"Well, Ready," said Mr Seagrave, after breakfast, "which is to be our
next job?"
"Why, sir, I think we had better all set to, to collect the branches and
ends of the cocoa-nut trees cut down, and stack them for fuel. Tommy
and Juno have already made a good large pile, and I think, by to-night,
we shall have made the stack, and so arranged it that the rain will not
get into it much. After that, as the weather will not permit us to
leave the house for any time, we will cut our salt-pan and make our
fish-pond; they will take a week at least, and then we shall have little
more to do near home. I think the strength of the rains is over
already, and perhaps in a fortnight we may venture to walk through the
wood, and examine what we have saved from the wreck."
"And we are to explore the island; are we not, Ready?" said William. "I
long to do that."
"Yes, William, but that must be almost the last job; for we shall be
away for two or three nights, perhaps, and we must look out for fine
weather. We will, however, do that before we bring the stores round in
the boat."
"But how are we to make the salt-pan, Ready? We must cut it out of the
solid rock."
"Yes, William; but I have three or four of what they call cold chisels,
and with one of them and a hammer, we shall get on faster than you
think; for the coral rock, although hard at the surface, is soft a
little below it."
The whole of that day was employed in piling up the cocoa-nut branches
and wood. Ready made a square stack, like a haystack, with a gable top,
over which he tied the long branches, so that the rain would pour off
it.
"There," said Ready, as he came down the ladder, "that will be our
provision for next year; we have quite enough left to go on with till
the rainy season is over, and we shall have no difficulty in collecting
it afterwards when the weather is dry."
Mr Seagrave sighed and looked grave; Ready observed it, and said, "Mr
Seagrave, it is not that we may want it; but still we must prepare for
the next rainy season, in case we do want it. That Captain Osborn, if
he lives, will send to look for us, I have no doubt; nay, I believe that
Mackintosh will do the same; but still you must not forget that they all
may have perished, although we have been so mercifully preserved. We
must put our trust in God, sir."
"We must, Ready; and if it is his will, we must not murmur. I have
schooled myself as much as possible; but thoughts will come in spite of
my endeavours to restrain them."
"Of course they will, sir; that's natural: however, sir, you must hope
for the best; fretting is no good, and it is sinful."
"I feel it is, Ready; and when I see how patient, and even happy, my
wife is under such privations, I am angry with myself."
"A woman, sir, bears adversity better than a man. A woman is all love,
and if she has but her husband and children with her, and in good
health, she will make herself happy almost anywhere: but men are
different: they cannot bear being shut out of the world as you are now."
"It is our ambition which makes us unhappy, Ready," replied Mr
Seagrave; "but let us say no more about it: God must dispose of me as he
thinks fit."
After supper, Ready, being requested by William, continued his
narrative.
"I left off, if I recollect right, William, just as the Hottentot, with
the cattle under his care, had frightened away the baboons who were
tormenting us. Well, we came out of the cave and sat down under the
rock, so that the Hottentot could not see us, and we had a sort of
council of war. Romer was for going back and giving ourselves up again;
for he said it was ridiculous to be wandering about without any arms to
defend ourselves against wild beasts, and that we might fall in with
something worse than the baboons very soon; and he was right. It would
have been the wisest thing which we could have done; but Hastings said,
that if we went back we should be laughed at, and the idea of being
laughed at made us all agree that we would not. Bear this in mind,
William, and never let the fear of ridicule induce you to do what is
wrong; or if you have done wrong, prevent you from returning to what is
your duty."
"Many thanks for your advice, Ready; I hope William will not forget it,"
said Mr Seagrave.
"Well, sir, such was our reason for not giving up our mad scheme; and
having so decided, the next point of consultation between us was, how we
were to procure arms and ammunition, which we could not do without. As
we were talking this over, I peeped from behind the rock to see where
the Hottentot might be; I perceived that he had laid himself down, and
wrapped himself up in his kross, a mantle of sheep-skins which they
always wear. Now we had observed that he carried his musket in his
hand, when we first saw him, as the Hottentots always go out armed, and
I pointed out to Hastings and Romer that if he was asleep, we might get
possession of his musket without his perceiving it. This was a good
idea, and Hastings said he would crawl to him on his hands and knees,
while we remained behind the rock. He did so very cautiously, and found
the man's head covered up in his kross and fast asleep; so there was no
fear, for the Hottentots are very hard to wake at any time; that we knew
well. Hastings first took the musket and carried it away out of the
reach of the Hottentot, and then he returned to him, cut the leather
thong which slung his powder-horn and ammunition, and retreated with all
of them without disturbing the man from his sleep. We were quite
overjoyed at this piece of good luck, and determined to walk very
cautiously some distance from where the Hottentot lay, that in case he
awoke he should not see us. Keeping our eyes about in every direction,
lest we should meet with anybody else, we proceeded nearly a mile
towards Table Bay, when we fell in with a stream of water. This was
another happy discovery, for we were very thirsty; so we concealed
ourselves near the stream after we had quenched our thirst, and made a
dinner off the provisions we had brought with us."
"But, Ready, did you not do wrong to steal the Hottentot's musket?"
"No, William; in that instance it could not be considered as a theft.
We were in an enemy's country, trying to escape; we were therefore just
as much at war with the country as we were when they took us prisoners,
and we no more stole the musket than they could be said to have stolen
our ship. Am I not right, Mr Seagrave?"
"I believe you are justified in what may seem extreme acts for the
recovery of your liberty, after you have been made prisoners. It has
always been so considered."
"Well, sir, to go on: we waited till dusk, and then we continued our
march towards False Bay as fast as we could. We knew that there were
farmers down in the valley, or rather on the sides of the hills, and we
hoped to obtain, by some means or other, two more muskets. It was near
twelve o'clock at night, with a bright moon, when we had a sight of the
water in False Bay, and soon afterwards we heard the baying of a large
dog, and not far from us we distinguished two or three farmhouses, with
their cattle-folds and orchards. We then looked for a hiding-place,
where we might remain till the morning; we found one between some large
pieces of rock. We agreed that one should watch while the other two
slept; this Hastings undertook to do, as he was not inclined to sleep.
At daylight he woke Romer and me, and we made our breakfast. From the
place we were concealed in, we had a bird's-eye view of the farmhouse,
and of what was going on.
"The farmhouse and buildings just below us were much smaller than the
other two, which were more distant. We watched the people as they went
about. In about an hour the Hottentots came out, and we perceived that
they were yoking the oxen to the waggon; they yoked twelve pair, and
then the Hottentot driver got in and drove off towards Cape Town. Soon
after that, another Hottentot drove the cows up the valley to feed; and
then a Dutch woman came out of the house with two children, and fed the
poultry.
"We watched for another hour, and then the farmer himself made his
appearance, with a pipe in his mouth, and sat down on a bench. When his
pipe was out, he called to the house, and a Hottentot woman came to him
with more tobacco and a light. During the whole of the day we did not
see any other people about the house, so we concluded that there were no
more than the farmer, his wife, the Hottentot woman, and two children.
About two hours after noon the farmer went to the stable and led out his
horse, mounted, and rode away; we saw him speak to the Hottentot woman
when he rode off, and she soon after went down the valley with a basket
on her head, and a long knife in her hand. Then Hastings said it was
time that we moved, for there was but one woman in the house, and we
could easily overpower her and get what we wanted; still there was a
great risk, as she might give the alarm, and we should have to escape in
the day-time, and might be seen and taken prisoners again. However, as
it was our only chance, we resolved to go down to the farmhouse very
cautiously, and be all ready to seize any opportunity. We crept down
the hill, and gained the fence, which was at the back of the farmhouse,
without being discovered: we remained there for about a quarter of an
hour, when, to our great joy, we observed the farmer's wife go out of
the house, leading a child in each hand; apparently she was going to
visit one of her neighbours, for she went in the direction of one of the
other farms. As soon as she was a hundred yards off, Hastings crept
softly through the fence, and entered the farmhouse by the back-door; he
came out again, and made a sign for us to come in. We found him already
in possession of a rifle and a musket, which had been hanging over the
fire-place, and we soon handed down the powder-horns and ammunition
pouches, which were hung up at a different part of the room, away from
the fire-place.
"Having gained these, Hastings set me to watch at the front door, lest
anybody should return, while Romer and he looked out for something else
in the way of provisions. We got possession of three hams, and a large
loaf of bread as big as a small washing-tub. With these articles we
made our way safe back to our retreat. We then looked round, and could
see nobody in any direction, so we presumed that we were not discovered.
As there was a sort of ravine full of rocks dividing the hill, which we
were obliged to pass before we could get into the valley, unless we went
down close to the farmhouse, we agreed that it would be better at once
to cross it during the day-time, so that we should get that difficulty
over, and, at the same time, be further from the farmhouse. We did so;
and found a very secure hiding-place, where we lay down, waiting for the
sun to set before we started on our journey into the interior. I think
I had better leave off now, William, as it is getting late."