh, shucks!" interrupted Slocum in sudden fury.  "What d'ye mean by
+givin' me that sort o' mush?  I tell ye that this island is mine, and I
+means to have it.  And I means to have all the pearls that you've
+poached, too; and look 'e here, Mister, if you ain't out o' sight before
+nightfall, I'll--I'll--"
+
+"Yes; you'll--what?" demanded the skipper calmly, seeing that the other
+hesitated.
+
+"Why, I'll--I'll blow you and your blamed schooner and all hands of you
+to blazes!" exploded Slocum.
+
+"You will, eh?" retorted Brown, slipping his right hand casually into
+his jacket pocket.  "Then--hands up, you skunk! hands up; and look spry
+about it, or by the living Jingo I'll shoot!  Up with 'em, I say.  Ah!
+that's better, a good deal!" as Slocum slowly and reluctantly raised his
+hands above his head in response to our skipper's command, emphasised by
+a levelled revolver which the "Old Man" had produced so rapidly that it
+was quite like a conjuring trick.
+
+"Now, Mr Temple," continued Brown, addressing me but keeping his eye
+unwaveringly upon his prisoner, "just you go to the rail and persuade
+them two in the dory to come up on deck; persuade 'em with yer gun if
+you can't do it any other way.  I guess we'll have to go on usin' force,
+now that this cantankerous cuss have obliged us to begin.  And you, Mr
+Cunnin'ham, be good enough to pass the word for the carpenter to lay aft
+wi' three sets of irons."
+
+"Here, I say, you monkey-faced old pirate, whatcher givin' us?  Whatcher
+mean by callin' for irons?  You don't mean ter say you're goin' to make
+a prisoner of me, do yer?" demanded Slocum, dropping his hands in his
+fury.
+
+"Hands up!" snapped the skipper, quick as lightning.  Then, as Slocum
+threw them up again, he replied:
+
+"Not goin' to make a prisoner of ye, eh?  You bet I sure am, then, you
+and the hull of your crowd, since you've come here spoilin' for trouble.
+But I don't want no trouble myself, I ain't that sorter man; so I'm
+goin' to keep you 'uns safe in irons until I've finished my business
+here, a'ter which I'll release ye, and you can do what yer like."
+
+"The fust thing I'll do when you release me is to blow the blamed head
+off your shoulders, ye all-fired pirate," snapped Slocum viciously.
+
+"Put this man in irons," ordered Brown, as the carpenter came along, and
+the next minute Slocum was fettered and Chips was overhauling him to
+make sure that he had no concealed weapons about him.  Meanwhile I had
+succeeded in "persuading" the two men who constituted the crew of the
+dory to leave their boat and come up on deck, and they, too, were
+promptly clapped in irons.  Thus we already had in our power three of
+the _Kingfisher's_ complement of ten men all told, leaving seven, as
+opposed to our own fourteen.
+
+"Take 'em away and confine 'em below in the fore peak," ordered Brown.
+And when this was done, "I guess there's no sense in makin' two bites at
+a cherry," observed the skipper.  "We can't spare the time to fool
+around watchin' those fellers; so have the longboat hauled alongside,
+and let all hands except the cook and the cabin boy take their guns and
+cutlasses and get down into her.  We'll just meander across and take
+that there _Kingfisher_ right away, so savin' a heap o' trouble in the
+long run.  And while we're doing that, `the Doctor' and the boy'll stay
+here and keep an eye on the chaps down below."
+
+So said, so done; we secured possession of the _Kingfisher_ without any
+difficulty, for although her crew guessed our errand the moment that
+they saw us coming, they could not very well help themselves, such
+weapons as the Nantucket craft was provided with being stowed away and
+locked up in Slocum's own cabin, where the crew could not get at them
+except by breaking down the door.  But apart from that, they had no
+stomach for fighting in the absence of Slocum, and they surrendered
+immediately upon being ordered to do so, although, it must be confessed,
+with not too good a grace.  Having thus secured possession of the
+_Kingfisher_, the next thing that we did was to give her another fifty
+fathoms of cable, so that she would ride easily and without being
+watched in any weather that we were likely to have; after which her
+crew, having previously been searched and deprived of everything that
+could by any chance be utilised as a weapon, were ordered down into the
+longboat, taken aboard the _Martha_, clapped in irons, and put down
+below into the fore peak along with Slocum and the two men out of the
+dory, one of our own men being detailed each day afterwards to mount
+guard over them while the rest of us resumed operations ashore.
+
+It cost us three weeks of strenuous work to complete the examination of,
+and extract the pearls from the oysters that it had taken us a fortnight
+to fish up from the bottom of the sea, and when we had finished even the
+skipper confessed himself satisfied, so great had been our success.
+Yet, although Brown was so far satisfied that he was content to leave
+the remainder of the oysters to Slocum, he could not bring himself to
+leave behind the empty shells from which we had extracted the pearls;
+pearl shell, he informed us, was worth so many dollars--I forget how
+many--per ton in New York, and it would pay him well to take in all that
+we had--discarding an equal weight of ballast--and carry it there.  The
+task of cleaning, carrying on board, and storing this shell--including
+the turning out of cargo and the discharge of ballast to make room for
+it--occupied us another fortnight; consequently by the time that all was
+done and we were ready to sail again we had been close upon two months
+at the island.  Then, upon a certain lovely morning, we loosed and set
+our canvas and hove short; after which the crew of the _Kingfisher_,
+Slocum included, were brought up on deck, ordered over the side into the
+longboat, and transferred to their own vessel, one man being released
+from his irons as soon as the transfer had been effected, in order that
+he in turn might release the others.  And while this was being done the
+longboat returned to the _Martha Brown_ and was hoisted in; after which
+we tripped our anchor, hove it up to the bows, and stood out to sea.
+
+The ensuing three months were more or less pleasantly and uneventfully
+spent in cruising hither and thither among the various groups of
+islands, seeking sandalwood, some of the natives proving exceedingly
+friendly and agreeable to deal with, while others were very much the
+reverse.  By the end of that time we had accumulated a very fair
+quantity of the wood, and Brown had arrived at the conclusion that one
+more call would about suffice to complete our cargo.  The question which
+then arose was, where should that call be made? for we had pretty well
+completed the round of the islands and exhausted their capabilities of
+supply, sandalwood happening to be rather scarce that year, while the
+demand for it had been unusually brisk, a frequent experience of ours
+being that other traders had been beforehand with us and had taken all
+that the islanders had for disposal.  Finally, while ashore one day on
+the island of Tahiti, the skipper happened to overhear two men
+discussing sandalwood together, one of whom remarked to the other that
+there was still some wood to be obtained at the island of Roua Poua, one
+of the Marquesas group; and two hours later we were under weigh, bound
+for that same island.
+
+Now at that time the Marquesas natives bore a somewhat shady character,
+it being said of them that they were rather inclined to be treacherous
+when the opportunity to be so was afforded them; therefore when, on our
+fourth day out from Tahiti, we sighted Roua Poua, we approached the
+island with all due precaution, every man of us being fully armed, with
+orders to use his weapons freely upon the slightest provocation.  It was
+dusk when we arrived and let go our anchor under the lee of the island,
+and by the skipper's order the sails were merely hauled down or brailed
+up, as the case might be, all ready for setting again at a moment's
+notice, while the twenty-five fathom shackle of the cable was kept just
+inside the hawse pipe, with the pin loosened and ready to be knocked out
+instantly, in case it should become necessary to slip.
+
+The anchor had scarcely splashed into the placid waters of the bay when,
+as in the case of most of the other islands visited, the schooner was
+surrounded by a round dozen or more canoes, manned by from two to five
+men, all anxious to be allowed to come alongside and barter the fruit or
+fish which they had brought off from the shore.  They appeared to be
+fine stalwart fellows, and were unarmed, so far as we could see; but the
+skipper would not allow any of them to come alongside that night, and
+they returned good-humouredly enough to the shore after they had
+received permission to come off again the next morning.  A strict anchor
+watch was maintained that night, but no canoes came near us, nor did
+anything occur to lead us to suppose that the natives meditated
+treachery toward us.
+
+When they again came off at daylight on the following morning, although
+there were something like thirty canoes surrounding the schooner, each
+manned, as before, by from two to five men, they made no attempt to
+force their way alongside, but lay off at a distance of two or three
+fathoms, the men holding up their wares for our inspection and shouting
+their merits in that singular "pidgin" which passes for English among
+the Polynesians.  And when at length Brown selected a particular canoe,
+the assortment of fruit in which appeared to be of a temptingly varied
+character, and ordered her owner to come alongside, the rest, instead of
+exhibiting anger or jealousy, simply pelted the fortunate competitor
+with good-natured chaff, and, taking to their paddles, headed for the
+shore, well knowing that the crew of so small a craft as the _Martha
+Brown_ would have no custom to spare for more than one well-laden canoe.
+And even when the selected canoe came alongside, only two out of her
+crew of four offered to board us, the other two remaining in the canoe
+to pass up, as ordered by the owner, the various commodities which he
+had for sale.  These commodities, by the way, consisted of fruits of
+various descriptions, eggs, chickens of astounding skinniness, and a
+half-grown porker, and the prices demanded, in what the skipper termed
+"truck", were so ridiculously low that in the course of an hour's lively
+bargaining we completely emptied the canoe of her contents.
+
+When at length the bargaining was concluded, and the savage salesman was
+about to depart, he turned to the skipper and asked, in particularly
+good English:
+
+"You stop it here long, Cap'n?"
+
+"What business is that of your'n, sonny?" retorted Brown, his suspicions
+suddenly awakened again.
+
+"Name it me Oahika, not `sonny', Cap'n," returned the savage.  "If
+schooner stop it here, Oahika like it come off every day, bring it
+plenty fine fruit fresh fis' chicken-an-egg."
+
+"Oh, that's your game, is it?" observed Brown, reassured.  "Want the
+app'intment of bumboat man in or'nary to this here schooner, eh?"
+
+Oahika's reply consisted merely of a good-humoured grin, which exhibited
+a remarkably fine set of teeth, deeply stained with betel nut.  Probably
+his comprehension of "Old Man" Brown's question was of the slenderest.
+The skipper, however, accepted the grin as an affirmative, and
+graciously remarked:
+
+"Very well, then; you can come off again to-morrow, and see if we wants
+anything else.  And say, the next time that you brings off chickens, let
+'em be chickens, not livin' skelintons.  You sabby?"
+
+Again Oahika smiled, the smile of the man who wishes to convey the
+impression that he "sabbys" perfectly, while in reality he does nothing
+of the kind.
+
+"That's all right, then," continued Brown.  "Now you can git away ashore
+agin as fast as you like, for we're goin' to be busy here."
+
+The native, who probably comprehended the skipper's gestures better than
+he did his words, at once turned and made toward the rail, but was
+recalled by Brown, who enquired, in an offhand, casual sort of way:
+
+"Say, you, Oah--what's-your-name--you don't happen to have no sandalwood
+ashore there, I s'pose?"
+
+"Sandalwood!" repeated the savage.  "I think it some mans got a leetle.
+You want it sandalwood, Cap'n?"
+
+"Well, I guess I could do with a little, if there was any goin' cheap,"
+returned the skipper.
+
+"You like it me ask them mans come see you, Cap'n?" demanded Oahika.
+
+"Well, yes, I guess you may," replied the skipper.  "Ask 'em to come off
+to-morrow mornin', bringin' the wood with 'em, and tell 'em that if
+they're willin' to let it go cheap I'll buy it off 'em."
+
+The savage intimated in his own peculiar fashion that it would afford
+him much pleasure to perform this trifling service for his esteemed
+friend and patron, and then took his leave, grinning with apparent
+satisfaction at the result of his morning's work.  The skipper stood
+watching the progress of the canoe until she had nearly reached the
+shore, and then he turned to me and remarked:
+
+"I guess there's been a mistake somewhere about these here Marquesas
+natives.  They don't seem to me to be so very partic'lar treacherous.
+How do they strike you?"
+
+"Why," said I, "I have been amusing myself by very closely watching
+those two who were aboard, and I am bound to admit that their behaviour
+seemed quite unexceptionable.  I mean," I continued, noticing a slightly
+puzzled look on my companion's face, "they seemed to behave pretty much
+like the natives of most of the other islands which we have visited,
+except that they did not attempt to steal anything."
+
+"Yep, I guess I noticed that too," observed the skipper.  "Well," he
+continued, "we'll just go on keepin' our eyes open for a bit, but I
+don't reckon upon our findin' ourselves up agin anything so very serious
+in this here island."
+
+Brown had given our chocolate-coloured visitors to understand that we
+were to have a busy day aboard the schooner; but as a matter of fact
+that statement was merely an attempt to "bluff" the natives, "bluffing"
+having latterly become almost an instinctive act with the skipper.
+However, although we had nothing very particular to do we at least made
+a show of great industry, easing up and overhauling rigging, renewing
+chafing mats, and so on, Brown's notion being to convey to the natives
+the idea that we had called in to overhaul and refit, rather than that
+we were in quest of sandalwood; by which ruse I think he hoped to get
+the wood at a somewhat cheaper rate than usual.
+
+On the following morning Oahika and his crew came off to us again,
+bringing more fruit, a small quantity of vegetables, about a dozen eggs,
+and two animated barn-door skeletons which the skipper positively
+refused to purchase at any price.  And with them came four other canoes,
+each of which had some eight or ten sticks of sandalwood in her.
+
+"Hullo!" exclaimed the skipper, when he saw this display, "what in the
+nation do they mean by bringin' off them scraps?  Is it to show us the
+sort o' stuff that they have to sell, I wonder?  Hi, you!"--to
+Oahika--"what have them fellers brought off that wood for?"
+
+"Sandalwood, that," explained the savage.  "They want it sell dem wood
+you."
+
+"Sell!" ejaculated the skipper; "sell!  Why, there ain't enough wood
+there to light a fire with.  Is that all that they've got?--because
+there ain't enough there to make it worth my while to open out my
+`truck'.  I wouldn't give one bandanner handkercher for the whole measly
+lot!"
+
+Oahika conferred with his friends for a while, and then turned to the
+skipper.
+
+"Mans say," he explained, "that dem wood all it got cut.  Plenty more
+yonder," pointing generally toward the shore.  "They say s'pose you want
+it more wood, you go 'shore and show it dem how much you want, and mans
+cut it for you."
+
+"Well, I'm jiggered!" exclaimed the skipper explosively.  "If I'd ha'
+knowed that them few twigs was all that the lazy skunks had got cut,
+d'ye think I'd ha' brought the _Marthy_ all this way out of her road to
+buy it?  No, sirree, not by a jugful!  But," he continued, his wrath
+subsiding as rapidly as it had blazed up, "seein' that we're here I
+s'pose the best thing for me to do'll be to go ashore, have a look at
+that there wood, and see if I kin strike a bargain on it.  'T all
+events, if I do that I'll be able to choose the best wood they have,
+'nstead of buyin' just any blamed stuff that they like to bring off to
+me."
+
+"Do you think it will be wise to trust yourself ashore alone with those
+fellows?"  I asked.  "You must remember that we have seen very little of
+them, thus far; and it will be well to keep in mind, too, the fact that
+they have rather an unenviable reputation for treachery.  Why not order
+so many canoe-loads of wood from them, and let it go at that?"
+
+"Well--no--I guess not," answered the skipper.  "If I do that they'll
+work off all their worst stuff on me, and I'll just have to take it or
+go without.  No; I reckon I'll go ashore and pick my own wood: then I
+shall know that I'm gettin' full vally for my money.  But I won't go
+alone; I guess I'll take two hands with me, and we'll go fully armed.  I
+don't believe in takin' no unnecessary risks."
+
+"No," I agreed; "there is no sense in that sort of thing.  Who will you
+take with you?  Would you care to have Mr Cunningham and myself with
+you?"
+
+"No, I guess not," answered Brown with decision.  "I'll take Mr
+Cunnin'ham and one o' the foremast hands with me; but you'll stay here,
+Mr Temple, and look a'ter the ship.  And I guess I'll go right now;
+then we shall be able to get back in time for dinner.  Now, let's see;
+I'll have Mr Cunnin'ham for one, as I said, and--yes, Joe Maybury'll do
+very well for t'other.  Just give them two their instructions, Mr
+Temple, will ye.  I'll be ready to go in ten minutes; and I guess we'll
+go in the jollyboat."
+
+I found Cunningham and explained the situation to him, and he was,
+naturally, delighted at the idea of having a run ashore; but I warned
+him to keep his weather eye lifting, and to take a couple of fully
+loaded revolvers with him, as well as plenty of cartridges, and a
+cutlass.  Then I found Maybury, and gave him similar instructions,
+winding up by telling off three more men to go in the jollyboat and
+bring her back as soon as she had landed her passengers.  Ten minutes
+later the little expedition started, and I stood and watched them as
+they pulled away for the beach, accompanied by the five canoes which had
+come off to us half an hour earlier.
+
+As they drew in toward the shore I perceived, with a momentary qualm of
+uneasiness, that quite a considerable number of natives was turning out
+to meet them; but upon bringing the ship's telescope to bear upon the
+beach my uneasiness was to a considerable extent dissipated, for I then
+saw that the crowd was largely composed of women and children, while, so
+far as I could see, none of the men carried anything resembling a
+weapon.  Also I was unable to detect any sign of hostility or excitement
+on the faces of the natives; on the contrary, they all appeared to be
+smiling with the utmost good humour, and as Cunningham stepped out of
+the boat I saw one _cafe au lait_ coloured young minx dart forward and
+laughingly throw a garland of gay-tinted flowers round his neck.  The
+screech of delight with which this achievement was greeted reached my
+ears even where I was, a good half mile from the beach.  The laughing,
+shouting crowd then closed in upon the newcomers, and once again I
+became a trifle anxious; but presently I caught a glimpse of
+Cunningham's smiling countenance in the midst of the crowd, and a minute
+or two later the skipper and his bodyguard emerged, and, accompanied by
+the sandalwood merchants, walked off up a footpath that vanished among
+the trees within fifty yards of the shore.
+
+Then, to my annoyance, the natives gathered round the boat, and the
+crew, instead of returning forthwith, as I had instructed them to do,
+laid in their oars, stepped out of her on to the sand, and proceeded
+interestedly to inspect various articles which the savages seemed to be
+urging them to purchase.  As I continued to watch them through the glass
+I saw first one of our men and then another emerge from the crowd, go to
+the boat, and carefully deposit something--probably a "curio" of some
+kind--in her sternsheets, and then rejoin the laughing, gesticulating
+throng.  This went on for something like twenty minutes, by the end of
+which time my patience was quite exhausted; and I directed one of the
+hands to get out the ensign and bend it on to the main signal halyards
+while I went below to get a gun, intending to hoist the ensign and at
+the same time fire the gun in the air as a signal of recall to the
+recalcitrant boat's crew.  But when I returned on deck with the loaded
+weapon I was just in time to see the entire crowd retiring up the
+pathway, leaving the boat abandoned on the shore, with about a foot of
+her forefoot hauled up on the beach and her painter made fast to one of
+her stretchers, which had been thrust like a peg for about half its
+length into the sand!
+
+The man who was standing by to hoist the ensign grinned as he caught my
+eye.  "I guess them three jokers have toddled off up to the village," he
+said.
+
+But I had my doubts, and did not like the appearance of things at all;
+my former suspicions rushed back with redoubled force, and--
+
+"Hoist away that ensign," I said curtly; and as the man began to pull
+upon the halyards I lifted the gun to my shoulder, and, pointing it well
+out to seaward, pulled the trigger.  By the time that the smoke cleared
+away not a native was to be seen!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+TREACHERY!
+
+My first feeling was one of simple annoyance with the three men who
+constituted the boat's crew, because they had permitted themselves to be
+cajoled into visiting the village and leaving the boat unprotected upon
+the beach, instead of returning to the ship immediately after landing
+the skipper, as I had instructed them to do.  But when a full hour had
+elapsed, with no sign of the return of the truants, my annoyance began
+to give place to a feeling of rapidly growing anxiety; and when that
+hour grew to two, with still no sign of the absentees, my anxiety merged
+into a feeling of downright alarm--nay, more than alarm, into a
+conviction that something very serious had happened.
+
+And now I found myself in an exceedingly awkward predicament; for while
+I felt that something ought to be done, I could not, for the life of me,
+decide what that something should be.  Two alternatives suggested
+themselves, one being to arm all hands to the teeth, launch the gig, and
+go ashore to investigate; while the other was to remain aboard and
+prepare the schooner in every possible way to repel an attack, and at
+the same time to have everything ready for flight at a moment's notice,
+if need be.  The former was undoubtedly the proper thing to do, if one
+were to act upon the assumption that the natives had seized the white
+men who had landed, and were holding them as prisoners; but such an
+assumption was scarcely justified by the reputation which the Marquesas
+natives had earned for themselves, the story in circulation with regard
+to them being to the effect that it was their custom promptly to kill
+and eat any unfortunate whites who chanced to fall into their hands.  If
+the six men who had been decoyed ashore that morning were already dead,
+nothing was to be gained by landing the remainder of the _Martha's_
+crew, except the infliction upon the natives of a sharp punishment--at a
+considerable amount of risk to ourselves of further loss in the pitched
+battle which would assuredly ensue.
+
+Also there was the possibility--nay, more, the very strong probability--
+that while we were busily engaged on shore in the attempt to administer
+salutary chastisement for the betrayal of our shipmates, a party of
+natives might board the unprotected schooner, slip her cable, and run
+her ashore; and then where should we be, with no means of retreat
+excepting our boats, which would doubtless also be seized?  If we could
+only get hold of a native and ascertain from him what had become of the
+absentees we should know what to do: for if the missing men were merely
+prisoners we should be fully justified in taking the risk of attempting
+to rescue them; but if, on the other hand, they were already dead, the
+question of punishment might very well be left until a more fitting
+moment.  But now there was not a solitary native to be seen anywhere,
+which, in my opinion, was a decidedly bad sign.
+
+The arrival of noon--by which hour the skipper fully expected to be back
+aboard the ship, but was not--found me still undecided upon the question
+of landing; but I had so far made up my mind that I had determined to
+arm all hands and put the schooner into as efficient a state of defence
+as possible.  Accordingly I gave orders to have the arms and ammunition
+chests brought on deck, and instructed each man--there were only eight
+of us, all told, now--to arm himself with a cutlass and a brace of fully
+loaded revolvers, and also to have a loaded gun where he could put his
+hand upon it at a moment's notice.  Next I caused all fore-and-aft
+canvas to be loosed, all downhauls cast off, and all halyards ready for
+hoisting away at a moment's notice; and when these orders had been duly
+executed it seemed to me that we had done everything that was possible.
+
+Yet the schooner was still in a very defenceless condition, so far as
+resisting the simultaneous attack of several hundred determined natives
+was concerned: we might empty our firearms upon them, and if every shot
+told--which was most unlikely, in the excitement attendant upon an
+attack--we should kill or wound precisely fifty-six of them; after which
+the eight of us would be fighting, hand to hand, with the remainder, who
+would outnumber us by at least twenty to one, and probably twice that
+number!  What chance would we have under such conditions as those?
+Absolutely none at all.  If, now, it were possible to raise the
+schooner's bulwarks, or to render them unclimbable in some way!
+
+As I considered this the thought of the trawl net which the skipper had
+brought along for the purpose of dredging up the pearl-oysters occurred
+to me, and I instantly decided that it might, with a little ingenuity,
+be converted into an excellent boarding netting.  It was made of extra
+stout hemp line, to resist the cutting action of the oyster shells over
+which it was proposed to be dragged, and also to bring up a good heavy
+load without bursting, and I at once recognised that if there was enough
+of it to trice up all round the schooner--and I believed there was--it
+might serve to keep the natives off our decks long enough to enable us
+to give them so severe a punishing as to cool their ardour effectually
+and ultimately beat them off.  The idea was too good not to be utilised
+at once; and I gave instructions to have the net immediately routed out
+and brought on deck.  It was a big, heavy affair, and it took the eight
+of us the best part of half an hour to clear it out of the sail-room and
+get it on deck; but when at length we had done so I at once saw that,
+with a certain amount of cutting and contriving, it might be made to
+serve its new purpose very excellently: and forthwith all hands of us
+fell upon it, and by eight bells in the afternoon watch had converted it
+into an exceedingly efficient boarding net.  Then we triced it up, and
+felt that at last we were ready for whatever the fates--and the
+natives--might have in store for us.
+
+Meanwhile the jollyboat still lay abandoned upon the beach, and no sign
+of her crew or of the skipper and his two companions had been seen; nor
+had the strictest scrutiny, with the aid of the ship's telescope,
+revealed any indication of natives ashore: in fact, so far as
+appearances alone were concerned, the island might have been
+uninhabited.  But the continued absence of our shipmates, now prolonged
+far beyond all reasonable limits, left no doubt in any of our minds that
+something very seriously wrong had happened to them; and but for the
+circumstance that we were in complete ignorance as to what that
+happening really was, and the hope that some of them at least might
+still be alive, I would at once have got the schooner under way and gone
+to sea.  But to do that was impossible while their fate was still in
+doubt; for not even to ensure our own safety against the attack that we
+were all convinced was impending could we do that which would amount to
+the abandonment of possibly living white men to the mercy of the
+savages.
+
+With the tricing up and securing of the boarding netting our
+preparations for the defence of the schooner were completed to the best
+of our ability; and now all that remained was for us to sit down and
+passively await events, which, in the present case, meant an attack by
+the savages at any moment after darkness had fallen sufficiently to
+conceal their movements.  But, that we might be as fully prepared as
+possible, I gave instructions for the advancement of the supper hour, so
+that we might partake of that meal while there was still light enough to
+enable us to see our surroundings; and after that we busied ourselves
+about a general straightening up of the decks and the removal of all
+unnecessary hamper, in order that, if fight we must, we might at least
+fight with clear decks.
+
+Fortunately for us the night fell fine and clear, with brilliant
+starlight which enabled us to see all round the ship for a distance of
+about a couple of hundred yards; but inshore of us the shadow of the
+island lay jet-black upon the surface of the water, completely hiding
+all evidence of movement in that direction, even when I attempted to
+probe the blackness with the night glass.  Therefore we were obliged to
+trust quite as much to our ears as to our eyes for warning of the
+approach of an enemy; but even they did not help us much, for the island
+was but a small one, and the thunder of the surf upon its weather shore,
+borne to us with almost startling distinctness, mingled with the sough
+of the wind among the trees and the lap of the ripples alongside, making
+with these a combination of sound that effectually screened any such
+movement as the launching of a canoe or the distant dip of paddles.  I
+foresaw that this was likely to be a wakeful night for me, for with such
+a heavy load of responsibility upon my young shoulders I could not
+possibly have slept, even upon a bed of down.  I therefore instructed
+the men to bring their beds on deck and snatch such rest as might come
+to them, while I kept a lookout.  Also I made a point of striking the
+ship's bell regularly every half-hour, in the faint hope that if the
+savages could be brought to realise that we were upon the alert they
+might, after all, decide not to risk an attack.
+
+With incredible slowness the laggard moments passed; the second
+dog-watch came to an end; and then, still more slowly, as it seemed to
+my impatience, first one, then two, three, four, and so on up to eight
+bells of the first watch were tolled out, and still there were no signs
+of the enemy.  And all this while I was continuously padding round the
+decks in a pair of old felt-soled slippers, which effectually silenced
+my footsteps upon the planking, pausing for a moment at every half-dozen
+steps to peer anxiously but in vain into the shadow of the island for
+some indication of movement.  Finally four bells of the middle watch
+arrived, and their passage was duly recorded by the strokes of the
+ship's bell.  Meanwhile the stress of the day's anxiety, combined with
+my continuous and monotonous perambulation of the deck, and no doubt
+assisted by the soft coolness of the offshore breeze, laden with the
+odours of earth and vegetation, and the constant booming sound of the
+distant surf, was beginning to tell upon me; my jarred nerves had become
+steady, my breathing had become deep and regular, my limbs were growing
+weary, and my eyelids began occasionally to droop; in short, I was
+beginning to feel fatigued and in need of sleep.
+
+This, then, was evidently the moment at which to attempt to snatch a
+little rest, and I was debating within myself which of the men I should
+call to relieve me, or rather which of them I could best trust to keep
+an alert lookout, when I fancied I caught, just for an instant out of
+the corner of my eye, a faint, silvery gleam, as of the phosphorescence
+of disturbed water, deep in the heart of the darkest shadow in the
+direction of the beach.  I looked more closely, and presently saw again,
+this time quite distinctly, the rippling, moon-like gleam of water
+disturbed as it might be by the launching of a boat or a canoe.  Yes,
+there was no mistake about it, there was undoubtedly a movement of some
+sort in there; and even as I came to this conclusion I saw the thing
+repeated twice, thrice, five or six times, with spaces of a few yards
+between.  That was enough; at last the savages were on the move, and in
+a moment my fatigue fell from me like a garment, and I was once again
+the incarnation of alertness.  Without making a sound I glided along the
+deck in my old soft slippers, and, laying my hand lightly upon each
+sleeper's shoulder, murmured in his ear: "The enemy is under way!  Go to
+your station as noiselessly as possible, taking your gun with you; and
+do not fire until I give the word."
+
+By the time that I had awakened my little band, and had seen each man at
+his proper station, it had become perfectly apparent that eight canoes
+were stealing slowly out toward us from the beach; for although they
+were still enveloped in deep shadow, and were being paddled so
+cautiously that not the faintest suspicion of a sound could be heard, it
+was possible for us to see distinctly, in the midst of the blackness,
+eight separate points of disturbance, each indicated by short, wavering
+lines of phosphorescent light, marking the slight ripple created by the
+gentle passage of some object through the water, in addition to which an
+occasional small luminous swirl indicated the stealthy dip of a paddle
+in the water at infrequent intervals.  The excessive caution with which
+they were making their approach seemed to suggest an intention on the
+part of the savages to get as near as possible to the schooner
+unobserved, with probably a quick dash at the end to cover the last
+hundred feet or so of water.
+
+Crouching low behind the bulwarks, and levelling the ship's night glass
+over the rail, I kept the instrument slowly sweeping athwart the
+advancing line of craft, and at length saw eight large canoes gradually
+take shape as they drew imperceptibly out of the heart of the deepest
+shadow.  I endeavoured to count the number of occupants, but soon found
+this to be impossible in the dim light.  I made a rough guess, however,
+and came to the conclusion that there were at least twenty in each
+canoe; it was evident therefore that, despite our superiority in the
+matter of weapons, there was a desperate struggle in store for us.  I
+waited patiently until the canoes had approached us near enough to
+enable us to distinguish the loom of them with the unaided eye, and
+then, springing up on the wheel grating, I suddenly hailed:
+
+"Canoes ahoy!  Keep off there!  If you attempt to come any nearer I will
+open fire upon you."
+
+A complete cessation of paddling immediately followed my hail.  Possibly
+the savages were a trifle chagrined to discover that we were on the
+alert, or perhaps they did not fully understand what I had said--
+although I did not believe that, for most of the South Sea natives knew
+enough of English to enable an Englishman to make himself understood.
+Be that as it may, they paused long enough to enable me to call to the
+little band of defenders a final instruction.
+
+"Don't fire, lads," I said, "until you can see your mark distinctly.
+Then aim carefully, and make every shot tell.  Much will depend upon the
+effect of our first volley, which we must therefore make as deadly as
+possible."
+
+A low murmur of comprehension arose from the scanty crew ranged at wide
+intervals along the schooner's port rail, that being the side which the
+natives were approaching.  But before anything more could be said, a
+loud shout--in a voice the tones of which seemed somehow familiar to
+me--arose from one of the canoes, and was instantly answered by a yell
+that, from its volume of sound, must have emanated from the throats of
+nearly or quite two hundred savages; and then, without further attempt
+at concealment, a whole host of paddles suddenly dashed into the water,
+lashing it into long, swirling lines of luminous foam, and, with loud
+cries of mutual encouragement from the occupants, the eight big canoes
+surged forward and came rushing through the water at the schooner.
+
+"Keep cool, men," I shouted above the din: "pick your mark; aim into the
+thick of them; and load and fire as many times as you can before they
+can get alongside."  And forthwith I led off with a shot aimed straight
+at the centre of the dark mass which represented the nearest canoe, at
+that moment distant about two hundred and fifty yards.  My aim was true,
+and my bullet must have found a double mark, for two distinct shrieks
+responded a bare moment before a ragged volley of seven shots rang out
+from the rest of the defenders.  More shrieks followed this discharge,
+but it did not stop the rush of the canoes, which now came sweeping
+toward us like so many steamers.  Meanwhile I was busily engaged in
+slipping another cartridge into the breach of my piece, calculating upon
+being able to get in two more shots before the savages arrived
+alongside.  And so, as a matter of fact, I did, as also did some of the
+others, with disastrous results for the savages, if the shrieks that
+followed upon each discharge were to be accepted as any criterion; and,
+apart from that, there was a noticeable wavering and hesitation on the
+part of the crews of two or three of the canoes after that third
+discharge.  But the hesitation was only momentary; then the rascals
+gripped their courage afresh and drove their canoes alongside, four
+dashing up on our port side, and the remaining four essaying to board us
+to starboard.  And when the canoes were within about four or five
+fathoms of the schooner's side, with good way upon them, the savages
+suddenly laid in their paddles and, rising to their feet, hurled a heavy
+shower of spears at us, every one of which flew harmlessly over our
+heads, luckily for us.
+
+Then the heavy night air suddenly became vibrant with a medley of harsh,
+discordant sounds, compounded of the yells and shrieks of the savages,
+the fierce ejaculations of our own people, the quick, snapping
+explosions of revolvers, and the gasping groans of the wounded, as the
+natives swarmed up our low sides and suddenly found themselves
+confronted by the barrier of our improvised boarding net, through the
+meshes of which our lads pointed their revolvers and thrust furiously
+with their cutlasses, while the savages unavailingly strove to tear the
+stout strands apart and make an opening through which to pass, or thrust
+at us in their turn with their spears.  Suddenly, in the dim starlight,
+as I was busily reloading my revolver, I saw the cook emerge from the
+galley with what looked like a bucket in his hand.  With a quick twirl
+he seemed to throw the contents of this bucket through the net just
+where the savages were crowding thickest on the other side of it, and
+the next instant there arose a more than usually piercing chorus of
+shrieks, while the great bulk of the savages at that particular point
+appeared to melt away suddenly, and I heard the heavy impact of a number
+of bodies falling headlong into the canoes alongside.
+
+The "Doctor" paused a moment, apparently to note the effect of his
+experiment, and then he hastily returned to the galley, presently
+emerging again and repeating his former tactics with similar results.  I
+subsequently learned that, when it became known that an attack of the
+savages might be certainly looked for, the cook had lighted a rousing
+fire in his galley, filled his coppers with a mixture of slush and salt
+water, and brought the whole to the boil, so arranging the matter that
+the mixture was in a state of furious ebullition by the time the savages
+arrived alongside.  And wherever the blacks pressed thickest and most
+determinedly, there Cooky intervened with a bucketful of his scalding
+stuff, which he very effectively distributed over the naked bodies of a
+round dozen or so of our assailants by giving the bucket a neat twirl at
+the instant of discharge.
+
+But despite the effective aid thus rendered, matters were, on the whole,
+going rather badly for us, for two American forecastle hands were by
+this time down, transfixed by spears which pinned them to the deck,
+while the sailmaker and I were each punctured and bleeding freely, Sails
+having received a bad prick in his left shoulder, while a spear had
+passed completely through the fleshy part of my right thigh; in addition
+to which a party of savages, by concentrating their efforts upon one
+particular spot, had contrived to make a hole in the net, which they
+were rapidly enlarging.  Of this last fact I was happily unaware, as
+indeed I was of the critical character of our situation generally, for
+it was forward, where Murdock, the ex-boatswain of the _Zenobia_, was in
+charge, that matters were going so badly, while aft, where I was, we
+were doing pretty well.
+
+But Murdock was not the sort of man to be discouraged because for the
+moment he happened to be getting the worst of it; on the contrary, it
+was just that state of things that stirred him to extra effort, and it
+did so now.  Perceiving that, unless something were done to prevent them
+effectively, the savages would soon force their way through the net--and
+thereafter make short work of all hands of us--Murdock sets his wits
+going, and presently thought out a plan which he immediately proceeded
+to put into operation.  Seizing a half-empty case of revolver
+ammunition, he broke open about a dozen cartridges and arranged the
+powder in a little heap at the bottom of the case, burying one end of a
+length of extemporised fuse in the heap.  Then he piled the cartridges
+on the top of the heap, placed the case on the windlass bitts, ignited
+the free end of the fuse, and rushed aft, yelling to us to throw
+ourselves flat upon our faces as he did so.
+
+So urgent was his call that we all instinctively obeyed it; and there we
+lay for perhaps ten or fifteen seconds, while the savages, seeing the
+weak point suddenly deserted, swarmed about it in greatly augmented
+numbers, finally enlarging the hole in the net to such an extent that at
+length it was big enough to permit the passage of a man, when one after
+another they began to force their way through.  It was at this precise
+moment that the spark of the burning fuse reached the powder, which of
+course instantly blew up, igniting the hundred or so of cartridges that
+remained in the case, and scattering the bullets in them in all
+directions.  There was a quick flash of the ignited powder, immediately
+followed by the cracker-like reports of the exploding cartridges, a
+horrible chorus of yells and shrieks of wounded men, and then--sudden,
+complete silence, for the space of perhaps half a dozen breaths.  Then
+came renewed groans and outcries, as the injured men felt the first
+smart of their wounds, followed by a sudden wailing cry, and with one
+accord the panic-stricken savages flung themselves back into their
+canoes, seized their paddles, and headed for the shore in frantic haste,
+being presently sped upon their way by the bullets which we poured into
+their midst as long as they remained in sight.
+
+Then, and not until then, we laid aside our weapons, mopped the
+perspiration and powder grime from our streaming brows, bound up each
+other's wounds, and went forward to inspect the results of Murdock's
+little experiment.  It had been exceedingly effective, for scattered
+round the spot where the explosion had occurred we found no less than
+nineteen savages, of whom eleven were dead, five were more or less
+severely wounded, and three appeared to be only stunned.  These three we
+promptly proceeded to bind hand and foot, during which operation we
+discovered that one of the trio was none other than friend Oahika, our
+"bumboat man in or'nary", as the skipper had styled him.  I was
+especially glad that this particular rascal had fallen into our hands,
+for during the progress of the fight I had frequently caught sight of
+him, by the light afforded by the flash of our revolvers, and had
+noticed that he was taking an exceptionally prominent part in the
+proceedings; while one or two circumstances which I had also noticed led
+me to suspect that he might possibly be a person of some importance
+among the natives of Roua Poua.
+
+And now, as with the assistance of three lanterns we proceeded with our
+investigations, the really desperate character of the struggle in which
+we had so recently been engaged began to be borne in upon us; for, in
+addition to the nineteen who had fallen victims to the boatswain's
+contrivance, we found scattered about the ship twenty-six dead, and
+thirty-three more or less wounded natives; while others--with whom the
+sharks were already busy--were floating in the water near the ship.  As
+for ourselves, we had lost two foremast hands, both of them Americans,
+while the remainder of us, with the solitary exception of the cook, had
+each his scratch to show, my own and the sailmaker's being, fortunately,
+the only wounds that could be reasonably termed serious, while even they
+were of comparatively little moment, provided that gangrene did not
+supervene.
+
+And now, the natives having been beaten off, our next task was to
+straighten up after the fight, and a beginning was made by throwing all
+the dead--except our own two--overboard, where the sharks might be
+safely trusted to see to their speedy disposal.  Then we overhauled the
+wounded savages: and such of them as had received only trifling hurts,
+and might therefore perhaps yet give us trouble if we were not careful,
+we bound securely; while the others we laid out on deck, and then
+proceeded to doctor up as well as our means and our very limited
+surgical knowledge permitted.
+
+It was while we were all thus busily engaged that the boatswain,
+happening to straighten his back for a moment and cast an alert glance
+across the water toward the shore, suddenly stood rigid and staring, and
+then remarked to me, in a low tone of voice:
+
+"Just look over there for a minute, Mr Temple.  Ain't that a canoe or
+somethin' headin' this way?"
+
+I looked in the direction indicated, and at once sighted a small,
+shapeless blot of deeper blackness in the shadow that enshrouded the
+whole of the west side of the island.  But if it was a canoe it was
+certainly a very small craft; moreover, it was not coming from the
+direction of the beach, but from a point apparently about a mile to the
+north of it.  We stood watching it for a full minute, or more, and then
+I caught the now familiar phosphorescent gleam of water which indicated
+the presence of a moving object.
+
+"Yes," I said, "it certainly is a canoe, Murdock; but she seems to be
+only a very small affair, such as need give us no very serious amount of
+anxiety.  We will keep an eye upon her for a minute or two and see what
+she is after.  Perhaps it is a messenger from the natives coming off to
+treat with us for the surrender of the wounded.  I hope it may be,
+because then we shall perhaps learn what has become of the skipper and
+the rest of the missing men."
+
+As the canoe continued to approach, we observed a certain eccentricity
+in her behaviour, for instead of progressing in a straight line her
+course was a decided _zigzag_, now heading one way and now another, to
+the extent of about four points of the compass; still it looked as
+though she was aiming for the schooner, for her general direction of
+approach was toward us.  I procured the night glass and brought it to
+bear upon her, and was then able to distinguish that she was indeed an
+exceedingly diminutive craft, containing only one figure, who seemed to
+be sitting in her stern, and was paddling somewhat awkwardly, first on
+one side of her and then on the other, which probably accounted for her
+eccentricity of movement.  Furthermore, as I continued to watch, a
+certain suggestion of familiarity grew upon me in connection with the
+appearance and actions of the paddling figure; and finally, when the
+canoe had approached to within about a hundred fathoms of the schooner,
+I put down the glass and hailed:
+
+"Canoe ahoy! what canoe is that?"
+
+"Hillo! is that you, Temple?" came the reply in Cunningham's well-known
+voice.
+
+"Ay, ay," I replied, "it is I, right enough.  And glad I am to see that
+you are all right.  Do you happen to know anything about the skipper?"
+
+"Got him here, in the bottom of the canoe," was the reply.  "The poor
+old chap is rather badly hurt, I'm afraid.  Con-found this canoe!  Why
+won't the wretched thing go straight?"
+
+"It is because you don't understand how to handle her, I expect,"
+replied I.  "Do you know anything about the three men who took you
+ashore yesterday?"
+
+"No," answered Cunningham.  "Didn't they return to the ship?"
+
+"They did not; and I am very much afraid that we shall never set eyes
+upon them again."
+
+"Phew!" whistled Cunningham; "that's bad news, although I'm not very
+greatly surprised to hear it after the way that the beggars ashore
+behaved--Hillo! what's this?  Why--I say, Temple, there's a dead native
+floating about out here.  What's the meaning of that?"
+
+"It means that a determined attempt to capture the schooner was made,
+about two hours ago, and was very near being successful," said I.  "Do
+you mean to say that you did not hear the rumpus?"
+
+"Not a sound of it," answered Cunningham.  "But of course that may be
+accounted for by--but one can talk about that later.  Just heave me a
+rope's end, there's a good chap, and--I say, how are we going to get the
+skipper up on deck?  He's rather badly hurt, and can't manage without
+assistance, I'm afraid."
+
+The canoe was by this time close aboard of us, and a few seconds later
+she was brought alongside with the aid of the line which I hove to
+Cunningham.  Then I dropped lightly over the side into her, to see what
+could be done to help Brown, who all this time had remained perfectly
+silent.  I found him propped up in the eyes of the little craft, and
+when I stooped over him I saw that his eyes were closed, as though he
+slept.  But according to Cunningham it was not sleep, it was
+insensibility, resulting from a blow on the head with a heavy club.  In
+any case the poor old fellow was obviously quite unable to help himself.
+I therefore took the rope's end which I had thrown to Cunningham, made
+a standing bowline in the end of it, passed it under the skipper's arms,
+and then sang out to those on deck to hoist away gently, while
+Cunningham and I helped by lifting.  Thus presently we managed to get
+Brown first on deck and then down into his own stateroom, where
+Cunningham, who claimed to possess a certain amateurish skill and
+knowledge in medicine and surgery, at once took him in hand, while I
+returned to the deck and assisted the others in the task of
+straightening up generally.
+
+By the time we had finished the young dawn was paling the eastern sky,
+and the island, from being a mere shapeless black shadow, had changed to
+a deep neutral-tinted--almost black--silhouette, as clear and sharp of
+outline as though it had been cut out of paper, its equally dark
+reflection trembling on the surface of the water, and coming and going
+almost as far out as where the schooner lay at anchor.  Then, even as I
+stood watching, the pallor brightened to a clear, pale tint of purest
+primrose, which presently flushed into a warm, delicate orange hue; a
+long shaft of white light shot straight up toward the zenith, and an
+instant later the topmast branches of the trees that crowned the island
+became edged with a thin hair-line of burning gold, which spread with
+marvellous rapidity north and south until every limb and trunk glowed
+with it.  Finally a level beam of golden light flashed through a dense
+clump of foliage that crowned the highest point of the island, and the
+next instant that same clump became swallowed up and lost in a great,
+dazzling, palpitating blaze of golden light, which was the body of the
+rising sun; the colour of the island changed from neutral tint to deep
+sepia, and from that to innumerable subtle tones of olive and green, as
+the light grew stronger, and the masses of foliage separated themselves
+from each other and became distinct, until the shape of each became
+perfectly defined and took its proper place in the picture.  And while
+these magical colour changes were in progress the deep shadow which
+marked the junction of land and water dissolved until the beach once
+more emerged into view, with the jollyboat still hauled up on it where
+she had been left on the previous day, and round about her, to left and
+right, eight big canoes, undoubtedly those which had been used in the
+attack upon the schooner a few hours earlier.
+
+While I still stood gazing, entranced, at the beauty of the new day,
+Cunningham emerged from the companion way and joined me.
+
+"Well," he said, "you will be glad to hear that I think we shall pull
+the poor old skipper through, after all.  I started to give him a
+thorough overhaul as soon as you left me; and I found that those
+murdering thieves of natives had literally cracked the poor old chap's
+skull for him.  I also found that a tiny splinter of bone had been
+driven inward upon the brain by the force of the blow; and this splinter
+I succeeded in extracting, with the result that he emerged from his
+state of coma, and, after I had properly dressed his wound, went to
+sleep."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+WE LOSE THE SKIPPER.
+
+"I am delighted to hear it," I said, "for we have paid dearly enough
+already for our folly in coming to this island, without being called
+upon to pay the additional penalty of that poor old chap's life.  We
+have lost two of our number in the attack upon the ship, while the three
+hands who took you ashore yesterday are missing--and, by the by, where
+is Maybury?"
+
+"Dead, poor chap, I am sorry to say--murdered by those treacherous
+scoundrels of natives," answered Cunningham.  "The way of it was this.
+When we landed we were immediately surrounded by a mob of blacks; and
+just for a moment I had a shadowy suspicion that things were not quite
+all that they ought to be.  But as I looked round I saw that the natives
+were all unarmed; and, moreover, they were all smiling and apparently in
+the best of tempers--indeed, one of them, a girl, flung a garland of
+flowers round my neck, either as a joke or a sign of goodwill, I didn't
+quite know which--so I took it for granted that they were friendly
+disposed, and we all got laughing and joking together.  Then the
+skipper, Maybury, and I gradually worked our way through the crowd, and,
+accompanied by the men who had wood to sell, walked up through the
+village, which seemed to be inhabited chiefly by naked little
+piccaninnies, playing in the sand with the dogs, and women.
+
+"The village is about a quarter of a mile in length, and beyond it there
+are about twenty acres of cleared ground, planted with manioc, cassava,
+corn, and fruit trees--principally bananas, beyond which is the virgin
+forest.  Toward this we made our way, and, entering it, followed a bush
+path for about a quarter of a mile, until we reached a small open space.
+We had scarcely entered this when the three pretended sandalwood
+merchants simultaneously turned upon us, and, uttering a terrific yell,
+seized each of us by the arms, which they tried to confine behind our
+backs.  Taken unawares though I was, I struggled fiercely to throw off
+my particular assailant, but the beggar was a big sinewy chap, with
+muscles like steel, and ere I could wrench myself clear about a dozen
+other blacks sprang into the enclosure, evidently in response to the
+shout raised by our captors; and before I well knew what was happening I
+found myself upon the ground, with three or four savages sitting upon
+me, while others were binding me hand and foot.  While I was still
+struggling I heard the pop of a revolver twice, the reports being so
+close together that I knew at once they must have come from different
+weapons; and the next instant I heard a dull crack, a groan, and the
+fall of two heavy bodies upon the dry leaves and twigs which carpeted
+the floor of the open space where the struggle had taken place.  Then,
+when my captors had effectually secured my limbs, they raised me to my
+feet, and I saw the skipper lying, face downward, about a yard away,
+with his head bare, a small stream of blood trickling from it and
+clotting among his grey hair; while close to him lay Maybury on his
+back, quite dead, with a long spear driven right through his heart.
+
+"The blacks turned the skipper over, examined him closely, and then,
+finding that he was not dead, held some sort of consultation in their
+own language, the purport of which of course I could not gather; but the
+end of it was that they hoisted both of us upon their shoulders, carried
+us back to the village, and thrust us into one of the huts, where we lay
+untended for the remainder of the day and practically the whole of last
+night.  Then some time--about the small hours I think it must have
+been--a girl, who proved to be the same who had flung the garland of
+flowers round my neck, stole into the hut as silently as a ghost, laid
+her finger upon my lips--to indicate, I suppose, that I was not to
+talk--and deftly proceeded to cast adrift my bonds; after which she
+proceeded vigorously to chafe my ankles and wrists, in order to restore
+the circulation, which had been practically suspended by the tightness
+with which the ligatures had been bound.  And look here, Temple, if you
+should ever chance to have an enemy, and have a fancy to torture him,
+just bind his wrists and ankles tightly together and leave him for a few
+hours--that's all!
+
+"Well, when the feeling had come back into my limbs a bit, and I could
+move them without screaming, the girl produced some food and drink, and,
+although I don't in the least know what they were, I ate and drank
+freely.  Then, in the curious `pidgin' lingo that these people use when
+conversing with white men, the girl gave me to understand that my life
+and that of the skipper was in the greatest jeopardy, and that if I did
+not want particularly to die I must buck up and save myself and the
+skipper.  Then, taking command, she bade me lift the old man by the
+shoulders while she took his feet; and in this fashion we slipped out of
+the hut, seeing nobody, and made our way slowly through the wood until
+we emerged upon a little beach just on the other side of that headland.
+Then she drew out from among the bushes a small canoe, in the bottom of
+which she helped me to place the skipper; after which, with a warning to
+me to be exceedingly careful and to make no noise, she handed me a
+paddle, thrust the canoe afloat, and vanished.  And--and--well, that's
+all!  And now you may as well pitch me the yarn of your share of the
+night's doings.  If one may venture to judge by appearances you seem to
+have had a fairly lively time out here."
+
+"We have, I can assure you," said I; and then I proceeded to give
+Cunningham a detailed account of all that had happened during the
+absence of himself and the skipper.  I had scarcely finished when the
+cabin boy came up with the intimation that breakfast was ready in the
+cabin, and we accordingly went below, seated ourselves, and fell to.  We
+did not dally long over the meal, for there was still plenty to be done
+and thought about; but before returning to the deck I remarked to
+Cunningham that I should like to look in and see how the skipper was
+getting on, and we both entered the stateroom together.  To my surprise
+we found that the old chap was awake and seemingly feeling not very much
+the worse for the hard knock on the head which he had received; indeed,
+he wanted to turn out and dress and go on deck.  But Cunningham, who had
+assumed the role of surgeon, would not hear of such a thing--would not
+even permit Brown to leave his bunk; so, as a compromise, I just had to
+sit down and spin the whole yarn of our adventure over again to him.
+The poor old fellow seemed very much cut up when he learned that we had
+lost six men--all of them compatriots of his, too--and bitterly
+reproached himself for having come to the island at all.  Of course we
+comforted him as well as we could by pointing out to him that the
+happening was due not so much to want of precaution on his part as to
+the exceeding guile of the natives; and then I led the conversation
+round to the prisoners, and asked what he proposed to do with them.
+Cunningham was for taking the law into our own hands and inflicting upon
+them a salutary lesson by hanging one of them at the yardarm for each of
+our people who had been murdered; but Brown would not hear of this, and
+we were all three still discussing the matter when the cabin boy came
+down with a message from Murdock to say that a large canoe had just been
+launched from the beach and was heading for the schooner, and would I be
+pleased to go on deck.
+
+Of course I instantly obeyed the call, for my first idea was that
+another attack was possibly impending; but when I got on deck I found
+that the canoe, although a large one, was manned by only four natives,
+who were approaching us very slowly, and apparently with a considerable
+amount of trepidation, and that a large palm-leaf was conspicuously
+displayed in the bows of the craft, the latter being, as I interpreted
+it, intended to serve the purpose of a flag of truce.  Naturally we at
+once assumed our weapons, and saw that our firearms were fully loaded
+and placed handy for use, lest further treachery should be contemplated;
+and then I hailed the canoe and informed her occupants that if they had
+anything to say to us they might approach within easy speaking distance,
+but that they were not to attempt to come alongside without permission,
+and that if any such attempt were made they would at once be fired upon.
+And that there might be no misunderstanding upon this point I
+flourished a loaded gun in their sight, to show that we were quite
+prepared to carry out our threat.
+
+Slowly and hesitatingly the canoe continued to approach the schooner
+until she had arrived within about twenty fathoms of us, and then her
+crew backed water and brought their craft to a standstill.  A short
+consultation among them next followed, and then one of their number rose
+to his feet and hailed.
+
+"Master," he shouted, "we got it three mans ashore belong you.  You any
+mans got it belong we?"
+
+"Yes," replied I.  "We have eight of your people on board here.  Are the
+white men unhurt?"
+
+"No," was the answer.  "They all get it hurt leettle bit, not much.
+Black mans along you not hurt, eh?"
+
+"Three of them are unhurt; the others are wounded so they no can walk.
+What for you not bring it off those white mans with you?"  I demanded,
+adopting their peculiar mode of speech under the mistaken impression
+that I could thus make myself the better understood.
+
+"Those white mans no can walk too," answered my interlocutor.  "Suppose
+you want it them, we bring them off, and you give it us those eight
+black fellows belong we, eh?"
+
+So it was an exchange of prisoners that they had come off to negotiate,
+it appeared.  Well, I was more than willing to make the exchange, but I
+did not care to appear too eager; so I temporised by enquiring as to the
+nature and extent of the white men's hurts.  But they either could not
+or would not reply in a manner that was perfectly intelligible to me,
+and matters seemed to be approaching a deadlock when one of the canoe
+men started to his feet, and in an eager, impatient manner, asked:
+
+"Master, suppose you no got it Oahika aboard, eh?" which enquiry went a
+good way toward confirming my opinion that the rascal was a person of
+some importance.
+
+"Yes," I replied, "we got it Oahika, all right, not hurt one little
+bit."  Then, with some vague idea of trying the effect of a "bluff", I
+continued: "He great blackguard scoundrel!  He attack schooner last
+night, kill it two white mans!  By and by we hang Oahika up there until
+he go dead!" and I pointed to the schooner's lower yardarm.
+
+A yell of anguish immediately followed this announcement of mine, fully
+confirming me in the belief that Oahika was likely to prove a valuable
+asset if properly manipulated.  The next moment, however, one of the men
+jumped up and shouted:
+
+"Mine no believe you got it Oahika.  Suppose yes, you show it him, eh?"
+
+"Murdock, Simpson," I shouted, "just hoist that swab Oahika up on his
+feet and take him to the rail, so that those fellows in the canoe may
+see him."
+
+This was done; and the moment that the fellow's head and shoulders
+appeared above the top of the schooner's low bulwark another loud howl
+arose from the crew of the canoe, who incontinently flung themselves
+down on their knees and began to kow-tow energetically.  But they were
+quickly interrupted by Oahika, who shouted angrily at them, and then, as
+soon as he had secured their attention, proceeded to gabble to them a
+long string of what seemed to be instructions, in a language quite
+unintelligible to me.  When he had finished, the occupants of the canoe
+waved their hands, as if to indicate that they understood, then seized
+their paddles and began to sweep the canoe's head round toward the
+shore.  This sudden change of front rather puzzled me.  I did not quite
+know what to make of it; it might mean anything, I thought, and among
+other things it might mean that Oahika had given instructions to muster
+every available fighting man in the village--or the island--and renew
+the attack upon the schooner.  So I hailed the hastily departing canoe:
+
+"Hillo, there, canoe ahoy!  Where are you going, and what are you about
+to do?"
+
+The men ceased paddling for a moment, and one of them flourished his
+hand toward the island.
+
+"We get it back along ashore plenty quick and bring it them three mans
+belong you.  Then you give it us Oahika, eh?" he announced.
+
+"You bring the three white mans, and then we'll see," I retorted.
+"And--listen you--if you bring any more of your own men with you I shall
+shoot Oahika dead!  Sabby?"
+
+This threat, uttered upon the spur of the moment, seemed to disconcert
+them very decidedly, for they remained inactive, staring each other in
+the face.  It also seemed to disconcert Oahika; for no sooner had I
+finished speaking than he began to shout a long string of further
+directions, to which the canoe men replied from time to time by waving
+their hands.  Finally Oahika brought his communication to an end with a
+few words which, from the intonation of his voice, might have been an
+injunction to the men to hurry up; and away the canoe sped toward the
+shore.
+
+As soon as it had gone I went down below and reported to the skipper,
+who now seemed to be not quite so well as he had been half an hour
+earlier.  He was, naturally, very pleased to learn that the three men
+whom we had all believed to be dead were still alive; and he instructed
+me to make the best terms I could for their ransom, and, as soon as I
+had secured possession of them and the boat, to get the schooner under
+way and proceed to sea without further delay.
+
+The canoe had been gone about three-quarters of an hour when, watching
+the shore through the ship's telescope, I perceived a slight stir upon
+the beach, and presently became aware that a small party of natives had
+gathered about the jollyboat, which they pushed off from the beach,
+making fast her painter to the stern of the canoe.  Then other natives
+appeared, bearing in grass hammocks the three missing seamen, who were
+laid in the sternsheets of the jollyboat; and finally the canoe was
+manned, apparently by the same four natives who had previously come off
+in her, and headed for the schooner, whereupon I gave orders for the
+windlass to be manned and the cable to be hove short, all ready for
+tripping the anchor at a moment's notice.  This was done; and by the
+time the canoe was once more within hailing distance the cable was so
+taut up and down that a single additional revolution of the windlass
+barrel would break out the anchor and free us from the ground.
+
+And now came the really difficult part of my negotiation with the
+savages; for, being themselves superlatively unscrupulous and deceitful,
+they naturally suspected us of being the same, and would not come
+alongside, or render up possession of the jollyboat and the three
+wounded seamen whom she carried, until we on our part had released
+Oahika.  And this I flatly refused to do, feeling that, as likely as
+not, they would play us some scurvy trick as soon as they had recovered
+possession of the man who, I now very strongly suspected, was the
+paramount chief of the island, or, if not that, at least a chief of very
+considerable importance.  We argued, stipulated, and made counter
+stipulations, all to no purpose, and finally once more arrived at a
+deadlock.  Of course I might very easily have settled the matter by
+shooting the four natives in the canoe; but that would have been an act
+of the very blackest treachery, and I was strongly of opinion that it
+was just such treacherous conduct on the part of certain unscrupulous
+white men that had made the natives of some of the Polynesian islands
+the cruel, treacherous wretches that they had become.
+
+I therefore once more resorted to "bluff", by hailing them and saying
+that unless they came alongside at once and surrendered possession of
+the boat and those in her, I would get the schooner under way and
+proceed to sea, taking Oahika and the rest of our prisoners with me; and
+to make my threat the more effective I turned away and gave the order to
+man the windlass.  This was enough; with the first clank of the windlass
+pawls, Oahika, who had thus far taken no part in our second palaver, let
+out a yell at the men in the canoe which caused them to surrender
+instantly at discretion and rush their craft up alongside the schooner.
+
+And now I determined upon a bold thing.  These Roua Poua savages had
+caused us a vast amount of trouble and loss; through them we were
+short-handed to the extent of no less than six men; and I felt that for
+the sake of my own satisfaction and self-respect I must get something,
+though it were ever so little, back out of them.  Therefore, since we
+white men were all armed, and therefore in a position to take good care
+of ourselves, as soon as the tackles were hooked into the jollyboat's
+ringbolts I ordered the four savages in the canoe to leave her and come
+on deck to help to hoist in the boat; and this they did in a state of
+the most abject fear and trembling.  Then I sent them for'ard to the
+windlass to assist in breaking out the anchor; and it was not until the
+schooner was actually adrift that I permitted them to begin the transfer
+of their wounded from the _Martha's_ deck to the canoe.  They displayed
+remarkably little consideration for the comfort and wellbeing of their
+comrades in the performance of this duty; and indeed I have always been
+of opinion that had I been foolish enough to liberate Oahika before the
+others had been transhipped, he and his canoemen would have
+incontinently made off at top speed for the shore, leaving the others,
+sound and wounded alike, upon our hands and at our mercy.  But I was
+careful to keep Oahika until the last, and it was not until the schooner
+was fairly under way and heading out to sea that I cast him adrift and
+permitted him to go over the side, which he did in a splutter of mingled
+wrath and fear, pouring out a long string of what were probably native
+curses as he seized the steering paddle and violently thrust the canoe
+off the schooner's side.
+
+By midday we were bowling merrily away to the westward under every rag
+that we could set, and Roua Poua had sunk out of sight beneath the
+eastern horizon.  Long before this, however--in fact, the moment that
+they were safely aboard and comfortably bestowed in their bunks--
+Cunningham had taken the three wounded seamen in hand; and when he had
+done all that he could for them he came up on deck and reported to me.
+
+"I am afraid," he said, "that there is not much hope for those three,"
+with a jerk of his thumb in the direction of the forecastle.  "Sullivan
+and Halpin have had their skulls cracked by blows inflicted with a war
+club, and their cases are very similar to that of the skipper, but
+worse; while poor Glenn has no less than eleven spear wounds in his
+body, and though none of them is very serious in itself this heat makes
+me terribly afraid of gangrene.  However, I have done all that I can for
+them at present, and we must just hope for the best.  Glenn tells me
+that after the skipper and I had left them the natives came swarming
+round them, exciting their curiosity by exhibiting curios of various
+kinds for sale, or barter, rather, at ridiculously cheap prices, and so
+enticing them away from the beach toward the village, where, they were
+informed, some really valuable articles might be seen.  And then, when
+they arrived at the village, they were suddenly set upon before they had
+time to draw their weapons, overpowered, and confined in a hut, where
+they were left all day yesterday and all last night without food or
+water, and with their injuries untended.  I am afraid there is not much
+hope for them, poor fellows!"
+
+This was bad news--so very bad, indeed, that I felt it my duty to go
+forthwith to the skipper, report the matter to him, and ask for
+instructions; my own idea being that we ought to head for the Samoa or
+Tonga group, and procure properly qualified medical assistance with as
+little delay as possible.
+
+But when I got down below and began to talk to the Old Man I soon found
+that he was, for some inscrutable reason, utterly opposed to any such
+idea.  He would not give his reasons, but he positively forbade me to do
+as I had suggested, instructing me instead to work out a Great Circle
+track to Canton, and to get the ship upon her proper course at once.
+And as he seemed to be in full possession of all his faculties, and to
+know quite well what he was talking about, I had no alternative but to
+obey.  And indeed, so far as saving the three men in the forecastle was
+concerned, we might as well have been heading for Canton as anywhere
+else; for Halpin and Glenn died within a couple of hours of each other
+that same night, while Sullivan lingered only some twenty-six hours
+longer.
+
+I looked forward to a speedy and pleasant run to Canton, for I reckoned
+upon carrying the Trades with us practically all the way.  But we were
+unfortunate; for after a fine run of nine days to the northward and
+westward we ran into the belt of equatorial calms in latitude 4 degrees
+South, and for fully three weeks thereafter encountered such
+extraordinary weather that we dared not ship our fins, from fear of
+having them carried away, or of badly straining the schooner.  For
+instead of the long spell of calms which one usually expects in those
+latitudes the quiet weather generally lasted but an hour or two, and
+then was succeeded by such furious squalls that, for the most part, we
+could do nothing but run before them under bare poles; and perhaps the
+most exasperating part of it all was that these squalls blew mostly from
+the westward, or nearly dead in our teeth, so that it was only toward
+the tail end of them, just when they were dying out, that we were able
+to bring the little hooker to the wind for half an hour or so, and make
+a few miles of northing.  And when it was not blowing with hurricane
+strength it was usually just the opposite: a flat calm, with a black,
+lowering, overcast sky, moist, steamy, overpowering heat, heavy storms
+of thunder and lightning, torrential downpours of tepid rain--which, by
+the way, enabled us to re-fill all our water tanks and casks--and
+waterspouts _ad libitum_ constantly threatening us with destruction.
+
+It was a month, to a day, from the date of our departure from Roua Poua
+when we at length cleared the calm belt and got the first breath of the
+north-east Trades in latitude 3 degrees 47 minutes North, and longitude
+158 degrees 55 minutes West, having been driven back almost as far east
+as Christmas Island by the baffling winds and furious squalls with which
+we had been obliged to contend; and this brought the dangerous Marshall
+group right athwart our track.  Therefore, the poor old skipper being
+still unwell, and quite unfit for duty, I decided to make a good stretch
+to the northward--say as far as latitude 10 degrees North--before
+bearing up for Canton; by doing which I should have a clear sea before
+me for the remainder of the trip.
+
+I have spoken of the skipper as being unwell and quite unfit for duty;
+but that scarcely conveys a correct impression of his condition.  The
+fact was that he was well enough to be up and about on deck, but he was
+constantly worried with headache of the most distracting kind, and, what
+was still worse, his intellect seemed to be failing him: he suffered
+from frequent total lapses of memory, stopping short in the midst of a
+conversation simply because he forgot in a moment what he was talking
+about; and he was subject, from time to time, to hallucinations, when he
+would assure us, with the utmost gravity, that he was the King of
+England taking a holiday "incognito", the re-incarnation of Morgan the
+pirate, or something else equally ridiculous, while at other times he
+would be perfectly rational.  For the first two or three weeks, while
+these symptoms were in process of development, he caused Cunningham and
+me a very considerable amount of anxiety, for we were constantly
+dreading some new departure which would render him dangerous either to
+himself or to others; but at length, as we were unable to detect any
+such tendency, we grew easier in our minds, just allowing him to wander
+about the ship at his own sweet will, and amuse himself by giving the
+most extraordinary orders, which nobody ever even pretended to carry
+out.  We came to the conclusion that he was suffering from some obscure
+form of concussion of the brain, from which we hoped he might be
+relieved upon our arrival at Hong-Kong, where we expected to obtain
+efficient surgical assistance; but that, meanwhile, he was in no very
+serious danger.  As the event proved, however, we were all woefully
+mistaken.  We had made as much northing as I deemed necessary, and were
+bowling along upon a west-nor'-west course, reeling off our ten knots
+per hour, with all our flying kites abroad and a fine north-east breeze
+over our starboard quarter, when, about four bells in the first; watch,
+the skipper came up on deck complaining that he found it impossible to
+sleep in consequence of the extreme heat of his cabin.  The night was
+brilliantly starlit, and the air so clear that we could have easily
+distinguished a sail at a distance of two miles, had there been owe to
+see; but the light was not strong enough to enable me clearly to
+distinguish Brown's features, even when he was standing beside me, while
+the cabin lamp was turned low, so that there was not much light coming
+through the skylight.  But when the old fellow fell into step by my
+side, and began to talk quite rationally about the heat below, the
+impossibility of sleeping, and his gratification at the fine breeze
+which we had fallen in with, and so on, I was completely thrown off my
+guard; for he appeared to be in precisely the condition that I had often
+previously seen him in, when he had talked rationally enough for a time,
+taken a little walk--as he was doing at that moment--and then, suddenly
+forgetting what he was conversing about, gone below and slept for
+several hours.
+
+All at once, as we were walking to and fro between the main rigging and
+the wheel grating, the old fellow halted, pulled off his cap, extracted
+a big bandana handkerchief from it, and proceeded to mop his head and
+face, from which--as in my own case--the perspiration was freely
+pouring.
+
+"Great snakes," he ejaculated, "but it is hot, and no mistake!  The
+sweat's pourin' out o' me like water outen a sponge.  I guess that's
+what's makin' me so all-fired thirsty.  Where's the water cask?  I'm
+boun' to have a drink.  My tongue's so dry it's rattlin' agin my teeth!
+Can't ye hear it?  Where's that there scuttle butt, I say?"
+
+"Better not drink direct from the cask, sir," I said, for Cunningham had
+strongly urged us all to drink nothing but filtered water, and even that
+with a dash of lime juice in it, during the extreme heat.  "The filter
+stands on the sideboard, and there is an opened bottle of lime juice in
+the rack above it; you will find that very much cooler and more
+refreshing than the water from the scuttle butt.  That stuff is really
+not fit to drink."
+
+"But I'm so tarnation thirsty that I must have a drink," he insisted,
+"and I'd rather drink outer the cask than go below.  Why, man alive,
+that there cabin is like a oven!"
+
+"Oh," said I, glancing hastily round and noting that the weather seemed
+fine and settled, "if that is all I'll very soon slip down and fetch you
+up a drink!  Bring yourself to an anchor here on the wheel grating, sir,
+while I go below.  I'll be back in a brace of shakes.  Just keep your
+eye on him, Chips," I whispered to the carpenter, who was at the wheel.
+"I'll not be gone more than half a minute."
+
+"Right you are, sir," responded the carpenter, turning his quid in his
+mouth as the skipper obediently seated himself on the wheel grating,
+while I made a rush for the companion.  I turned up the cabin lamp,
+procured a tumbler, and was in the act of measuring out a liberal dose
+of lime juice when I heard the carpenter's voice suddenly upraised in
+accents of panic.
+
+"Man overboard!  Man overboard!!" he shouted.  "Mr Temple, come on
+deck, sir; the skipper's been and throwed hisself over the lee rail!"
+
+Flinging down the tumbler and bottle of lime juice, I mounted the
+companion ladder in two jumps, nearly dashing my brains out against the
+slide in my haste, and stared stupidly about me for a moment, being more
+than half-stunned.  Then, as I pulled myself together, I heard Chips
+repeating, parrot-wise:
+
+"He just laid his han's upon the rail and swung hisself clean overboard,
+like a boy jumpin' a gate."
+
+"Down helm, man; down helm and round her to!"  I roared.  And rushing to
+the main rigging I let go the lee braces and began to drag frantically
+upon the weather ones in an ineffectual effort to back the topsail.
+Then I remembered that the weather studdingsails were set, being
+reminded thereof, in fact, by the snapping of the topmast
+studdingsail-boom, as the schooner, with her helm hard a-lee, rushed
+furiously up into the wind, and her topgallantsail, topsail, and
+squaresail flew aback, and the broken spar began to thresh spitefully
+against the fore rigging in the fresh breeze.  I saw at once that I had
+made a mess of things to no purpose, and also stood to make a far worse
+mess of them if I was not careful; for the amount of sail which the
+schooner could carry while running off the wind was altogether too much
+for her when brought to, and she was now lying over with her lee rail
+buried, with the possibility that her masts might go over the side at
+any moment if she were not relieved in one way or another.  As for
+saving the skipper, that was impossible: for--as I had forgotten for the
+moment--we were now, owing to the loss of six of our foremast men,
+short-handed, and we could not possibly launch a boat until the schooner
+was snugged down; and by the time we had done that we should be miles
+away from the spot where the skipper had gone overboard, without any
+certain, definite knowledge as to the precise direction in which to look
+for him.  Therefore, all these circumstances coming to my mind in a
+flash, I jumped to the wheel and helped Chips to put it hard up again,
+luckily managing to get the little hooker before the wind once more with
+no further damage than the loss of a studdingsail-boom and the splitting
+of the lower studdingsail.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+THE WRECK OF THE "MARTHA BROWN".
+
+This last fatality had the rather curious result that of the entire crew
+who left Baltimore in the _Martha Brown_ only the cook and the cabin boy
+now survived, the remainder of the existing crew consisting of
+Cunningham, myself, and the boatswain, carpenter, and sailmaker of the
+_Zenobia_; it also resulted in the destinies of the ship and those
+aboard her, and the interests of poor old Ephraim Brown's widow,
+suddenly falling into my inexperienced hands.  This being the case, I
+decided to consult with Cunningham at once as to the proper steps to be
+taken under the circumstances, although my own view of the matter was
+perfectly clear and decided.  And that view, stated briefly, amounted to
+this: that my obvious duty was to do the very best I possibly could for
+Mrs Brown, and that, knowing quite clearly what the skipper's
+intentions were, I could not do better than carry them out in their
+entirety.  It was in this form that I laid the matter before Cunningham,
+asking him to give me his opinion upon it, and requesting him to suggest
+a better course if he could think of one; but he fully agreed with me
+that, the schooner being practically full of sandalwood, and being also
+within three weeks' sail of Canton, we could not do better than proceed
+to our destination, dispose of our cargo, invest the proceeds in tea,
+and then be guided by circumstances--or, rather, the state of the
+market--as to whether we should take the tea to Europe or America,
+ultimately returning to Baltimore, and there rendering an account of our
+stewardship.  And upon this understanding being arrived at, the voyage
+to Canton was continued.
+
+It was on the afternoon of the third day following the suicide of the
+skipper that the Trade wind, which up to then had been blowing with its
+usual steadiness, began to weaken, and upon consulting the barometer I
+found that the mercury was falling rather rapidly.  At the same time I
+became aware that the aspect of the firmament was undergoing a subtle
+change, the clear, brilliant blue of the sky gradually fading to a
+colourless pallor, as though a succession of veils of white gauze was
+being drawn across it, while the clouds, sailing up out of the
+north-east, paused in their flight and began to bank up in the
+south-west quarter.  These changes continued throughout the afternoon,
+the result being that the sun gradually became blotted out, and was
+entirely obscured about an hour and a half before the time of sunset.
+And with the disappearance of the sun the wind sank until it died away
+altogether and the schooner lost steerage way, while the heavens assumed
+a dark, lowering appearance, and the atmosphere became close,
+suffocating, and so oppressively hot that even the thinnest and lightest
+of clothing was an almost unendurable burden, and every article was
+dispensed with that could be discarded without outraging decency.  But
+although the wind had completely died away, the swell did not diminish;
+on the contrary, it seemed if anything to increase, for the schooner
+rolled and plunged most outrageously, shipping water over her rails, her
+bows, and even her taffrail, the water seeming to heap itself up
+suddenly and fall aboard her in the most extraordinary and unexpected
+manner.  It was evident that a change of weather was impending, and, as
+the mercury clearly indicated that the change would be for the worse, I
+caused the schooner to be stripped just before darkness set in, leaving
+only the reefed foresail and fore staysail set, under which short canvas
+I believed she could not come to much harm, let the impending weather be
+what it might.
+
+A quarter of an hour after the time of sunset the darkness was so
+intense that for all practical purposes we might as well have been
+blind, for at a distance of ten or twelve feet from the illuminated
+cabin skylight it was literally impossible to see one's hand when held
+close before one's eyes; while between the darkness and the violently
+uneasy motions of the little hooker it was positively dangerous to
+attempt to move about the decks.  As for staying below, it was out of
+the question, for the cabins were like so many ovens; therefore, after
+supper was over, Cunningham and I both returned to the deck, and,
+seating ourselves on the wheel grating beside the lashed wheel, chatted
+together while the engineer smoked pipe after pipe.
+
+It happened to be my eight hours in, that night; therefore, since it was
+hopeless to think of sleeping in my bunk on such a hot, breathless
+night, I stretched myself out on the wheel grating, shortly after eight
+bells of the second dog-watch, and was soon fast asleep, despite the
+hardness of my bed, while Cunningham sat near me, keeping such a lookout
+as was possible under the circumstances.
+
+It was seven bells, or within half an hour of midnight, when Cunningham
+awoke me.
+
+"Sorry to disturb you before your time, old chap," he apologised.  "I
+have been hoping that it might not be necessary to awake you until eight
+bells, but--just look at that sky!  What on earth does it mean; and what
+is going to happen?"
+
+I had started up, broad awake, the instant that Cunningham's hand
+touched my shoulder, and had at once become conscious of the very
+extraordinary and portentous aspect of the sky; it was therefore quite
+unnecessary for me to ask what he meant.  When, soon after the
+expiration of the second dog-watch, I had stretched myself out and
+fallen asleep on the wheel grating, the darkness had been as opaque as
+that of Egypt when Moses stretched forth his hand and there was a thick
+darkness in all the land for the space of three days, during which the
+Egyptians saw not one another, neither rose any from his place; but now,
+the moment that I opened my eyes, I saw that the plunging schooner, the
+restless, heaving surface of the ocean, and the overarching dome of the
+sky, packed with enormous masses of slowly working cloud, were all
+suffused with ruddy light, such as might be emitted by a volcano in
+furious eruption.  Yet no flaming crater was anywhere visible, nor did
+the light flicker or wax and wane, as it would have done had it issued
+from such a source; it was perfectly steady, and after I had gazed upon
+it for a time I could come to no other conclusion than that it emanated
+from the clouds themselves, which glowed with the colour of iron heated
+to a low red-heat.  I had never before beheld such a weird,
+awe-inspiring spectacle, but as I gazed upon it the memory came to me
+that I had somewhere read of something similar, and I also remembered
+that it had been described as the precursor of a hurricane, or some
+similar atmospheric convulsion.
+
+"I am afraid it means a heavy blow, a hurricane--or typhoon as they call
+it in these seas," said I: "and I am very glad that you called me, for I
+will take the hint and have the schooner battened down forthwith; also
+this is the first time I have ever witnessed such a phenomenon, and I
+would not have missed it on any account.  You might as well turn in now,
+if you care to do so," I added, "for I see it is not far off eight
+bells, and I shall not attempt to sleep again."
+
+"Thanks, no--not if I know it!" answered Cunningham.  "Like yourself, I
+have never seen anything of this kind before, and I intend to see all
+that I can of it now that I have the opportunity.  It began more than
+half an hour ago, the ruddy glare growing out of the inky blackness so
+subtly and imperceptibly that it is difficult to say precisely when it
+began, but I became conscious of it when I got up to strike six bells.
+Then it brightened so rapidly, and seemed so altogether unnatural, that
+at length I began to feel jumpy about it, and decided that the time had
+arrived when you ought to be called."
+
+"Quite right," I agreed.  "Well, if you won't turn in, perhaps you will
+be good enough to keep a lookout here while I go for'ard and see to the
+battening down.  There is not much to be done, but the little that needs
+doing might as well be done at once."  And therewith I left him and
+staggered along the squirming deck to the forecastle head, where Chips
+and Sails were perched upon the windlass bitts, out of the way of the
+water that was constantly slopping in over one bow or the other, talking
+together in a low-pitched murmur, and staring awestruck at the
+incandescent sky.
+
+"Well, Chips," said I, "have you ever seen anything like this before?"
+
+"Ay, sir, I seen the same thing once before, when I was in the
+_Tenedos_, one of the China tea clippers," answered the carpenter.  "We
+was in the Injin Hocean at the time, homeward-bound.  The skipper--Cap'n
+Bowers, his name was--was down with dysentery at the time, and the mate
+was one o' these here chaps that thinks they knows everything.  He
+'lowed that the weather signs didn't mean nothin' partic'lar, and
+wouldn't so much as take in the skysails--because, d'ye see, we was
+racin' home with another ship, and Mister Mate reckoned he wasn't goin'
+to be scared into shortenin' down just because the weather looked a bit
+unusual.  Consequence was that we was on our beam-ends about a hour
+a'terwards, with all three masts over the side and the ship threatenin'
+to go down under us.  A nice busy twenty-four hours we had of it a'ter
+that, I can tell ye, Mr Temple, and it ended up in our crawlin' into
+Table Bay under jury-masts, and lyin' there five solid months before the
+new spars comed out to us and we re-rigged the old barkie!"
+
+"How did it come down upon you then--in the shape of a sudden squall?"
+I demanded.
+
+"Well, no, not exactly that," answered the carpenter.  "It began wi'
+little whifflin' gusts that comed up from nowhere partic'lar, and was
+gone again afore you could say Jack Robinson.  They comed moanin' along,
+filled the canvas with a smack, and--there was an end o' that one.  Then
+another'd come along same way, do the same thing, and go floatin' away
+down to loo'ard.  It happened 'bout half a dozen times, and then, afore
+we knowed where we was, away come the hurricane, screamin' and yellin'
+like Billy-oh.  `Halyards and sheets let go, fore an' aft!' yells my
+noble Mr Mate--Bryce his name was; but, Lor' bless you, sir, afore we
+could cast off the turns from the belayin' pins the gale had hit us, and
+there we was, on our beam-ends, wi! the deck standin' up like the side
+of a 'ouse."
+
+"Well," said I, "that can scarcely happen to us, I think, with the small
+spread of canvas that we are showing.  But it will be bad enough when it
+comes, I doubt not; so go below and call Murdock, the cook, and the
+cabin boy, and say I want them to come on deck, as I am about to batten
+down the fore scuttle.  And when eight bells comes, you will have to go
+aft and stretch yourselves out on the cabin lockers, for the forecastle
+will be closed until this breeze is over."
+
+It took us but a few minutes to batten down the forecastle hatch
+securely, for there was a good tarpaulin cover that had been specially
+made to fit it; and when that was done I set our scanty crew to work--
+myself lending a hand--to secure the galley and the boats with extra
+lashings, so that they might not be washed away: and when we had
+finished, the cook entered his galley and shut himself in, to finish the
+night there.
+
+As it happened, we were none too soon in the completion of our
+preparations; for scarcely had we finished when the ruddy glow in the
+sky began to die out again, and as it did so the first of those
+scuffling puffs of which Chips had spoken came whining and moaning
+across the surface of the ocean from the south-west, filling our scanty
+spread of canvas with a resounding clap and then passing away toward the
+north-east, its track across the glistening surface of the ocean being
+marked by a dimming blur like a catspaw, which swept down toward us,
+touched us for an instant, and was gone again.  This occurred some seven
+or eight times at decreasing intervals, each succeeding rush of air
+being of a few seconds' longer duration than the preceding one, and
+coming with greater strength and spite, thus enabling us at last to get
+steerage way upon the schooner and partially turn her stern toward the
+point from which we expected the outfly to come.  And when presently it
+came roaring and howling and screaming down upon us, with such a medley
+of sound as might be expected from a legion of unchained furies, our
+port quarter was turned towards it, with the schooner in motion and
+paying off before it.  Yet, even so, it swooped down upon us with such
+appalling violence that the little vessel careened until her lee
+sheer-poles were buried and the water was up to the coaming of the main
+hatch.  But with way on her, her helm hard up, no after canvas set, and
+the hurricane dragging at her stout foresail, she could not help paying
+off, and after a long minute of heart-racking suspense, during which we
+momentarily expected her to keel-up with us, she suddenly righted and
+went flying away dead before the wind, with the water boiling under her
+bows up to the level of her head-boards.
+
+One of the _Martha Brown's_ good points was that she steered as handily
+as a little boat.  I therefore had no difficulty in keeping her dead
+before the wind without assistance, although Cunningham stood by to lend
+me a hand should I chance to need any help.  Also the water, apart from
+the boiling foam into which its surface was scourged by the hurricane,
+was perfectly smooth, the smallest suggestion of a wave crest being
+instantly seized by the wind and swept away to leeward in the form of
+fine, salt rain; indeed, the air was so full of spindrift and scudwater
+that I believed, even had it been daylight, we could not have seen
+farther than about two, or at most three, lengths from the ship.  As it
+was, with the outfly of the hurricane that weird, unnatural, ruddy light
+of which I have spoken almost immediately died out from the sky, leaving
+the night as pitch-dark as before, save for the ghostly gleam of
+phosphorescent light which arose from the storm-swept ocean, and which
+gave the water, as far as it could be seen, the appearance as if
+moonlight were shining up through it.
+
+When we had been scudding for a full quarter of an hour before that
+raving, screaming, howling fury of wind I began momentarily to expect
+and look for some indication that the worst was over, and to hope that
+the wind would moderate sufficiently to allow us to heave the schooner
+to before the sea should acquire height and weight enough to render the
+operation dangerous, for now every mile that we ran was carrying us just
+so much farther from our destination.  But as time went on the gale,
+instead of moderating, seemed to increase in strength, until I began to
+wonder how much longer hemp and pine and canvas could endure the
+terrific strain to which our foremast, its rigging, and the reefed
+foresail were exposed.  Still, although the mast was bowed forward in a
+curve that seemed to have approached perilously near to breaking-point,
+and although the shrouds and backstays were strained until they were
+hard as iron bars, everything was, so far, holding splendidly, and the
+schooner was rushing along at a speed which I was firmly persuaded she
+had never before approached.
+
+At length, after I had been at the wheel nearly three hours, Cunningham
+insisted on relieving me: and, to speak truth, I was more than glad to
+accept his offer, for notwithstanding that it was by that time blowing
+harder than ever, and that the wind continued to scoop up the water in
+such vast quantities that the air was thick with salt rain, a high and
+unpleasantly steep sea had gradually risen, chasing the schooner and
+constantly threatening to poop her, or broach her to, so that at length,
+in order to escape the one fate or the other, it became necessary to
+keep the wheel perpetually in motion, now to port and anon to starboard;
+and a couple of hours of that kind of work, combined with the heavy
+strain upon one's nerves, is enough pretty well to tire out the
+strongest--moreover, I was drenched to the skin.  Therefore I gladly
+made way for Cunningham, and, having first gone forward and directed
+Murdock to go aft and stand by the wheel, so that he might be at hand in
+the event of Cunningham needing any assistance, I returned aft--finding
+it necessary, by the way, to go down on my hands and knees and literally
+crawl along the deck, in order to make headway against the buffeting of
+the wind--and went below to my cabin, where I proceeded to strip off my
+wet clothes and subject myself to a vigorous towelling preparatory to
+donning a dry rig and my mackintosh.
+
+Taking my time over the operation, I had proceeded so far as to have
+donned a dry undervest and a pair of thin duck trousers; and, having
+rolled the legs of these up to my knees, was in the act of unhooking my
+long mackintosh coat from its peg, when a terrific shock hurled me
+violently against the cabin bulkhead, and the next instant a deafening
+medley of sounds, compounded chiefly of the crash of breaking spars, the
+wild yells of Cunningham and Murdock, the seething smash of a perfect
+mountain of water on the deck, the splintering of the glass in the cabin
+skylight and the pouring of a deluge of water down into the cabin, smote
+upon my ears.
+
+Partially stunned by the violence with which I had been dashed against
+the bulkhead, I made no immediate effort to rise, but remained passively
+where I had fallen, stupidly striving to realise what had happened,
+until a tremendous upheaval of the schooner's hull, by which she was
+hove completely over on her beam-ends, and a rush of water that
+half-filled my cabin awoke me to the consciousness that a catastrophe of
+some sort had overtaken us, and I scrambled awkwardly and with
+difficulty to my feet, pulling myself up by means of the knobs of the
+drawers under my standing bedplace, when another furious shock again
+upset me, and I fell squatting into the water violently surging to and
+fro athwart my cabin.  By this time, however, full consciousness of the
+serious character of the situation had come to me, and as the schooner
+was again hove up and almost on to her opposite beam-ends, I let go my
+hold of the drawer-knobs and went swirling out through my stateroom
+door, lifted fairly off my feet by the rush of water, and found myself
+swimming for my life in the main cabin, in the midst of a squadron of
+cushions that had floated or been flung off the top of the cabin
+lockers.  Then another mountainous sea swooped down upon and overwhelmed
+the hapless schooner, another deluge poured into her cabin through the
+smashed skylight and the companion, and had not a backwash of water just
+then swept me into the companion way and stranded me on the ladder, so
+that I could grasp the handrail, I should certainly have been drowned,
+for that second downpour filled the cabin to the level of the beams.
+
+As I pulled myself up and secured a footing on the companion ladder I
+felt the hull of schooner again soaring aloft, up, up, until it seemed
+to my excited imagination as though the little craft was being hove
+right up among the clouds and at the same time being capsized.  Then
+came the thundering crash of another mountain of water upon her deck,
+accompanied by the sound of rending woodwork as the companion cover
+parted company and was swept away; a whole Niagara of water poured down
+through the opening upon my devoted head, and as I clung to the handrail
+with the grip of a drowning man the schooner struck a third time, with
+such terrific violence that I fully expected the hull to go to pieces
+about my ears.  But no, the stanchly built little hooker still held
+together, although I knew that her bottom must be stove in like a
+cracked egg-shell; and presently, when I felt that I could not hold my
+breath for another second, I found my head once more above water, and
+saw dimly, close above me, the hole in the deck where the companion
+cover had once been.  Another moment and I had again found footing on
+the ladder, and, bruised all over and aching in every joint of my body,
+I crawled out on deck.
+
+Whether it was that my eyes had at last adjusted themselves to the
+darkness, or that the darkness was less profound than it had been, I
+know not, but as I emerged from the companion way and secured a footing
+on deck I became aware that I could dimly perceive my immediate
+surroundings.  The first object to catch my eye was the stump of the
+mainmast within a few feet of the spot where I was standing, and the
+instinct of self-preservation at once prompted me to make a dash at it
+and fling my arms round it, in order that I might not be swept away by
+the next sea which should break aboard.  And as I stood there gasping
+for breath and staring about me I discovered that I could not only dimly
+perceive my immediate surroundings, but that the entire hull of the
+schooner was visible as an all but shapeless black patch in the midst of
+a madly leaping chaos of swirling foam, which gleamed ghostly white in
+the light of its own phosphorescence.  It was still blowing as furiously
+as ever, and the air was thick with spindrift and scudwater, which
+blotted out everything outside the radius of some thirty fathoms on
+every side; but the schooner now seemed to be in comparatively smooth
+water, and I was not long in guessing at the reason, for, glancing to
+windward, I could dimly see, a few fathoms away, a great wall of
+spouting, leaping white breakers, evidently marking the position of the
+reef upon which we had struck so violently, and over which we now seemed
+to have beaten, for there were no further shocks.  But imperfectly as I
+could distinguish objects in the darkness, I could still see enough to
+convince me that the schooner was a complete wreck and full of water,
+for both masts were over the starboard side, still attached to the hull
+by the rigging, while every scrap of bulwark, boats, galley, in fact
+everything above the level of the deck, was swept away.
+
+A single glance sufficed me to grasp these details, and then I turned my
+gaze inboard again, wondering whether any of the others had survived
+that awful passage across the reef.  And as I did so the sound of
+someone vomiting close at hand reached my ears.
+
+"Who is that?"  I demanded, looking in the direction from which the
+sound proceeded, and as I spoke a figure uphove itself from among the
+raffle of the port main rigging, which lay athwart the deck, and a voice
+which I recognised as Cunningham's responded.
+
+"That you, Temple?" it asked.  "Ugh!  Ouch!  Ow!  By the Piper, this is
+awful!  I seem to have swallowed half the Pacific Ocean!  Ow!  Ugh!  I--
+Aw!  I say, old chap--auch!--where the dickens are we, and what has
+happened, eh?"
+
+"Where we are I'll be hanged if I know," I responded, "for all about
+here should be open water, according to the chart.  But it isn't, for
+we've just beaten over a reef and in all probability smashed the bottom
+of the poor little hooker to matchwood in the process.  And now the best
+we can hope is that there is land of some sort close under our lee, for
+if there isn't we are in a very pretty pickle.  Have you seen anything
+of the others?"
+
+"Yes," answered Cunningham, "Murdock is here; but I'm afraid he is badly
+hurt, poor chap, if not killed outright.  When the schooner struck, he
+and I were swept for'ard by the first sea that broke aboard, and the
+next thing I knew, when the water had gone, was that I was clinging to
+this rigging here with one hand, and that I had hold of somebody's leg
+with the other, that somebody being Murdock.  But he was--and still is--
+insensible, and I am afraid he must have been violently dashed against
+some of the wreckage, so I lost no time in making him fast to the first
+loose rope's end I could find.  But I say, if the schooner's bottom is
+stove, as you say, I suppose she'll sink in a few minutes, won't she?"
+
+"Sink!  With her hold full of sandalwood?  Not much!"  I retorted.
+"Still, I hope there is land not far away, for I have no fancy for
+washing about the Pacific on a crazy, waterlogged hulk, and that is the
+condition of the _Martha Brown_ at this moment.  But where are Chips and
+Sails and the boy?  I'm afraid we shall never again set eyes upon poor
+cooky, for he was in the galley, and that, I see, is gone, together with
+everything else that was on deck."
+
+"Yes," said Cunningham, "it went, I think, with the first sea that broke
+aboard us when we struck the reef.  And I don't know what has become of
+the others.  I seem to remember having seen two figures emerge from the
+companion way while I was busy with Murdock here, but I don't know what
+became of them.  I wonder whether we could do anything for the
+boatswain--the sea is no longer breaking aboard, and--"
+
+"Yes, of course," said I.  "Where is he?  We can at least discover
+whether or not he is alive."
+
+"Here he is, among all this raffle," answered Cunningham.  "The first
+thing, I suppose, will be to get him clear of it, and then--"
+
+"Well, I am afraid that is about all that we can do for him at present,"
+said I, as I moved across the sluggishly rolling deck toward Cunningham.
+I stooped beside him, and at his direction lifted the tangle of rigging
+beneath which the boatswain was lying, while he proceeded to cast off
+the lashings that had saved the inert body from being washed overboard.
+Then between us we dragged the man out to a clear spot on the deck,
+where Cunningham knelt, supporting the head and shoulders, while I tore
+open the front of the thin vest and laid my hand upon the broad, hairy
+chest.  The heart was beating, although but feebly; yet as Cunningham
+continued to support the man in a sitting position the beats gradually
+became stronger, and presently, with a groan, consciousness returned,
+and, heaving himself over on his side, with an ejaculation, poor Murdock
+began to vomit violently, as Cunningham had done, having evidently, like
+him, swallowed a great quantity of salt water.  For perhaps five minutes
+the paroxysm continued with severity; then, having rid himself of most
+of the salt water, the man, between groans, began to ask where he was,
+and then, as memory returned, informed us that he had received a violent
+blow on the top of the head which had knocked the senses out of him.
+Fortunately there was no wound; and after a while the boatswain was able
+to sit up unassisted, with his back against the stump of the mainmast.
+And then, having placed him in a tolerably comfortable position, we were
+free again to take cognisance of things in general, when we became aware
+of the fact that the schooner, although still rolling heavily with the
+movement of the water about her, had taken the ground; and upon looking
+away to leeward I thought I could perceive, through the flying spindrift
+and against the darkness of the sky, a darker shadow which could
+scarcely be anything else than land.
+
+When next we turned to Murdock, to enquire whether there was anything
+more that we could do for him, we found that he had fallen asleep, which
+was perhaps the best thing that could have happened to him.  We
+therefore left him to finish his nap and fell to pacing the weather side
+of the deck, between the main rigging and the taffrail, comparing notes
+as to our experiences; and while we were still thus engaged we became
+aware of two things.  The first of these was that the gale was breaking,
+while the second was that the dawn was at hand, for far away to leeward
+of us the sky was paling, down to a certain point, beneath which the
+shadow lay as dark as ever, but was assuming, even as we stood, a
+certain definiteness of shape, ultimately resolving itself into the
+outline of what seemed a distant hill, with deeper shadows between
+ourselves and it, which, in turn, developed into a low, bush-crowned
+cliff, out of the base of which a sandy beach presently grew as the
+light gathered strength.
+
+Then, quite suddenly, the clouds to windward and overhead broke up into
+detached masses, between which a few stars twinkled transiently before
+they vanished in the fast-growing light of the new day; and the cloud
+masses drove away to leeward and disappeared, revealing a sky of the
+deepest, richest ultramarine, softening away down in the eastern quarter
+to a tone of the palest and most delicate primrose, against which the
+outline of the distant hill stood out, sharp as though cut out of paper,
+so deeply purple as to be almost black.  Then, the light coming so
+swiftly that the eye scarcely found time to note the multitudinous
+changes of tint accompanying it, the sky behind the hill flushed from
+palest primrose to rich, glowing amber; a few evanescent shreds of cloud
+midway between horizon and zenith blushed rosy red at being caught
+unawares by the sun's first rays, then vanished; a pencil dipped in
+burning gold outlined the crest of the distant hill for a few seconds,
+and then the upper edge of the sun's disk, palpitating with living
+light, floated up into view beyond the ridge of the hill, and in an
+instant the whole scene, save the beach, which still lay in the shadow
+of the cliff, became a picture of brilliant, dazzling light and colour.
+To seaward, about two miles distant, was the creaming surf, sparkling
+diamond-like as it plunged down upon the reef over which we had driven
+and then leaped and spouted thirty feet high into the clear air before
+the wind caught it and tore it into mist; while shoreward there
+stretched a line of curving sandy beach, about a mile in length, forming
+part of the shore of a shallow bay into which we had driven and wherein
+the schooner now lay stranded.  The beach was distant about half a
+cable's length from us, and was backed by a rocky cliff averaging about
+fifty feet in height, crowned by a growth of low scrub, over the top of
+which appeared what now seemed to be a low, flat-topped hill, distant
+perhaps three miles inland.
+
+The beach immediately to leeward of the schooner was strewed with
+fragments of wreckage, among which we recognised the galley and some
+fragments of the boats; but what gave us the greatest satisfaction of
+all was to see two apparently inanimate figures--those of the carpenter
+and the sailmaker--rise slowly to their feet, walk down to the water's
+edge, stare intently in our direction under the sharp of their hands,
+and then wave their hands frantically in response to our waving, as they
+recognised the fact that we were aboard the wreck, and for the present,
+at all events, safe.  Then they put their hands trumpet-wise to their
+mouths and evidently hailed us; but the roar and the crash of the surf
+on the reef were so deafening that it was impossible for us to catch a
+word of what they said, and, recognising this, they presently turned and
+walked up the sand until they came to a dry spot, where they sat down,
+with the obvious intention of awaiting events.  As for Cunningham and
+myself, we could do nothing but abide in patience where we were until
+the surf upon the beach should moderate sufficiently to render it safe
+for us to swim ashore, the wreck being swept so clean that, without
+breaking up the deck, there was not a fragment of timber left out of
+which to construct a raft.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+THE ISLAND.
+
+By the time the sun had been risen about an hour, Cunningham and I
+became aware that it needed something more than a mere shipwreck to rob
+us of our appetite, for we found ourselves rapidly developing a good,
+wholesome hunger; but, alas! there were no means of appeasing it, for
+the schooner was full of water and everything in the nature of
+provisions was quite un-get-at-able: we should therefore be obliged to
+wait for a meal until we could get ashore, which, we decided, could
+scarcely be until the afternoon, if even then.  And we soon came to the
+conclusion that our companions ashore were in like case with ourselves,
+so far at least as hunger was concerned, for about half an hour later we
+saw them rise to their feet, point first to their mouths and then to the
+top of the cliff, and presently proceed to the cliff foot, evidently in
+search of a spot at which it might be climbed.  And although, viewed
+from the wreck, the cliff appeared to be quite vertical, they soon found
+such a spot; for, as we watched, they began to ascend the cliff,
+zigzagging to right and left and apparently following something that by
+courtesy might be called a path, for they walked rather than climbed it,
+reaching the top in about five minutes.  Then, with a wave of the hand
+to us, they turned into the bushes and disappeared, returning about an
+hour afterwards with what, as they held it up for us to see, looked like
+a small bunch of bananas.
+
+Meanwhile, the gale having broken, the wind rapidly dropped, until about
+midday it fell stark calm.  But it was not until nearly sunset that the
+surf on the beach had abated sufficiently to render it at all safe for
+us to attempt the swim from the wreck to the shore, by which time we
+were both so ravenously hungry that we were prepared to take quite an
+appreciable amount of risk, if by doing so we could procure the
+wherewithal to appease our craving for food.  And while waiting for the
+sea to go down we employed our time usefully in cutting adrift the
+rigging by which the broken masts remained attached to the wreck, thus
+giving the wreckage a chance to drive ashore upon the beach, where we
+should eventually want it.
+
+At length, however, when the sun had dropped to within some fifteen
+degrees of the western horizon, and was shining full into the bay where
+the wreck lay, the sea had so far gone down and the surf on the beach
+had so far abated as to render it possible for us to land without
+incurring much risk of injury to our limbs; we therefore awoke Murdock--
+who had passed most of the day in sleep--and, finding him in pretty good
+form after his long rest, forthwith proceeded to make the attempt.  The
+distance which we had to traverse was a mere trifle of about fifty
+fathoms or thereabouts, and we did perfectly well until we reached the
+inner line of breakers; but there, as luck would have it, something went
+wrong with the boatswain, and without saying a word to either of us he
+suddenly flung up his hands and disappeared, at the precise moment when
+the comber had us in its grip and was about to fling us up on the beach,
+and when, consequently, it was most necessary that each of us should be
+perfectly free to look after himself.  Fortunately, however, we were all
+swimming close together, and as Murdock disappeared, Cunningham and I
+with one accord dived and made a grab at him, catching him just as the
+breaker curled over and broke, hurling us all forward in a smothering
+swirl of foam; and the next instant we were all being rolled over and
+over upon the sand.  Then, as we came to rest, I dug my toes and the
+fingers of my disengaged hand deep into the sand, ready for the
+backwash, while, as it afterward appeared, Cunningham did the same; and
+after a severe struggle of a few seconds' duration the water receded,
+leaving us stranded and gasping for breath, when Chips and Sails, who
+had been on the watch, rushed down into the water, and, in obedience to
+a gasped request from me, seized the boatswain's insensible body and
+dragged it up out of reach of the next breaker, while Cunningham and I
+scrambled to our feet and staggered after them.
+
+Once ashore the boatswain soon recovered from his fainting fit, or
+whatever it had been, whereupon we all seated ourselves in a circle upon
+the sand and feasted upon bananas, afterwards slaking our thirst at a
+little runnel of deliciously cool, sweet water that the carpenter had
+discovered, earlier in the day, trickling out of the cliff at no great
+distance from the point at which the wreck had come ashore.  And while
+we were eating, the carpenter informed us that he and the sailmaker had
+been stretched out upon the schooner's cabin lockers, fast asleep, when
+she struck upon the reef for the first time; and that, awakened by the
+violence of the shock and the crash of the falling masts, they had
+leaped to their feet, and, scarcely knowing what they did, rushed up on
+deck, only to be swept overboard the next instant by a heavy sea which
+broke over the ship.  Neither of them knew, at the moment, what had
+befallen the other; but from what they told us it was evident that the
+same sea which washed them overboard swept the schooner's deck of
+everything and carried away her bulwarks: for when, fighting for breath,
+they rose to the surface, each of them found himself close to a mass of
+floating wreckage, to which he clung desperately, and so was eventually
+flung up on the beach, with the life so nearly battered out of him that
+it was just as much as either of them could do to crawl far enough up
+the beach to get beyond the reach of the deadly backwash, when they both
+collapsed, and so lay senseless until they were revived by the rays of
+the morning sun.
+
+There were, however, two still missing, namely, the cook and the cabin
+boy.  The former of these we found, quite dead, shut up in the stranded
+galley; but exactly what became of the cabin boy we never knew, for we
+never found a trace of him, alive or dead.  We buried the body of the
+cook that same evening in the sand, using fragments of splintered
+planking wherewith to dig the grave, after which we flung ourselves down
+upon the dry sand above high-water mark, and, completely worn out, slept
+soundly until the following morning.
+
+We awoke shortly after sunrise, to find the weather gloriously fine, the
+Trade wind again blowing briskly, and, to our very great surprise, the
+wreck but a few yards from the shore, in very little over two feet of
+water.  But a single glance around us at the greatly altered appearance
+of the beach, as compared with what we had seen of it on the previous
+day, sufficed to explain the apparent mystery.  The tide had something
+to do with it, of course, for it chanced that the schooner had come
+ashore on the very top of the highest spring tide: but it was perfectly
+evident that, apart from this, the water in the bay had been piled up to
+quite an unusual height by the gale; hence when the storm had subsided
+and the ocean had once more found its normal level the wreck was left
+little short of high and dry.  This was quite a stroke of good luck for
+us; for we subsequently discovered that the range of tide in that
+particular part of the ocean was so exceedingly small that, even at
+high-water, we were able to wade right out to the wreck, while the
+wreckage which had been cast ashore on the previous day was now lying
+high and dry far up the beach, and quite beyond the reach of the
+ordinary tides.  We were thus saved a vast amount of trouble, for
+although, when we began salvage operations, it was still necessary to do
+a certain amount of rafting in order to convey heavy articles ashore,
+light articles, such as we could carry, could be taken thither by the
+simple process of lowering them over the side to one of our companions,
+who then carried them ashore in his arms or on his shoulders.
+
+But there were one or two matters demanding our immediate attention, the
+first being breakfast, while the next was the settlement of the very
+important question whether or not the island happened to possess other
+inhabitants than ourselves, and, incidentally, if so, what would be
+their attitude toward us.  And this last was a matter of the most vital
+importance to us; for our experience, gained during the collection of
+our cargo of sandalwood, was that while the natives of certain of the
+islands were gentle, kindly disposed toward strangers, and perfectly
+harmless, those of others were exceedingly jealous and suspicious,
+fierce, treacherous, bloodthirsty, and in some cases actually cannibals.
+Of course if it should so chance that we had been cast away upon an
+island inhabited by natives possessing the last-named characteristics,
+our prospects of ultimate escape with our lives were what poor old
+Skipper Brown would have designated as "purty slim", and until the point
+could be determined it behoved us to be exceedingly careful.  Therefore,
+after discussing the matter at a sort of council of war, it was decided
+that, important as it might be to explore the island and ascertain its
+capabilities and limitations without delay, it was still more important
+and urgent to provide ourselves with the means of self-defence.
+Accordingly, while Chips and Sails again undertook to climb the cliff
+and procure some bananas for breakfast, Cunningham and I, accompanied by
+the boatswain--who seemed, after a good night's rest, to be little the
+worse for the happenings of the previous day--agreed to wade off and
+board the wreck, with the view of securing such weapons and ammunition
+as were come-at-able, and had not been spoiled by sea water.
+
+The arms chest, although actually under water, was secured without
+difficulty and carried ashore, together with several bottles of oil
+which we were able to rescue from the lazarette; and, this done,
+Cunningham and I set to work, immediately after breakfast, thoroughly to
+dry, clean, and oil all the weapons and put them in perfect working
+order, although such ammunition as we had been able to find was
+completely ruined by sea water.  But I seemed to remember having heard
+our late skipper say that there was a reserve stock, packed in
+waterproof zinc-lined cases, stowed away somewhere in the ship;
+therefore, while Cunningham and I were engaged upon the task of cleaning
+the arms, the other three men went aboard the wreck and proceeded
+systematically to salve the entire contents of the lazarette, with the
+result that, before the day's work was ended, they had found cases
+yielding no less than one thousand rounds of gun ammunition and two
+thousand revolver cartridges, all of which proved to be in perfect
+condition.  We were thus pretty well provided with the means of
+self-defence, and, given something in the nature of a fairly strong
+defensive position, ought to be able to render a reasonably good account
+of ourselves.
+
+The next thing to be done was to find that defensive position; the
+following day was therefore devoted to a thorough exploration of the
+island by the entire party, the expedition setting out immediately after
+breakfast, each of us being armed with cutlass, gun, and a brace of
+revolvers, with a good supply of cartridges in our pockets.  Thus far we
+had observed nothing indicating that the island was inhabited by others
+than ourselves: but it must be remembered that the schooner had been
+wrecked in a bay hemmed in on the land side by cliffs, and that hitherto
+our farthest excursion had been to the top of the cliffs and just the
+few yards inland which were necessary to enable us to procure bananas
+from the trees growing right up to the cliff edge; the remainder of the
+island was therefore, so far, a _terra incognita_ to us all, and might,
+for aught that we could tell to the contrary, be swarming with savages.
+We therefore decided to proceed with caution, all keeping close
+together.
+
+To scale the cliff proved a very easy matter, for the carpenter and
+sailmaker had, on their first day ashore, found what might be termed a
+sort of natural stairway zigzagging up it, consisting of a series of
+rock projections, or ledges, up and down which it was possible to pass
+with little or no difficulty, and which served our purpose admirably.
+
+Having climbed this stairway, we found ourselves at the top of the cliff
+and confronted by a dense undergrowth of jungle, consisting for the most
+part of an inextricable tangle of tough creepers, interspersed with
+shrubs and trees of various kinds, many of which seemed to be fruit
+bearers.  Among these we recognised the plantain, banana, custard-apple,
+loquat, granadilla, guava, pawpaw, and some others with which none of us
+were acquainted; the fruit, however, was neither very plentiful nor very
+fine, most of the trees being so completely smothered with creepers that
+they could get neither sun, air, nor room enough to grow properly.  We
+pushed through this brake for about a mile, working steadily uphill all
+the time, and frequently being compelled to cut a way for ourselves with
+our cutlasses, finally emerging upon a kind of ridge, bare of scrub, but
+richly carpeted with guinea grass, with a few tall trees of various
+kinds scattered here and there about it.  But although this ridge, or
+plateau, was comparatively open, our view was still exceedingly
+circumscribed, for we were hemmed in on every hand by the bush belt,
+which seemed completely to cover the entire island, except the plateau
+upon which we stood and the bald summit of the curious-looking hill or
+mountain about two miles distant.  The summit of this hill, which
+appeared to be flat, and which we estimated to be about three thousand
+feet higher than the ridge upon which we were then standing, promised to
+afford us a perfect view of the whole island; therefore, as the day was
+still young, we at once decided to make our way to and survey our domain
+from it.
+
+The crest of the ridge upon which we stood appeared to lead straight
+toward the mountain, moreover it was not nearly so densely overgrown as
+was the lower ground; our progress, therefore, was tolerably rapid, and
+in the course of an hour we found ourselves clear of the bush and
+standing upon the lower slopes of the mountain.  And then we knew that
+the towering mass in front of us could be nothing else than a volcano,
+either dormant or extinct, for there was no sign of smoke rising from
+its summit, although the nature of the soil around us, consisting as it
+did of pumice stone, scoriae, and ancient lava, left no doubt as to the
+character of the mountain.
+
+And now began the really difficult part of our task.  Although the
+ground was entirely bare of vegetation the surface was so exceedingly
+rough and broken, and so loose, that progress was very slow, becoming
+more so with every forward step; for while the lower slopes of the
+mountain were of quite an easy grade, they rapidly steepened as we
+advanced, until the last five hundred feet or so approached so nearly to
+the perpendicular that at length further progress seemed to be all but
+impossible, and we could only advance a yard or two at a time, climbing
+upon hands and knees, with short spells of rest between the spurts.
+
+But when at length, about midday, we finally reached the summit, it was
+unanimously agreed that our toil was amply rewarded, for the entire
+island lay stretched out at our feet like a map, with mile after mile of
+the blue, foam-flecked ocean reaching far away to the horizon on every
+hand, while away in the south-western quarter, a hundred miles distant
+perhaps, there appeared a faint film of misty blue which indicated the
+presence of other land.  But this last was much too distant to interest
+us in any way; it was our own particular domain that absorbed all our
+attention, and the first thing that we observed about it was that its
+length ran practically east and west.  It was of very irregular shape,
+the most graphic way of describing it being, perhaps, to say that in
+general outline it somewhat resembled a rather acute-angled triangle,
+with two large pieces bitten out of it near the base, one bite having
+been taken out of the north side, while the other and larger had removed
+the south-west angle and formed the bay in which lay the wreck.  The
+acute angle pointed toward the east, and the sides of the triangle were
+much twisted and broken.  The mountain, upon the summit of which we
+stood, occupied the middle of the eastern half of the island, and proved
+to be, as we had anticipated, the crater of an apparently extinct
+volcano.  The interior of the crater was elliptical in shape, about a
+mile long by half a mile wide, and was a funnel-like opening about five
+thousand feet deep, with practically perpendicular sides.  It resembled,
+as much as anything, an enormous well, for there was water at the bottom
+of it, though probably of no great depth.  Also at the bottom, all round
+the edge of the water and for some distance up the sides, there were
+enormous quantities of what we judged to be sulphur.
+
+The top edge of the crater, which from below presented the appearance of
+a flat-topped hill, was about thirty feet wide and tolerably level; we
+therefore had no difficulty in walking right round it, and so obtaining
+a complete view of the entire island, which was everywhere covered with
+verdure, save immediately round the base of the volcano.  But although
+the outline of the island was very irregular, there were only two
+indentations worthy of the name of bays in it, namely, the one in which
+the wreck lay, and which we at once decided to name South-west Bay, and
+another at the north-west extremity of the island, which we named North
+Bay.  These two bays were the only portions of the coastline possessing
+anything in the nature of a beach; and, that fact once established, we
+knew that if natives existed anywhere on the island, we should find
+traces of them on one or the other of the bays.  But we had already
+learned that there were none on the shore of South-west Bay; and now,
+carefully examining the other bay, we could see no trace of canoes on
+its beach, or huts along its margin, neither could we detect the
+slightest sign of a smoke wreath in any direction.  We therefore finally
+came to the conclusion that, excepting ourselves, the island was without
+inhabitants, and one source of anxiety was thereupon removed from our
+minds.
+
+Standing upon the edge of the crater and looking westward, we obtained a
+perfect view of the whole of the western half of the island, including
+both bays; and, looking down upon the land below us from a great height,
+as we now did, we were able to form a very accurate idea of its origin,
+which we at once judged to be volcanic.  The entire island, in fact, was
+evidently the summit of a volcano projecting above the surface of the
+ocean, the two bays above referred to having evidently been at one time
+two craters or vents for the internal fires, since both were encircled
+by reefs which had all the appearance of having been at one time part of
+the lip of the respective craters.
+
+As we stood up there, studying the conformation and general appearance
+of the island, we fell to discussing our future prospects, and soon
+arrived at the conclusion that, situated just where the island happened
+to be, far away from all the regular ship tracks, its very existence
+apparently unknown--since it was not marked upon the chart--it might be
+months, or even years, before we should be rescued by being taken off by
+a ship; and that therefore our wisest course would be, first, to save
+everything possible from the wreck, and then carefully break her up,
+using her timber to build some sort of a craft to convey us back to
+civilisation.  This would at all events keep us busy and our minds
+occupied, giving us an object in life--something to strive for, think
+about, and achieve--and thus preserve us all from falling into a low and
+despondent frame of mind; and if in the end a ship should happen to
+appear and take us off, why, so much the better, while if nothing of the
+kind occurred we should in due time be able to effect our own escape.
+Cunningham was particularly enthusiastic over the scheme; yacht
+designing, it appeared, was a hobby of his, and he promised us that if
+we would only give him a free hand he would design us something which
+would not only be fairly easy to build, but would also be safe and
+comfortable, and quite capable of conveying us all to any part of the
+world we might choose as our destination.  This struck me as a far too
+ambitious project for five men to undertake; but when, later on, we
+again discussed the matter, with a chart of the Pacific before us, and I
+discovered that the Sandwich Islands, the nearest civilised land, lay
+some fourteen hundred miles distant, I changed my opinion.  I had
+already done one ocean trip in an open boat, and had no desire to
+attempt another.
+
+On our way back to the beach abreast the wreck, which now constituted
+our temporary home, we took a look at North Bay.  With this, as a place
+of residence, we instantly became violently enamoured: because, in the
+first place, it was open to the north-east Trade wind, and was therefore
+far cooler and more pleasant than the beach of South-west Bay, shut in
+as the latter was under the lee of high cliffs, and opposed to the
+afternoon sun; next, there was a little stream of delicious fresh water
+falling over a low cliff into a small rock basin, affording an ideal
+freshwater bath; next, we discovered a fine large, perfectly dry cave,
+close to the shore, with an entrance so narrow that it constituted of
+itself a perfect rock fortress; and, lastly, a large and varied
+assortment of very fine fruit trees was discovered growing quite close
+to the beach, only needing to be cleared of the undergrowth to make a
+splendid orchard.  The one drawback to the bay was that it was about two
+miles distant from the wreck, near which we should of necessity be
+obliged to establish our shipyard; but its many advantages so far
+outweighed this that we took possession of the cave there and then, and
+slept in it that night.
+
+And now ensued a particularly busy time for us all; for when we came to
+consider the situation we found that there were several matters
+demanding our attention, and they were all of so urgent a character that
+it was rather difficult for us to determine offhand which should be the
+first to receive it.  For, to begin with, we were all agreed that unless
+something quite unforeseen and unexpected, in the nature of a call at
+the island by a ship, should occur in the meantime, we must be prepared
+for a sojourn of at least a year in our present quarters; and that, of
+course, meant that we should be obliged to give serious consideration to
+the question of the maintenance of our health, which, in its turn, meant
+that we must carefully regulate our diet, and alter it as much as
+possible, not depending too much upon fruit, but varying it by a
+frequent change to fish, our only possible alternative.
+
+But we soon discovered that in order to catch fish, as well as for many
+other purposes, it was not only very desirable, but also almost
+imperatively necessary _that_ we should have something in the nature of
+a boat, which, of course, remained to be built.  Then there was the
+salvage of everything contained in the wreck of the schooner, including
+the timber and metal of which she was built; to say nothing of certain
+gardening operations projected by Murdock, with the object of improving
+the quality of the fruit growing in the immediate vicinity of our cave,
+the cultivation of certain vegetables, and sundry other schemes having
+for their object the betterment of our condition during the period of
+our sojourn upon the island--Murdock's hobby happening to be gardening,
+as Cunningham's happened to be yacht designing (and, as often happens
+when men take up some useful occupation as an amusement, both soon
+proved themselves to be exceptionally skilful in all matters relating to
+their respective hobbies).  Therefore, while Chips, Sails, and I went
+strenuously to work upon the operation of salving everything that we
+could find aboard the wreck, the boatswain, with the assistance of poor
+Cooky's fire shovel, and a few other iron implements which he converted
+into tools, devoted himself to the production of a fruit and vegetable
+garden in the immediate neighbourhood of our cave dwelling, clearing
+away all the scrub which grew around and choked some two dozen fruit
+trees, digging and hoeing up the soil, and planting therein every
+potato, onion, and bean that we could find for him among the cook's
+stores aboard the ship.  And while he and we were busy in the manner
+described, Cunningham rescued a few sheets of paper and some lead
+pencils from the skipper's cabin, carefully dried the former, sharpened
+the latter, and, with an empty packing case for table, and a scale
+constructed with the assistance of the carpenter's two-foot rule,
+assiduously devoted himself to the task of designing what he called a
+"catamaran" for immediate use, and then a small schooner by means of
+which we were eventually to make our escape from the island and return
+to civilisation.
+
+The catamaran struck me as being a particularly simple and ingenious
+affair, some of its many merits consisting in the facts that it needed
+no moulds for its construction, that it could be built of any fragments
+of wreckage that were too short and too much splintered and damaged to
+be of use in the construction of the schooner, and that it needed no
+very elaborate working or shaping.  It consisted essentially of two
+oblong tanks or boxes, each thirty feet long by two feet wide by two
+feet six inches deep.  These boxes were not unlike a Thames fishing punt
+in shape, although they were, proportionately, much narrower and deeper.
+The bottom of each was perfectly flat transversely, and also
+longitudinally, except at the ends, where it curved up gradually in a
+semi-parabola until it met the gunwale.  These two boxes, or punts,
+having been decked over and made perfectly watertight, were then joined
+together--with a space of eight feet between them--by stout beams, over
+the after part of which was laid the schooner's wheel grating, to serve
+the purpose of a deck; a broad-bladed steering paddle was fitted
+securely into a grommet attached to the aftermost beam; the punts were
+simply rigged with an enormous lateen sail made out of the schooner's
+tattered foresail, and there we had a nondescript kind of craft, thirty
+feet long by twelve feet beam, drawing only about eight inches of water
+when light and on an even keel, buoyant, unsinkable, and uncapsizable,
+which, when we came to try her, developed a speed under sail that was
+positively astounding, and went to windward like a racing cutter.
+
+She was wet, of course, particularly when driven hard to windward, but
+in such a climate as we now enjoyed, to be drenched with salt water was
+a pleasure rather than otherwise, and, regarded as a drawback, was not
+worth a moment's consideration.  It took us a month almost to a day to
+build and rig her complete; and after our first trial of her we almost
+invariably used her to go to and fro between the two bays, although the
+trip by water was about seven miles in length, as compared with the
+short cut of two miles overland.  Yet we did it either way in a little
+over half an hour, while the sail home in the evening, after a hard
+day's work, was much the more exhilarating mode of travelling of the
+two.  And what, perhaps, gratified us as much as anything in connection
+with the construction of this exceedingly useful craft was that in
+building her we had not been obliged to touch the schooner at all, but
+had drawn for our material entirely upon the loose wreckage of bulwarks
+and so on that we had found strewn about the beach on the day after the
+wreck, together with four stout saplings which we cut down to serve as
+beams, and which we found to be exceedingly tough and in many respects
+to resemble elm.
+
+And while the carpenter, the boatswain, Sails, and I had been
+strenuously at work upon the construction of the catamaran, Cunningham
+had been quite as industriously employed upon his design for the
+proposed schooner, working alone, day after day, in our cave dwelling
+round at North Bay, evolving his half-breadth and body plans, his
+midship section, buttock lines, water lines, diagonals, and all the rest
+of it; ruling in, rubbing out again, calculating, altering, modifying,
+and patiently labouring to get his several drawings to agree accurately
+with each other, and resolutely refusing to be satisfied until he had
+got everything exactly to his liking: and at length he was able to
+display to us, not altogether without pride, the completed draught of as
+pretty a little ship as I think I ever set eyes upon.  He had taken, as
+the foundation of his design, the shape of the _Zenobia's_ gig, in which
+we had made our memorable Atlantic voyage, and out of which we had been
+taken by poor old Skipper Brown, that fine little craft having produced
+a profound impression upon him, in consequence of the splendid qualities
+as a sea boat which she had exhibited.  But the new craft was of course
+to be much bigger than the gig, for she was not only to be completely
+decked from stem to stern, but was to be sufficiently roomy in her
+interior to enable us to perform a voyage of over a thousand miles with
+a very fair measure of comfort.  Her principal dimensions, therefore,
+were forty feet on the water line by ten feet beam; and, in order to
+provide a reasonable amount of headroom below, as also to make her
+weatherly, she was considerably deeper in proportion than the gig, and
+much sharper in the floor, this providing her with plenty of power for
+her size, by means of which she would be enabled to make good way even
+in a heavy head sea.  Her bow was an almost exact reproduction of that
+of the gig, rather long and overhanging, with plenty of "flare" to lift
+her over a head sea, and she was provided with an even longer counter,
+which gave her after-body a remarkably smooth and easy delivery; while,
+for the rest, her water lines were almost those of a racing yacht, so
+that I concluded she would be exceedingly nimble under her canvas.
+Altogether we were immensely pleased with, and not a little impressed by
+Cunningham's effort; but I could not help reminding the others that it
+was one thing to draught a smart little vessel on paper, and quite
+another to build her with such resources as we had at our disposal.
+Chips, however, who of course knew--or should have known--more about
+such matters than any of the rest of us, while not exactly pooh-poohing
+my reminder, was confident that--as he expressed it--we were men enough
+to bring the scheme to fruition; and with that assertion I was obliged,
+by no means unwillingly, to rest satisfied.
+
+Meanwhile, however, a great deal still remained to be done before we
+could start work upon the new schooner; for although we had by this time
+salved everything from the wreck--and it was astonishing how much and
+what a wide variety of things we found in her--she still remained to be
+broken up; and we agreed that that should be our next job.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+TWO IMPORTANT EVENTS OCCUR.
+
+It may be thought that there is little or nothing of interest to be
+found in the operation of breaking up the wreck of a ship, but I, who
+have assisted in such an operation, can testify most strongly to the
+contrary; for when the work is undertaken as we undertook to break up
+the wreck of the _Martha Brown_--that is to say, carefully, taking her
+apart plank by plank and beam by beam, exactly reversing, in fact, the
+several processes by which she was put together--there is plenty of both
+interest and instruction to be found in observing the numberless
+ingenious devices which have been resorted to by the shipwright to join
+together the several members of the hull in such a manner as to ensure
+the maximum of strength, so that, when once joined together, no strain
+short of that involving the absolute destruction of the material should
+be capable of pulling them apart again.  We who had been aboard the
+schooner during the time of her passage across the reef, and had
+experienced in our own persons the terrific violence of the shocks to
+which she had then been subjected, were amazed that she had not been
+shattered like an _egg_ shell; but when, later on, we came to dismember
+her, we were still more amazed to find how little damage, comparatively
+speaking, she had sustained while passing through that fearful ordeal on
+the reef, and what extraordinary exertions were needed to wrench her
+several parts asunder.  But a detailed description of the varied schemes
+to which we were obliged to resort in order to effect our purpose would
+be of no interest to the general reader; I will therefore content myself
+with the bare statement that it cost us six weeks of the hardest labour
+I ever performed in my life to reduce the _Martha Brown_ to her
+component parts, and to stack the materials upon the beach in readiness
+for use in the construction of the new schooner.
+
+In fairness to ourselves, however, it must be said that during part of
+that time there were only four of us engaged upon the work, Cunningham
+being busy upon calculations of stability, the relative positions of the
+centre of gravity and the metacentre of the new schooner, and I know not
+what beside, in connection with the determination of the amount of
+ballast that would be needed, the position of the masts, and the area
+and proportions of the several sails--for now that the engineer was
+fairly mounted upon his new hobby there was no possibility of dragging
+him out of the saddle.  He had several novel theories which he was
+anxious to test, and he was resolutely determined that the new schooner
+should be as nearly perfect as his skill could make her; he therefore
+simply scoffed at us when we pointed out that time was flying,
+indignantly demanded to be told what mattered a few days more or less in
+comparison with the importance of the matters with which he was dealing,
+and returned to his figures with renewed zest.
+
+But all things come to an end sooner or later, and the day at length
+arrived when Cunningham completed his final calculation, drew his last
+line, and carefully rolled up his completed drawings, to await the
+moment when they would be called for upon the beginning of the important
+task of laying the keel of the new schooner.
+
+Now, if I have succeeded in portraying anything like a true picture of
+our life upon the island, the reader will have gathered the impression
+that, after the first day following the wreck, we were constantly in a
+condition of breathless activity, due to the fact that there were so
+many matters, each of apparently paramount importance, all clamouring
+for our instant attention, and that, at the beginning at least, we
+strove to attend to all these several matters at the same time, doing
+first a little to this, and then a little to that or the other,
+according to what we believed at the moment to be most pressing.  And
+this state of affairs prevailed with us until we had salved everything
+possible from the wreck, and until we had built our catamaran; after
+which we felt that we might with advantage adopt some sort of system in
+the arrangement of our work.
+
+Now among a number of the things that we desired to do, but had
+postponed in favour of other matters, which had seemed more pressingly
+urgent, was the exploration of our cave.  This cave was situated only
+some thirty yards from the beach, in North Bay, in the heart of a
+steeply rising acclivity which gradually merged itself in the plateau
+constituting the western extremity of the island.  It was only by the
+merest accident that we had discovered the existence of the cavern on
+that day when we undertook the exploration of the island--although there
+is no doubt that we should have found it sooner or later--for the
+entrance was so small that only one person could pass through at a time,
+and even then only in a crouching position; and it was this latter
+circumstance which at first so strongly commended the place to us as a
+residence, for it was in fact quite a stronghold in its way, being
+capable of defence for a practically unlimited period by a single armed
+man.  Once past that low and narrow opening, however, one found oneself
+in quite a spacious chamber of roughly circular shape, some thirty feet
+in diameter by about twelve feet high, with a perfectly smooth, dry,
+sandy floor, rendering the cave a most comfortable place of abode, as we
+discovered when we had taken up our quarters in it.
+
+Thereafter we had all been so strenuously busy that, with the exception
+of Cunningham, we had used the cave merely as a sleeping place; while
+the engineer, absorbed in his drawings and calculations, had never
+thought of exploring the cave and examining its extent, resting
+satisfied with the knowledge that the place was amply large enough for
+all our requirements, while the situation of the island rendered the
+presence of wild animals or noxious reptiles within it an impossibility.
+And so, absorbed in our various occupations, we had allowed the matter
+to go on from day to day, recognising, in an abstract sort of fashion,
+the fact that it would be no more than an act of common prudence to
+examine the cavern, but daily postponing the examination until a more
+convenient season.  Thus the matter had been allowed to slide until the
+day finally arrived when Cunningham reached the end of his labours--
+rather earlier than he had anticipated--and, having put away his papers,
+suddenly bethought him that here at last was his opportunity to give the
+interior of the cavern a thorough overhaul.  He accordingly provided
+himself with an abundant supply of dry branches, to serve as torches,
+lighted one of them, and proceeded forthwith to investigate, with the
+result that about an hour later he startled us all by unexpectedly
+emerging from behind a thick clump of bushes on the beach of South-west
+Bay and frantically waving a lighted torch in his hand, under the
+influence of such violent excitement that when we dropped work, and ran
+to him to learn what was the matter, we found him to all intents and
+purposes incoherent for the moment.
+
+"Hurrah, you chaps, hurrah!" he yelled, waving the flaming torch above
+his head as he advanced to meet us.  "Aren't we a lot of lucky dogs, eh?
+Cheer, you beggars, cheer, and split your throats!  Who wouldn't be
+shipwrecked, if they could meet with such a slice of luck as ours?  By
+George!--I say, Temple, kick me, old chap, will ye, just to convince me
+that I'm awake."
+
+"Steady, man, steady!"  I returned, seizing him by the shoulder and
+giving him a good shaking.  "What in the world is the matter with you,
+and what is all the excitement about?  You don't mean to say that
+there's a ship in sight, standing in for the island, do you?"
+
+"Ship!" he retorted, in accents of ineffable contempt; "not much, there
+isn't.  No, it is something infinitely better than that.  It is this, my
+son, that when we leave this island we do so as a little bunch of
+bloated plutocrats--millionaires, my boy, millionaires!"
+
+"Millionaires!"  I ejaculated.  "What on earth does the man mean?  What
+are you driving at, Cunningham?  Can't you pull yourself together and
+tell us in plain English what has happened?"
+
+"I know," exclaimed Parsons, with sudden illumination.  "He've found a
+buried treasure!  Ain't that it, Mr Cunnin'ham?"
+
+"Ay," answered Cunningham, "you are right, in a way, Chips, certainly.
+But it is no pirates' hoard that I have found--no chests heaped high
+with cups and candlesticks of gold and silver and jewelled weapons, and
+overflowing with necklaces, bracelets, and rings torn from the persons
+of shrieking women; it is something far better than that.  It is a gold
+mine, in the heart of yonder hill."
+
+"A gold mine!"  I returned, in accents of deep disappointment.  "Surely
+that is nothing to get into such a tremendous state of excitement about.
+We have no tools with which to work it, and--"
+
+"Tools!" repeated Cunningham with withering scorn; "we have all the
+tools we shall need.  See this," and he produced from his pocket a
+nodule of a dull, reddish-yellow colour, of irregular shape, and about
+the size of a small egg.  "I picked this out of the soil with my
+fingers.  And there is plenty more where this came from."
+
+I took the nugget in my hand and examined it curiously.  There was
+nothing very remarkable about it excepting its weight, which was very
+great for an object of its size.  But it was gold, without a doubt; I
+had seen and examined gold nuggets before, and could not be deceived.
+
+"Where did you find this?"  I asked, as I passed the thing on to Murdock
+for his inspection.
+
+"In our cave--or rather in a passage leading from it to this beach,"
+answered Cunningham, who had by this time regained his composure.  "You
+see," he continued, "the way of it was this.  I have finished my
+calculations and drawings--finished them rather earlier to-day than I
+expected; and I thought that, as I had an hour or two to spare, I might
+as well employ the time in giving the cavern a thorough overhaul.
+Accordingly I provided myself with some dry branches to serve as
+torches, lighted up, and proceeded to look round.  Then I found that, as
+I have more than once suspected, there was an opening at the back end of
+the cavern, giving access to another chamber almost as large as the one
+which we occupy; while beyond that again there are other passages and
+chambers--seven of the latter in all--communicating with each other, and
+ending in a long, tortuous cleft forming a passage which leads out
+there, behind those bushes.  But it is the last chamber of all, the one
+nearest in this direction, that is the marvel.  Unlike the others--all
+rock chambers--the one about which I am now speaking is a great hollow
+in what appears to be a `fault' of stiff clay; and, man alive, that clay
+is as thick with gold nuggets as a pudding is thick with plums!  There
+must be more than a hundredweight of nuggets actually in sight,
+protruding from the walls and floor of that chamber, every one of which
+may be picked out with no other tools than a man's fingers; so what
+there is hidden, and just waiting to be dug out, heaven only knows, but
+there must be tons upon tons of it!  Come and see for yourselves.  Never
+mind about your work for the rest of the day, come and look at your
+fortunes; it is not every day that you will see such a sight, I give you
+my word."
+
+Well, of course, you will guess that we did not need a second
+invitation.  There were we, five men cast away upon an uncharted island
+in mid-Pacific, far from all the usual ship tracks; our hopes of rescue
+consisting in the possibility that we might be taken off, sooner or
+later, by a stray whaler, or, failing that, of effecting our escape
+eventually in a craft to be built by ourselves--provided that we should
+prove possessed of the requisite skill to build her out of the materials
+at our disposal.  At that moment, and under those circumstances, gold
+was just about as valueless to us as the pebbles on the beach; yet such
+is the magic of the word that no sooner was gold mentioned than we all
+incontinently dropped our tools, and, quite forgetting that it might be
+our fate never to escape at all from the island, eagerly followed
+Cunningham, consumed with impatience to view this wonderful find of his.
+
+And wonderful, in truth, it was.  The way to it was through what
+Cunningham had aptly described as a cleft, the outer extremity of which
+was in the face of the cliff, so completely concealed from the beach by
+a clump of bushes that it might never have been discovered, except by
+the merest accident.  The cleft was exceedingly tortuous as to
+direction, narrow, so low that in places it was necessary to go down
+upon hands and knees to effect a passage, full of awkward and unexpected
+projections, rough and uneven of floor, with here and there little pools
+of water which had dripped from the roof and sides.  We traversed about
+a mile of this, and then suddenly emerged into a great, shapeless hollow
+in what appeared to be a wide stratum of stiff brown clay, sandwiched
+between two almost vertical layers of sandstone, which seemed to have
+been turned over during some tremendous natural convulsion, perhaps when
+the island was hove up above the surface of the sea.  And what
+Cunningham had said respecting the abundance of gold was strictly and
+literally true: the nuggets were as thickly arranged, proportionately,
+as raisins in a Christmas pudding; there were hundreds of them in sight,
+singly, at distances apart of not much more than a foot, and in little
+groups of half a dozen or more, almost touching each other.  Within two
+minutes I dug out, with my fingers only, a nugget shaped somewhat like a
+potato and as big as an orange, and the dislodging of that revealed
+another sticking in the clay behind it.  Naturally we all with one
+accord went to work picking out nuggets, some using our bare fingers
+only, while those who happened to have knives about them used them.  In
+the course of half an hour we had each picked out as many nuggets as we
+could dispose about our persons, and then the lessening number of
+torches warned us that it was high time to beat a retreat; but our
+labours seemed to have produced no visible effect, for where we had
+removed one nugget we had, as a rule, disclosed another.  I estimated
+that, during that short half-hour, each of us had collected an average
+of about seven pounds weight of gold.
+
+Now, for a day or two after this discovery, it threatened to be a most
+serious misfortune; for the ability to acquire large quantities of gold
+at the mere cost of the exertion necessary to pick it out of the soil
+appealed so strongly to the boatswain, carpenter, and sailmaker that
+during the two days immediately following Cunningham's sensational
+announcement they absolutely refused to do any work whatever except dig
+out nuggets of gold, and the more they gathered the more eager did they
+appear to be to gather more.  But at the end of that time, the fact that
+Cunningham and I had steadfastly refrained from the display of any
+anxiety to share in their good fortune, having, on the contrary, pursued
+the task of breaking up the wreck, together with our reiterated
+insistance on the greater importance of the work upon which we were
+engaged, steadied them a bit; and by the end of the second day we
+detected signs that the sharp edge of their enthusiasm had worn off, and
+that they were once more beginning to think.  Then Cunningham and I
+proceeded to remind them of a fact to which, at the outset, they
+stubbornly refused to listen, namely, that we knew where the gold was,
+and could get it at any time; but the matter which most vitally
+concerned us was to get the schooner built and in the water as quickly
+as possible, so that, should it become necessary for us to quit the
+island in haste, we might have the means to do so.  The three
+recalcitrants came to see this at last, persuaded thereto, perhaps, by a
+rather exaggerated attitude of indifference to the gold on the part of
+Cunningham and myself, and an equally exaggerated anxiety to push on
+with the schooner; with the ultimate result that on the morning of the
+third day they rather shamefacedly announced their readiness to turn-to
+again, and accompanied us to South-west Bay.  But what put the finishing
+touch to the matter was Cunningham's audacious proposal to ballast the
+schooner entirely with gold, and sail in her direct home to England.
+This idea very strongly appealed to their somewhat crude imaginations,
+especially when the engineer took a sheet of paper and proved to them by
+figures that if we could obtain gold enough to carry out this plan, the
+value of it, equally divided among the five of us, would enable each to
+bank upward of half a million; which, if judiciously invested, would
+provide us with an income of somewhere about two thousand pounds
+sterling per month!  Such figures as these naturally appealed to men
+whose incomes hitherto had amounted to about five pounds per month, and
+they were immediately all on fire to build the Schooner, if only to see
+how much gold she could be induced to carry as ballast.
+
+Had there been a shipwright in our party he would probably have been
+intensely amused at the lightheartedness and assured confidence with
+which we approached the task of building a schooner, small, certainly,
+but complete in every respect, out of the timbers and planking of the
+dismembered _Martha Brown_.  I do not believe that anyone excepting
+myself had the slightest suspicion of the difficulties that we were so
+cheerfully facing; but by the time that we had got the keel blocks laid,
+and were preparing to shape and put together the keel, it began to dawn
+upon us that we had undertaken a distinctly formidable task, and one in
+which we might very easily fail should we once permit ourselves to
+become discouraged.  Indeed, the getting out of the keel was in itself a
+work of such difficulty that Chips more than once threw down his tools
+and pronounced the task impossible, demanding the revision and
+simplification of the design.
+
+But Cunningham was deeply in love with the design which he had worked
+out with so much care--and so indeed was I; therefore we resolutely
+resisted Parsons' demands, and insisted that all that was needed was
+patience and the resolution to take the necessary pains, and in the end
+we got our own way and the work proceeded.  But it proceeded with what,
+to me, was painful slowness, there being days occasionally on which the
+embryo ship presented precisely the same appearance when we knocked off
+work in the evening that she had done when we started in the morning,
+the whole day having been consumed in cutting out and putting together
+the several pieces of timber which were subsequently to be worked into
+her hull.  Nevertheless, patience and perseverance worked wonders, and
+by and by, after we had been steadily at work for close upon six months,
+a day came when we were able to stand and gaze admiringly at the
+completed skeleton of as smart a little vessel as I ever set eyes upon.
+If she possessed a fault in my eyes it was that she presented altogether
+too smart an appearance, being, in model, nothing less than an
+exceedingly beautiful little yacht; and according to my merchant
+seaman's view of the matter a forty-foot yacht was not precisely the
+kind of craft best adapted to navigate the thousands of miles of ocean
+that lay between ourselves and home.  Yet when Cunningham challenged me
+to point out what I regarded as faults, I was met at every turn by
+arguments which seemed quite unanswerable, so that at last I was driven
+to take refuge in the adage that the proof of the pudding is in the
+eating, and to acknowledge that if the vessel only behaved half as well
+as her designer asserted she would, I should be more than satisfied.
+
+Now, although there were five of us--all young and in the very pink of
+condition--engaged upon the work of building the schooner, there were
+times when the united strength of all hands scarcely sufficed to
+accomplish some particular task, such as the setting up of a pair of
+frames, or the bending and fastening of a stringer; consequently we
+welcomed, almost literally with open arms, the arrival of two
+able-bodied assistants, who came to us under somewhat singular
+circumstances.
+
+From the day of the wreck, when we found ourselves castaways, up to the
+moment when, as I have said above, we were able to gaze upon the
+complete skeleton of our new schooner, we had enjoyed an uninterrupted
+continuance of perfect weather; but a few days after the date referred
+to the Trade wind died away, and all the indications pointed toward the
+approach of another hurricane.  And indeed we were allowed barely
+sufficient time to make everything about the shipyard secure when our
+anticipations were realised by the outburst of a hurricane which, if it
+was not as violent as the one that had shipwrecked us, was more than
+sufficiently so to compel us completely to suspend our building
+operations for two whole days.  These we spent in the cavern diligently
+and systematically digging for gold, under the direction and supervision
+of Cunningham; and I may as well mention here that the results of the
+two days' labours demonstrated that we had been lucky enough to stumble
+upon what is probably the most fabulously rich "pocket" of gold nuggets
+that has ever been discovered by man.
+
+The gale broke some time during the night of the second day, and when we
+awoke and turned out on the following morning the weather had reverted
+to its normal delightful conditions, and only a heavy south-westerly sea
+remained as evidence of what had been.  I think I have already mentioned
+that it was our habit to proceed to and fro between North and South-west
+Bays in the catamaran, in preference to tramping two miles overland in
+the tropical heat; but on this particular day we walked, being of
+opinion that it was hardly desirable to expose the catamaran to the
+strain of a trip round the end of the island in so steep and heavy a
+sea.  Knocking-off work at the usual time, we climbed the cliffs and
+proceeded to walk back to North Bay across the plateau, the boatswain,
+carpenter, and sailmaker leading the way, while Cunningham and I
+followed, about a hundred yards behind, a distance which was more than
+sufficient to allow the trio to get out of sight ahead of us.  And as
+Cunningham and I sauntered along very slowly we had no expectation of
+seeing anything more of Murdock and his companions until our arrival at
+the cave; consequently we were a little surprised, upon our emerging
+from the jungle, to find the three seamen standing in the open, upon the
+highest point of the plateau, all gazing intently to seaward.
+
+"What is it, Murdock?"  I shouted, as we hastened our steps to join
+them.  "Anything in sight?"
+
+"Why, yes, Mr Temple," answered the boatswain, facing round toward us.
+"There's something floatin', about a couple o' mile off there, that
+looks like a boat with people in her."
+
+"A boat!"  I ejaculated.  "Where away?  Show me!"
+
+"Come here, sir, and stand where I am," replied Murdock.  Then, as I
+took up a position on the spot indicated, the man placed himself behind
+me, and proceeded to point over my shoulder.
+
+"See that there low bush, yonder, Mr Temple, just in line with my
+finger?" he demanded.  "Very well, then.  Just run your eye along about
+a p'int, or maybe a little more, to the west'ard, and--there! d'ye see
+her, sir?  Ah, now she's vanished again in the trough.  But you keep
+your eye gazin' in that direction and you'll--there she is again!  See
+her, sir?"
+
+"Ay, I do," said I, as I caught a momentary glimpse of a small dark
+object which appeared for a moment, hovering on the crest of a sea, and
+then sank out of sight again.  And, as Murdock had said, it certainly
+presented very much the appearance of a small boat drifting slowly away
+toward the south-west before the freshening Trade wind.  Moreover,
+although the glimpse I had caught had been but momentary, I thought I
+had detected the appearance of what might very well be a crouching human
+figure sitting in her.  Presently I got another sight of the thing, and
+my impression that it was indeed a boat--or possibly a canoe--with one
+or more persons in her was so greatly strengthened that I determined
+there and then to investigate.
+
+"I really believe you are right, Murdock," said I.  "At all events it
+looks so much like a boat--with people in her--that we certainly ought
+to satisfy ourselves.  So, come along, one of you; we'll take the
+catamaran and go off to her.  If it really is a boat, and there are
+people in her, it is very evident that they are too utterly exhausted to
+make the island, and if they miss it they will inevitably perish.  Come
+along; we have not a moment to waste if we are to save the daylight."
+
+With one accord each of my companions stepped forward, eager to
+accompany me the moment that there was a question of saving life; but I
+needed only one man, and I chose Murdock, as being the smartest seaman
+and the strongest man among them: and without further ado we took to our
+heels and raced to the beach, I shouting over my shoulder to Cunningham
+to stay where he was and guide us by signalling with his hands the
+direction in which we should steer.
+
+As I had said, we had not a moment to waste, for the sun's disk was even
+then within a finger's breadth of the horizon, and darkness followed
+sunset with amazing swiftness in that latitude.  Murdock and I therefore
+ran at our utmost speed to the beach, cast adrift the catamaran, sprang
+aboard her, thrust her head offshore, and then threw ourselves upon the
+halyards and mast-headed the yard, when I seized the steering paddle and
+headed the craft for an opening between the breakers on the reef, while
+Murdock stationed himself beside me, with his hand shielding his eyes as
+he stared seaward, anxiously watching for the first glimpse of the
+object of which we were in pursuit.
+
+For the moment, however, his efforts were useless, as he and I both
+knew, for the object had been so far to the westward when last seen that
+we could not hope to sight her until we were fairly beyond the limits of
+the bay; and when this at length happened the upper edge of the sun's
+disk was just visible above the western horizon, sinking beneath it at
+the precise moment when the catamaran shot through the opening between
+two formidable walls of breakers, which were dashing themselves into
+spray thirty feet high as they hurled themselves upon the lava reef.
+
+The boat, or whatever it was, ought now to be within the range of our
+vision, and Murdock intently scrutinised the darkening sea ahead for
+some sign of it, but in vain.  Then he turned his glances shoreward and
+saw Cunningham standing on the verge of the bluff, vigorously waving us
+to keep away.
+
+"Put up your hellum a bit, sir," he admonished me, with his eye still
+upon Cunningham; then--"Steady!" as he saw the engineer fling both hands
+above his head, and almost at the same instant I caught the faintest
+glimpse imaginable of a small dark spot appearing for a moment in
+ghostly fashion against the creaming head of a distant breaker, just
+clear of the lower end of our lateen yard.
+
+"There she is!"  I exclaimed, and as I spoke a star glimmered out of the
+deepening blue almost immediately above the spot where the object had
+appeared.
+
+"Where away, sir?" demanded the boatswain, again peering ahead under the
+sharp of his hand.
+
+"Do you see that star?"  I responded, pointing with my disengaged hand.
+"Well, she is about half a point to the westward--there she is again,
+straight ahead!"
+
+"I see her, sir; I see her," answered Murdock.  "Steady as you go, Mr
+Temple, and we're bound to pick her up."
+
+I thought so too, although the darkness was falling about us with the
+rapidity of a sea fog gathering.  Still, the star was a splendid guide,
+and steering by it we caught two or three additional glimpses of the
+object before the darkness completely enveloped us.  Moreover, the
+catamaran was slashing along at racing speed, smothering us with spray
+every time she hit the crest of a wave; and now my chief fear was that
+this same spray might so effectually conceal our surroundings at the
+precise moment when we most needed to see, namely, when we were
+surmounting a comber, that we might unwittingly overshoot our mark.
+Therefore at very brief intervals I admonished Murdock to "keep his eyes
+skinned", at the same time myself keeping as sharp a lookout as I could.
+I estimated that, with the breeze then blowing, we ought to cover the
+distance between the object and ourselves in about six or seven minutes
+after clearing the reef, but I had no means of judging the time, except
+by guesswork, out there in the darkness, and I was on tenterhooks lest
+we should miss the thing and stand too far out, when the chances would
+be all against our picking her up on the return journey.  Therefore at
+last, feeling that we must be pretty close to the object of our quest, I
+sent Murdock forward, believing that he would have a better chance of
+picking her up from there than by standing alongside me, although his
+figure would greatly obscure my own view.
+
+Accordingly the boatswain went right forward into the very eyes of the
+catamaran, where he would be clear of the heaviest of the flying spray;
+and he had scarcely taken his station when, without looking round, he
+suddenly shouted:
+
+"There she is, sir!  Keep her away or you'll be on to her; hard up, sir!
+So, steady!  Now, hard down and shake her.  That'll do, sir; keep her
+at that.  Luff a bit yet, sir.  So, steady!" and, dashing aft, the
+boatswain snatched up a small coil of line that we had made ready for
+the purpose, and hurled himself recklessly at a dark mass that at that
+moment came sliding close past what had been our lee side before I
+luffed the catamaran into the wind.  I heard the splashing clatter of
+his boots as he landed upon certain objects that sounded like loose
+paddles lying washing about in the bottom of the canoe--for such I now
+saw the craft to be; saw him stoop, as though making fast the rope he
+had taken with him; and then he shouted: "All fast, sir; let her go
+off!"  I put up the helm of the catamaran, and as she fell off and began
+to gather fresh way Murdock hauled his prize up alongside and scrambled
+out of her, snubbing the towline to a length of about two fathoms.
+
+"It's a canoe, sir," he reported as he rose to his feet beside me, "and
+there's people aboard her--natives--four or five, I sh'd say, though I
+didn't stop to count 'em; and I'm blest if I know whether they're alive
+or dead, but I think there must be life in one of 'em at least, for when
+I jumped into her I stumbled over one, and I thought I heard a groan."
+
+"Well," said I, "I hope we have been in time to save the poor beggars.
+I suspect that they belong to the island that is visible from the
+crater, about a hundred miles to the south-west of us, and that they
+were caught in the gale and blown out to sea.  If so, they have been at
+sea three whole nights and two days, drenched all the time with the
+flying spray, buffeted with the wind, and labouring hard all the while
+to keep their cockleshell of a craft afloat.  And these islanders are
+not very tough when it comes to facing prolonged exposure of that kind."
+
+We got the catamaran round and headed her for the island, with the canoe
+in tow, the carpenter having been thoughtful enough to light a fire on
+the beach to serve as a guide to us; and a quarter of an hour later we
+were ashore again, with Cunningham, Chips, and Sails tenderly lifting
+five natives out of the half-swamped canoe and laying them on the sand,
+close to the fire, while Murdock and I secured the catamaran.  By the
+time that we had done this, Cunningham had got to work upon the new
+arrivals, in two of whom he found signs of life, while the other three
+he pronounced doubtful.  Then, under his directions, we each took a
+body, which we proceeded vigorously to chafe and slap with our bare
+hands, varying the treatment with occasional attempts to administer a
+little stimulant, with the object of restoring the suspended circulation
+of the blood; and eventually--not to dwell at unnecessary length upon
+this episode--we succeeded in restoring two of them, but the remaining
+three defied our utmost efforts, although we worked at them until late
+into the night.  Then, having bountifully fed the two survivors, we left
+them to dispose of themselves as they would for the night, and retired
+to our cavern.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+MOKALUA AND VATI.
+
+When we turned out on the following morning our two resuscitated savages
+were nowhere to be seen, and the bodies of the three dead had also
+vanished; but a glance in the direction of the beach showed that they
+were still somewhere on the island, for their canoe lay hauled up on the
+sand, alongside the catamaran, where we had left her on the previous
+night, and the prints of their naked feet on the sand indicated that
+they had made some three or four journeys to the eastern extremity of
+the bay.  We therefore concluded that the two were performing the
+obsequies of their departed companions, and made no endeavour to
+discover their whereabouts, taking it for granted that they would
+reappear when they had disposed of their dead to their satisfaction.
+While we were partaking of breakfast a big cloud of smoke arose from the
+woods situated at the eastern extremity of the bay, causing us to
+surmise that the dead were at that moment undergoing the process of
+cremation; but we made no attempt to investigate, leaving the savages to
+their own devices for that day, and proceeding to the shipyard as usual
+immediately after breakfast.
+
+Shortly after midday our two savages hove in sight, making their way
+down the cliff path to the shipyard, having evidently followed the path
+over the plateau which we had beaten in our frequent passages to and fro
+between the two bays.  They displayed no fear of us, approaching us
+without the slightest hesitation, but exhibiting more curiosity than any
+natives with whom I had thus far been brought into contact.  They seemed
+to be filled with astonishment at the whiteness of our skins when,
+following our usual custom, we discarded our scanty clothing and plunged
+into the sea for a few minutes before partaking of our midday meal; and
+did not appear to be able to understand how it was that, while our
+faces, necks, hands, and arms were almost as dark as their own skins,
+the remaining portions of our bodies, ordinarily protected from the sun
+by our clothing, should be so very much lighter.  They were not
+oppressed by any feeling of false modesty or bashfulness, but examined
+us minutely at close quarters, jabbering together with the utmost
+animation all the while and lightly running their fingers over our arms
+and necks, with the apparent purpose of finding the join in the
+differently coloured portions of our skin.
+
+This was all very well, of course, and sufficiently amusing to all
+concerned; but now that these two savages had come to us we quite
+intended to make use of them, and allow them to work for their living.
+Therefore, as soon as we had resumed our clothing, Murdock undertook the
+task of making known our intentions and wishes to our dusky friends.
+And the way he did it was amusing enough.  In common with others of his
+kind he had repeatedly been brought into contact with foreigners of
+various nationalities, both civilised and savage, but he had one simple
+method of communicating with them all, a method which he was firmly
+convinced must be efficacious in exact proportion to the measure of
+intelligence possessed by the persons with whom he desired to
+communicate; and that method was to speak to the stranger in broken
+English!  For example, he proposed to set these two natives to the task
+of collecting fuel for the purpose of cooking the fish which Chips and
+Sails were about to catch for our midday meal by going offshore a short
+distance in the catamaran; and the way he did it was something like
+this.
+
+Turning to the two natives, he poked first one and then the other on the
+naked chest with his forefinger, to secure their attention, and then
+proceeded to remark, with much flourishing of his hands:
+
+"Now then, Johnnie, and you, Jim, come along wi' me and gather firewood.
+Savvy?"
+
+To this the natives naturally responded with a blank stare of
+non-comprehension, gradually merging into a broad smile.  Then, seeing
+that his first attempt had not been exactly a success, the boatswain
+proceeded upon his usual lines.  Assuming an aspect of intense
+earnestness, and holding his forefinger up before them, he continued:
+
+"Now, lookee here, you coffee-coloured sweeps, me wantee you come alonga
+me and catchee plenty wood for makee fire cookee fis' that them two men
+are goin' for catchee.  Now, then, d'ye savvy that?"
+
+The intonation of his concluding words no doubt conveyed to the minds of
+his hearers the idea that he was asking a question, for the two savages
+turned to each other and exchanged a few words.  Then the elder, with a
+broad smile, pointed first to himself and uttered the word "Mokalua"--
+which we easily understood must be his name--and then to his companion,
+pronouncing the word "Vati", which was as certainly the name of the
+other.  So evident was this that even Murdock understood it, and, proud
+of his quick comprehension, hastened to display his cleverness by
+prodding the first native in the chest and remarking:
+
+"Ay, ay; that's easy enough to understand: your name's Mokalua, and
+yours,"--turning to the other--"is Vati.  That's all right; I can see
+that we'll soon get to understand each other.  Now then, Mokalua and
+Vati, let's have another try.  Me wantee plenty much firewood, so you
+two come and helpy me gatheree it.  Comprenny?"
+
+Further blank looks from the natives, at which the boatswain lost his
+patience; and, clutching Mokalua by the wrist, while he seized the
+unhappy Vati by the shoulder and violently swung him round with his face
+toward the cliffs, he exclaimed savagely:
+
+"Here, come along o' me, you two!  You're like the monkeys; you can
+understand, but you won't, for fear o' bein' put to work!  But you don't
+get over me quite so easily as that, my sons; I've had that trick tried
+on me before, but it didn't come off, and it ain't comin' off now.
+You've got to work for your livin' while you're on this here hisland,
+and don't you forget it.  Can't understand my language, can't ye?  Well,
+I can speak another language with my boot--"
+
+I saw that the time had arrived for me to interfere.  Murdock was
+rapidly working himself up into a rage, and when he was angry he was a
+little apt to be violent; also he was an exceptionally powerful man,
+while the two natives whom he held in his grasp were still weak from
+semi-starvation and long exposure, and were beginning to look rather
+frightened.  Now I did not want them to be frightened, I wanted to win
+their confidence, so I stepped forward and gently removed the
+boatswain's grasp from the persons of his prisoners, saying:
+
+"There, that will do, Murdock; don't get excited, man, because these two
+bronze images cannot understand you.  You cannot understand them, you
+know, so you are quits.  We shall just have to be patient with them, and
+treat them kindly; and I have no doubt that in due time they will learn
+to understand what we want them to do."  Then, turning to the two
+wide-eyed savages, and trusting that they would at least understand the
+intonation of my voice, I patted them both good-naturedly on the
+shoulder and said, in English of course:
+
+"That's all right.  Don't you be afraid of him, he'll not hurt you; he's
+quite a good-natured chap.  But he wants you to go with him to the woods
+yonder; so run along," and I first pointed to the jungle, then to
+Murdock, patted them encouragingly on the back, and finally waved my
+hand toward the cliffs.
+
+That I was tolerably successful in a general sort of way was at once
+evident, for the expression of mingled fear and savagery on Mokalua's
+features at once vanished, giving place to a smile; he nodded his head,
+pointed to Murdock, himself, and Vati, waved his hand toward the woods,
+said a few quick words to his companion, and at once set off at a brisk
+walk toward the cliff path, accompanied by the two others, the trio
+returning about twenty minutes later with an abundant supply of dry
+twigs and branches, with which they at once proceeded to build the
+constituents of a fire.  But it was evident, from their actions and
+their quick, earnest interchange of remarks, that the two were
+exceedingly curious as to how we were going to set light to the wood,
+now that we had it; and they looked on with the most absorbed interest
+while Cunningham took a little dry moss in his hand and focused the
+sun's rays upon it with a burning-glass, afterwards fanning it into a
+flame by gently whirling it in the air; and I shall not readily forget
+their amazement when the moss burst into flame and Cunningham thrust it
+into the heart of the heap of sticks.  When Cunningham made to return
+the lens to his pocket, Mokalua held out his hand and said something
+which we readily understood to be a request that he might be permitted
+to look at it: and when the engineer handed it over to him the native
+first examined it with wondering eyes, turning it about in his hands,
+holding it up, and becoming quite eloquent in the expression of his
+amazement when his quick eye detected the inverted image of the
+landscape seen through it; then, after one or two futile attempts, he
+succeeded in focusing the rays of the sun upon his naked arm, giving a
+little yelp as he felt the sting of the heat.  Finally, with a laugh, he
+handed the lens back to Cunningham; but there was a covetous look in his
+eyes as he did so which caused me to utter a word of warning to the
+engineer lest he should awake some fine morning and discover that his
+burning-glass had mysteriously vanished.
+
+In such manner, and to the accompaniment of quite a number of amusing
+little incidents, did Mokalua and Vati become members of our small
+community.  And glad enough were we all to have them, for the
+awkwardness and inconvenience arising from our inability to understand
+each other's speech soon passed away, the two savages manifesting an
+extraordinary aptitude to adapt themselves to the situation, and an
+equally extraordinary facility in the comprehension of what was required
+of them; so that they rapidly became of very material value to us,
+catching more fish than the party could consume, gathering our firewood
+for us, teaching us new methods of cooking, and assisting us in the more
+laborious portions of our shipyard work.  Thus by the time they had been
+with us some three or four months we began to wonder how we had ever
+contrived to rub along at all without them.
+
+Their one fault was an ineradicable propensity to steal anything and
+everything that they could lay their hands upon, especially nails--
+which, it will be understood, were of very considerable value to us,
+situated as we then were.  But their most serious peccadillo, and the
+one which had the most disastrous results, was their theft of a brace of
+revolvers and a number of cartridges.  We had no occasion to make use of
+our firearms until the two savages had been with us about five months;
+then on a certain day we made the disagreeable discovery that South-west
+Bay had been invaded by a school of some seven or eight orcas, or killer
+whales, the most voracious and ferocious creatures that swim the seas,
+being even more terrible than the white shark, although not quite so big
+as he is.  When we first became aware of the presence of these tigers of
+the sea in our bay we were not greatly concerned, being under the
+impression that theirs was only a flying visit, and that they would
+disappear in the course of an hour or so, and be no more seen.  But when
+on the following day they were seen to be still present, and when,
+further, they chose to amuse themselves by snatching the fish off the
+hooks, we came to the conclusion that it was time to declare war upon
+those orcas, for so long as they remained in the bay we might not dare
+to bathe.
+
+Accordingly we armed ourselves with revolvers, put a boarding pike and
+cutlass into the hand of each of the savages, and went out in the
+catamaran to attack and drive away the orcas.  And a very fierce and
+desperate battle we had with them too, for they proved to be full of
+fight, charging the catamaran with the evident intention of destroying
+it; and during the two hours that the fight raged we experienced several
+exceedingly narrow escapes from destruction by the wounded cetaceans,
+though we drove them off at last, after killing all but two, while the
+survivors were so desperately wounded that they no doubt died very
+shortly after reaching the open ocean.
+
+The most important point, however, in connection with this incident was
+that the two savages then saw revolvers used for the first time; and the
+flash, the report, and, above all, the undoubted fact that in some
+mysterious fashion they were able to wound and even to kill at the
+distance of a spear-cast, absolutely fascinated them.  Nothing would
+satisfy them but that they must possess a revolver apiece, and the very
+next day they stole a brace, together with some fifty cartridges; and
+having watched us intently, and thus acquired a smattering of knowledge
+of how to use the weapons, took to the woods, where, later on, we heard
+them popping away in the most reckless fashion.  That, of course, was an
+offence which it would never do to overlook; therefore we sallied forth,
+captured the culprits, took the revolvers and the half-dozen or so
+remaining cartridges from them, and having first read them a severe
+lecture--one of many such--upon the heinousness of stealing, endeavoured
+to create a lasting impression upon their minds by inflicting upon each
+a severe rope's-ending.  Four days later we found that they and their
+canoe, together with several small articles--Cunningham's burning-glass
+among the number--had vanished.
+
+Now this was likely enough to prove a very serious matter for us, for
+several important reasons.  In the first place, Mokalua and Vati had
+proved to be individuals possessed of quite a considerable amount of
+intelligence, for savages.  They had spent five months with us, during
+which they had come to know the island intimately; and doubtless they
+had perceived, among other things, that it was capable of supporting
+some five hundred fellow savages in what, to them, would be a condition
+of ease and affluence.  Also, they knew that there were but five of us,
+possessing several things which to them represented such incalculable
+wealth that no effort on their part to acquire it would be regarded as
+too great.  Therefore we at once jumped to the conclusion that, animated
+by a deep sense of resentment at the indignity which we had inflicted
+upon them by flogging them, and possibly also spurred on by an
+overpowering cupidity, they had determined to risk their very lives in
+an attempt to return to their own island, there to report all that they
+had seen and learned during their sojourn with us, with the object of
+stirring up their fellow islanders to organise an expedition against us.
+
+Strongly impressed with the conviction that this was really what had
+happened, Simpson, the sailmaker, and I hastened to stock the catamaran
+with provisions and water enough to last us for four days, and forthwith
+proceeded to sea, heading in the direction of the island which lay to
+leeward of us, in the hope of overtaking the two savages before they
+could arrive at their destination, and inducing them, either by
+persuasion or by force, to return with us.  And we were fully justified
+in hoping that we should be successful, for the catamaran was a
+wonderfully speedy craft, especially before the wind; we calculated that
+the savages would scarcely average more than four knots per hour
+paddling in the open sea, even with the wind in their favour, while the
+catamaran would do ten easily.  Consequently we should cover in ten
+hours a distance which they would need twenty-five hours to traverse;
+and, since they would probably not have more than nine hours' start of
+us, we ought to catch them long before they could arrive at their
+island.
+
+It was about eight o'clock in the morning when we started, and the
+moment that we were clear of the reef I bore up dead before the wind;
+and thereafter all that was necessary was to keep the catamaran running
+straight before it.  We took it for granted that the fugitives, like
+ourselves, would avail themselves of the direction of the wind as a
+guide, consequently we assumed that they were somewhere--probably about
+thirty-six miles--directly ahead of us when we bore away, and a very
+simple calculation enabled us to determine that, if all our data
+happened to be correct, we ought to overtake the canoe about two o'clock
+in the afternoon.  Therefore for the first four hours of our pursuit we
+troubled ourselves only to maintain as straight a course as possible.
+At the end of that time, however, or about midday--by which time our own
+island was out of sight astern, while the other had not yet hove up
+above the horizon--I deemed it advisable to take a look round.
+Accordingly, turning over the steering paddle to Simpson, I shinned up
+to the catamaran's masthead, and remained there for fully five minutes,
+intently scrutinising the surface of the sea in every direction, my
+range of vision at that elevation covering a circle of about nine miles
+radius.  But there was nothing in sight, at which I was in nowise
+surprised, as I estimated that the canoe was still about twelve miles
+ahead of us.  I calculated, however, that we were gaining upon her at
+the rate of about six miles an hour, in which case she ought to be on
+the horizon's verge in the course of another half-hour; therefore at the
+expiration of that time I again went aloft, and was just a trifle
+disappointed to find the horizon still bare.  However, I was quite
+certain that a run of another half-hour would suffice to bring her into
+view, therefore at one o'clock I again ascended to the masthead, quite
+prepared to see her directly ahead.  But again I was disappointed, for
+the horizon was bare in every direction, save for the fact that, as
+straight ahead of us as though we had seen and been steering for it all
+the while, there was a delicate blue shape, which I instantly recognised
+as the upper part of the island that we had seen from the lip of the
+crater on our own island.
+
+I was decidedly nonplussed at the fact that the fugitives were still
+invisible, and knew not how to account for it.  True, the sea was a
+trifle heavy for navigation in so frail a craft as a small canoe, yet
+the two savages were experts in the handling of such craft, and it was
+therefore scarcely likely that they had met with a mishap of any
+description--indeed, all that was needed to ensure their perfect safety
+was to keep the canoe dead before the sea, and she would go along
+without shipping a drop of water; even I, comparatively inexpert as I
+was, would not have hesitated to undertake such a voyage, under the
+influence of so powerful an inducement as that which we suspected to
+animate the two natives.  There was one other possible explanation, of
+which I thought as I stood up there on the swaying yard, and that was
+that the fugitives might have secured a piece of canvas, or material of
+some kind, out of which they had manufactured a sail; in which case
+their speed would no doubt be considerably higher than that which we had
+estimated, and all our calculations would need revision.  Considerably
+perturbed at the thought, I descended to the deck and mentioned the
+matter to Simpson, who agreed with me that it was quite possible our
+dark friends might have taken the precaution to provide themselves with
+a sail when they had made up their minds to return to their own island--
+for we had not allowed ourselves time before our departure to overhaul
+our belongings in detail, and ascertain the precise extent of their
+depredations.
+
+Even if they had not stolen any of our canvas, they were past masters of
+the art of mat making, and might easily have plaited for themselves a
+sail of fine grass, which would answer their purpose almost as well as
+one made of canvas.  And if they had done that, what would their speed
+probably be?  The canoe was only a small craft of about twenty-four feet
+long by about four feet beam, and with two men in her she would probably
+run before wind and sea at a speed of about six and a half knots.  Then,
+still allowing her to have had nine hours' start of us, we came to the
+disconcerting conclusion that at the precise moment when we were
+discussing the question she must be within ten miles of her destination,
+while we still had a run of some fifty miles before us.  In that case,
+of course, it was hopeless for us to dream of overtaking her:
+nevertheless I did not intend to abandon the chase until I had fully
+satisfied myself that the fugitives had made good their escape;
+therefore we continued to stand on, hour after hour, until, by the time
+that the sun was within half an hour of his setting, we had brought the
+strange island "hull-up" on the horizon ahead, and had satisfied
+ourselves that there was no canoe between it and us.
+
+It was a considerably more extensive island than our own, being about
+twenty miles long from north to south, somewhat rugged of surface, with
+plenty of trees dotted about here and there, and wide patches of cleared
+ground in between, upon which crops of various kinds seemed to be
+growing.  It rose rather steeply from the water's surface to a height of
+some fifty or sixty feet, and then went sweeping grandly away to right
+and left in a constantly steepening slope, which culminated in a lofty,
+isolated peak occupying practically the centre of the island.
+
+When we had run in close enough to note all these details I brought the
+wind over the catamaran's port quarter and headed her so as to pass to
+the southward of the island, being determined, now that I had come so
+far, to sail right round it and see as much as I could of it.
+
+The sun was just dipping beneath the horizon when, having brought the
+most southerly extremity of the island square upon our starboard beam,
+some two miles distant, we shifted our helm, and, jibing over, brought
+the wind on our starboard quarter, hauling up to the northward and
+westward to skirt the lee side of the island.  This course soon brought
+us in under the lee of the land and into smooth water, when, maintaining
+an offing of about two miles, that we might not be becalmed and so
+invite the risk of capture by a dash of canoes from the shore, we
+quietly coasted along the lee side of the island, which we now
+discovered to be roughly crescent-shaped in plan, with a deep
+indentation on the west side protected by a barrier reef, and thus
+forming a magnificent natural harbour, some eight miles long from north
+to south by about six miles wide from east to west.  A fine sandy beach
+skirted the whole margin of this indentation, scattered along which, at
+brief intervals, we caught sight of some ten or twelve little villages
+of palm-leaf huts nestling in the midst of luxuriant coconut groves, the
+land behind them soaring steeply away to the summit of the cone.  And
+abreast of each village the beach was dotted with canoes, some of which
+were big enough to carry forty or fifty men.  But nowhere did we see a
+sign of the canoe of which we were in pursuit; and ultimately we were
+driven to the conclusion that she had made the run across under sail,
+and had secured a sufficiently long start to enable her to make good her
+escape.
+
+It was about four bells in the first watch when we ran out from under
+the lee of the island and once more felt the full strength of the Trade
+wind, which in the interim had freshened up until it was now blowing a
+single-reefed topsail breeze; and at once the catamaran began to deluge
+us with spray as we brought her close to the wind and started on our
+long beat back to our own island.  And now it became necessary for me to
+use a little discretion, lest I should miss the island altogether; for
+it was far below the horizon, and I had neither chronometer nor sextant
+to help me to find it again, all I knew as to its position being that it
+lay about a hundred miles dead to windward.  Therefore I held on upon
+the starboard tack until midnight, and thereafter tacked every four
+hours, knowing that by following this plan we should be certain to pick
+it up sooner or later.  And so we did, catching our first glimpse of it
+shortly after nine o'clock the next morning, when it hove into view
+above the horizon broad on our port bow, rising a little higher as we
+brought it abeam, and then gradually sinking again as it swung aft to
+our port quarter.  As soon as it sank out of sight we hove the catamaran
+about, when it quickly reappeared, rising steadily above the horizon,
+and this time showing much higher and more clearly before it began to
+sink again.  Finally, about six o'clock, just before sunset, we slid
+into North Bay once more and beached the catamaran, much to the relief
+of our companions, who were beginning to grow somewhat anxious as to how
+our queer-shaped craft would stand the continuous strain of beating to
+windward for many hours at a stretch against the strong wind and heavy
+sea.
+
+Now that the pursuit was over and had failed, and we were all together
+again, we began to realise, as we discussed the incident, just what the
+flight of those two natives meant to us.  It meant several things: and
+each one of them spelt d-a-n-g-e-r to us in big black letters; danger of
+the most imminent and deadly kind; danger which was liable now to swoop
+down upon us at any moment, and, if it caught us unprepared, simply to
+wipe us out of existence.  In a word, it meant that if those two
+fugitives had succeeded in reaching their own island--as we had only too
+much reason to believe was the case--we were liable at any moment to an
+invasion in force from their fellow islanders; and if we could not repel
+that invasion, or, better still, effect our own escape before it
+happened, we could hope for nothing short of annihilation.  Long and
+anxiously we discussed the question that night; and the decision at
+which we finally arrived was that if Mokalua and Vati had indeed reached
+their own island it would probably take them at least a week to gain the
+ear of the chiefs, tell the story of their own sojourn with us, and stir
+them up to such a condition of cupidity as would induce them to
+undertake an expedition against us.  And when they had accomplished so
+much it would probably take them another week to organise the expedition
+and get across to us, possibly even longer, if the Trade wind continued
+to blow strongly.  We considered, therefore, that we had about a
+fortnight in which to complete our preparations; and the question then
+arose whether these preparations should be of a defensive character, or
+whether, by working hard, we could complete the schooner, ballast her,
+get her into the water, and leave the island before the expected
+invasion took place.
+
+Common sense pointed to the latter alternative as by far the wiser of
+the two; the only difficulty was that we were by no means sure that we
+could accomplish it.  Fortunately for us, although we had put the most
+implicit faith in the fidelity of Mokalua and Vati, we had never allowed
+them to become aware of the existence of the subterranean passage from
+our dwelling cave to South-west Bay: therefore, if the worst should come
+to the worst, and we were attacked before we were ready to leave the
+island, we might no doubt barricade ourselves into our cavern and make a
+good stand there, and perhaps even defend the schooner from destruction,
+so long as our cartridges held out; but if the invaders should once
+succeed in effecting a landing upon the island, they could, almost to a
+dead certainty, prevent us from completing our preparations, launching
+the schooner, and getting away in her.  Finally, the matter seemed to
+resolve itself into a fight against time, our aim being to complete the
+schooner and sail in her for home before the savages should arrive upon
+the scene.  In accordance with this arrangement, then, we proceeded with
+our several labours, commencing work each day the moment that there was
+light enough to see what we were about, and working steadily on until we
+could see no longer, encouraged by the thought that although our
+calculations seemed to indicate the possibility of attack within about a
+fortnight of the flight of the two natives, the force of circumstances
+might perhaps afford us a still longer time in which to complete our
+task.
+
+And with the passage of the days we began to realise that, work as hard
+as we might, we should need nearly double the time which we believed we
+had at our disposal if we were to finish our work as it ought to be
+finished.  For while the schooner's hull was complete her deck was only
+partially laid, and that task had to be completed, together with all
+deck fittings, such as the companion way and fore scuttle; the seams
+must be properly caulked and paid, the masts stepped and rigged, the
+sails finished and bent, the interior fittings, such as bunks, lockers,
+shelves, and so on, fixed, the water casks stowed and filled, the
+ballast stowed, provisions collected and put on board, and the little
+craft generally completed in readiness for sea.  True, many of the jobs
+were trivial and did not need much time to attend to them, but in the
+aggregate they presented quite a formidable appearance; and lastly, and
+most formidable of all, there remained the launching ways to finish, the
+cradle to build, and the wedging up to be done.  Taken altogether, the
+task seemed to be an impossible one, and our only hope lay in the chance
+that our savage neighbours would so far resemble Mokalua and Vati in
+character that they would proceed with their preparations for the
+invasion which we regarded as inevitable with the same placid
+deliberation and absence of haste that had been such strongly marked
+characteristics of the two fugitives.
+
+Yet it would not do to count upon this; therefore as soon as we fully
+realised the impossibility of completing the schooner and getting away
+in her within the fortnight, we so far modified our plans as to devote a
+certain amount of time to the putting of our cavern into a condition of
+defence.  Fortunately for us, this was a very simple matter; for the
+savages knew of only one entrance to the cavern, namely, that in North
+Bay, and that was so exceedingly small that it might easily be blocked
+from the inside with a few large stones.  And, as luck would have it,
+stones admirably adapted for the purpose existed in the cavern itself,
+and only needed moving forward close to the entrance, after which--as we
+tested by experiments--five minutes' work would suffice to block the
+opening so effectually that nothing less than a powder charge would ever
+clear it.  Accordingly we divided our weapons and ammunition into two
+equal parts, one of which parts we put aboard the schooner, while the
+other we deposited in the mouth of our cavern.  Then, having secured
+ourselves as far as was possible against attack, we returned to our work
+upon the schooner with redoubled energy.
+
+Dawn of the twenty-third day after the flight of Mokalua and Vati found
+us in high feather; for the strenuous labour of the preceding three
+weeks had brought us to the point that a few hours' further work would
+see the completion of our task, the further work required being that
+needed to finish the cradle and wedge up, preparatory to launching.  We
+had been working systematically, attending first to those matters which
+were most urgent, with the result that the schooner was now finished and
+ready for sea, with ballast--consisting entirely of as much gold in
+nuggets as Cunningham's calculations showed she could possibly carry--
+properly stowed, the water casks stowed and filled, provisions on board,
+masts stepped and rigged, sails bent--in short, everything completed
+except the fitting and equipment of the cabin, and that, we decided,
+could be done as easily after our little ship had been launched as while
+she remained on the stocks.  On this particular morning, then, we were,
+as I have said, all in high feather, for we awoke with the comfortable
+assurance that, barring accidents, the schooner would be safely afloat
+before we again lay down to rest.
+
+Now, although we had been working so strenuously during the past three
+weeks, we had not omitted to take proper precautions against a surprise
+on the part of the natives, the most important of these precautions
+consisting in the visit of one of us to the summit of the crater the
+first thing every morning, from which commanding elevation the sea to
+the south-west was carefully scanned, with the aid of Cunningham's
+telescope, in search of the expected flotilla of canoes.  The same
+precaution was observed the last thing before nightfall; and we decided
+that, should the sea prove to be clear on these occasions, there was not
+much risk of our being surprised during either of the intervals between.
+
+On the particular morning before referred to it chanced to be my turn to
+make the journey up the mountain; therefore, taking the telescope in its
+case from the rock projection in the cavern which was its recognised
+resting-place, and bidding my companions au revoir, I started out on my
+three-and-a-half mile walk to the summit, while the others hurried down
+to the beach, and, getting aboard the catamaran, made sail for
+South-west Bay, where our shipyard was situated.
+
+Now the whole distance from our cavern to the summit of the crater was
+uphill, and the day, in addition to being brilliantly fine, was
+excessively hot, for the Trade wind had softened down on the preceding
+day, and was now blowing only a very moderate breeze; therefore I did
+not greatly hurry myself, for my way lay, practically for the whole
+distance to the foot of the crater, through jungle, where, although I
+was sheltered to a great extent from the rays of the sun, I was also
+shielded from the wind, and before I had travelled a mile I was
+perspiring profusely.  But, hot as it was while walking through the
+jungle, it was hotter still when at length I emerged from its shelter
+upon the bare hillside; and I had no sooner climbed above the level of
+the vegetation, and was able to look over the top of it, than I flung
+myself down upon a big block of lava, took off my hat, and proceeded to
+wipe away the perspiration which was by this time streaming down my
+forehead into my eyes and half-blinding me.  And it was while I was thus
+engaged that I happened to allow my gaze to wander away out over the
+surface of the water in a south-westerly direction; and then I saw a
+sight which caused me to spring to my feet with a smothered exclamation.
+For, far out upon the sun-flecked blue of the gently ruffled ocean, I
+caught a glimpse of first one and then another and another small dark
+dot, each of which emitted frequent sparkling flashes which I instantly
+identified as the sunlight striking upon the wet blades of swiftly
+wielded paddles.  With anxious haste I gripped the telescope case, swung
+it round, withdrew the telescope, raised it to my eyes, and focused it;
+and there, magnified into unmistakable distinctness by the powerful
+lenses, I saw no less than ten canoes paddling straight for our island,
+and only some eight miles distant from West Point, as we had named the
+headland which projected into the ocean between North and South-west
+Bays.  They were head-on to me, therefore I could not very well judge
+what size they might be; but I knew that they must be fairly big craft,
+each carrying a considerable number of men, judging by the multitudinous
+number of flashes that sparkled from their paddles as they swung
+rhythmically into and out of the water: and they were all keeping line
+too, for the whole ten swung up into view together on the crest of a
+sea, and then disappeared again in the trough, with almost mathematical
+regularity and precision.  Without a doubt the anticipated invasion of
+our island by the savages was about to take place; and, equally without
+a doubt too, the invaders must gain a footing upon our territory before
+we were prepared to quit it, unless a plan could be devised whereby
+their advance might be delayed for some two or three hours.  As these
+thoughts flashed through my mind I anxiously scanned the surface of the
+ocean for other canoes, but could find only the ten which I had
+originally counted.  Then, without wasting time in ascending to the
+summit of the crater, I set off at a run and raced at my utmost speed
+all the way back to our cavern.
+
+It was downhill all the way, and despite the intense heat I do not think
+I was more than twenty minutes in covering the distance.  Once inside
+the cavern I provided myself with a sufficient number of torches for my
+purpose, lighted half a dozen of them to enable me to see what I was
+about, and then proceeded to block the entrance securely from the inside
+with the stones which we had already provided for that express purpose.
+This done, I opened the case of ammunition which we kept stored in the
+cavern, loaded a gun and a brace of revolvers, thrust the latter in my
+belt, crammed my pockets and the bosom of my shirt with cartridges, and,
+seizing a torch, hurried away through the tunnel to the shipyard in
+South-west Bay, where I found my companions strenuously at work upon the
+completion of the cradle, blissfully ignorant of the fact that the
+savages were at that moment within half a dozen miles of us.
+
+They glanced at me with a somewhat startled expression as I dashed down
+the beach toward them with the gun in my hand and the revolvers in my
+belt, and my face streaming with perspiration; and Cunningham shouted:
+
+"Hillo, old chap, you're hot, and look as though you had been hurrying.
+What's up?  You surely don't mean to say that--"
+
+"The savages are coming?"  I interrupted.  "That's just what I do mean
+to say, then.  They are within half a dozen miles of us at this moment--
+ten big canoe-loads of them, and they'll be ashore here and about our
+ears in two hours from now, unless we can devise some means of
+preventing them.  How are you getting on, Chips?  How long will it be
+before you are ready to wedge up?"
+
+"Not for three or four hours yet, I'm afraid," answered the carpenter,
+pausing in his work to consider the matter.  "You see, we've a good deal
+to do yet afore we can finish this here cradle, and the wood, bein'
+nothin' but odds and ends like, is comin' a bit awk'ard--"
+
+"Just so, I quite understand," I cut in upon his explanation.  "Well,
+carry on, man; don't stop an instant; we can't afford to waste so much
+as a single second just now.  Do the best you can with the resources at
+your command, and work as you never worked before.  As for me, I'm going
+to take out the catamaran to meet those beggars, and see if I can't
+hamper them a bit and prevent them from landing here in this bay.  I've
+blocked the cavern entrance at the other end, so it won't matter much
+where they land so long as they don't come ashore here.  That must be
+prevented at all costs.  I shall want one hand with me to sail the
+catamaran while I do the fighting.  Now, who can best be spared?"
+
+"Why, I think I am the most useless member of the party--" began
+Cunningham.
+
+"No," I interrupted him emphatically; "your engineering knowledge should
+come in very usefully in helping Chips to use up those odds and ends of
+timber to the best advantage in completing the cradle.  You are the man
+for me, Simpson, so jump now.  Get aboard the schooner, open a box of
+ammunition, and bring me as many cartridges as you can carry, also
+another gun, in case anything goes wrong with this one.  Then join me
+aboard the catamaran.  And now, so long, you chaps; I'm off.  Do your
+level best to finish off and wedge up as soon as possible; and I'll do
+what I can to hinder the savages and keep them from landing here.
+Goodbye!" and, so saying, I turned and ran toward the spot where the
+catamaran lay with her bows hauled up on the beach.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+WE ESCAPE BY THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH.
+
+In a few minutes Sails joined me, with the extra gun and a biscuit tin
+full of cartridges; and between us we got the catamaran afloat, swung
+her round with her bows pointing seaward, and both jumped aboard.  Then,
+while I seized the steering paddle, Simpson sprang to the main halyards
+and hoisted the big lateen sail, which at once filled, when we gathered
+headway and began to draw away from the shore, heading about south-west
+out of the bay; and as soon as the sail was fully set and the halyards
+belayed, Sails came aft and took the helm, while I gave the spare gun an
+overhaul before loading it.
+
+As we drew out from under the lee of the island and began to feel the
+true breeze it became apparent that it was fast freshening up again, for
+we could see the heads of the seas bursting into little patches of white
+froth here and there, at which I was profoundly grateful; for I felt
+that a fresh breeze, dead in their teeth, was likely to hamper the
+progress of the savages quite as much as I could hope to do, and every
+minute of delay now was worth a gold mine to us.  And that the advance
+of the savages was indeed being retarded by the rapidly freshening
+breeze soon became apparent, for we were fully three miles offshore when
+we at length made out the canoes, about two miles to leeward of us,
+heading straight in for the island.
+
+Running rapidly down toward them, we soon neared them sufficiently to
+enable us to see that they were big, lumping craft, about sixty feet
+long by six or seven feet beam, each canoe being manned by about fifty
+savages, every mother's son of whom was wielding a short, broad-bladed
+paddle as though his life depended upon it.  Yet the canoes were not
+making very much headway, for they were unwieldy--looking craft, with
+long, high-peaked, overhanging bows, and sterns which seemed to catch
+and hold a good deal of wind, making the paddling of them to windward,
+especially against a heavy head sea, exceedingly hard work.
+
+To do anything really effective with these craft, and especially to make
+good shooting in the heavy sea that was running, it was necessary to get
+to close quarters with them; I therefore directed Simpson to haul up two
+or three points to the northward, my intention being to pass the
+flotilla on their port beam, come to the wind as soon as we had passed
+them, cross their sterns, raking them as we passed, and then follow
+them, maintaining a steady fire all the way, and crowding them up to the
+northward as much as possible, so that they might not land in South-west
+Bay.
+
+Our approach was greeted with yells of defiance from the crowded canoes,
+many of the occupants of which dropped their paddles, sprang to their
+feet, and hurled their long spears at us as we swept past them at a
+distance of some two hundred yards from the nearest canoe.  They were
+experts in the hurling of spears, those savages; but it was no part of
+my plan to run the risk of getting either Simpson or myself hurt--two of
+us against some five hundred left no room for quixotic displays of
+daring; and we were careful to keep beyond the range of their spears,
+every one of which dropped harmlessly into the water at varying
+distances from us, the nearest of them all falling short by about thirty
+or forty fathoms.  But if I was anxious that neither of us should be
+hurt, I was also anxious to avoid hurting the savages, as far as might
+be, my object being not so much to destroy them as to prevent them from
+landing on our island, if possible; and I thought that this might
+perhaps be done, and the savages compelled to retreat, by drilling their
+canoes so full of bullet holes that at least some of them would sink,
+when the remainder would become so crowded that it would be found
+impossible to continue paddling to windward--for I took it for granted
+that if one or two of their canoes sank, their crews would be picked up
+by the rest.  Of course there was the risk that, in endeavouring to sink
+their canoes, I might wound or even kill a few savages; but that was
+their lookout, not mine.
+
+Therefore, when our antagonists opened the ball by casting spears at us,
+I retaliated by seizing my gun and aiming at the water line of the
+nearest canoe, expecting the bullet to pass right through her, leaving
+two holes which would admit quite a quantity of water, unless the
+savages happened to possess the means to plug them.  My shot went true,
+for as the smoke blew away I saw a small white puncture show in the
+bottom of the canoe for an instant before it was hidden by the roll of
+the craft.  A loud yell of astonishment greeted my first essay, showing
+that these particular savages had never before had experience of
+firearms; but the yell was not wholly the result of astonishment either,
+for I saw a native clap his hand to his leg, and shrewdly guessed that
+the bullet had punctured him as well as the canoe.  I had time to drop
+the discharged gun, seize the loaded one, and fire a second shot before
+we were fairly past that particular craft; but that second shot was less
+successful than the first, for it missed the canoe.  However, it caught
+a native, who sprang convulsively to his feet, his hands clutching his
+head, as, wheeling half-round, he staggered backward and tumbled head
+over heels into the sea.  I naturally expected that his friends would
+stop and endeavour to pick him up, but not a bit of it; they merely
+uttered another yell, apparently of encouragement to each other, and
+drove their paddles into the water with increased energy.
+
+Both guns being now empty, I signed Simpson to come to the wind and luff
+athwart the sterns of the flotilla, while I busied myself upon the
+recharging of the pieces.  By the time that this was done we were on the
+starboard quarter of the most southerly of the canoes, and I immediately
+proceeded to test my skill upon her.  Making short tacks across her
+stern, I fired half a dozen bullets into her, every one of which hit,
+five out of the six wounding and disabling one or more of her occupants
+as well as drilling a hole in the canoe herself, with the result that
+she began to drop astern of the others, the crews of which were exerting
+themselves to their very utmost, having apparently come to the
+conclusion that the sooner they could reach the island the better it
+would be for them.  Wherefore I attacked the next canoe in like manner:
+but now I was less careful than before in the matter of hurting her
+occupants, for it began to dawn upon me that these savages had no notion
+of standing by to help a disabled consort, and that, do what I would, I
+could not possibly prevent some of them at least from effecting a
+landing; therefore my business must be to see that as few of them as
+possible should set foot on the island.  Incidentally, I found that by
+persistently attacking the southernmost canoe I was slowly but surely
+effecting one part of my purpose, by causing the whole flotilla to edge
+slowly away to the northward, thus diverting them from any purpose that
+they might have had of landing in South-west Bay.
+
+Then another plan suggested itself to me.  I saw that the savages were
+either destitute of means to plug the bullet holes in their canoes or
+had not wit enough to make use of them; but each canoe appeared to carry
+several large calabash bowls, which were used as balers: my plan,
+therefore, was to shoot promptly at any man whom I saw attempting to
+bale a leaky canoe, with the result that the particular canoe which I
+happened to be attacking gradually filled and ultimately swamped,
+leaving her crew to cling helplessly to her as she floated full to her
+gunwale, or to strike out for the island, now some three miles distant.
+And since the fellows swam like seals there was no doubt that they would
+ultimately reach it--unless a shark happened to encounter them on the
+way; but I did not allow the probability of their ultimate arrival on
+the island to worry me much, for I felt tolerably certain that, before
+that could happen, we should have made good our escape, if indeed we
+were going to escape at all.
+
+Our effective antagonists were now reduced to eight canoes and their
+crews, who were all hanging together as much as possible for mutual
+protection, but were making poor headway against the steadily increasing
+wind and sea.  If I could hinder them still further, so much the better;
+and the most obvious way to do that was to weaken their crews by
+wounding as many as possible: therefore I now resumed my original
+tactics of tacking to and fro athwart their sterns, and raking them as
+we passed.  And this, I soon found, was a very excellent plan, for it
+not infrequently happened that by this mode of attack I was able to make
+one bullet do double, and in some cases even treble duty; the result
+being that by the time that we all drew up abreast of the island the
+entire fleet was in such difficulties that they were scarcely able to
+make any headway at all, two of the canoes indeed being so seriously
+crippled that at last, notwithstanding their close proximity to the
+island, they were actually compelled to bear up and run away to leeward
+again, while another of them was swamped, leaving five out of the
+original ten still to contend with.
+
+And now my trouble began in earnest, for so desperate were the savages
+rendered by the merciless persecution to which they had compelled me, in
+self-defence, to subject them, that they made the most strenuous efforts
+to get into South-west Bay; and, indeed, it was not until I bore up and
+took the extreme risk of running down one canoe that I was finally able
+to turn them from their purpose.  But ultimately, after a running
+fight--if so one-sided an affair could be so called--four of them
+contrived to weather North-west Cape and effect a landing in North Bay.
+Then, after chasing them right into the bay, and keeping up a brisk fire
+upon them until they landed, to the number of about one hundred and
+twenty, and vanished into the woods, we in the catamaran bore up, headed
+out to sea again, and made the best of our way back to South-west Bay
+and the shipyard, hoping that upon our arrival we should find the
+schooner afloat; for we had been gone fully four hours.
+
+But to my intense disappointment, when we entered the bay there was the
+schooner still high and dry upon the stocks, with Chips, the boatswain,
+and Cunningham all busily engaged in turning over the small pile of
+lumber that still remained from the dismembered wreck of the _Martha_.
+Presently one of them looked up, saw us coming, and apparently reported
+the fact to the others, for Cunningham at once straightened himself up
+and came down to the water's edge to meet us.
+
+"Well, Temple," he exclaimed, as the catamaran grounded and I stepped
+ashore, "how have things gone with you?  Have you managed to beat off
+our friends the enemy?"
+
+"I have not," I answered, just a trifle sourly, I am afraid.  "A hundred
+or more of them have landed round there in North Bay; and we may
+confidently expect a visit from them within the next half-hour.  But
+what the mischief have you fellows been up to all this time?  I fully
+expected to find the schooner afloat, under way, and only awaiting our
+return to be off!  What have you been doing?  Playing poker, or what?"
+
+"Now, my dear chap, don't you go and turn rusty as well as the rest of
+us, or there's no knowing what may happen; for, let me tell you, we're
+all just as savage as bears with sore heads," remonstrated Cunningham.
+"No," he continued, "we've not been playing poker, or hunt the slipper,
+or even kiss in the ring; to put it plainly, we've been trying to do the
+impossible.  The long and the short of it is, Temple, that we have used
+up our last scrap of available timber, and there still remains a good
+half-hour's work to be done on the cradle before we dare start to wedge
+up.  We have been nailing and plugging bits together, and working them
+in to the best of our ability, until our last nail is expended; and now
+we seem to be at a standstill.  I'll be shot if I know how we're going
+to get over the difficulty."
+
+"What! do you mean to tell me that after getting as far as that we are
+brought to a standstill for the sake of a few pieces of timber?"  I
+demanded.  "How much do you require?"
+
+"Oh, very little," was the answer.  "A few feet--ten or fifteen feet of
+three-inch stuff would serve--but the mischief of it is that we haven't
+got it.  Even the remains of the wreck will not yield us another inch."
+
+"Then," said I, "all that remains is to break into the catamaran, and
+take out of her as much as is required.  She has served her turn; we
+shall not require her any more if we can get the schooner into the
+water; and--"
+
+"Kick me; kick me hard!" shouted Cunningham in an ecstasy of delight, as
+he smote me a blow between the shoulders that made me stagger.  "The
+catamaran!" he continued.  "Of course.  Oh, what a lot of fools we were
+not to have thought of that before!  But," suddenly bethinking himself,
+"if we had, it would have been of no use, for you had her.  She is
+available now, however, and in ten minutes we'll rip enough stuff out of
+her to finish our job.  I know exactly where to find the kind of stuff
+we want.  Chips ahoy! bring your tools down to the catamaran, my son;
+we're going to break her up!"
+
+The carpenter flung his hand aloft in joyous intimation that he
+understood, and at once made a dash for his tools, while Simpson and I
+wended our way to the schooner, to see how things looked in that
+direction, and also to forage for a morsel of food, for we had eaten
+nothing since breakfast, and were feeling pretty hungry.
+
+A single glance at the cradle, which, when wedged up, would lift the
+schooner off the keel blocks and throw her weight upon the launching
+ways, sufficed to reveal the pitiful straits to which Chips had latterly
+been reduced; for worked into it there were scraps of wood less than a
+foot in length, fastened to other pieces of similar size with nails or
+plugs, and presenting a most flimsy and unsatisfactory appearance.  But
+when I came to look more closely I saw that the only unsatisfactory part
+of the work was its appearance; it was not nearly so flimsy as at first
+sight it had appeared to be.  Chips had evidently fully realised his
+responsibility, and had taken care that, let the material be what it
+might, there should be nothing faulty about his workmanship.  And I saw
+also that, given the necessary amount of material, he would be able to
+finish his work in a very short time.
+
+The boatswain routed out some food for us, and while Simpson and I sat
+down to eat and drink, Murdock, upon my instructions, went down to the
+catamaran--which the carpenter and Cunningham had already attacked--and
+brought away from her the two guns and the ammunition that remained from
+our engagement with the savages.  And when he had performed this errand
+I bade him get aboard the schooner, rout out a few extra guns and a
+further supply of ammunition, load the weapons, and then station himself
+in the bows as a lookout, with special instructions to keep a wary eye
+upon the neighbouring cliffs and report the very first indication of the
+approach of an enemy.
+
+The boatswain had scarcely been on the lookout a matter of twenty
+minutes when he hailed me.
+
+"Mr Temple," he shouted, "I wish you'd come up here, sir, for a minute,
+and bring that there glass of Mr Cunnin'ham's along with ye.  There's
+some'at up there on top o' them cliffs that I can't rightly make out,
+and I'd like you to come and have a look at it."
+
+Accordingly up I went, with Cunningham's telescope still slung over my
+shoulders, and joined Murdock where he stood right in the eyes of the
+schooner, peering intently at a particular spot on the top of the
+cliffs.
+
+"Now then," said I, withdrawing the telescope from its case, "where is
+this mysterious something that you can't make out?"
+
+"Ye see that there big tree with the thick, knobbly-lookin' trunk, up
+there, sir?" he demanded, pointing.  "Well, just to the nor'ard of it
+there's a bush with a lot of white flowers upon it.  See that?"
+
+I replied that I did.
+
+"Very well," continued my companion.  "Two or three times I've seemed to
+see somethin' movin' among them there white flowers, but I can't be
+quite--"
+
+"Yes, you are right, I see it; there is something--somebody--there," I
+interrupted, having brought the glass to bear upon the spot while
+Murdock was speaking.  "Ah! now I have lost it again," I continued, "but
+I am certain I saw a dark face peering through the branches.  Here! let
+me have your gun.  If there is really anybody there we'll give him a
+scare, if nothing worse."
+
+So saying, I took the loaded gun, and, keeping my eyes firmly fixed on
+the spot, stretched myself prone on the deck, with the barrel of the
+weapon resting upon the rail of the schooner's very low bulwark.
+Sighting the piece carefully, I brought it to bear immediately on the
+spot where I thought I had seen the face, and then waited patiently for
+its reappearance.  But minute after minute passed and nothing appeared;
+and presently Cunningham and the carpenter came up the beach staggering
+under a load of timber that promised to be amply sufficient for all our
+needs.  I began to think that I must have been mistaken, and was about
+to lay aside the gun and descend to the beach again, when the boatswain,
+who had taken the glass from me and had been intently peering through
+it, murmured:
+
+"There 'tis again, Mr Temple--no, stop a minute, it's gone--no 'tain't!
+Have ye got your piece bearin' dead upon that spot, sir?"
+
+I answered that I had.
+
+"Then stand by, and when I gives the word just you press the trigger,
+sir, please.  Wait a bit; I don't--Ah! there he is--fire!"
+
+On the instant I pressed the trigger, and as the smoke cleared away I
+thought I saw a slight momentary disturbance of the foliage about the
+spot at which I had aimed, and then all was still again.
+
+"You got him, sir, as sure as eggs is young chickens!" exclaimed
+Murdock, still peering through the glass.  "Or, if you didn't actooaly
+get him," he amended, "you give him a scare that he won't forget in a
+blue moon.  Shall I just slip up there, Mr Temple, and see if I can
+find anything?"
+
+"Certainly not," I replied severely.  "We cannot afford to take any
+risks.  Besides, what does it matter?  No, you remain here, reload that
+gun, keep the glass, maintain a bright lookout, and if you see any
+savages attempting to sneak down upon the beach, shoot without
+hesitation.  What I am chiefly afraid of is that they will muster up
+there in force, and attempt to overwhelm us with a rush.  I am going
+below to lend the others a hand."
+
+I found Cunningham, Parsons, and Simpson all working at high pressure
+under the bows; for they had of course heard the shot, and did not need
+to be told that it indicated the presence of the enemy, though whether
+in force or only in the form of a scout none of us could tell.  But the
+fact that even one of the savages had already made his way across to our
+side of the island was spur enough to our energies, and now we worked as
+probably none of us had ever worked before, in an endeavour to complete
+the cradle, wedge up, and launch the schooner before the enemy should
+muster courage enough to charge home upon us.  If such a thing as that
+last should happen--and it would only mean the loss of a few lives by
+the savages--nothing could possibly save us.
+
+I had been down on the beach about five minutes when a slight hissing
+sound reached my ear, and the next moment a long, triple-barbed, and
+exceedingly formidable-looking spear struck the sand and remained
+quivering there within about ten feet of us, and at the same instant
+Murdock shouted from above:
+
+"Mr Temple--Mr Temple, sir, I wish you'd come up here and take my
+place.  They're musterin' up there on top o' the cliff--I can see 'em
+movin' about among the bushes--and I ain't ne'er a good enough shot for
+the job you've told me off for.  If I shoots and misses once or twice
+they'll rush us, as sure as you'm alive, sir; while if two or three of
+'em was bowled over it might hold 'em back a bit and give us more time.
+Come quick, sir, if you please; I believe they'm gettin' ready for a
+rush!"
+
+There was sound sense in what the boatswain said: he was not a good
+enough shot, or quite cool enough in the handling of firearms, to stop a
+rush, and I therefore determined to act on his suggestion.  Only
+Cunningham was quite as good a shot as myself, if not better; therefore
+I turned to him.
+
+"Cunningham," said I, "you hear what Murdock says; and he is right.  But
+you are the crack shot of the party, so please go up and relieve him at
+once.  But before he comes down get him to bring up every gun from
+below, and our entire stock of cartridges, and make him load every
+weapon and place it handy for you.  Go at once, please; and remember you
+must shoot to kill."
+
+"But, my dear chap--" began Cunningham, and then I cut him short.
+
+"Go at once, sir," I exclaimed sharply.  "This is no time for arguing;
+and please remember that I command here."
+
+"Right you are, old chap; I understand," he replied, and went without
+further ado.  And, as he turned to leave, another spear came whizzing
+through the air and stuck in the sand exactly where he had been standing
+a second earlier.  Matters were beginning to look serious, for if the
+savages had among them--as they certainly had--men capable of hurling a
+spear from the top of the cliff as far as the schooner, one or the other
+of us might be hurt or even killed at any moment.
+
+A couple of minutes passed, and I heard the voices of Cunningham and
+Murdock as they talked together overhead, showing that the engineer had
+taken up his post.  Simpson and I were holding a piece of timber in
+position, while Parsons secured it, when I suddenly saw a tall savage
+step boldly out from among the bushes on top of the cliff, poising a
+long spear in his hand.  He gave the weapon a preliminary jerk, as
+though to test its balance, and then flung it high above his head in the
+act of casting.  I was about to shout to Cunningham, calling his
+attention to the fellow, when a gun cracked sharply out overhead, and
+the savage spun round upon his heel, staggered backward, and fell
+crashing in among the bushes.
+
+"Good shot!"  I shouted.  "I say, Cunningham, keep Murdock up there with
+you to reload; we can do very well without him down here."
+
+"All right," came the answer; "I will, if you are sure that you don't
+need him.  Ah, by Jove! there's another of them!"
+
+Cunningham's shot took that fellow in the leg, for we saw him clap his
+hand to his right one, just above the knee, and go limping away out of
+sight.  Apparently the savages believed that the discharge of the weapon
+left us temporarily harmless, for another man instantly sprang into view
+and hurriedly poised his spear; but Cunningham was too quick for him,
+for he, too, dropped and lay still.  Then they lay _perdu_ for a few
+minutes, during which we, at work upon the cradle, put in some splendid
+work.
+
+Suddenly, with a final tap of his hammer, Chips sprang back and tossed
+the tool in the air, cleverly catching it by the handle as it fell.
+"Finished!" he yelled, on a note of exultation.  "Now, Mr Temple and
+Simpson, get the mauls, and let's wedge up.  It'll have to be a rather
+rough-and-ready job, I'm afraid; but once the weight of her is off the
+blocks and on to the ways we needn't trouble much.  And now, if Mr
+Cunnin'ham can spare the bo'sun, he'll be useful to us.  Come along,
+Sails, you and I'll take the starboard side, while Mr Temple and
+Murdock takes the port, and we'll see which gets finished first."
+
+I hailed Cunningham, asking if he could spare Murdock, and he replied
+that they were at that moment reloading the whole battery of guns, after
+which he would send him down.  And presently Murdock came.
+
+"Now then, boatswain," said I, "`wedge up' is the word, so take that
+maul and strike with me.  Chips and his mate think they can beat us; but
+we'll show them a thing or two.  Now then, strike!"
+
+Forthwith the air began to resound with the blows of iron on wood, as,
+with more or less dexterous strokes, we drove the wedges home, one pair
+after another; and in about ten minutes we all met under the little
+vessel's counter, our work completed.  But the savages evidently
+suspected that matters were approaching a crisis; possibly the idea was
+suggested to them by the carpenter's triumphant yell of "Finished!" upon
+the completion of the cradle, for during that momentous ten minutes
+several of them had made desperate efforts to transfix us with their
+spears, and as they had now adopted the plan of making the attempt in
+groups of half a dozen or more--to all of whom it was manifestly
+impossible for Cunningham to attend at the same moment--we four at work
+under the schooner's bottom had had two or three exceedingly narrow
+escapes.
+
+"Now, Mr Temple," exclaimed the carpenter excitedly, "I'll just take a
+look fore and aft under her bottom, to make sure that she's clear
+everywhere; and when I sing out `All clear!' will you and the rest
+please jump aboard and stand by to cover me with your rifles and protect
+me from a rush while I knock away the spur shores and launch the little
+hooker?  And you might drop a few ropes' ends over the sides, and
+especially over the bows, for me to swing aboard by as soon as she
+starts to run down the ways.  And if them bronze-coloured skowbanks up
+on the cliffs there tries to run in upon me with their spears while I'm
+down under, give 'em toko; for if I'm hurted afore them spur shores is
+knocked away, we may have a lot of trouble yet.  Ah! blest if I didn't
+think so," as Cunningham's shots cracked out thrice, and two natives
+tumbled headlong down the face of the cliff, while a third hurriedly
+scrambled back to cover; "they're guessin' that if they don't look sharp
+we'll get away from 'em a'ter all, so please keep a keen eye on 'em,
+sir."
+
+"Ay, ay, Chips, we will," answered I.  "Now, get along with your
+inspection, man, as lively as you please, for I see signs of a movement
+among them up there.  Simpson," to the sailmaker, "jump aboard and lend
+Mr Cunningham a hand to reload those guns; and when you have done that,
+drop a few ropes' ends over the sides for Chips to climb aboard by."
+
+By the time I had finished speaking the carpenter had crept in under the
+schooner's bottom and was hastily yet carefully assuring himself that
+the vessel's keel had been everywhere lifted clear of the keel blocks.
+Less than three minutes sufficed him to complete his examination, when
+he shouted the signal "All clear!" and immediately began to pound upon
+the heels of the spur shores with his maul, while Murdock and I made a
+dash for the ladder which afforded access to the schooner's deck.  But
+it was clear that the savages had by this time gained a tolerably
+accurate conception of what we were about, and had begun to realise that
+unless they acted at once we were likely to slip through their hands
+after all; for no sooner did the boatswain and I jump for the ladder
+than they set up a fierce yell, and about a hundred of them broke cover
+and began to scramble down the cliff face, shouting encouragement to
+each other as they swung or sprang from one projection to another,
+tossing their spears and war clubs down to the beach beneath, in order
+that they might have the use of both hands during their hurried descent.
+I naturally expected that Cunningham would open fire upon them
+forthwith; but he did not, for he was at the moment busily reloading the
+discharged weapons--moreover, it appeared that he had a better plan.
+
+At that moment the savages were moving so rapidly and so erratically as
+they swung down the cliff face that accurate shooting would have been
+exceedingly difficult; but the instant that the first native reached the
+beach and paused for a second to seize a club and a handful of spears
+from those which had been cast down from the summit of the cliff, the
+engineer, lying prone on the deck, with his weapon resting on the low
+rail of the schooner's bulwarks, covered him, and the next instant the
+shot rang out and the man toppled over, mortally hit.  Then Cunningham
+passed the empty weapon back to Simpson, receiving a loaded one in its
+stead, and in like manner bowled over the second and third of the
+savages who reached the beach.  But this could not last long, as I could
+easily see upon reaching his side, for the savages were now swarming
+down the cliff so rapidly and in such numbers that it was impossible to
+load the guns quickly enough to cope with them.  As Murdock and I dashed
+forward and joined the other two in the eyes of the schooner I saw that
+about a dozen of the savages had reached the beach unhurt, and were at
+that instant gathering themselves together to make a combined rush.
+
+"Now, lads," said I, "this is where our revolvers are going to come in
+useful.  Wait until they arrive within twenty yards of us, and then open
+upon them with the `barkers'; but don't get excited and fire wild,
+whatever you do--we must make every shot tell.  And--Hurrah, my
+hearties, there go the spur shores!" as I heard them clatter down and
+felt a sudden tremor thrill through the schooner.  "Now, look out, here
+they come!  Watch for the men who pause to hurl their spears, and do
+your best to bowl them over.  She's moving, lads, she's moving!  Hurrah!
+Another minute and we shall be afloat.  Now, look out, and give 'em
+beans!  Here they come!"
+
+Yes; they were coming with a vengeance, not only the dozen who formed as
+it were the vanguard of the rush, but some twenty or thirty more, who in
+the course of a few seconds had flung themselves down from the rocks to
+the soft, yielding sand below, while others were following down the
+cliff face at breakneck speed.  They came running and leaping down the
+beach in pursuit of the now fast-moving schooner, each man grasping a
+single spear in his right hand and three or four more and a war club in
+his left, the whole of them yelling like demons.  At that moment Chips
+appeared under the bows, and the sight of him was greeted by the savages
+with a howl of exultation, for they seemed to think that since he was
+down on the sand they had him in their power.  But the carpenter knew
+perfectly well what he was about, and as the stem of the gliding
+schooner slid past him he made a spring at her wire bobstay, caught it
+first with one hand, then with the other, pulled himself up and flung
+his legs over it, and then rapidly hauled himself up it to the bowsprit
+end, which he reached just as the schooner plunged into the water, swung
+himself astride the spar, and so worked his way inboard.  But it was
+touch and go with him, for the moment he showed himself about a dozen of
+the leading natives pulled up short and prepared to hurl their spears at
+him, and I am convinced that but for the hot revolver fire which we
+instantly opened upon the daring savages, bowling three of them over and
+so seriously disconcerting the aim of the others that they missed,
+Master Chips would, even at the last moment, have lost the number of his
+mess.  But with the plunge of the schooner into the water all danger was
+over, for the little craft held her way in the most wonderful fashion,
+making so long a stern board into the waters of the bay that she shot
+far beyond the extreme range of the savages' spears before she finally
+came to rest.
+
+Meanwhile her canvas was all loose and ready for setting; therefore the
+moment I felt her to be water borne I dashed aft to the tiller, at the
+same time shouting to the others to man the foresail and fore staysail
+halyards and hoist away: and by the time the foresail was hoisted the
+vessel was beginning to lose sternway, whereupon I jammed her tiller
+hard-over to port, and thus canted her with her head to the northward.
+This caused her head sails to fill, whereupon she quickly gathered
+headway, when, putting the helm hard up, I headed her out to sea, while
+the others proceeded to set the jib and mainsail; and within ten minutes
+of her first plunge into the water the little _Nautilus_--as we named
+her--was clear of the reef and fairly in the open sea.
+
+There were several trifling jobs that we would have preferred to finish
+off before proceeding to sea, several articles that we would fain have
+carried away from the island with us, had we been afforded the
+opportunity; but the presence of the savages of course precluded this,
+and therefore the moment that we were under way and clear of the western
+extremity of the island we flattened in our sheets, fore and aft, and
+proceeded to the northward, close-hauled on the starboard tack on our
+way to Honolulu, which was to be our first port of call.
+
+Naturally the first and most engrossing question claiming our attention
+was that of the behaviour of our little ship, and we had not been under
+way a quarter of an hour before we were all agreed that she far exceeded
+our most sanguine expectations; she was a magnificent little sea boat,
+riding the long Pacific surges as buoyantly as a gull, very stiff under
+her canvas, and extraordinarily fast and weatherly.  The only thing that
+caused us any concern was that we found she was leaking to a somewhat
+alarming extent; but we were quite prepared for that, as she had been
+standing so long on the hot beach that her planks had shrunk somewhat,
+opening her seams.  She "took up" however during the course of the
+night, after keeping us busy at the pump for the first three or four
+hours of our voyage, and after that we had no further trouble with her.
+
+The island was a mere faint blue smudge on the horizon astern when the
+sun when down on the evening of that eventful day, and on the ninth
+morning following we safely arrived at Honolulu.  Here, thanks to
+Cunningham's hundred and forty sovereigns, which he had contrived to
+hold on to through all our vicissitudes of fortune, we found ourselves
+possessed of money enough to carry us round the Horn and as far as
+Baltimore, where we had decided to call on our way home.
+
+We remained in Honolulu four days, making arrangements for our long and
+adventurous voyage round the southern extremity of the great American
+continent, and then gaily started, disregarding the strenuous warnings
+of the many friends made by us during our brief stay.  And adventures
+enough and to spare we had, enough to fill another book of this size;
+but that, as a certain writer has remarked, is another story.  It must
+suffice me now to say that we reached Punta Arenas, in the Strait of
+Magellan, fifty-three days after leaving Honolulu, stayed there two
+days, and safely arrived in Baltimore harbour two months, to the day,
+after leaving Punta Arenas.
+
+We had a little difficulty in finding "Marthy", the relict of the late
+lamented Captain Ephraim Brown, but we found her at last, introduced
+ourselves, broke to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's
+death, and then unfolded to her the story of the pearls.  What between
+the news of her loss, and that of the enormous wealth coming to her
+through her late husband's good fortune, the poor old soul was driven
+nearly crazy for a time; but she was a woman of strong common sense and
+a wonderfully practical turn of mind, and in the course of three or four
+days she rallied her faculties sufficiently to decide that she would put
+the whole of her affairs in the hands of a firm of lawyers of undoubted
+integrity, which, we agreed with her, was about the wisest thing she
+could do.  Accordingly we handed over the pearls to them, leaving them
+to arrange the complicated question of duty, etcetera, and left
+Baltimore for England after a stay of just a fortnight.  During our
+sojourn in Baltimore a heavy easterly gale had swept the Atlantic for a
+full week; then came a spell of fine weather and moderate westerly
+winds, which carried us clean across the "Pond" in twenty-two days, our
+arrival at Southampton, "all well", occurring on 27 August, 1864.
+
+Of course I was now a rich man, and did not need to trouble myself about
+completing my indentures, or obtaining another berth; but I nevertheless
+made a point of reporting myself at the offices in London of the owners
+of the _Zenobia_, where I was very cordially received.  And here I had
+the satisfaction of learning, first, that the _Zenobia's_ longboat had
+been picked up within twelve hours by a homeward-bound ship from
+Calcutta, thanks to which fortunate circumstance Captain Roberts's life
+had been saved--as well as those of all the other occupants of the boat;
+and he was now as well as ever, and again in command of his ship, which
+had been captured some seven weeks after the occurrence of the mutiny,
+following upon an unsuccessful attempt to "hold up" an Australian
+clipper, in which attempt Bainbridge, the instigator of the mutiny, had
+been shot dead.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Turned Adrift, by Harry Collingwood
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