A sight so unexpected, and yet so welcome, should have elicited from him
a vociferous announcement of the fact.
It did not. On the contrary, he kept silent while stepping forward on
the deck, and for some time after, while he stood gazing over the bow.
It was the very unexpectedness of seeing land--combined with the
_desirability_ of such a sight--that hindered him from proclaiming it to
his companions; and it was some time before he became convinced that his
senses were not deceiving him.
Though endowed with only a very limited knowledge of nautical geography,
the negro knew a good deal about the lower latitudes of the Atlantic.
More than once had he made that dreaded middle passage,--once in
fetters, and often afterwards assisting to carry others across in the
same unfeeling fashion. He knew of no land anywhere near where they
were now supposed to be; had never seen or heard of any,--neither
island, rock, nor reef. He knew of the Isle of Ascension, and the lone
islet of Saint Paul's. But neither of these could be near the track on
which the _Catamaran_ was holding her course. It could not be either.
And yet what was it he saw? for, sure as eyes were eyes, there was an
island outlined upon the retina, so plainly perceptible, that his senses
could _not be deceiving him_!
It was after this conviction became fully established in his mind, that
he at length broke silence; and in a voice that woke his slumbering
companions with a simultaneous start.
"Land 'o!" vociferated Snowball.
"Land ho!" echoed Ben Brace, springing to his feet, and rubbing the
sleep out of his eyes, "Land, you say, Snowy? Impossible! You must be
mistaken, nigger."
"Land?" interrogated little William. "Whereaway, Snowball?"
"Land?" cried the Portuguese girl, comprehending that word of joyful
signification, though spoken in a language not her own.
"Whar away?" inquired the sailor, as he scrambled over the planks of the
raft, to get on the forward side of the sail, which hindered his field
of view.
"Hya!" replied Snowball. "Hya, Massa Brace, jess to la'bord, ober de
la'bord bow."
"It do look like land," assented the sailor, directing his glance upon
something of a strange appearance, low down upon the surface of the sea,
and still but dimly discernible through the fog. "Shiver my timbers if
it don't! An island it be,--not a very big 'un, but for all that, it
seem a island."
"My gollies! dar am people on it! D'you see um, Massa Brace? movin'
'bout all ober it I see 'um plain as de sun in de hebbens! Scores o'
people a'gwine about back'ard an' forrads. See yonner!"
"Plain as the sun in the heavens," was not a very appropriate simile for
Snowball to make use of at that moment; for the orb of day was still
darkly obscured by the fog; and for the same reason, the outlines of the
island,--or whatever they were taking for one,--could be traced only
very indistinctly.
Certain it is, however, that Snowball, who had been gazing longer at the
supposed land, and had got his eyes more accustomed to the view, did see
some scores of figures moving about over it; and Ben Brace, with little
William as well, now that their attention was called to them, could
perceive the same forms.
"Bless my stars!" exclaimed the sailor, on making out that the figures
were in motion, "thear be men on 't sure enough,--an' weemen, I should
say,--seein' as there's some o' 'em in whitish clothes. Who and what
can they be? Shiver my timbers if I can believe it, tho' I see it right
afore my eyes! I never heerd o' a island in this part of the Atlantic,
an' I don't believe thear be one, 'ceptin' it's sprung up within the
last year or two. What do you think, Snowy? Be it a Flyin' Dutchman,
or a rock, as if just showin' his snout above water, or a reg'lar-built
island?"
"Dat 'ere am no Flyin' Dutchman,--leas'wise a hope um no' be. No, Massa
Brace, dis nigga wa right in de fuss speckelashun. 'Tarn a island,--a
bit ob do real terrer firmer, as you soon see when we puts de
_Cat'maran_ 'bout an' gits a leetle nearer to de place."
This hypothetic suggestion on the part of the Coromantee was also
intended as a counsel; and, acting upon it, the sailor scrambled back
over the raft, and seizing hold of the steering-oar, turned the
_Catamaran's_ head straight in the direction of the newly-discovered
land.
The island,--if such it should prove to be,--was of no very great
extent. It appeared to run along the horizon a distance of something
like a hundred yards; but estimates formed in this fashion are often
deceptive,--more especially when a fog interferes, such as at that
moment hung over it.
The land appeared to be elevated several feet above the level of the
sea,--at one end having a bold bluff-like termination, at the other
shelving off in a gentle slope towards the water.
It was principally upon the more elevated portion that the figures were
seen,--here standing in groups of three or four, and there moving about
in twos, or singly.
They appeared to be of different sizes, and differently dressed: for,
even through the film, it could be seen that their garments were of
various cuts and colours. Some were stalwart fellows, beside whom were
others that in comparison were mere pygmies. These Snowball said were
the "pickaninnies,"--the children of the taller ones.
They were in different attitudes too. Some standing erect, apparently
carrying long lance-like weapons over their shoulders; others similarly
armed, in stooping positions; while not a few appeared to be actively
engaged, handling huge pickaxes, with which they repeatedly struck
downwards, as if excavating the soil!
It is true that their manoeuvres were seen only indistinctly: and it was
not possible for the Catamarans to come to any certain understanding, as
to what sort of work was going on upon the island.
It was still very doubtful whether what they saw was in reality an
island, or that the figures upon it were those of human beings.
Snowball believed them to be so, and emphatically asserted his belief;
but Ben was slightly incredulous and undecided, notwithstanding that he
had several times "shivered his timbers" in confirmation of the fact.
It was not the possibility of the existence of an island that the sailor
disputed. That was possible and probable enough. At the time of which
we speak, new islands were constantly turning up in the ocean, where no
land was supposed to exist; and even at the present hour, when one might
suppose that every inch of the sea has been sailed over, the discovery
of rocks, shoals, and even unknown islands, is far from unfrequent.
It was not the island, therefore, that now puzzled the
ex-man-o'-war's-man, but the number of people appearing upon it.
Had there been only a score, or a score and a half, he could have
explained the circumstance of its being inhabited; though the
explanation would not have been productive of pleasure either to himself
or his companions. In that case he would have believed the moving forms
to be the shipwrecked crew of the _Pandora_ who on this ocean islet had
found a temporary resting-place; while the pickaxes, which were being
freely employed, would have indicated the sinking of wells in search
after fresh water.
The number of people on the island, however, with other circumstances
observed, at once contradicted the idea that it could be the crew of the
shipwrecked slaver; and the certainty that it was _not_ these ruffians
whom they saw emboldened the Catamarans in their approach.
In spite of appearances, still was the sailor disposed to doubt the
existence of an island; or, at least, that the forms moving to and fro
over its surface were those of human beings.
Nor could he be cured of his incredulity until the _Catamaran_,
approaching still nearer to the shore of the doubtful islet, enabled him
to see and distinguish beyond the possibility of doubt a flag floating
from the top of its staff, which rose tall and tapering from the very
highest point of land which the place afforded!
The flag was of crimson cloth,--apparently a piece of bunting. It
floated freely upon the breeze; which the filmy mist, though half
disclosing, could not altogether conceal. The deep red colour was too
scarce upon the ocean to be mistaken for the livery of any of its
denizens. It could not be the tail-feathers of the tropic bird so
prized by the chiefs of Polynesia; nor yet the scarlet pouch of the
sea-hawk.