It is impossible for me to overrate the value of Mrs Reichardt's
assistance. Indeed had it not been for her, circumstanced as I was at
this particular period, I should in all probability have perished. Her
exhortations saved me from despair, when our position seemed to have
grown quite desperate. But example did more, even, than precept. Her
ingenuity in devising expedients, her activity in putting them in
force, her unfailing cheerfulness under disappointment, and Christian
resignation under privation, produced the best results. I was enabled
to bear up against the ill effects of our crippled resources,
consequent upon the ill conduct of the sailors of the whaler, and the
failure of our fish-pond.
She manufactured strong lines for deep sea fishing, and having
discovered a shelf of rock, little more than two feet above the sea, to
which with a good deal of difficulty I could descend, I took my stand
one day on the rock with my lines baited with a piece of one of my
feathered favourites, whom dire necessity had at last forced me to
destroy. I waited with all the patience of a veteran angler. I knew the
water to be very deep, and it lay in a sheltered nook or corner of the
rocks about ten feet across; I allowed the line to drop some three or
four yards, and not having any float, could only tell I had a bite by
feeling a pull at the line, which was wound round my arm.
After some time having been passed in this way, my attention was
withdrawn from the line, and given to the narrative I had so lately
heard--that is to say, though my eyes were still fixed upon the line, I
had completely given up my thoughts to the story of the poor German
boy, who had been snatched from poverty by the interference of the
parish clerk's daughter, and I contrived to speculate on what I should
have done under such circumstances, imagining all sorts of
extravagances in which I should have indulged, to testify my gratitude
to so amiable and benevolent a friend.
A singular course of ideal scenes followed each other in quick
succession in my mind--as I fancied myself the hero of a similar
adventure. I regarded my imaginary benefactress with feelings of such
intensity as I had never before experienced; and it seemed that I was
to her the exciting object of sentiments of a like nature, the
knowledge of which awoke in our hearts the most agreeable sensations.
I was rudely disturbed out of this day-dream by finding myself suddenly
plunged into the deep water beneath me. The shock was so startling,
that some seconds elapsed before I could comprehend my situation; and
then it became clear that I must have hooked a fish, that had not only
succeeded in pulling me off my balance, but the line by which he was
held being round my arm, cutting painfully into the flesh, threatened
drowning by keeping me under water. With great difficulty I managed to
rise to the surface, and loosened the windings of the line from my
limb; then, anxious to retain possession of what from its force must
have been a fish well worth some trouble in catching, I held on with
both hands, and pulled with all my strength.
At first, by main force I was drawn through the water; then when I
found the strain slacken, I drew in the line. This manoeuvre was
repeated several times, till I succeeded in obtaining a view of what I
had caught; or, more properly speaking, of what had caught me. It was
merely a glimpse; for the fish, which was a very large one, getting a
sight of me within a few yards of him, made some desperate plunges, and
again darted off, dragging me along with him, sometimes under the
water, and sometimes on the surface.
His body was nearly round, and about seven or eight feet long--rather a
formidable antagonist for close quarters; nevertheless, I was most
eager to get at him, the more so, when I ascertained that his
resistance was evidently decreasing. I continued to approach, and at
last got near enough to plunge my knife up to the haft in his head,
which at once put an end to the struggle.
But now another difficulty presented itself. In the ardour of the chase
I had been drawn nearly a mile from the island, and I found it
impossible to carry back the produce of my sport, exhausted as I was by
the efforts I had made in capturing him. I knew I could not swim with
such a burthen for the most inconsiderable portion of the distance. My
fish therefore must be abandoned. Here was a bountiful supply of food,
as soon as placed within reach, rendered totally unavailable.
I thought of Mrs Reichardt. I thought how gratified she would have
been, could I have brought to her such an excellent addition to our
scanty stock of food. Then I thought of her steadfast reliance upon
Providence, and what valuable lessons of piety and wisdom she would
read me, if she found me depressed by my disappointment.