"I'm glad you brought the skylight," said Mr Meldrum to the first mate
when the excitement attending the return of the boat's crew with Miss
Pussy had somewhat calmed down. "Its the very thing we'll want
presently!" He then proceeded to show Mr McCarthy what he and those
who had remained ashore had done during the absence of the others.
Adjoining the site of the tent, and under the lee of a sort of gable-end
of the cliffs, a piece of ground had been cleared of the snow close to a
freshwater tarn some little distance above the sea-shore, where it was
not affected by the tide; and here the land had been levelled in the
form of a parallelogram, some thirty feet long by twenty wide, round
which a trench had been dug about a foot deep.
At the four corners of this, stout posts, selected from some of the
deck-beams of the _Nancy Bell_ that had been secured for the under-
structure of the raft, were set up in holes excavated of such a depth
that they would firmly resist any lateral pressure brought to bear
against them by the wind; and, round the top of these uprights, a
scantling of deal had been nailed on, thus making the framework of a
good-sized cottage.
Mr McCarthy was quite surprised at the progress made.
"You've been pretty busy, sorr," he said. "Be jabers, you'll have a
cabin built in no time!"
"Yes," replied Mr Meldrum, "we have got along; but you must remember
we've had fourteen hands at work besides the carpenter, including Mr
Lathrope and myself; and such a number of men, when their labour has
been systematically divided, can accomplish a good deal in a short time.
I wish we had some more timber, though! We've got the roof yet to
make, and a partition or two in the inside for the proper division of
the building. I have planned out a separate room for the ladies, and
one for us men; in addition to a general sort of apartment, where we can
all have our meals together, and which will serve as a store-room as
well."
"Sure an' you don't think, sorr, we'll have to live here long!" said the
first mate, a little alarmed at the magnitude of the other's plans.
"Indeed I do," answered Mr Meldrum. "It is now only the beginning of
August, which is the worst season here, as I mentioned to poor Captain
Dinks; and the winter will probably last from four to five months;
during which time, according to all accounts that I've read of the
place, we may expect to experience the most bitter weather, and have to
depend entirely on our own resources; for, none of the whaling schooners
that go seal-hunting in these parts ever visit the island, as far as I
know, before November or December--and even then they go generally to
the eastern side and do not come here! Before that time, however, that
is as soon as the snow melts and the spring sets in, we'll have to try
and cross over the land to one of the harbours which the whalers
frequent, and which I've got marked on the chart. Until that period,
Mr McCarthy, as you must perceive, we will have to remain here; so it
is best for us to try and be as comfortable as we can under the
circumstances. Last night, as you know, it was cold enough in all
conscience; but that will be nothing to what we may expect later on when
the regular gales and sea-fogs and snowstorms set in, and they continue
for weeks, I believe!"
"Begorrah, it's a bad look-out!" said the mate,--"a bad look-out,
anyway!"
"It is; there's no good of our blinking the fact," replied the
other,--"but, still, other shipwrecked crews have borne worse hardships
than we'll have to contend with, and, you know, what men have done men
may do! I wish we had some more of the poor old ship's planks, however.
Besides their being necessary for completing our house properly, we
shall want a large supply of them for fuel during the next four months."
"Sure and they'll float ashore," said the mate.
"I don't know about that," responded Mr Meldrum. "You said just now,
when you returned in the jolly-boat, that all the bows and forward parts
of the vessel had been washed to pieces; and yet, of all that wreckage
not a single scrap came ashore here to tell the tale before you brought
the news:-- what do you think of that, eh!"
"Be jabers, it's all that blissid current that takes it back agin! Sure
an' I've sane it floating in foreninst the land myself."
"Well, we'll have to try and baulk the current, then," said Mr Meldrum.
"We must keep a good look-out on the ship; and, as soon as we see that
the stern has broken up, the jolly-boat will have to be manned and
cruise about to pick up and tow ashore whatever timber and stray planks
may be seen."
"Right you are, sorr," replied Mr McCarthy. "I'll say to that!"
"Say, mister," interposed the American, who had remained silent during
the deliberations of the other two, although he was supposed to be
present at the council and a deliberative member. "How'll the grub last
all that air time! Twenty-seven folks all told, as I've kalkerlated
'em, take a powerful lot of feedin' in four months!"
"Ah!" said Mr Meldrum, "that's a serious consideration. However, with
that lot of penguins there,"--and he pointed to the little colony of the
quaint birds, which were still croaking and grumbling at them, not
having yet become accustomed to their strange visitors,--"I don't think
we'll starve! Besides these gentry, too, there will be lots more sea-
fowl, and perhaps some land ones as well. Still, it will be advisable,
Mr Lathrope, as you have introduced the subject, to take stock of all
the stores we have, and Master Snowball must be instructed to be not
quite so lavish in his display at dinner-time as he was yesterday."
"Sorry I spoke," said Mr Lathrope, rather chop-fallen at the way in
which his suggestion had been taken. "I didn't want you to cut short
the vittles, but only to kinder kalkerlate!"
"I'm just doing that," replied the other, "and we'll see what we've got
to depend upon at once."
As the American had remarked, they were just twenty-seven souls in all:
_Imprimis_, Captain Dinks--whose wound evidently was progressing
favourably, for he had lost all those feverish symptoms that were
apparent the day previous and was now in a sound sleep, after eating
some thin soup which Snowball had concocted for him by Mr Meldrum's
direction--Mr McCarthy, Adams, Frank Harness, Ben Boltrope the
carpenter, and Karl Ericksen the rescued Norwegian sailor, besides
Snowball and thirteen others of the crew of the _Nancy Bell_, making
twenty of those belonging to the ship; while, of the passengers, there
were six--Mr Meldrum, Kate, Florry, Mrs Major Negus and her son and
only hope Maurice, and lastly, though by no means least, Mr Lathrope--
the grand total, with the stewardess, who must not be forgotten, coming
exactly to seven-and-twenty.
Now, to feed all this large family, they had brought ashore on the raft
three barrels of salt beef and four of pork, six hams uncooked, besides
the one which Frank had removed from the steward's pantry along with the
round of spiced beef on his visit to the ship in search of the cat; some
four dozen eight-pound tins of preserved meats and vegetables; about a
couple of hundredweight of flour; five bags of biscuit; a few bottles of
spirits; and sundry minor articles, such as pickles and salt, and one or
two pots of preserves--not a very considerable amount of provender,
considering the number of souls to be supplied, and the length of time
Mr Meldrum thought it wise to estimate that the provisions would have
to last.
Just as they were rolling back the casks under the shelter of the tent,
Maurice Negus rushed up to Mr Meldrum in company with Florry, both of
the children being intensely excited evidently about something they had
seen or heard.
"Oh crickey!" cried out the former before he had quite got up to the
party, so as to have the first voice in the matter,--"Do come! There's
an awful long thing just crawled out of the sea, and it is creeping up
to the tent as fast as it can!"
"Yes," chorussed Florry, "and it's like the seals we saw in the
Zoological Gardens; only it's twice as big and has a long trunk like an
elephant!"
"Jeehosophat!" exclaimed Mr Lathrope, feeling for his revolver. "It
must be a rum outlandish animile, if it's like that!"
"Zee-oliphant," said Karl Ericksen, the Norwegian sailor, in his broken
English. "He is not harmful:-- he good for man eat."
"Snakes and alligators! that's prime anyhow, I reckon," put in Mr
Lathrope. "I guess this air animile'll save your old stores, mister,
hey?"
"I hope so," answered Mr Meldrum. "Although I've never tasted seal
beef myself, I have heard it's very fair when you can't get the genuine
article; the whalers generally use it, at all events, some of them even
thinking it a dainty. But, let us go and see this sea-elephant that the
children have discovered!"
They did not have to go far; for, the queer-looking amphibious creature
had by this time crawled up on to the rocks close outside the tent, and
was quite near to where they were standing--the Norwegian sailor having
already seen and recognised its species before he spoke.
The animal was a gigantic sort of seal, some twenty-five feet in length
and quite five high. If big, it was certainly also most unwieldy, for
it appeared to waddle up from the shore with the greatest difficulty.
Its body was covered with a short brown fur, with lighter hair of a dun
colour under the throat; and, what gave it the singular appearance
whence its name of "sea-elephant" was probably more derived than from
its size, was the pendulous nostrils, which hung down over its mouth,
just like the proboscis or long trunk of the children's old friend,
"Jumbo."
Karl Ericksen had managed to rummage out a harpoon one day amongst the
odds and ends in the forecastle of the _Nancy Bell_, and the sailor
having been familiar with its use from long whaling experience, had not
forgotten to bring it ashore when they abandoned the wreck--looking upon
the weapon with almost as much veneration as Mr Lathrope regarded the
rifle he had inherited from the celebrated Colonel Crockett.
This harpoon Karl now brought forth, approaching the seal with the
obvious intention of despatching it summarily; when another evidence of
its elephantine character was displayed, well justifying its title.
As the sailor came up to it and raised the harpoon to strike, the animal
raised itself on its fore-flappers, snarling and emitting a hollow roar
which startled everybody near, causing them to jump away, and give it a
wide berth; while at the same time it erected its nose so that it stood
out quite stiff, more than a foot long, and, opening its mouth, it
exposed the bright scarlet palate and gullet, from the bottom of which
its hoarse bellow proceeded. Karl, however, was not frightened by the
sea-elephant's rage, but with a single swinging blow from his harpoon on
the snout stretched it lifeless on the ground, when all were better able
to appreciate its enormous size. Its girth alone exceeded sixteen feet,
and the animal appeared all the more imposing when dead than alive.
The Norwegian sailor cut out the tongue, telling Mr Meldrum that this
portion of the sea-elephant and the snout were considered great
delicacies by the whalers; but none of the party relished either,
although Snowball served up both at dinner in his most recherche
fashion. The flesh of the body, too, was of a blackish hue, and had an
oily taste about it, which made the sailors turn up their noses at it
and wish to fling it away; but this Mr Meldrum would not allow.
"We will probably be glad enough to get it bye and bye," he said; and he
then caused the despised seal "beef" to be cut up in pieces and salted
down in one of their spare casks in case of future need.
During the time Mr Meldrum had been taking stock of their stores,
before the coming of the sea-elephant--"to pay them an afternoon call,"
as Florry said--the carpenter, with a number of the hands working under
him, had been proceeding with the house-building operations; but he had
to stop at last, more from want of the proper timber wherewith to
complete the job than through the darkening of the afternoon on account
of the approach of night.
"I can't get along nohow," Ben explained to Mr Meldrum, who was now
regarded as the head of the party, and the one to look to in every
difficulty. "I'm at a standstill for planking, sir. I can manage the
roof part pretty well, by breaking up those old puncheons we brought
under the raft and using the staves for shingles; but the joists and
rafters bother me, sir."
"Well, we must hope to get some more to-morrow from the wreck," said Mr
Meldrum. "The ship cannot last much longer; but, recollect, we can't
get any ashore till she breaks up."
"Aye, aye, sir, I knows that," replied Ben. "Still, I hopes it won't
all drift away to sea when she do go to pieces."
"We'll try to prevent that, Boltrope," said the other. "Mind, Mr
McCarthy, and have a look-out stationed in the morning to keep an eye on
the ship, with a man to relieve him watch and watch, the same as on
board! She's all firm now, for I saw the flag still waving when I
looked before the light began to fail; but if the wind and sea get up
again, as they very likely will towards midnight, tomorrow will tell a
very different tale!"
"I'll have a look-out, never fear, sorr."
"And, McCarthy--"
"Yes, sorr!"
"See that the jolly-boat is ready and a crew picked for it to put off
the moment any wreckage is observed floating inshore. We must not
neglect any chance of securing all the timber we can for fuel, putting
the house out of the reckoning entirely!"
"Indade I will, sorr," answered the mate cheerily; and then, all struck
work for the day and retired into the tent, not sorry to have another
easy night's rest. Every one was anxious to turn in, for really there
was nothing else to be done.