which he held the double-barrel up to his eyes as if it were a binocular
glass and looked long and attentively through it.
"Oh, yes, and I can make them out now," he said; "twenty or thirty of
them scratching in the sand not far from the trees."
Mark had a look through the barrels, and then, with rather a sneer on
his face, the first-mate had a look, but changed his expression as he
did so.
"Well, you can certainly see them better," he said rather grudgingly.
"Better! yes," said the captain; "it's a simple plan for anyone out
shooting, and worth knowing."
"But it can't magnify," said Mark.
"No," replied the captain; "but it shades the eyes and seems to increase
the length of their sight as they peer through these long tubes."
"You'll try for a few of the birds, I suppose?" said the mate.
"By all means. Half a dozen such fellows as those will make a capital
addition to our table--I mean sandy floor, Mark," he said, smiling.
The birds, as they neared them, seemed to take no heed till they
attempted to land, and Mark could not help noticing the annoyance
painted in the mate's face, as, eager to have a shot at the fine
fat-looking fellows, he saw them move off in a rapid run.
"Row a little farther," said the captain.
This was done, and the boat was pulled a hundred yards and the same
evolutions gone through on both sides.
"Why, I thought you said they were easy to shoot!" said the mate
impatiently.
"So they are," said Mark, smiling with the confidence of his hard-bought
experience, "if you know how."
"Show us then," said his father, handing him his gun. "We shall never
get any this way, and I suppose if we land and try and stalk them
they'll keep running out of shot."
"Yes," said Mark. "The major and I followed them for over a mile."
"Ah, well! let's see the wise man give us a lesson," said the mate
grimly.
Mark took the gun, and after they had been rowed another hundred yards
he bade the men pull in sharply right to the shore, taking his place
previously in the bows alongside of Bruff.
The boat touched the sands and Mark leaped out, followed by Bruff, who
charged the birds, barking furiously the while, with the same result as
before; the birds ceased running, turned to gaze at their enemy, and
then took flight to the trees.
"Now, Mr Gregory," shouted Mark, waiting till he came up, when they
fired together and each got a bird.
Following the flock after these had been retrieved and carried to the
boat they obtained another, Mark missing an easy shot. Soon after they
both missed, and then the mate obtained two with his right and left
barrels.
This was carried on for about half an hour, when with a bag of nine
birds they stopped, the supply being considered ample to last three or
four days.
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
HOW THEY ENTERED CRATER BAY.
The birds were now stowed away in the bows and stern, the former lot
being investigated with plucking views by Jack, who, however, was
stopped by his master and forced to seat himself on one of the thwarts,
where he sat eyeing the game and evidently longing to begin, while the
boat was now once more propelled swiftly, and judging from the numbers
of these curious birds they saw, it seemed that a supply for food was
not likely to fail for some time to come.
They rowed steadily on for quite a couple of hours more, beyond where
Mark and the major had their encounter with the supposed savage, but
there was no sign of the ship.
"He didn't dream it, did he?" said the mate gruffly, as he stood up and
scanned the line of coast in front.
"He could not," said the captain smiling. "His coming here was no
dream."
"No; we did not bring him," assented the mate. "Let's see; we are going
due west now. No doubt, I think, about this being an island."
"Not the least," said the captain. "Come on now and let's take the
oars."
They changed places with the men, Mark also taking his turn, and pulled
steadily for quite a couple of hours more, but still there was no sign
of the ship; and at last, as they came abreast of a little stream
flowing down from a gorge in a high and rocky part of the land to leap
from rock to rock with a musical plashing before it came gurgling
through the sand, they decided to land, go and find a shady spot, and
there rest and partake of the provisions with which they were prepared.
The boat was run ashore, the grapnel placed on the sand, and as they
leaped on to the level surface one by one they reeled and caught at the
air to save themselves from falling, for the sand seemed to heave like
the sea.
"Are we giddy from rowing in the sun?" said the captain excitedly.
"No; the earth moved. Hush!"
It was Mark who spoke, and they listened to a dull rumbling sound. Then
there was a smart shock, a great cloud seemed to be puffed out of the
mountain, whose top they could see plainly dominating the gorge, and
then all was still.
"An earthquake!" said the captain. "Here, stand up, men, what are you
doing?"
This was to Billy Widgeon and the other sailor, who, immediately upon
feeling the tremulous wavy motion of the earth, had dropped into a
sitting position, and from that lain flat down upon their backs.
"Is it safe to get up, sir?" said Billy pitifully.
"Safe!" said the mate. "Yes, for you. You wouldn't fall far."
"No, sir, not so werry far," said Billy apologetically; "but you see I
ain't used to walking when the ground's a-heaving up like that there."
"My good fellow, who is?" cried the mate.
"Never felt anything like it before, sir. Hadn't we better go back?"
"Quick!" cried the captain; "run--for those rocks."
He led the way, and all ran, followed by Jack and the dog, and as they
ran a rushing sound came behind them, nearer and nearer and louder and
louder. Mark glanced over his shoulder and saw that a great
white-topped wave was dashing in from seaward, turning the calm lagoon
into a fierce scene of turmoil, and racing after them so rapidly that
before they reached the rocks it was half-way up the sands. As they
climbed up about twenty feet the wave struck the foot, sending the spray
flying over their heads, and then retiring with a low hissing roar back
to the lagoon, across it, plunging over the barrier reef, and as they
watched they could see that the ocean was heaving and tossing in the
brilliant sunshine, and then in the course of a few minutes all was
peaceful once again.
"Oh, the boat!" cried Mark, for he had been intent upon the wave. The
captain had, however, been watchful of the boat the whole time, and had
seen it caught by the earthquake wave, swung round, and carried up over
the sands to be thrown at last and left close to the pile of rocks to
which they clung.
Fortunately it had been heaved up gently and allowed to fall easily upon
the soft sands, so that when they descended to it and swung its stern
round so as to place it in an easy position for running down, they found
it to be perfectly uninjured, and that it had not shipped a drop of
water.
All joined to run her down again toward the sea, but the captain
concluded to wait till they were ready to start, in case another wave
should run in and worse mischief befall them.
It was not a pleasant preparation for their meal, but the sea now calmed
down, the water of the little stream came gushing perfectly clear, the
sun shone brightly and not a cloud was visible; in short, but for their
memories, it was impossible to tell that anything had befallen them.
Still it required a little effort to sit down where only a short time
before the earth had been trembling, and it was impossible to avoid a
sensation of dread lest the trembling of the ground should only have
been the precursor of a terrible earthquake when the island would open
and swallow them up, and this idea was fostered by the behaviour of
Bruff, who kept running here and there snuffing the sand and uttering
every now and then an uneasy whine.
After the first few mouthfuls, however, their confidence began to
return, and a hearty meal was eaten, and supplemented by some draughts
of cool, sweet cocoa-nut milk obtained by Billy Widgeon, who contrived
to climb a young newly-bearing tree.
After this the boat was run down to the lagoon, and they continued their
journey refreshed and ready to send the little vessel rapidly through
the water.
The land trended more and more now to the west, but in front of their
course a long spit of rocks ran right out for a considerable distance,
and after scanning the shore carefully the captain concluded that if the
ship was anywhere it must be just beyond the point.
The state of the atmosphere made the distance deceptive, and the rocky
spit proved to be far nearer than had been anticipated. And here as
they drew close to see that the rock was of a blackish-brown it became
evident that unless they cared to row completely out to sea and then
back so as to double this point, where there would in all probability be
a tremendous current, they must now land and continue the journey on
foot.
The latter was decided upon and the gig run up on a beach whose sand was
of some sparkling black mineral, the grains all being of a good size and
tremendously heavy. The rocks towered above them and were extremely
craggy, but of a columnar, basaltic nature, which formed plenty of steps
for the climbers, who mounted some fifty feet and then were able to look
down into a perfectly-formed semicircular bay, the spit on which they
stood forming one side, a similar spit being on the other about a
hundred and fifty yards away, while the whole wore the aspect of a
volcanic crater, one side of which had been washed down by the sea, the
black jagged rock and barren aspect being suggestive of this having been
once the scene of an eruption.
As they stood on the rocks gazing down before them there was a slight
quivering to be felt, and soon after a dull heavy explosion, which
sounded as if it had taken place far below, while directly after a ball
of vapour shot up out of the conical mountain, here about a couple of
miles inland, right from the head of the bay.
It was a wild and desolate scene, for instead of the volcano being shut
off in its lower parts by bands of vegetation, there rose from the water
great swarthy walls of basaltic rock, all looking as if they had lately
cooled down after being in a state of incandescence; while to add to the
weird aspect of the place, so strange in the midst of so much verdure
and lush growth, the waters of the little bay were of pitchy blackness,
and hardly showed a ripple upon the jetty sand.
Desolation in its wildest form, but at that moment it seemed the framing
of one of the most attractive pictures the travellers could find; for
half hidden by rocks, but as it were just at their feet, lay the
blackened hull of the ship, just as it had drifted ashore and been
heaved up and tossed higher and dryer by the late earthquake wave.
No time was lost in climbing down to the black sands, while the burnt
and torn-off remains of the shrouds which hung over the side of the hull
rendered an ascent to the deck quite easy, the captain leading, Mark
following, and the others rapidly joining them where they stood. But as
it was, only Mark heard the low groan the captain uttered as he stood
and gazed about him on the charred deck of his ship.
It was a pitiable spectacle indeed, for the planks were almost entirely
black; three charred stumps showed where the great masts had been, and
saving that the bowsprit was nearly intact the fire had made a clean
sweep of the deck, even the greater portion of the bulwarks having been
burned away.
Here and there the planks were so completely burned through that the
greatest care was needed to avoid a fall below, but by picking their way
they were able to go from end to end of the charred hull. As the
burning masts had fallen they had carried with them over the sides the
greater part of the standing and running rigging with every spar, while
the shrouds and ropes that had been dragged across the deck were reduced
to cinders which crumbled at a touch.
Everything pointed to the truth of the stowaway's story, for as they
stood in the bows there was a portion of the deck almost untouched, and
the remains of a stay-sail furled up and only burned through. There
could be no doubt that the fire was blazing furiously, had burned all
the boats, and was eating its way down toward the cargo and stores when
the tropic downpour came and extinguished it before greater mischief was
done; for though the vessel had become a complete hulk there was one
fact perfectly evident, and that was that they had only to descend below
to find in the hold and stores a perfect mint of useful treasure for
people in their condition.
"Yes," said Gregory, as if someone had just spoken these words to him,
"we can get enough out of her to live on for a couple of years, and
stuff sufficient to set-to and build a little schooner or smack big
enough to take us to Singapore."
"I was thinking precisely the same," said the captain eagerly, while
Mark said nothing, for with the ship's stores and treasures to work upon
it seemed as if they could make themselves very happy in such a glorious
place. With a comfortable home, plenty of fruit and birds, and their
friends about them, life on the island would be a very happy one, so it
seemed to him, and he felt a kind of wonder that there should be a
difference of opinion. But then there was the volcano and the
earthquake!
They were now picking their way aft, and here the destruction was
greater. In one place it was perfectly plain that the powder-keg must
have stood, for coamings, bulwarks, skylights, everything had been swept
clear off at the time the explosion occurred, while as they reached the
saloon entry it was to find only its place, for here the fire had been
raging furiously, the poop-deck and the cabins on either side of the
saloon being burned completely away.
"Well," said the captain, after a long inspection, "we've found the poor
old girl, Gregory, and she's past mending."
"Yes," said Gregory with a short sharp nod of the head.
"But she will be a treasure-house for us, and some of her cargo may be
saved, so we must make her fast."
"Not much fear of her breaking away," said the mate; "she's well wedged
in these sands, and it strikes me--yes, it is so, that big wave to-day
gave her a lift up and drove her farther ashore. No tide would ever
float her off."
"No," said the captain, "but all the same let's make sure. We could get
a cable out to yon piece of rock and moor her safely."
"Yes," said the mate. "Now, my lads, bear a hand."
All joined in, from the captain to Mark, and in half an hour a cable was
run out of one of the hawse-holes, dragged high up the sands, one end
taken round a huge mass of rock, tied and lashed, and the other end well
stopped in the ship.
"There," said the captain, "that's enough. Now for home. Shall we go
back the same way?"
"Well, the worst that could happen would be that we should have to camp
out," said Gregory; "and as I make it we've one knot to go this way to
two the other."
"If it's an island."
"As I believe it is, sir. What do you say? We must explore it some
time, and if this is the nearest way to fetch cargo we'd better find
it."
"Unless we come and make our home here."
"No, sir. The ladies wouldn't like this black furnace hole of a place.
Let them stop where they are."
"Perhaps you are right, Gregory; but now how to get back? Shall we row
out right round the point?"
"No, sir. I'm thinking there's an opening about a couple of hundred
yards out yonder, and if there's no water perhaps we can get the boat
across."
"Come on, then."
The captain sighed as he gave one more glance round, and ended by
picking up one of the charred handles of the wheel, which he put in his
pocket before returning to the boat.
"There is plenty of powder and shot in the magazine," said the captain,
thankfully; "and we can find no end of useful stuff if we break bulk."
"Ay, we shall manage, sir," said the mate. "Now, my lads, all
together," and the boat was once more run out and rowed to the opening
the mate had seen.
It proved enough for them to pass through with their oars laid in, and
as soon as they were through the change from the brilliant blue water
with the lovely coral and sea growth beneath to this jetty black bay was
quite awe-inspiring.
"The water's clear," said Mark. "What makes it so black?"
"I should say," said the captain, gazing down over the side, "that it is
of almost unfathomable depth."
"And was once a pit of fire," said the mate. "But let's try."
He took one of the fishing-lines, fitted a leaden weight to it, and
lowered it over the side, when it went down and down till the end of the
line was reached. Then another was tied on, and this went down, making
together nearly 200 yards. There was yet another line, and this was
fastened on, another fifty yards going down.
"There, you see," said the captain.
"Bottom!" cried the mate, as the weight ceased and the line slackened.
"Two hundred and fifty yards," said the captain: "a hundred and
twenty-five fathoms."
"No," cried the mate excitedly, "it isn't bottom, it's a fish."
"Nonsense!"
"It is; I can feel him," cried the mate; and he hauled rapidly in, with
a heavy fish playing about till, just as it reached the surface and
displayed a hideous pair of jaws, it let go, and with a flounder
disappeared.
"Glad he was not hooked," said the mate, as Mark shrank away. "What a
brute!"
"Horrible!" exclaimed Mark, shivering, for the idea of being overboard
in such a black bottomless hole sent a chill through him. But they were
soon across, to find they could drag the boat over fifty yards of black
sand and launch her again in blue water, where all around was bright and
attractive; for though no large trees were growing near the shore, the
land was covered with a glorious vegetation, and looked attractive right
away to the slopes of the volcano, as soon as the crater bay, with its
lowering black basalt, was left a quarter of a mile behind.
"Now," said the captain, "how are we steering?"
"Nearly due south," said the mate, glancing at a pocket-compass.
"Then you are right, Gregory, and this is the nearest way home."
"If it is an island, father," said Mark, smiling.
"And that it must be, Mark, my lad, and a very small one, as we shall
see."
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
HOW THAT FISH MEANT MISCHIEF, AND BECAME MEAT.
Their way still led them along the peaceful waters which girt the
island--for so they now felt that they might venture to call it--the
strong barrier reef of coral keeping back the heaving swell of the
ocean, which foamed and broke outside, leaving the lagoon perfectly
calm, save here and there where they came across an opening in the reef
through which a fleet might apparently have sailed into fairly deep
anchorage, sheltered from the wildest storm and the roughest sea.
Here and there the reef was so far above water that vegetation had taken
root, and young cocoa-nut trees were springing up to form the beginning
of a grove, but for the most part there was the dead coral, the gleaming
sand, and the pearly foam glistening in the sun.
No currents to stay them, no rough winds to check. Their journey might
have been upon some peaceful lake, whose left-hand shore was one
succession of cocoa-nut groves; and beyond that, rocky jungle, full of
ridge and hollow, mound of verdure, and darksome glade and chasm, down
which trickled streams of water, such as had risen in the heights which
culminated in the smoking cone of the volcano, while here and there the
streams gave marked traces of their sources by sending up faint clouds
of steam.
Mark felt as he lay back in the stern and gazed at the glorious panorama
that he could watch the various phases of beauty in the landscape for
ever. But then he was not rowing, and the motion of the boat and the
dipping of his hands in the water kept him comparatively cool.
Still, in spite of its beauty it was impossible to gaze shoreward
without a feeling of awe. For there had been that trembling of the
earth; there were here and there openings in the trees through which
vast blackened roads of rock seemed to come down to the sea, zigzag
tracks which it was plain enough were the cooled-down and hardened
streams of lava which had made their way to the sea during some eruption
of the calmly beautiful mountain which rose so peacefully toward the
clouds, one of which seemed to have remained to act as its feathery
crown.
Then, too, there was the remembrance of that terrible roar which they
had heard in the jungle, and every now and then Mark's eyes searched the
trees at the edge beyond the sands, and he longed with a sensation of
shrinking to catch sight of the creature which had given them all so
much alarm.
But search how he would, as the boat went steadily on, there was no sign
of animal life ashore but the birds. Once or twice he fancied he could
see something like a lizard run across the heated rocks, but he could
not be sure. But of birds there seemed to be plenty. Flocks of doves,
large lavender-plumed pigeons, white cockatoos, long-tailed lories, and
parrots whose feathers bore all the colours of the rainbow; but
shorewards that was all. In the lagoon it was very different.
"Sha'n't want for fish," said Gregory, as he dipped his oar--he and the
captain now giving the men a rest.
As he spoke a shoal was making the water dance just ahead and completely
changing its colour, for, as they fed upon the small fry with which the
surface gleamed, the sea was dappled with rings, serried with ridges,
and seemed as if it were a fluid of mingled gold and silver beneath
which some volcanic action was going on, which made it boil and flush
and ripple till the bows of the gig reached the shoal, and then
instantaneously the surface became calm.
"Plenty of work for you, Mark," said the captain. "You will have to be
head of our fishing department, and keep our little colony supplied."
"You must get Small to help you make a net," said Gregory, "and contrive
some long lines."
They ceased rowing, for they were now opposite a spot where the jungle
came close to the edge of the lagoon, being only separated by a smooth
patch of sand. Here, too, were quite a flock of the maleo birds,
scratching and searching for food, after the fashion of fowl; but as the
boat stopped they took alarm, and seemed to skim over the sand, their
feet striking the ground so rapidly as to become invisible.
"They can run," said the mate; "but we seem to have learned their
secret. What's that?"
All listened, but there was no sound.
"I fancied I heard a low distant roaring noise," said the mate, dipping
his oar again, "but I may have been mistaken."
The captain was in the act of dipping his own oar when Billy Widgeon,
who was seated just in front of Mark, whose place was right astern,
turned sharply and caught the lad's arm:
"Look, Mr Mark, sir, look!" he cried, pointing with his other hand,
"there he goes!"
"Who?" cried Mark excitedly; "a savage?"
"Yes, sir," said Billy, grinning and holding Bruff, "savage enough.
Nay, nay, my lad, you lie down. It wouldn't do you no good to go
overboard now."
"A large one, too," said the captain, resting on his oar.
"Ay, he's a nasty customer," said the mate.
"What is?" cried Mark eagerly. "What is it you can all see?"
"Shark!" said the captain.
"Where? Where? I want to see a shark."
Mark's eyes were roving all about, but he saw nothing in any direction
save a little dark triangular piece of something, with the forward side
a little curved, and this was moving slowly through the water.
"There, my lad, there," said the captain; "can't you see his back fin?"
"Is that a shark?" said Mark, in a disappointed tone, as the black
object, looking like the thick lateen sail of some tiny invisible boat,
glided along the surface not fifty yards away, and making as if to cross
their bows.
"Yes," said the captain, "that's the fin of a shark, ten-feet long I
should say."
"And I a dozen," said the mate.
"Like to see him a little closer?" said the captain.
"Yes," cried Mark eagerly; and then he wished he had said "No," for the
oars were, after a pull or two, laid inboard, while the captain took
hold of the sharply-pointed hitcher, and held it balanced in his hand.
The impetus given to the boat was sufficient to drive it onward, so that
it was evident that the back fin of the shark and the bows of the gig
would arrive at the same point together, and Mark rose eagerly to see
what would follow, when the captain made him a sign.