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diff --git a/25106.txt b/25106.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..719b209 --- /dev/null +++ b/25106.txt @@ -0,0 +1,947 @@ +Project Gutenberg's "The Gallant, Good Riou", and Jack Renton, by Louis Becke + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: "The Gallant, Good Riou", and Jack Renton + 1901 + +Author: Louis Becke + +Release Date: April 19, 2008 [EBook #25106] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU" *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +"THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU", and JACK RENTON + +From "The Tapu Of Banderah and Other Stories" + +By Louis Becke + +C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. + +1901 + + + + +"THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU" + +This is a true story of one of Nelson's captains, he of whom Nelson +wrote as "the gallant and good Riou"--high meed of praise gloriously won +at Copenhagen--but Riou, eleven years before that day, performed a deed, +now almost forgotten, which, for unselfish heroism, ranks among the +brightest in our brilliant naval annals, and in the sea story of +Australia in particular. + +In September, 1789, the _Guardian_, a forty-gun ship, under the command +of Riou, then a lieutenant, left England for the one-year-old penal +settlement in New South Wales. The little colony was in sore need of +food--almost starving, in fact--and Riou's orders were to make all haste +to his destination, calling at the Cape on the way to embark live stock +and other supplies. All the ship's guns had been removed to make room +for the stores, which included a "plant cabin"--a temporary compartment +built on deck for the purpose of conveying to Sydney, in pots of earth, +trees and plants selected by Sir Joseph Banks as likely to be useful to +the young colony--making her deck "a complete garden," says a newspaper +of the time. Friends of the officers stationed in New South Wales sent +on board the Guardian great quantities of private goods, and these were +stored in the gun-room, which it was thought would be a safer place than +the hold, but, as the event proved, it was the most insecure. + +The ship arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in November, and there filled +her decks with cattle and provisions, then sailed again, her cargo being +equal in value to about L70,000. On December 23rd--twelve days after +leaving the Cape--what is described as "an island of ice" was seen. Riou +gave orders to stand towards it in order to renew, by collecting lumps +of ice, the supply of water, the stock of fresh water having run very +low in consequence of the quantity consumed by the cattle. + +The Public Advertiser of April 30, 1790, describes what now happened. As +the ship approached the island, the boats were hoisted out and manned, +and several lumps collected. During this time the ship lay to, and on +the ice being brought on board she attempted to stand away. Very little +apprehension was at this time entertained of her safety, although the +enormous bulk of the island occasioned an unfavourable current, and in +some measure gave a partial direction to the wind. On a sudden, the +base of the island, which projected under water considerably beyond the +limits of the visible parts, struck the bow of the ship; she instantly +swung round, and her head cleared, but her stern, coming on the shoal, +struck repeatedly, and the sea being very heavy, her rudder broke +away, and all her works abaft were shivered. The ship in this situation +became, in a degree, embayed under the terrific bulk of ice, for its +height was twice that of the mainmast of a ship of the line, and the +prominent head of the berg was every moment expected to break away and +overwhelm the ship. At length, after every practicable exertion, she was +got off the shoal, and the ice floated past her. It was soon perceived +that the _Guardian_ had six feet of water in her hold, and it was +increasing very fast The hands were set to the pumps, others to find +out the leaks, and they occasionally relieved each other. Thus they +continued labouring unceasingly on the 24th, although on the 23rd not +one of them had had the least rest The ship was at one period so much +relieved that she had only two feet of water in the hold; but at this +time, when their distress wore the best aspect, the water "increased in +a moment to ten feet." Then the ship was discovered to be strained in +all her works, and the sea running high, every endeavour to check the +progress of a particular leak proved ineffectual. To lighten the ship, +the cows, horses, sheep, and all the other live stock for the colony +were, with their fodder, committed to the deep to perish. + +John Williams, boatswain of the _Guardian_, wrote to his parents in +London, and told them about the disaster, and although we have no doubt +he was handier with the marline-spike than with his pen, some of his +badly spelled letter reads well:-- + +"This axident happened on the 23rd of December, and on the 25th the +boats left us with moast of the officers and a great part of the seamen. +The master-gunner, purser, one master's mate, one midshipman, and a +parson, with nine seamen, was got into the longboat and cleared the +ship. The doctor and four or five men got into a cutter and was upset +close to the ship, and all of them was drowned. As for the rest of the +boats, I believe they must be lost and all in them perished, for wee was +about six hundred leagues from any land. There was about fifty-six men +missing; a number drowned jumping into the boats; the sea ran so +high that the boats could scarce live. The commander had a strong +resulution, for he said he would sooner go down in the ship than he +wold quid her. All the officers left in the ship was the commander, the +carpenter, one midshipman, and myself. After the boats left us we had +two chances--either to jump or sink. We cold just get into the sailroom +and got up a new forecourse and stuck it full of oakum and rags, and put +itt under the ship's bottom; this is called fothering the ship. We found +some benefit by itt for pumping and bailing we gained on hur; that gave +us a little hope of saving our lives. We was in this terable situation +for nine weeks before we got to the Cape of Good Hope. Sometimes our +upper-deck scuppers was under water outside, and the ship leying like +a log on the water, and the sea breaking over her as if she was a rock. +Sixteen foot of water was the common run for the nine weeks in the hold. +I am not certain what we are to doo with the ship as yet. We have got +moast of our cargo out; it is all dammaged but the beef and pork, which +is in good order. I have lost a great dele of my cloaths, and I am +thinking of drawing of about six pound, wich I think I can make shift +with. If this axident had not hapned I shold not have had aney call for +aney. As for my stores, there is a great part of them thrown overboard; +likewise all the officers stores in the ship is gone the same way, for +evry thing that came to hand was thrown ovarboard to lighten the ship. +I think that we must wait till ordars comes from England to know what we +are to do with the ship." + +The chronicles of the time also relate how at daylight on Christmas +morning, when the water was reported as being up to the orlop deck +and gaining two feet an hour, many of the people desponded and gave +themselves up for lost. A part of those who had any strength left, +seeing that their utmost efforts to save the ship were likely to be in +vain, applied to the officers for the boats, which were promised to be +in readiness for them, and the boatswain was directly ordered to put the +masts, sails, and compasses in each. The cooper was also set to work to +fill a few quarter-casks of water out of some of the butts on deck, and +provisions and other necessaries were got up from the hold. + +Many hours previous to this, Lieutenant Riou had privately declared to +his officers that he saw the final loss of the ship was inevitable, and +he could not help regretting the loss of so many brave fellows. "As +for me," said he, "I have determined to remain in the ship, and shall +endeavour to make my presence useful as long as there is any occasion +for it." He was entreated, and even supplicated, to give up this fatal +resolution, and try for safety in the boats. It was even hinted to him +how highly criminal it was to persevere in such a determination; but +he was not to be moved by any entreaties. He was, notwithstanding, as +active in providing for the safety of the boats as if he intended to +take the opportunity of securing his own escape. He was throughout as +calm and collected as in the happier moments of his life. + +At seven o'clock the _Guardian_ had settled considerably abaft, and the +water was coming in at the rudder-case in great quantities. At half-past +seven the water in the hold obliged the people below to come upon deck; +the ship appeared to be in a sinking state, and settling bodily down; it +was, therefore, almost immediately agreed to have recourse to the boats. +While engaged in consultation on this melancholy business, Riou wrote a +letter to the Admiralty, which he delivered to Mr. Clements, the master. +It was as follows:-- + + "H.M.S. Guardian, Dec. 25, 1789. + + "If any part of the officers or crew of the _Guardian_ + should ever survive to get home, I have only to say their + conduct, after the fatal stroke against an island of ice, + was admirable and wonderful in everything that relates to + their duty, considered either as private men, or in His + Majesty's service. As there seems to be no possibility of my + remaining many hours in this world, I beg leave to recommend + to the consideration of the Admiralty a sister, who, if my + conduct or service should be found deserving any memory, + their favour might be shown to, together with a widowed + mother. + + "I am, &c, + + "Phil. Stephens, Esq." + + "E. RIOU. + +With the utmost difficulty the boats were launched. After they were got +afloat and had cleared the ship, with the exception of the launch they +were never afterwards heard of; the launch with nine survivors was +picked up by a passing vessel ten days after she left the wreck, her +people reduced to the last extremity for want of food and water. + +Among the survivors was the parson mentioned by the boatswain. This was +the Rev. Mr. Crowther, who was on his way as a missionary to the penal +settlement. The Rev. John Newton, of Olney (poet Cowper's Newton), had +got Crowther the appointment, at "eight shillings per diem, of assistant +chaplain of the settlement," and Newton, writing to the Rev. R. Johnson, +chaplain of Sydney, tells how he heard of the loss of the Guardian, "and +the very next morning Mr. Crowther knocked at my door himself." Then Mr. +Newton writes a letter which shows that Mr. Crowther had had enough of +the sea. "It is not a service for mere flesh and blood to undertake. A +man without that apostolic spirit and peculiar call which the Lord alone +can give would hardly be able to maintain his ground. Mr. Crowther, +though a sincere, humble, good man, seems not to have had those +qualifications, and therefore he has been partly intimidated by what he +met with abroad, and partly influenced by nearer personal considerations +at home, to stay with us and sleep in a whole skin." But after his +experience it was not to be wondered at that he preferred to stay at +home and sleep in a whole skin. + +Meanwhile Riou, in spite of a ship without a rudder, and with the water +in her up to the orlop deck, succeeded, as the boatswain's letter shows, +after a voyage of nine weeks, in bringing his command to the Cape. A +letter from Capetown, written on March 1, 1790, tells us she arrived +there "eight days ago in a situation not to be credited without ocular +proofs. She had, I think, nine feet of water in her when she anchored. +The lower gun-deck served as a second bottom; it was stowed with a very +great weight equally fore and aft. To this, and to the uncommon strength +of it, Captain Riou ascribes his safety. Seeing an English ship with a +signal of distress, four of us went on board, scarcely hoping but with +busy fancy still pointing her out to be the _Guardian_, and, to our +inexpressible joy, we found it was her. We stood in silent admiration +of her heroic commander (whose supposed fate had drawn tears from us +before), shining through the rags of the meanest sailor. The fortitude +of this man is a glorious example for British officers to emulate. Since +that time we have gone on board again to see him. He is affable in +his manners, and of most commanding presence.... Perhaps we, under the +influence of that attraction which great sufferings always produce, may, +in the enthusiasm of our commendation, be too lavish in his praise; were +it not for this fear I would at once pronounce him the most God-like +mortal I ever viewed. They were two months from the time the accident +happened until they reached this place. Every man shared alike in the +labour; and not having at all attended to their persons during the +whole of that dismal period they looked like men of another world--long +beards, dirt, and rags covered them. Mr. Riou got one of his hands +crushed and one of his legs hurt, but all are getting well. None of his +people died during their fatigues. He says his principal attention +was to keep up their spirits and to watch over their health. He never +allowed himself to hope until the day before he got in here, when +he made the land. Destitute of that support, how superior must his +fortitude be! He has this morning, for the first time, come on shore, +having been employed getting stores, &c., out to lighten the ship. He +wavers what to do with her--whether to put Government to the expense +of repairing her here (which would almost equal her first cost, perhaps +exceed it) or burn her. Most likely the last will be resolved on." + +The ship was in such a state that she was condemned by the experts at +the Cape, but Riou, bearing in mind the distressed state of the colony +of New South Wales, did not rest until he had sent on in other vessels +all the stores he could collect. + +Neither did he forget the behaviour of certain convicts. In a letter +to the Admiralty he wrote: "Permit me, sir, to address you on a subject +which I hope their Lordships will not consider to be unworthy their +notice. It is to recommend as much as is in my power to their Lordships' +favour and interest the case of the twenty convicts which my duty +compelled me to send to Port Jackson. But the recollection of past +sufferings reminds me of that time when I found it necessary to make use +of every possible method to encourage the minds of the people under my +command, and at such time, considering how great the difference might +be between a free man struggling for life and him who perhaps might +consider death as not much superior to a life of ignominy and disgrace +I publicly declared that not one of them, so far as depended on myself, +should ever be convicts. And I may with undeniable truth say that, had +it not been for their assistance and support, the _Guardian_ would never +have arrived to where she is. Their conduct prior to the melancholy +accident that happened on December 23rd last was always such as may be +commended, and from their first entrance into the ship at Spithead they +ever assisted and did their duty in like manner as the crew. I have +taken the liberty to recommend them to the notice of Governor Phillip; +but I humbly hope, sir, their Lordships will consider the service done +by these men as meriting their Lordships' favour and protection, and I +make no doubt that should I have been so fortunate as to represent +this in proper colours, that they will experience the benefit of their +Lordships' interest." + +The prisoners were pardoned, and the Secretary of the Admiralty wrote to +Riou-- + +"I have their Lordships' commands to acquaint you that their concern +on the receipt of the melancholy contents of the first-mentioned letter +could only be exceeded by the satisfaction they received from the +account of your miraculous escape, which they attribute to your skilful +and judicious exertions under the favour of Divine Providence.... +Their Lordships have communicated to Mr. Secretary Grenville, for his +Majesty's information, your recommendation of the surviving convicts +whose conduct, as it has so deservedly met with your approbation, will, +there is every reason to hope, entitle them to his Majesty's clemency." + +[This story of the gallant behaviour of these twenty prisoners does not +stand alone in the convict annals of Australia. There were many other +instances in which convicts behaved with the greatest heroism. Many of +the earlier explorers, such as Sturt, received most valuable aid from +prisoners who were members of their expeditions; and in the first +days of the colony both Phillip and Hunter were quick to recognise +and personally reward or recommend for pardon to the Home Government +convicts who had distinguished themselves by acts of bravery.] + +When Riou returned to England he was promoted to post-captain's rank, +and at Copenhagen, in 1801, he commanded the _Amazon_. Perhaps we may +be forgiven for reprinting from Southey's "Nelson" an account of what he +did there. "The signal" (that famous one which Nelson looked at with his +blind eye), "the signal, however, saved Riou's little squadron, but +did not save its heroic leader. The squadron, which was nearest the +commander-in-chief, obeyed and hauled off. It had suffered severely in +its most unequal contest. For a long time the _Amazon_ had been firing +enveloped in smoke, when Riou desired his men to stand fast, and let +the smoke clear off, that they might see what they were about. A fatal +order, for the Danes then got clear sight of her from the batteries, +and pointed their guns with such tremendous effect that nothing but +the signal for retreat saved this frigate from destruction. 'What will +Nelson think of us!' was Riou's mournful exclamation when he unwillingly +drew off. He had been wounded in the head by a splinter, and was sitting +on a gun, encouraging his men, when, just as the _Amazon_ showed her +stern to the Trekroner Battery, his clerk was killed by his side, +and another shot swept away several marines who were hauling in +the main-brace. 'Come, then, my boys!' cried Riou, 'let us die all +together!' The words had scarcely been uttered before a raking shot cut +him in two. Except it had been Nelson himself, the British Navy could +not have suffered a severer loss." + + + + + +JACK RENTON + +Some yarns of an exceedingly tough and Munchausen-like character have +been spun and printed by men of their adventures in Australian waters +or the South Seas, but an examination of such stories by any one with +personal knowledge of the Pacific and Australasia has soon, and very +deservedly so, knocked the bottom out of a considerable number of them. +Yet there are stories of South Sea adventure well authenticated, which +I are not a whit less wonderful than the most marvellous falsehoods that +any man has yet told, and the story of what befell John Renton is one +of these. A file of the _Queenslander_ (the leading Queensland weekly +newspaper) for 1875 will corroborate his story; for that paper gave the +best account of his adventures in one of their November (1875) numbers, +and the story was copied into nearly every paper in Australasia. + + +Like Harry Bluff, John Renton "when a boy left his friends and his home, +o'er the wild ocean waves all his life for to roam." Renton's home was +in Stromness, in the Orkneys, and he shipped on board a vessel bound to +Sydney, in 1867, as an ordinary seaman, he then being a lad of eighteen. +When in Sydney he got about among the boarding-houses, in sailor-town, +and one morning woke up on the forecastle of the _Reynard_ of Boston, +bound on a cruise for guano among the South Pacific Islands. + +Renton had been crimped, and finding himself where he was, bothered no +more about it, but went cheerfully to work, not altogether displeased at +the prospect of new adventures, which would enable him to by and by go +back to the old folks with plenty of dollars, and a stock of startling +yarns to reel off. He was a steady, straightforward lad, though somewhat +thoughtless at times, and resolved to be a steady, straightforward man. +The vessel first called into the Sandwich Islands, and there shipped a +gang of Hawaiian natives to help load the guano, then she sailed away +to the southward for McKean's Island, one of the Phoenix Group, situated +about lat. 3? 35' S. and long. 174? 20' W. + +On board the _Reynard_ was an old salt known to all hands as "Boston +Ned." He had been a whaler in his time, had deserted, and spent some +years beachcombing among the islands of the South Seas, and very soon, +through his specious tongue, he had all hands wishing themselves clear +of the "old hooker" and enjoying life in the islands instead of +cruising about, hazed here and there and everywhere by the mates of the +_Reynard_, whose main purpose in life was to knock a man down in order +to make him "sit up." Presently three or four of the hands became +infatuated with the idea of settling on an island, and old Ned, nothing +loth, undertook to take charge of the party if they would make an +attempt to clear from the ship. The old man had taken a fancy to young +Renton, and the youngster, when the idea was imparted to him, fell in +with it enthusiastically; for he was exasperated with the treatment he +had received on board the guanoman--the afterguard of an American guano +ship are usually a rough lot The ship was lying on and off the land, +there being no anchorage, and before the plan had been discussed more +than a few hours, the men, five in all, determined to put it into +execution. + +A small whaleboat was towing astern of the vessel in case the wind +should fall light and the ship drift in too close to the shore. It was +a fine night, with a light breeze, and there was, they thought, a good +chance of getting to the southward, to one of the Samoan group, where +they could settle, or by shipping on board a trading schooner they might +later on strike some other island to their fancy. + +By stealth they managed to stow in the boat a couple of small breakers +of water, holding together sixteen gallons, and the forecastle bread +barge with biscuits enough for three meals a day per man for ten days. +They managed also to steal four hams, and each man brought pipes, +tobacco, and matches. A harpoon with some line, an old galley +frying-pan, mast, sail and oars, and some blankets completed the +equipment For they took no compass, though they made several attempts to +get at one slung in the cabin, and tried at first to take one out of the +poop binnacle; but the officer of the watch on deck was too wide awake +for them to risk that, and the cabin compass was screwed to the roof +close to the skipper's berth; and so the old man who was their leader, +old sailor and whaler as he was, actually gave up the idea of taking a +compass, and these people without more ado, one night slipped over the +side into the whaleboat, cut the painter, and by daylight the boat was +out of sight of land and of the ship. They were afloat upon the Pacific, +running six or seven miles before a north-east breeze and expecting +to sight land in less than a week, and were already anticipating the +freedom and luxury of island life in store for them. + +Three days later it fell calm, and they had to take to the oars. The sun +was intensely hot, the water a sheet of glass reflecting back upon them +the ball of fire overhead. Now and again a cats-paw would ripple across +the plain of water, but there were no clouds, there was no sight of +land. They kept on pulling. For three, for four days--a week--for ten +days--they tugged at the oars, except when a favouring breeze came. The +water was reduced to a few pints, the food to a few days' half-rations. +Their limbs were cramped so that they could not move from their places +in the boat, their bodies were becoming covered with sores; and the wind +had now died away entirely, the sea was without a ripple, and for ever +shone above them the fierce, relentless sun. + +Gradually it had dawned upon them that they were lost--that perhaps they +had run past Samoa. The first eagerness of their adventure gave place +to despair, and by degrees their despair grew to madness of a more awful +kind. + +On the fifteenth day there appeared to the south and east a low, +dark-grey cloud. "Land at last!" was the unspoken thought in each man's +heart as he looked at his comrade, but feared to voice his hope. And +presently the cloud grew darker and more clearly defined, and one of the +men--the next oldest to the author of all their miseries--fell upon +his weak and trembling knees, and raised his hands in thankfulness +and prayer to the Almighty. Alas! it was not land, but the ominous +forerunner of the fierce and sweeping mid-equatorial gale which lay +veiled behind. In less than half an hour it came upon and smote them +with savage fury, and the little boat was running before a howling gale +and a maddened, foam-whipped sea. + +And then it happened that, ill and suffering as he was from the agonies +of hunger and thirst, the heroic nature of old "Boston Ned" came +out, and his bold sailor's heart cheered and encouraged his wretched, +despairing companions. All that night, and for the greater part of +the following day, he stood in the stern-sheets, grasping the bending +steer-oar as the boat swayed and surged along before the gale, and +constantly watching lest she should broach to and smother in the +roaring seas; the others lay in the bottom, feebly baling out the +water, encouraged, urged, and driven to that exertion by the gallant old +American seaman. + +Towards noon the wind moderated, in the afternoon it died away +altogether, and again the boat lay rising and falling to the long +Pacific swell, and "Boston Ned" flung his exhausted frame down in the +stern-sheets and slept. + +Again the blood-red sun leapt from a sea of glassy smoothness--for the +swell had subsided during the night--and again the wretched men locked +into each other's dreadful faces and mutely asked what was to be done. +How should they head the boat? Without a compass they might as well +steer one way as another, for none of them knew even approximately the +course for the nearest land; search the cloudless vault of blue above, +or scan the shimmering sea-rim till their aching eyes dropped from out +their hollowing sockets, there was no clue. + +Twenty days out the last particle of food and water had been consumed, +and though the boat was now steering as near westward as old Ned could +judge, before a gentle south-east trade, madness and despair were coming +quickly upon them, and on the twenty-third day two of the five miserable +creatures began to drink copiously of salt water--the drink of Death. + +Renton, though he had suffered to the bitter full from the agonies +of body and mind endured by his shipmates, did not yield to this +temptation; and by a merciful providence remained sane enough to turn +his face away from the water. But as he lay crouched in a heap in the +bottom of the boat, with a silent prayer in his heart to his Creator to +quickly end his sufferings, he heard "Boston Ned" and the only remaining +sane man except himself muttering hoarsely together and looking +sometimes at him and sometimes at the two almost dying men who lay +moaning beside him. Presently the man who was talking to Ned pulled out +of his blanket--which lay in the stern-sheets--a razor, and turning his +back to Renton began stropping it upon the sole of his boot, and even +"Boston Ned" himself looked with awful eyes and blood-baked twitching +lips upon the youngster. + +The lad saw what was coming, and as quickly as possible made his way +forward and sat there, with his eyes fixed upon the two men aft, waiting +for the struggle which he thought must soon begin. All that day and the +night he sat and watched, determined to make a fight for the little life +which remained in him, and Ned and the other man at times still muttered +and eyed him wolfishly. + +And so, on and on, these seeming outcasts of God's mercy sailed before +the warm breath of the south-east trade wind, above them the blazing +tropic sun, around them the wide, sailless expanse of the blue Pacific +unbroken in its dreadful loneliness except for a wandering grey-winged +booby or flocks of whale-birds floating upon its gentle swell, and +within their all but deadened hearts naught but grim despair and a +dulled sense of coming dissolution. + +As he sat thus, supporting his swollen head upon his skeleton hands, +Renton saw something astern, moving slowly after the boat--something +that he knew was waiting and following for the awful deed to be done, so +that _it_ too might share in the dreadful feast. + +Raising his bony arm, he pointed towards the moving fin. To him a +shark meant no added horror or danger to their position, but possibly +deliverance. "Boston Ned" and the other man first looked at the coming +shark, and then with sunken eyes again turned to Renton. Voices none of +them had, and the lad's parched tongue could not articulate, but with +signs and lip movements he tried to make the other two men understand. + +No shark hook had they; nor, if they had had one, had they anything +with which to bait it. But Renton, crawling aft, picked up the harpoon, +placed it in "Boston Ned's" hands, and motioned to him to stand by. +Then with eager, trembling hands he stripped from his legs the shreds +of trousers which remained on them, and, sitting upon the gunwale of the +boat, hung one limb over and let it trail in the water. + +Three times the shark came up, and thrice Ned prepared to strike, but +each time the grim ranger of the seas turned aside as it caught sight +of the waiting figure with weapon poised above. But at last hunger +prevailed, and, swimming slowly up till within a few yards of the boat, +it made a sudden rush for the human bait, missed it, and the harpoon, +deftly darted by the old ex-whaler, clove through its tough skin and +buried itself deep into its body between the shoulders. + +It took the worn-out, exhausted men a long time to haul alongside and +despatch the struggling monster, which, says Renton, was ten feet in +length. + +Then followed shark's flesh and shark's blood, some of the former, after +the first raw meal, being cooked on a fire made of the biscuit barge +upon a wet blanket spread in the bottom of the boat. The hot weather, +however, soon turned the remaining portion putrid, but two or three days +later came God's blessed rain, and gave them hope and life again. +They managed to save a considerable quantity of water, and, though the +shark's flesh was in a horrible condition, they continued to feed upon +it _until the thirty-fifth_ day. + +On this day they saw land, high and well wooded; but now the trade-wind +failed them, and for the following two days the unfortunate men +contended with baffling light airs, calms, and strong currents. At +last they got within a short distance of the shore, and sought for a +landing-place through the surrounding surf. + +Suddenly four or five canoes darted out from the shore. They were filled +with armed savages, whose aspect and demeanour warned old Ned that he +and his comrades were among cannibals. Sweeping alongside the boat, the +savages seized the white men, who were all too feeble to resist, or even +move, put them into their canoes, and conveyed them on shore, fed them, +and treated them with much apparent kindness. Crowds of natives +from that part of the island--which was Malayta, one of the Solomon +Group--came to look at them, and one man, a chief, took a fancy to +Renton, and claimed him as his own especial property. + +Renton never saw the rest of his companions again, for they were removed +to the interior of the Island--probably sold to some of the bush tribes, +the "man-a-bush," as the coastal natives called them. Their fate is not +difficult to guess, for the people of Malayta were then, as they are +now, cannibals. + +On August 7, 1875, the Queensland labour recruiting schooner _Bobtail +Nag_ was cruising off the island, trading for yams, and her captain +heard from some natives who came alongside that there was a white man +living ashore in a village about ten miles distant. The skipper of the +_Bobtail Nag_ at once offered to pay a handsome price if the man was +brought on board, and at the cost of several dozen Birmingham steel +axes and some tobacco poor Renton's release was effected. He told his +rescuers that the people among whom he had lived had taken a great fancy +to him, and had treated him with great kindness. + +If the reader will look at a chart of the South Pacific, he will see, +among the Phoenix Group, the position of McKean's Island; two thousand +miles distant, westward and southward, is the island of Malayta, upon +which Renton and his companions in misery drifted. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of "The Gallant, Good Riou", and Jack +Renton, by Louis Becke + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU" *** + +***** This file should be named 25106.txt or 25106.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/1/0/25106/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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