WHEN the _Springbok_ weighed anchor and left the island, a solitary form
was seen on Telegraph Hill.
When she passed eastward, out of sight of that point, a solitary figure
was seen on the cliffs.
When her course brought the island dead astern of her, a solitary figure
stood on the east bluff of the island, and was the last object seen from
the boat as she left those waters forever.
What words can tell the sickening sorrow and utter desolation that
possessed that yearning bosom!
When the boat that had carried Helen away was out of sight, he came back
with uneven steps to the cave, and looked at all the familiar objects
with stony eyes, and scarce recognized them, for the sunshine of her
presence was there no more. He wandered to and fro in a heavy stupor,
broken every now and then by sharp pangs of agony that almost made him
scream. And so the poor bereaved creature wandered about all day. He
could not eat, he could not sleep, his misery was more than he could
bear. One day of desolation succeeded another. And what men say so
hastily was true for once. "His life was a burden." He dragged it about
with him he scarce knew how.
He began to hate all the things he had loved while she was there. The
beautiful cave, all glorious with pearl, that he had made for her, he
could not enter it, the sight killed him, and she not there.
He left Paradise Bay altogether at last and anchored his boat in a nook
of Seal Bay. And there he slept in general. But sometimes he would lie
down, wherever he happened to be, and sleep as long as he could.
To him to wake was a calamity. And when he did wake, it was always with a
dire sense of reviving misery, and a deep sigh at the dark day he knew
awaited him.
His flesh wasted on his bones, and his clothes hung loosely about him.
The sorrow of the mind reduced him almost to that miserable condition in
which he had landed on the island.
The dog and the seal were faithful to him; used to lie beside him, and
often whimpered; their minds, accustomed to communicate without the aid
of speech, found out, Heaven knows how! that he was in grief or in
sickness.
These two creatures, perhaps, saved his life or his reason. They came
between his bereaved heart and utter solitude.
Thus passed a month of wretchedness unspeakable.
Then his grief took a less sullen form.
He came back to Paradise Bay, and at sight of it burst into a passion of
weeping.
These were his first tears, and inaugurated a grief more tender than
ever, but less akin to madness and despair.
Now he used to go about and cry her name aloud, passionately, by night
and day.
"Oh, Helen! Helen!"
And next his mind changed in one respect, and he clung to every
reminiscence of her. Every morning he went round her haunts, and kissed
every place where he had seen her put her hand.
Only the cave he could not yet face.
He tried, too. He went to the mouth of it again and again, and looked in;
but go into it and face it, empty of her--he could not.
He prayed often.
One night he saw her in a dream.
She bent a look of angelic pity on him, and said but these words, "Live
in my cave," then vanished.
Alone on an island in the vast Pacific, who can escape superstition? It
fills the air. He took this communication as a command, and the next
night he slept in the cave.
But he entered it in the dark, and left it before dawn.
By degrees, however, he plucked up courage and faced it in daylight. But
it was a sad trial. He came out crying bitterly after a few minutes.
Still he persevered, because her image had bade him; and at last, one
evening, he even lighted the lamp, and sat there looking at the glorious
walls and roof his hapless love had made.
Getting stronger by degrees, he searched about, and found little relics
of her--a glove, a needle, a great hat she had made out of some large
leaves. All these he wept over and cherished.
But one day he found at the very back of the cave a relic that made him
start as if a viper had stung his loving heart. It was a letter.
He knew it in a moment. It had already caused him many a pang; but now it
almost drove him mad. Arthur Wardlaw's letter.
He recoiled from it, and let it lie. He went out of the cave, and cursed
his hard fate. But he came back. It was one of those horrible things a
man abhors, yet cannot keep away from. He took it up and dashed it down
with rage many times; but it all ended in his lighting the lamp at night,
and torturing himself with every word of that loving letter.
And she was going home to the writer of that letter, and he was left
prisoner on the island. He cursed his generous folly, and writhed in
agony at the thought. He raged with jealousy, so that his very grief was
blunted for a time.
He felt as if he must go mad.
Then he prayed--prayed fervently. And at last, worn out with such fierce
and contending emotions, he fell into a deep sleep, and did not wake till
the sun was high in heaven.
He woke; and the first thing he saw was the fatal letter lying at his
feet in a narrow stream of sunshine that came peering in.
He eyed it with horror. This, then, was then to haunt him by night and
day.
He eyed it and eyed it. Then turned his face from it; but could not help
eying it again.
And at last certain words in this letter seemed to him to bear an
affinity to another piece of writing that had also caused him a great
woe. Memory by its subtle links connected these two enemies of his
together. He eyed it still more keenly, and that impression became
strengthened. He took the letter and looked at it close, and held it at
arm's length and devoured it; and the effect of this keen examination was
very remarkable. It seemed to restore the man to energy and to something
like hope. His eyes sparkled, and a triumphant "Ah!" burst from his
bosom.
He became once more a man of action. He rose, and bathed, and walked
rapidly to and fro upon the sands, working himself up to a daring
enterprise. He took his saw into the jungle, and cut down a tree of a
kind common enough there. It was wonderfully soft, and almost as light as
cork. The wood of this was literally useless for any other purpose than
that to which Penfold destined it. He cut a great many blocks of this
wood, and drilled holes in them, and, having hundreds of yard of good
line, attached these quasi corks to the gunwale, so as to make a
life-boat. This work took him several days, during which time an event
occurred that encouraged him.
One morning he saw about a million birds very busy in the bay, and it
proved to be a spermaceti whale come ashore.
He went out to her directly with all his tools, for he wanted oil for his
enterprise, and the seal oil was exhausted.
When he got near the whale in his boat, he observed a harpoon sticking in
the animal's back. He cut steps with his ax in the slippery carcass, and
got up to it as well as he could, extracted it by cutting and pulling,
and threw it down into his boat, but not till he had taken the precaution
to stick a great piece of blubber on the barbed point. He then sawed and
hacked under difficulties, being buffeted and bothered with thousands of
birds, so eager for slices that it was as much as he could do to avoid
the making of minced fowl; but, true to his gentle creed, he contrived to
get three hundred-weight of blubber without downright killing any of
these greedy competitors, though he buffeted some of them, and nearly
knocked out what little sense they had.
He came ashore with his blubber and harpoon, and when he came to examine
the latter, he found that the name of the owner was cut deeply in the
steel-- Josh. Fullalove, J. Fernandez. This inscription had a great
effect on Robert Penfold's mind. It seemed to bring the island of Juan
Fernandez, and humanity in general, nearer to him.
He boiled down the blubber, and put a barrel of oil on board his
life-boat. He had a ship's lantern to burn it in. He also pitched her
bottom as far as he could get at it, and provisioned her for a long
voyage: taking care to lash the water-cask and beef-cask to the
fore-thwart and foremast, in case of rough weather.
When he had done all this, it occurred to him suddenly that, should he
ever escape the winds and waves, and get to England, he would then have
to encounter difficulties and dangers of another class, and lose the
battle by his poverty.
"I play my stake now," said he. "I will throw no chance away."
He reflected, with great bitterness, on the misery that want of money had
already brought on him; and he vowed to reach England rich, or go to the
bottom of the Pacific.
This may seem a strange vow for a man to make on an unknown island; but
Robert Penfold had a powerful understanding, sharpened by adversity, and
his judgment told him truly that he possessed wealth on this island, both
directly and indirectly. In the first place, knowledge is sometimes
wealth, and the knowledge of this island was a thing he could sell to the
American merchants on the coast of Chili; and, with this view, he put on
board his boat specimens of the cassia and other woods, fruit, spices,
pitch, guano, pink and red coral, pearl oysters, shells, cochineal,
quartz, cotton, etc., etc.
Then he took his chisel, and struck all the larger pearls off the shells
that lined Helen's cave. The walls and roof yielded nine enormous pearls,
thirty large ones, and a great many of the usual size.
He made a pocket inside his waistcoat to hold the pearls safe.
Then he took his spade and dug into the Spanish ship for treasure. But
this was terrible work. The sand returned upon the spade and trebled his
labor.
The condition to which time and long submersion had reduced this ship and
cargo was truly remarkable. Nothing to be seen of the deck but a thin
brown streak that mingled with the sand in patches; of the timbers
nothing but the uprights, and of those the larger half eaten and
dissolved.
He dug five days, and found nothing solid.
On the sixth, being now at the bottom the ship, he struck his spade
against something hard and heavy.
On inspection it looked like ore, but of what metal he could not tell; it
was as black as a coal. He threw this on one side, and found nothing
more; but the next day he turned up a smaller fragment, which he took
home and cleaned with lime juice. It came out bright in places like
silver.
This discovery threw light on the other. The piece of black ore, weighing
about seven pounds, was in reality silver coin, that a century of
submersion had reduced to the very appearance it wore before it ever went
into the furnace.
He dug with fresh energy on this discovery, but found nothing more in the
ship that day.
Then it occurred to him to carry off a few hundred-weight of pink coral.
He got some fine specimens; and, while he was at that work, he fell in
with a piece that looked very solid at the root and unnaturally heavy. On
a nearer examination this proved to be a foreign substance incrusted with
coral. It had twined and twisted and curled over the thing in a most
unheard-of way. Robert took it home, and, by rubbing here and there with
lemon juice, at last satisfied himself that this object was a silver box
about the size of an octavo volume.
It had no keyhole, had evidently been soldered up for greater security,
and Robert was left to conjecture how it had come there.
He connected it at once with the ship, and felt assured that some attempt
had been made to save it. There it had lain by the side of the vessel all
these years, but, falling clear of the sand, had been embraced by the
growing coral, and was now a curiosity, if not a treasure.
He would not break the coral, but put it on board his life-boat just as
it was.
And now he dug no more. He thought he could sell the galleon as well as
the island, by sample, and he was impatient to be gone.
He reproached himself, a little unjustly, for allowing a woman to
undertake the task of clearing him.
"To what annoyances, and perhaps affronts, have I exposed her!" said he.
"No, it is a man's business to defend, not to be defended."
To conclude: At high tide one fine afternoon he went on board with Ponto,
and, hoisting his foresail only, crossed the bay, ranging along the
island till he reached the bluff. He got under this, and, by means of his
compass and previous observations, set the boat's head exactly on the
line the ducks used to take. Then he set his mainsail too, and stretched
boldly out across the great Pacific Ocean.
Time seems to wear out everything, even bad luck. It ran strong against
Robert Penfold for years. But, when it had struck its worst blow, and
parted him and Helen Rolleston, it relaxed, and a tide of good luck set
in, which, unfortunately, the broken-hearted man could not appreciate at
the time. However, so it was. He wanted oil; and a whale came ashore. He
wanted treasure, and the sea gave him a little back of all it had
swallowed; and now he wanted fine weather; and the ocean for days and
nights was like peach-colored glass, dimpled here and there; and soft
westerly airs fanned him along by night and day.
To be sure, he was on the true Pacific Ocean, at a period when it is
really free from storms. Still, even for that latitude, he had wonderful
weather for six days; and on the seventh he fell in with a schooner, the
skipper and crew of which looked over the bulwarks at him with wonder and
cordiality, and, casting out a rope astern, took him in tow.
The skipper had been eying him with amazement for some hours through his
telescope; but he was a man that had seen a great many strange things,
and it was also a point of honor with him never to allow that he was
astonished, or taken by surprise, or greatly moved.
"Wal, stranger," said he, "what craft is that?"
"The _Helen."_
"Where d'ye hail from? not that I am curious."
"From an unknown island."
"Do tell. What, another! Is it anyways nigh?"
"Not within seven hundred miles."
"Je--rusalem! Have you sailed all that in a cockle-shell?"
"Yes."
"Why, what are ye? the Wandering Jew afloat, or the Ancient Mariner? or
only a kinder nautilus?"
"I'm a landsman."
"A landsman! then so is Neptune. What is your name when you are ashore?"
"Robert Penfold. The Reverend Robert Penfold."
"The Reverend-- Je--rusalem!"
"May I ask what is your name, sir?"
"Wal, I reckon you may, stranger. I'm Joshua Fullalove from the States,
at present located on the island of Juan Fernandez!"
"Joshua Fullalove! That is lucky. I've got something that belongs to
you."
He looked about and found the harpoon, and handed it up in a mighty
straightforward, simple way.
Joshua stared at him incredulously at first, but afterward with
amazement. He handled the harpoon, and inquired where Robert had fallen
in with it. Robert told him.
"You're an honest man," said Fullalove, "you air. Come aboard." He was
then pleased to congratulate himself on his strange luck in having
drifted across an honest man in the middle of the ocean. "I've heerd,"
said he, "of an old chap as groped about all his life with a lantern, and
couldn't find one. Let's liquor."
He had some celestial mixture or other made, including rum, mint, and
snow from the Andes, and then began his interrogatories, again
disclaiming curiosity at set intervals.
"Whither bound, honest man?"
"The coast of Chili."
"What for?"
"Trade."
"D'ye buy or sell? Not that it is my business."
"I wish to sell."
"What's the merchandise?"
"Knowledge, and treasure."
Fullalove scratched his head. "Hain't ye got a few conundrums to swap for
gold dust as well?"
Robert smiled faintly. The first time this six weeks.
"I have to sell the knowledge of an island with rich products; and I have
to sell the contents of a Spanish treasure-ship that I found buried in
the sand of that island."
The Yankee's eyes glistened.
"Wal," said he, "I do business in islands myself. I've leased this Juan
Fernandez. But one of them is enough at a time. I'm monarch of all I
survey. But then what I survey is a mixallaneous bilin' of Irish and
Otaheitans, that it's pizen to be monarch of. And now them darned Irish
has taken to converting the heathens to superstition and the worship of
images, and breaks their heads if they won't. And the heathens are all
smiles and sweetness and immorality. No, islands is no bait to me."
"I never asked you," said Robert. "What I do ask you is to land me at
Valparaiso. There I'll find a purchaser, and will pay you handsomely for
your kindness."
"That is fair," said Fullalove, dryly. "What will you pay me?"
"I'll show you," said Robert. He took out of his, pocket the smaller
conglomeration of Spanish coin, and put it into Fullalove's hand. "That,"
said he, "is silver coin I dug out of the galleon."
Fullalove inspected it keenly, and trembled slightly. Robert then went
lightly over the taffrail, and slid down the low rope into his boat. He
held up the black mass we have described.
"This is solid silver. I will give it you, and my best thanks, to land me
at Valparaiso."
"Heave it aboard," said the Yankee.
Robert steadied himself and hove it on board. The Yankee caught it, heavy
as it was, and subjected it to some chemical test directly.
"Wal," said he, "that is a bargain. I'll land ye at Valparaiso for this.
Jack, lay her head S.S.E. and by E."
Having given this order, he leaned over the taffrail and asked for more
samples. Robert showed him the fruits, woods, and shells, and the pink
coral, and bade him observe that the boat was ballasted with pearl
oysters. He threw him up one, and a bunch of pink coral. He then shinned
up the rope again, and the interrogatories recommenced. But this time he
was questioned closely as to who he was, and how he came on the island?
and the questions were so shrewd and penetrating that his fortitude gave
way, and he cried out in anguish, "Man, man! do not torture me so. Oh, do
not make me talk of my grief and my wrongs! they are more than I can
bear."
Fullalove forbore directly, and offered him a cigar. He took it, and it
soothed him a little; it was long since he had smoked one. His agitation
subsided, and a quiet tear or two rolled down his haggard cheek.
The Yankee saw, and kept silence.
But, when the cigar was nearly smoked out, he said he was afraid Robert
would not find a customer for his island, and what a pity Joshua
Fullalove was cool on islands just now.
"Oh!" said Robert, "I know there are enterprising Americans on the coast
who will give me money for what I have to sell."
Fullalove was silent a minute, then he got a piece of wood and a knife,
and said with an air of resignation, "I reckon we'll have to deal."
Need we say that to deal had been his eager desire from the first?
He now began to whittle a peg, and awaited the attack.
"What will you give me, sir?"
"What, money down? And you got nothing to sell but chances. Why, there's
an old cuss about that knows where the island is as well as you do."
"Then of course you will treat with him," said Robert, sadly.
"Darned if I do," said the Yankee. "You are in trouble, and he is not,
nor never will be till he dies, and then he'll get it hot, I calc'late.
He is a thief and stole my harpoon: you are an honest man and brought it
back. I reckon I'll deal with you and not with that old cuss; not by a
jugful! But it must be on a percentage. You tell me the bearings of that
there island, and I'll work it and pay five per cent on the gross."
"Would you mind throwing that piece of wood into the sea, Mr. Fullalove?"
said Robert.
"Caen't be done, nohow. I caen't deal without whittlin'."
"You mean you can't take an unfair advantage without it. Come, Mr.
Fullalove, let us cut this short. I am, as you say, an honest and most
unfortunate man. Sir, I was falsely accused of a crime and banished my
country. I can prove my innocence now if I can but get home with a great
deal of money. So much for _me._ You are a member of the vainest and most
generous nation in the world."
"Wal, now that's kinder honey and vinegar mixed," said Fullalove; "pretty
good for a Britisher, though."
"You are a man of that nation which in all the agonies and unparalleled
expenses of civil war, smarting, too, under anonymous taunts from
England, did yet send over a large sum to relieve the distresses of
certain poor Englishmen who were indirect victims of that same calamity.
The act, the time, the misery relieved, the taunts overlooked, prove your
nation superior to all others in generosity. At least my reading, which
is very large, affords no parallel to it, either in ancient or modern
history. Mr. Fullalove, please to recollect that you are a member of that
nation, and that I am very unhappy and helpless, and want money to undo
cruel wrongs, but have no heart to chaffer much. Take the island and the
treasures, and give me half the profits you make. Is not that fair?"
Fullalove wore a rueful countenance.
"Darn the critter," said he, "he'll take skin off my bones if I don't
mind. Fust Britisher ever I met as had the sense to see _that._ 'Twas
rather handsome, warn't it? Wal, human nature is deep; every man you
tackle in business larns ye something. What with picking ye out o' the
sea, and you giving me back the harpoon the cuss stole, and your face
like a young calf, when you are the 'cutest fox out, and you giving the
great United States their due, I'm no more fit to deal than mashed
potatoes. Now I cave; it is only for once. Next time don't you try to
palaver me. Draw me a map of our island, Britisher, and mark where the
Spaniard lies. I tell _you_ I know her name, and the year she was lost
in; learned that at Lima one day. Kinder startled me, you did, when you
showed me the coin out of her. Wal, there's my hand on haelf profits,
and, if I'm keen, I'm squar'."
Soon after this he led Robert to his cabin, and Robert drew a large map
from his models; and Fullalove, being himself an excellent draughtsman,
and provided with proper instruments, aided him to finish it.
Next day they sighted Valparaiso, and hove to outside the port.
All the specimens of insular wealth were put on board the schooner and
secreted; for Fullalove's first move was to get a lease of the island
from the Chilian government, and it was no part of his plan to trumpet
the article he was going to buy.
After a moment's hesitation, he declined to take the seven pounds of
silver. He gave as a reason that, having made a bargain which compelled
him to go to Valparaiso at once, he did not feel like charging his
partner a fancy price for towing his boat thither. At the same time he
hinted that, after all this, the next customer would find him a very
difficult Yankee to get the better of.
With this understanding, he gave Robert a draft for eighty pounds on
account of profits; and this enabled him to take a passage for England
with all his belongings.
He arrived at Southampton very soon after the events last related, and
thence went to London, fully alive to the danger of his position.
He had a friend in his long beard, but he dared not rely on that alone.
Like a mole, he worked at night.