For some time after the boat had shoved off from the ship, old Ready
remained with his arms folded, watching it in silence. Mr Seagrave
stood by him; his heart was too full for utterance, for he imagined that
as the boat increased her distance from the vessel, so did every ray of
hope depart, and that his wife and children, himself, and the old man
who was by his side were doomed to perish. His countenance was that of
a man in utter despair. At last old Ready spoke.
"They think that they will be saved and that we must perish, Mr
Seagrave; they forget that there is a Power above, who will himself
decide that point--a power compared to which the efforts of weak man are
as nought."
"True," replied Mr Seagrave, in a low voice; "but still what chance we
can have on a sinking ship, with so many helpless creatures around us, I
confess I cannot imagine."
"We must do our best, and submit to His will," replied Ready, who then
went aft, and shifted the helm, so as to put the ship again before the
wind.
As the old man had foretold to the seamen before they quitted the
vessel, the gale was now over, and the sea had gone down considerably.
The ship, however, dragged but slowly through the water, and after a
short time Ready lashed the wheel, and went forward. On his return to
the quarter-deck, he found Mr Seagrave had thrown himself down
(apparently in a state of despair) upon the sail on which Captain Osborn
had been laid after his accident.
"Mr Seagrave, do not give way," said Ready; "if I thought our situation
hopeless, I would candidly say so; but there always is hope, even at the
very worst,--and there always ought to be trust in that God without
whose knowledge not a sparrow falls to the ground. But, Mr Seagrave, I
shall speak as a seaman, and tell you what our probabilities are. The
ship is half-full of water, from her seams having opened by the
straining in the gale, and the heavy blows which she received; but, now
that the gale has abated, she has recovered herself very much. I have
sounded the well, and find that she has not made many inches within the
last two hours, and probably, as she closes her seams, will make less.
If, therefore, it pleases God that the fine weather should continue,
there is no fear of the vessel sinking under us for some time; and as we
are now amongst the islands, it is not impossible, nay, it is very
probable, that we may be able to run her ashore, and thus save our
lives. I thought of all this when I refused to go in the boat, and I
thought also, Mr Seagrave, that if you were to have been deserted by me
as well as by all the rest, you would have been unable yourself to take
advantage of any chances which might turn up in your favour, and
therefore I have remained, hoping, under God's providence, to be the
means of assisting you and your family in this sore position. I think
now it would be better that you should go down into the cabin, and with
a cheerful face encourage poor Mrs Seagrave with the change in the
weather, and the hopes of arriving in some place of safety. If she does
not know that the men have quitted the ship, do not tell her; say that
the steward is with the other men, which will be true enough, and, if
possible, leave her in the dark as to what has taken place. Master
William can be trusted, and if you will send him here to me, I will talk
to him."
"I hardly know what to think, Ready, or how sufficiently to thank you
for your self-devotion, if I may so term it, in this exigency. That
your advice is excellent and that I shall follow it, you may be assured;
and, should we be saved from the death which at present stares us in the
face, my gratitude--"
"Do not speak of that, sir; I am an old man with few wants, and whose
life is of little use now. All I wish to feel is, that I am trying to
do my duty in that situation into which it has pleased God to call me.
What can this world offer to one who has roughed it all his life, and
who has neither kith nor kin that he knows of to care about his death?"
Mr Seagrave pressed the hand of Ready, and went down without making any
reply. He found that his wife had been asleep for the last hour, and
was not yet awake. The children were also quiet in their beds. Juno
and William were the only two who were sitting up.
William made a sign to his father that his mother was asleep, and then
said in a whisper, "I did not like to leave the cabin while you were on
deck, but the steward has not been here these two hours: he went to milk
the goat for baby and has not returned. We have had no breakfast, none
of us."
"William, go on deck," replied his father; "Ready wishes to speak to
you."
William went on deck to Ready, who explained to him the position in
which they were placed; he pointed out to him the necessity of his doing
all he could to assist his father and him, and not to alarm his mother
in her precarious state of health. William, who, as it may be expected,
looked very grave, did, however, immediately enter into Ready's views,
and proceeded to do his best. "The steward," said he, "has left with
the other men, and when my mother wakes she will ask why the children
have had no breakfast. What can I do?"
"I think you can milk one of the goats if I show you how, while I go and
get the other things ready; I can leave the deck, for you see the ship
steers herself very nicely;--and, William, I have sounded the well just
before you came up, and I don't think she makes much water; and,"
continued he, looking round him, and up above, "we shall have fine
weather, and a smooth sea before night."
By the united exertions of Ready and William the breakfast was prepared
while Mrs Seagrave still continued in a sound sleep. The motion of the
ship was now very little: she only rolled very slowly from one side to
the other; the sea and wind had gone down, and the sun shone brightly
over their heads; the boat had been out of sight some time, and the ship
did not go through the water faster than three miles an hour, for she
had no other sail upon her than the main-topgallant sail hoisted up on
the stump of the foremast. Ready, who had been some time down in the
cabin, proposed to Mr Seagrave that Juno and all the children should go
on deck. "They cannot be expected to be quiet, sir; and, now that Madam
is in such a sweet sleep, it would be a pity to wake her. After so much
fatigue she may sleep for hours, and the longer the better, for you know
that (in a short time, I trust) she will have to exert herself." Mr
Seagrave agreed to the good sense of this proposal, and went on deck
with Juno and the children, leaving William in the cabin to watch his
mother. Poor Juno was very much astonished when she came up the ladder
and perceived the condition of the vessel, and the absence of the men;
but Mr Seagrave told her what had happened, and cautioned her against
saying a word to Mrs Seagrave. Juno promised that she would not; but
the poor girl perceived the danger of their position, and, as she
pressed little Albert to her bosom, a tear or two rolled down her
cheeks. Even Tommy and Caroline could not help asking where the masts
and sails were, and what had become of Captain Osborn.
"Look there, sir," said Ready, pointing out some floating sea-weed to
Mr Seagrave.
"I perceive it," said Mr Seagrave; "but what then?"
"That by itself would not be quite proof," replied Ready, "but we
sailors have other signs and tokens. Do you see those birds hovering
over the waves?"
"I do."
"Well, sir, those birds never go far from land, that's all: and now,
sir, I'll go down for my quadrant; for, although I cannot tell the
longitude just now, at all events I can find out the latitude we are in,
and then by looking at the chart shall be able to give some kind of
guess whereabout we are, if we see land soon.
"It is nearly noon now," observed Ready, reading off his quadrant, "the
sun rises very slowly. What a happy thing a child is! Look, sir, at
those little creatures playing about, and as merry now, and as unaware
of danger, as if they were at home in their parlour. I often think,
sir, it is a great blessing for a child to be called away early; and
that it is selfish in parents to repine."
"Perhaps it is," replied Mr Seagrave, looking mournfully at his
children.
"It's twelve o'clock, sir. I'll just go down and work the latitude, and
then I'll bring up the chart."
Mr Seagrave remained on deck. He was soon in deep and solemn thought;
nor was it to be wondered at--the ship a wreck and deserted--left alone
on the wide water with his wife and helpless family, with but one to
assist him: had that one deserted as well as the rest, what would have
been his position then? Utter helplessness! And now what had they to
expect? Their greatest hopes were to gain some island, and, if they
succeeded, perhaps a desert island, perhaps an island inhabited by
savages--to be murdered, or to perish miserably of hunger and thirst.
It was not until some time after these reflections had passed through
his mind, that Mr Seagrave could recall himself to a sense of
thankfulness to the Almighty for having hitherto preserved them, or
could say with humility, "O Lord! thy will, not mine, be done." But,
having once succeeded in repressing his murmurs, he then felt that he
had courage and faith to undergo every trial which might be imposed upon
him.
"Here is the chart, sir," said Ready, "and I have drawn a pencil line
through our latitude: you perceive that it passes through this cluster
of islands; and I think we must be among them, or very near. Now I must
put something on for dinner, and then look sharp out for the land. Will
you take a look round, Mr Seagrave, especially a-head and on the bows?"
Ready went down to see what he could procure for dinner, as the seamen,
when they left the ship, had collected almost all which came first to
hand. He soon procured a piece of salt beef and some potatoes, which he
put into the saucepan, and then returned on deck.
Mr Seagrave was forward, looking over the bows, and Ready went there to
him.
"Ready, I think I see something, but I can hardly tell what it is: it
appears to be in the air, and yet it is not clouds. Look there, where I
point my finger."
"You're right, sir," replied Ready, "there is something; it is not the
land which you see, but it is the trees upon the land which are
refracted, as they call it, so as to appear, as you say, as if they were
in the air. That is an island, sir, depend upon it; but I will go down
and get my glass."
"It is the land, Mr Seagrave," said Ready, after examining it with his
glass--"yes, it is so," continued he, musing; "I wish that we had seen
it earlier; and yet we must be thankful."
"Why so, Ready?"
"Only, sir, as the ship forges so slowly through the water, I fear that
we shall not reach it before dark, and I should have wished to have had
daylight to have laid her nicely on it."
"There is very little wind now."
"Well, let us hope that there will be more," replied Ready; "if not, we
must do our best. But I must now go to the helm, for we must steer
right for the island; it would not do to pass it, for, Mr Seagrave,
although the ship does not leak so much as she did, yet I must now tell
you that I do not think that she could be kept more than twenty-four
hours above water. I thought otherwise this morning when I sounded the
well; but when I went down in the hold for the beef, I perceived that we
were in more danger than I had any idea of; however, there is the land,
and every chance of escape; so let us thank the Lord for all his
mercies."
"Amen!" replied Mr Seagrave.
Ready went to the helm and steered a course for the land, which was not
so far distant as he had imagined, for the island was very low: by
degrees the wind freshened up, and they went faster through the water;
and now, the trees, which had appeared as if in the air, joined on to
the land, and they could make out that it was a low coral island covered
with groves of cocoa-nuts. Occasionally Ready gave the helm up to Mr
Seagrave, and went forward to examine. When they were within three or
four miles of it, Ready came back from the forecastle and said, "I think
I see my way pretty clear, sir: you see we are to the windward of the
island, and there is always deep water to the windward of these sort of
isles, and reefs and shoals to leeward; we must, therefore, find some
little cleft in the coral rock to dock her in, as it were, or she may
fall back into deep water after she has taken the ground, for sometimes
these islands run up like a wall, with forty or fifty fathom of water
close to the weather-sides of them; but I see a spot where I think she
may be put on shore with safety. You see those three cocoa-nut trees
close together on the beach? Now, sir, I cannot well see them as I
steer, so do you go forward, and if I am to steer more to the right, put
out your right hand, and if to the left, the same with your left; and
when the ship's head is as it ought to be, then drop the hand which you
have raised."
"I understand, Ready," replied Mr Seagrave; who then went forward and
directed the steering of the vessel as they neared the island. When
they were within half a mile of it, the colour of the water changed,
very much to the satisfaction of Ready, who knew that the weather-side
of the island would not be so steep as was usually the case: still it
was an agitating moment as they ran on to beach. They were now within a
cable's length, and still the ship did not ground; a little nearer, and
there was a grating at her bottom--it was the breaking off of the
coral-trees which grew below like forests under water--again she grated,
and more harshly, then struck, and then again; at last she struck
violently, as the swell lifted her further on, and then remained fast
and quiet. Ready let go the helm to ascertain the position of the ship.
He looked over the stern and around the ship, and found that she was
firmly fixed, fore and aft, upon a bed of coral rocks.