The reader must understand that the foregoing remarks are to be
considered as referring to my position and amount of knowledge when I
was seven or eight years old. My master, as I called him, was a short
square-built man, about sixty years of age, as I afterwards estimated
from recollection and comparison. His hair fell down his back in thick
clusters and was still of a dark color, and his beard was full two feet
long and very bushy; indeed, he was covered with hair, wherever his
person was exposed. He was, I should say, very powerful had he had
occasion to exert his strength, but with the exception of the time at
which we collected the birds, and occasionally going up the ravine to
bring down faggots of wood, he seldom moved out of the cabin unless it
was to bathe. There was a pool of salt water of about twenty yards
square, near the sea, but separated from it by a low ridge of rocks,
over which the waves only beat when the sea was rough and the wind on
that side of the island. Every morning almost we went down to bathe in
that pool, as it was secure from the sharks, which were very numerous.
I could swim like a fish as early as I can recollect, but whether I was
taught, or learnt myself, I cannot tell. Thus was my life passed away;
my duties were trifling; I had little or nothing to employ myself
about, for I had no means of employment. I seldom heard the human
voice, and became as taciturn as my companion. My amusements were
equally confined--looking down into the depths of the ocean, as I lay
over the rocky wall which girded the major portion of the island, and
watching the motions of the finny tribes below, wondering at the stars
during the night season, eating, and sleeping. Thus did I pass away an
existence without pleasure and without pain. As for what my thoughts
were I can hardly say, my knowledge and my ideas were too confined for
me to have any food for thought. I was little better than a beast of
the field, that lies down on the pasture after he is filled. There was
one great source of interest however, which was, to listen to the
sleeping talk of my companion, and I always looked forward to the time
when the night fell and we repaired to our beds. I would lie awake for
hours, listening to his ejaculations and murmured speech, trying in
vain to find out some meaning in what he would say--but I gained
little; he talked of "that woman"--appearing to be constantly with
other men, and muttering about something he had hidden away. One night,
when the moon was shining bright, he sat up in his bed, which, as I
have before said, was on the floor of the cabin, and throwing aside the
feathers upon which he had been lying, scratched the mould away below
them and lifted up a piece of board. After a minute he replaced
everything, and lay down again. He evidently was sleeping during the
whole time. Here, at last, was something to feed my thoughts with. I
had heard him say in his sleep that he had hidden something--this must
be the hiding place. What was it? Perhaps I ought here to observe that
my feelings towards this man were those of positive dislike, if not
hatred; I never had received one kind word or deed from him, that I
could recollect. Harsh and unfeeling towards me, evidently looking upon
me with ill-will, and only suffering me because I saved him some
trouble, and perhaps because he wished to have a living thing for his
companion,--his feelings towards me were reciprocated by mine towards
him. What age I was at the time my mother died, I know not, but I had
some faint recollection of one who treated me with kindness and
caresses, and these recollections became more forcible in my dreams,
when I saw a figure very different from that of my companion (a female
figure) hanging over me or leading me by the hand. How I used to try to
continue those dreams, by closing my eyes again after I had woke up!
And yet I knew not that they had been brought about by the dim
recollection of my infancy; I knew not that the figure that appeared to
me was the shadow of my mother; but I loved the dreams because I was
treated kindly in them.
But a change took place by the hand of Providence. One day, after we
had just laid in our yearly provision of sea birds, I was busy
arranging the skins of the old birds, on the flat rock, for my annual
garment, which was joined together something like a sack, with holes
for the head and arms to pass through; when, as I looked to seaward, I
saw a large white object on the water.
"Look, master," said I, pointing towards it.
"A ship, a ship!" cried my companion.
"Oh," thought I, "that is a ship; I recollect that he said they came
here in a ship." I kept my eyes on her, and she rounded to.
"Is she alive?" inquired I.
"You're a fool," said the man; "come and help me to pile up this wood
that we may make a signal to her. Go and fetch some water and throw on
it, that there may be plenty of smoke. Thank God, I may leave this
cursed hole at last!"
I hardly understood him, but I went for the water and brought it in the
mess kid.
"I want more wood yet," said he. "Her head is this way, and she will
come nearer."
"Then she is alive," said I.
"Away, fool!" said he, giving me a cuff on the head; "get some more
water and throw on the wood."
He then went into the cabin to strike a light, which he obtained by a
piece of iron and flint, with some fine dry moss for tinder. While he
was so employed, my eyes were fixed on the vessel, wondering what it
could be. It moved through the water, turned this way and that. "It
must be alive," thought I; "is it a fish or a bird?" As I watched the
vessel, the sun was going down and there was not more than an hour's
daylight. The wind was very light and variable, which accounted for the
vessel so often altering her course. My companion came out with his
hands full of smoking tinder, and putting it under the wood, was busy
blowing it into a flame. The wood was soon set fire to, and the smoke
ascended several feet into the air.
"They'll see that," said he.
"What then, it has eyes? it must be alive. Does it mind the wind?"
inquired I, having no answer to my first remark, "for look there, the
little clouds are coming up fast," and I pointed to the horizon, where
some small clouds were rising up and which were, as I knew from
experience and constantly watching the sky, a sign of a short but
violent gale, or tornado, of which we usually had one, if not two, at
this season of the year.
"Yes; confound it," replied my companion, grinding his teeth, "it will
blow her off! That's my luck."
In the meantime, the smoke ascended in the air and the vessel
approached nearer and nearer, until she was within, I suppose, two
miles of the island, and then it fell quite calm. My companion threw
more water on to increase the smoke, and the vessel now hauling up her
courses, I perceived that there were people on board, and while I was
arranging my ideas as to what the vessel might be, my companion cried
out--"They see us, they see us! there's hope now. Confound it, I've
been here long enough. Hurrah for old England!" and he commenced
dancing and capering about like a madman. At last he said,
"Look out and see if she sends a boat, while I go into the cabin."
"What's a boat?" said I.
"Out, you fool! tell me if you see anything,"
"Yes, I do see something," replied I. "Look at the squall coming along
the water, it will be here very soon; and see how thick the clouds are
getting up: we shall have as much wind and rain as we had the time
before last, when the birds came."
"Confound it," replied he, "I wish they'd lower a boat, at all events;"
and so saying, he went into the cabin, and I perceived that he was busy
at his bed-place.
My eyes were still fixed upon the squall, as I watched it advancing at
a furious speed on the surface of the water; at first it was a deep
black line on the horizon, but as it approached the vessel, it changed
to white; the surface of the water was still smooth. The clouds were
not more than ten degrees above the horizon, although they were thick
and opaque--but at this season of the year, these tornadoes, as I may
call them, visited us; sometimes we had one, sometimes more, and it was
only when these gusts came on that we had any rain below. On board of
the vessel--I speak now from my after knowledge--they did not appear to
be aware of the danger; the sails were all set and flapping against the
masts. At last, I perceived a small object close to the vessel; this I
presumed was the boat which my companion looked for. It was like a
young vessel close to the old one, but I said nothing; as I was
watching and wondering what effect the rising wind would have upon her,
for the observations of my companion had made me feel that it was
important. After a time, I perceived that the white sails were
disappearing, and that the forms of men were very busy, and moving on
board, and the boat went back to the side of the vessel. The fact is,
they had not perceived the squall until it was too late, for in another
moment almost, I saw that the vessel bowed down to the fury of the
gale, and after that, the mist was so great that I couldn't see her any
more.
"Is she sending a boat, boy?" cried my companion.
"I can't see her," replied I; "for she is hidden by the wind."
As I said this, the tornado reached to where we stood, and threw me off
my legs to the entrance of the cabin; and with the wind came down a
torrent of rain, which drenched us, and the clouds covered the whole of
the firmament, which became dark; the lightning darted in every
direction, with peals of thunder which were deafening. I crawled into
the cabin, into which the rain beat in great fury and flowed out again
in a small river.
My companion sat near me, lowering and silent. For two hours the
tornado lasted without interruption; the sun had set, and the darkness
was opaque. It was impossible to move against the force of the wind and
the deluge of water which descended. Speak, we did not, but shut our
eyes against the lightning, and held our fingers to our ears to deaden
the noise of the thunder, which burst upon us in the most awful manner.
My companion groaned at intervals, whether from fear, I know not; I had
no fear, for I did not know the danger, or that there was a God to
judge the earth.
Gradually the fury of the gale abated, the rain was only heavy at
intervals, and we could now hear the beating of the waves, as they
dashed against the rocks beneath us. The sky also cleared up a little,
and we could dimly discern the white foam of the breakers. I crawled
out of the cabin, and stood upon the platform in front, straining my
eyes to see the vessel. A flash of lightning, for a second, revealed
her to me; she was dismasted, rolling in the awful breakers, which bore
her down upon the high rocks, not a quarter of a mile from her.
"There it is," exclaimed I, as the disappearance of the lightning left
me in darkness, more opaque than ever.
"She's done for," growled my companion, who, I was not till then aware,
stood by my side. "No hopes this time, confound it!" Then he continued
for some time to curse and swear awfully, as I afterwards discovered,
for I did not then know what was cursing and swearing.
"There she is again," said I, as another flash of lightning revealed
the position of the vessel.
"Yes, and she won't be there long; in five minutes she'll be dashed to
atoms, and every soul perish."
"What are souls?" inquired I.
My companion gave me no reply.
"I will go down to the rocks," said I, "and see what goes on."
"Go," said he, "and share their fate."