While Mr McCarthy and the jolly-boat's crew were thus trying to save
all the "flotsam and jetsam" they could from the wreck, Ben Boltrope and
those of the crew told off to help him, as "carpenter's mates," were as
busy as bees house-building, if running up the shanty which Mr Meldrum
had designed could be so designated; while the rest of the party were
lending all the aid they could in fetching and carrying what the actual
workers required.
It was only a rough wooden hut, or rather "composite" structure; but as
it was more than probable that it would have to be the home of the
shipwrecked people for some five months at the least, no trouble or
pains were spared in endeavouring to make it as substantial and
comfortable under the circumstances as Ben and his active assistants
could effect with the limited means at their command.
The gable-end of the cliff, under whose lee the hut was erected, so as
to gain shelter from the southward and westward winds, which seemed to
be the most prevalent on the coast, presented a flat and even face, just
like a slab of black slate standing up perpendicularly from the ground.
The wall of rock, which was of a hard volcanic material that was
evidently not porous, was made to serve for the back of the building, a
niche or groove being excavated along it, about ten feet from the
bottom, for the insertion of the ridge poles. This was a task of some
difficulty, owing to the toughness of the stone; but it was a necessary
one in order to prevent the moisture from above trickling down into the
interior between the roof and the face of the cliff. The lower ends of
the ridge poles, which sloped down from the top at an angle of some
fifteen degrees, were then firmly fastened to the posts placed in the
holes dug for them and lashed together with stout seizings of rope and
sennet, so strongly that it would almost have taken a hurricane to have
blown them away.
The next proceeding was to fix, at equal distances apart across the
rough framework of the roof, a series of slender scantlings cut from the
deck planks by splitting them with an axe, which Ben was forced to make
use of on account of his having no saw, that and other similar useful
instruments having been left in his tool-chest, which had been placed in
the long-boat when the first preparations were made for abandoning the
_Nancy Bell_.
The scantlings were secured to the ridge poles diagonally, not only for
greater security but on account of the shortness of some of the pieces
of timber they had and the necessity there was for their economising it;
and, over the scantlings were laid in due order, the one overlapping the
other to prevent any crevices in between, the shingles which the
ingenious carpenter had improvised out of the staves of the empty
casks--although, as the space to be covered amounted to some seven
hundred superficial feet or thereabouts, every one of the casks had to
be broken up save the six containing their beef and pork and the salted-
down flesh of the sea-elephant, Ben even then hardly having enough
shingles for his purpose.
However, casks or no casks, the roof of their house was a consideration
that stood at the moment before all others; and, being now properly
shingled, it was rendered additionally watertight by spreading over it
the old tarpaulin and sail that had already temporarily done duty above
their tent, and then giving them a good coating of pitch. A supply of
this article had been fortunately thrown on to the raft along with the
other odds and ends that had came in so usefullys and it was now melted
down in Snowball's recovered copper. The finishing touch was given to
the structure by piling several big boulders over the upper row of
shingles along the ridge pole, for greater stability and to prevent
boisterous Boreas from playing any of his rude tricks to its
disadvantage.
The roof done, all hands turned their attention to raising the sides of
the shanty. This was a much easier job, consisting in nailing rough
pieces of planking at intervals across the corner-posts from end to end,
both inside the building and without, and then filling up the
interstices, or intervening hollows, with the basaltic debris that was
scattered around--just as rubble is thrown in between skeleton brickwork
by what are termed "jerry-builders" to form party-walls of modern
tenements. The side walls were then carried up to within a foot or so
of the eaves of the roof, the sail-covering of which after being allowed
to lap over was now tucked in at the top, thus closing up the chinks and
making all snug.
The front of the shanty was afterwards finished off in the same way,
although more planking was employed as greater nicety of detail was
necessary in order to arrange for the doorway and windows, for which
latter the remains of the cabin sky-light Frank thought of bringing
ashore supplied the material; but it took a couple of days to complete
the building to the satisfaction of Ben and Mr Meldrum, notwithstanding
which drawback the whole party took possession of it the night after the
wreckage had been landed, the recovered timber enabling the carpenter
and his crew to proceed with the work--all declaring that the house was
perfect and ever so much better than the discarded tent, in spite of
many things being still wanting.
In the interior, of course, a flooring had been dispensed with, from the
simple fact of their having no wood to spare for such a luxury; but
otherwise it was made to look very comfortable.
Through the aid of canvas curtains suspended from the roof, it was
divided, as Mr Meldrum had originally planned, into three tolerably
commodious apartments, the cosiest and most sheltered of which, at the
extreme end of the building, was apportioned to the ladies some
sailcloth being spread on the bare ground to render it warmer; while the
middle and larger room was reserved as a store and place of general
assembly for eating and carrying on such avocations as were required
when the weather was too rough for out-of-door work.
The third apartment, at the beach end of the building, was devoted to
the dormitory accommodation of the men folk, who slept on the bare rock
below in their blankets--Mr Meldrum, with the American and the officers
of the ship swinging above the crew in hammocks.
They had a tight fit of it altogether, some one-and-twenty sleeping in a
space of not more than twenty feet by eight, according to the dimensions
of the floor; but Captain Dinks' cot was hung for the present in the
general compartment, on account of his wounded condition and the
necessity of his having free air and ventilation, lest there should be a
return of his feverish symptoms, which a confined atmosphere might have
brought about.
When all these arrangements were completed, and the stores neatly ranged
round the central division, which Ben Boltrope had further adorned with
a rough deal table and some settles placed in the centre, the place
presented quite a homelike appearance to the castaways. The children,
indeed, declared that it was like the cuddy of the poor old _Nancy
Bell_--that is, when things went well with the vessel. This resemblance
was especially apparent on the second night after taking possession of
the new house, when it was "declared open" in state, on which occasion
it was lit up by no less than two of the ship's lanterns as a sort of
house warming in honour of the event. Snowball was also allowed by Mr
Meldrum to spread the festal board with as luxurious a feast as their
scanty supplies permitted, a bottle of wine being subsequently produced
for the ladies and grog served out to the men.
"I guess, mister," said Mr Lathrope, who took quite as much pride as
Mr Meldrum in the building--indeed had an equal share in planning its
construction, although he did not work quite so hard in carrying out the
details--"I'd a sight rayther have this air shanty than a brown stone
front in Philadelphy--yes, sir!"
"Well, we've got a roof over our heads at all events!" replied Mr
Meldrum, "and I confess I was anxious about that point. We've had
exceptionally fine weather for the time of year here, however, and
there's no knowing how soon it will turn off; so, now that our house is
finished, the next thing to be considered is the state of our
provisions."
"Ah!" said the American, "I kalkerlate that's coming to hum."
"The food question is a vital necessity in most cases, and especially
now in ours,"--continued the other--"taking into account the many mouths
we have to feed."
"But the Lord filleth the hungry, we're told," said Mrs
Major Negus, who had developed, since landing on the island, what had
evidently been a strong religious trait previously dormant in her
character, if quoting Scripture texts were any proof of this
disposition.
"Ah ma'rm," responded Mr Lathrope, "don't you believe it, unless the
hungry work for it."
"And much you've done to earn your food!" said the lady tartly.
"Wa-al, ma'rm, if it warn't for me, as Mr Meldrum here will tell you,
I've no doubt yer wouldn't have a chimbley, nor nary fire to sot by
inside haar!"
"A fine smoky chimney it is too!" retorted Mrs Major Negus. "It is
quite suffocating, I declare."
"That's better nor bein' friz," said the American, with some little
heat. He was rather annoyed at having his special contrivance sneered
at, for it was only after repeated attempts and failures that the
building party had at last managed to rig up a fireplace against the
back wall of the shanty--running up through the roof of the "general"
room a chimney-shaft of loosely piled stones, enclosed within a
framework of planks to which was nailed on the sea-elephant's skin in
order to prevent the wood from catching fire. This served the purpose
of warming the whole of the interior, as the other apartments opened
into this room, which indeed also provided the only means of
communication with the outside of the hut, the principal and solitary
door of the establishment being here.
"I'd sooner be smoked any time fur chice, myself, than friz!" said Mr
Lathrope again, as if to provoke his opponent.
"No wonder," retorted the lady, eager to have the last word, "when
you're at it all day long, smoking your brains out with that vile
tobacco!"
"What were you going to say about the provisions, papa?" interposed Kate
at this juncture, in order to give a turn to the conversation, which
seemed to be getting a trifle too personal between Mr Lathrope and "the
Major."
"Well, my dear," said her father, glad of the interruption, "I was about
to call a council of war. What we have can't last us very long, at our
present rate of consumption. We shall have to eke it out, as far as it
is practicable, by the native products of the island."
"That's snow and pumice-stone, as fur as I ken see," put in Mr
Lathrope; "and I guess I must be durned peckish fore I tackle those!"
"You forget the seals and the penguins," said Mr Meldrum.
"Waal, mister," rejoined the American, "we've only seed one seal, as I
reckon. That was that air `Sea Olly-fant,' as the Norwegee called it,
and the animile's meat warn't 'zackly what this child ken stomach! As
for them penguins, I guess they're kinder fishy."
"My dear sir, we can't be squeamish," said the other. "Perhaps we'll be
only too glad to get anything we can presently! Besides the seals and
birds, however, there's something else I shall have to look after to-
morrow. It is what I should have thought of before, only we were so
busy about the house--some vegetable food to eat with our salt beef. We
must use some antiscorbutic; and we haven't a tin of our preserved stock
left, I think."
"And whar'll you find vegetables haar, mister?"
"Why, there's one specially distinctive of the island and I daresay
we'll not have to hunt far for it. From the accounts I've read it ought
to grow quite close to the seashore."
"And what's that, mister?" asked the American.
"Kerguelen cabbage," promptly answered Mr Meldrum.
"Snakes and alligators, mister! Do you expect to find sich kitchen
stuff haar?"
"I do," replied the other; "and intend to search for it to-morrow
morning, as soon as I turn out!"
"It was lucky we have poor puss, papa," said Florry just then. "We
would have had all our things eaten up by the mice only for her."
"Dear me!" ejaculated Mrs Major Negus, drawing her skirts closer to her
in alarm, "you don't say so? Mice! gracious goodness that I ever should
have come to such a place. Of all the things I hate, those nasty
creatures are the worst."
"Ah! ma'rm," put in Mr Lathrope, seeing his chance of revenge for the
lady's comments on his chimney; "if all Mister Meldrum kalkerlates comes
true about the shortness of our provisions, I guess you'll be glad to
eat 'em bye and bye! I've seed the Chinee immigrants gobble 'em up in
Californy often enough!"
"Disgusting!" ejaculated Mrs Major Negus, raising her nose in the air
with an expression of intense scorn. "I for one, sir, will never
descend to adopt Chinese fashions and live on rats and mice, whatever
you may have learnt to do in your travels."
"Pray, do not alarm yourself," interposed Mr Meldrum, laughing. "Can't
you see that Mr Lathrope is only joking! I do not dread our being
reduced to such a sad extremity as he pictures! Are you sure about the
mice, Florry?"
"Oh yes, papa," answered that young lady. "Pussy killed four not long
ago, and brought them purring, one after another, to Kate and me--as if
to show us what she had done! Besides, I'm sure I heard them squeaking
behind the boxes last night."
Florry's statement was true enough, for on hunting amongst the stores it
was found that the corners of the bags containing the small supply of
biscuits they had left had been nibbled through and their contents
scattered on the ground; in addition to which there were other evidences
of the presence of the little depredators. The mice must have been
originally introduced into the island by some whaling ship; and, they
had evidently multiplied considerably since then, for they were now very
numerous and puss would have all her work cut out for her in keeping
them down.
In spite of the mouse diversion, Mr Meldrum did not forget what he had
said about the "Kerguelen cabbage."
Instituting a search next day, it was not long before he came across the
plant in a little hollow, close to the fresh-water tarn adjoining their
hut and just peeping out from a thin covering of half-melted snow that
lay on the ground.
This peculiar vegetable production, which was first noticed by Captain
Cook a century ago and is indigenous to the island, is termed by
botanists the _Pringlea antiscorbutica_, and belongs to the order of
plants classed as the _Cruciferae_, which embraces the common cabbage of
every household garden, the radish, and the horse-radish--to the latter
of which the Kerguelen cabbage is the most closely allied, on account of
its hot pungent taste when eaten raw as well as from its habit and mode
of growth.
Mr Meldrum could not have failed to discover and recognise it at first
sight from the description he already had, for the leaves of the plant
grew thick about the root and put forth an upright stem, some two to
three feet high, from which proceeded shoots, like broccoli sprouts on
an enlarged scale, the outer petal-like leaves of which were six to
eight inches long, and of a dark olive-green hue and fleshy nature,
rounded and ciliated at the margin; while the inner leaves were of a
paler green that approximated to yellow in the centre, where they were
crumpled together, exactly like as in the "heart" of the well-known
cabbage, to which the vegetable bore a very close likeness on being
first seen.
"Begorrah, it's a cabbage, all the worruld over!" exclaimed the first
mate, who had accompanied Mr Meldrum in his quest. "Sure you'd hardly
know the hid ov the baste, if it was cut off, from one grown in
Connemara!"
"Not quite so strong a resemblance, perhaps," replied Mr Meldrum,
smiling. "Still, there's likeness enough to recognise its membership to
the general cabbage family; but, we have yet to try how it tastes!"
"Aye, aye, sorr," said Mr McCarthy. "The proof of the pudden's in the
aiting, sure!"
However, the Kerguelen cabbage stood this test well enough.
It was tried that very day at dinner; and, although tasting slightly
acrid and hot flavoured when raw, on being cooked in the same water in
the copper in which some salt pork had been boiled, it seemed not very
much dissimilar to the native home-grown article commonly known as
"greens."
"I guess, mister, it air downright prime, an' no mistake," said Mr
Lathrope, passing opinion on its qualities; "and more'n that, it fills a
feller up fine!"
"Begorrah, it's jist like bacon and greens!" observed Mr McCarthy.
The majority of the men, too, relished it greatly. It was a long time
since any of them had tasted fresh meat much less vegetables, by reason
of the _Nancy Bell_ not having stopped at any port on her way after
leaving England; so, thenceforth, both on account of its antiscorbutic
as well as from its "filling up" qualities, the plant invariably formed
a leading feature in the dietary scale of the castaways; Snowball never
failing to have a plentiful supply of "cabbage" to cook when meal times
came round, or else he or somebody else in fault for its absence, would
have to "tell the reason why!"