It was a fortunate circumstance, not only for the surviving mutineers
who had turned up so strangely, but for the little community at Penguin
Castle as well, that they did not make their appearance on the scene
earlier; for, had they came at the trying period, when famine, so to
speak, reigned in the land, they certainly would not have been "welcome
guests!" Of course, even then, Mr Meldrum and the others would have
felt bound to do as much for them as they could; but as at that time the
castaways were almost near upon starvation, they could ill have afforded
to help others in the same predicament, however much charity might have
constrained them.
But, now, things were very different in regard to their larder, wild
ducks being plentiful enough and another heavy "bag" of rabbits having
been secured as soon as the road to the warren had become passable
through the partial subsidence of the flood in the valley; while, in
addition to those stores of substantial food, there was Kerguelen
cabbage _ad libitum_ at their disposal--all the fresher and more juicy
through being covered up by the snow and watered by the spring rains--
besides an abundance of the haddock-like, spike-headed fish to be had
for the catching in the bay, not to speak of the dried penguins as a
last resource, should the other articles of diet fail to suit or pall on
the palate after a time. Indeed, as Mr Lathrope observed frequently
when seated at the central table of their general room and disposing of
the savoury residue of some gipsy stew of Snowball's concoction, during
this period of plenty, which came in such pleasing contrast to their
recent scarcity of provender, they were "living like fighting cocks, and
no mistake!"
Such being the state of things at "Penguin Castle," it was not long
before the emaciated men, who arrived in the longboat almost at death's
door through want, were restored to health. Mr Meldrum, however, took
the precaution of binding them down by the most stringent conditions as
to their obedience and orderly conduct before admitting them on the same
terms as the rest to the common membership of the community--it being
clearly put before them that the least _lache_ or inattention to orders
would subject them to expulsion, when they would have to shift for
themselves and give a wide berth to those of the settlement.
Captain Dinks had recovered so far now that he was able to sit up for a
short time each day; but the length of his illness and the amount of
blood he had lost had so aged and pulled him down that he was
transformed, from the smart energetic sailor he had been, into a feeble
old man, utterly incapable of ever resuming his former position should
events ever place it in his power to take command of a ship again--at
least so it seemed from his general state of prostration.
Under these circumstances, therefore, Mr Meldrum was unquestionably
still looked upon as the head of the party, quite apart from any
appointment as such, from the simple reason that everybody recognised
that it would be only through his advice and forethought that they could
ever hope to escape from the island and see home once more.
Although he had as yet never spoken directly to the point on the
subject, all could gather, from stray hints and observations which
occasionally dropped from his lips, that this thought was ever before
him; and that, when he considered that the proper time for action had
arrived, he would lay his plans before them.
They were not mistaken.
One evening, about the third week in October and the third month of
their residence on Desolation Island, when all were assembled in the
general room after the principal meal of the day--gathered together for
a social chat over the little petty details of their life since the
morning and cogitating as to what was best to be done on the morrow, as
was their invariable custom each night before separating at bedtime--Mr
Meldrum unbosomed himself, just when they least expected it.
Mr Lathrope was having a spirited contest with the first-mate over the
chequer-board that he had assisted in making; Kate was reading out of a
little pocket Bible to the poor captain as he lay back in his cot; while
the others, grouped around, were talking and otherwise amusing
themselves--some of the men knitting a net, which it was intended to use
as a seine for catching fish some day when finished, and the steward
assisting Snowball in cutting up some cabbage which they were going to
pickle and lay by for emergencies--when Mr Meldrum, after a preliminary
"hem," to attract their attention, addressed the little gathering.
"Friends," said he, "it was my intention to speak to you some little
time back about our future prospects here, but I waited for the weather
to become more settled. Now that the spring has fairly set in, however,
it is better not to delay our preparations any longer, for time is
precious and we shall have to accomplish a great deal in the short
period which will be at our disposal."
"I 'spose," put in Mr Lathrope, "you mean about shifting our diggings,
mister, hey?"
"Precisely," replied the other. "The season was not sufficiently
advanced before; but now that it is, the rain having stopped falling
persistently and the weather showing signs of clearing up, why, the
sooner we are up and stirring, the greater chance we shall have of
getting rescued!"
"Waal," drawled the other in his usual nasal way, "you've only got to
say the word, boss, and I guess we're on the move!"
"All right! I'm coming to that, but I want you to understand the
situation. Here is a map of Kerguelen Land," and Mr Meldrum unrolled
the old admiralty chart which has been alluded to before, as he spoke.
"You will see, from the rough outline given of the island, that it is
formed of two peninsulas, running nearly north and south respectively
and both of nearly equal size, but divided by a comparatively narrow
neck of land. The whole island is, taking its outside limits, about
ninety miles long by sixty broad in its widest part, although at the
narrow point or neck which I have mentioned--see, just here where I
place my finger--the distance from sea to sea between the eastern and
western sides does not exceed fifteen miles."
"I say it clearly, sorr," said Mr McCarthy, all attention when his
especial element was mentioned.
"Well, it so happens," continued Mr Meldrum, "that our position here,
the correctness of which I have carefully ascertained from observations
that I have taken and worked out, is, very fortunately for us, on the
western side of this isthmus, and not at the extremity of the broader
portion of the island. Consequently, we shall only have to traverse the
short width of this neck of land in our endeavours to get across to the
eastern side, whither we must go if we hope for any vessel to pick us up
and take us to a civilised port--none ever touching here on account of
the dangerous character of the coast, which we already know to our
cost!"
"Bedad, I can't say how ye are going to get the boats over fifteen miles
ov solid ground, more or less," said the first-mate, scratching his head
vigorously, as he always did when puzzled by anything.
"I'll tell you," answered Mr Meldrum. "You may have noticed since the
snow melted and the rains came, how the waters of that originally small
lake at the bottom of the creek have become extended so that they now
reach up the base of the furthest hills in the valley?"
"Yis, sorr," said Mr McCarthy, stopping from disturbing his auburn
locks any further with his fingers and now all eagerness again, as if
only just then beginning to comprehend what the other was driving at.
"All right, then," continued Mr Meldrum, "so far, so good! Now, to-
day, I went prospecting up to the top of the cliff here, and I see that
the waters of the swollen tarn are united in the extreme distance--to
the left there on the map--with a river, or some other lake, which comes
round that further hill. Hence, this very width of fifteen miles which
we have to cross may be but half of it land and half water, so that,
really, in that case, we should have only to haul the boat, or boats,
over the intervening bits of _terra firma_ in passing from sea to sea."
"I guess, mister," said Mr Lathrope, "you mean what the lumber men on
the Susquehanna and Red River call `making a portage,' hey?"
"I don't quite follow you," observed Mr Meldrum.
"Why, when they come across a rapid in the river, they jest tote up
their canoes and carry 'em along the bank, or through the forest
sometimes, till they gits to whar the stream runs free agin, when they
floats 'em and sails along as slick as you please!"
"Exactly," said Mr Meldrum, "you have just hit what I wished to
describe. Well, friends, whether we have to carry the boat a short
distance or a long one, we shall have to cross this isthmus; and, the
sooner we commence making our preparations, the better."
"You sid only a boat, sorr; aren't ye going to take the pair ov 'em?"
asked Mr McCarthy.
"No," replied the other, "one will be about as much as we shall be able
to manage, and the smaller of the two at that."
"Be jabers!" exclaimed the first-mate in surprise; "and how, thin, will
you carry the lot ov us?"
"When we have to cross land," said Mr Meldrum, "of course we'll have to
walk, and can go in a body or not, just as we please; but when we have
to take to the water again, why the boat will have to do it in so many
trips--taking over a certain number first and returning for a fresh
load, until all shall be taken over; and repeating the process from
stage to stage."
"It kinder strikes me, mister," said Mr Lathrope, reflectively, "that
you'll find that thar jolly-boat a heap bigger and a pile heavier than
them birch-bark canoes of the lumber men and Injuns I was a talkin'
about; and yet, they're heavy enough to cart along fur any raal sort o'
distance, you bet, fur I've tried 'em!"
"I've already thought of that," said Mr Meldrum, "and to-morrow the
carpenter and I will have a talk about a little job which will, perhaps,
relieve your mind in the matter; but, take the boat we must, by hook or
by crook! Do you know that, after crossing the isthmus and getting into
the open sea on the other side, we shall have to coast along for another
fifty or sixty miles before we can expect to reach Betsy Cove, the
little harbour out of Hillsborough Bay or sound, which--you can see it
here on the chart--is the rendezvous of the whalers. Thither, I tell
you, we must go if we hope to meet any of these in order to be taken off
the island. Now, if we can't get there by water we should have to go by
land; and the distance, by the circuitous route we should have to adopt,
would exceed two hundred miles, the way, too, taking us across mountains
which the ladies at least would find impassable!"
"And when are you thinking of starting?" asked Captain Dinks, speaking
for the first time.
"As soon as possible. The whalers are said generally to arrive at Betsy
Cove about the beginning of the summer, that is in November; and, what
with the difficulties we may meet in traversing the isthmus here, and
the subsequent long distance we should have to go by water--for we may
have to make repeated trips in order to transport all the members of our
party to the point I am aiming at--it will take us all our time to reach
there in a month."
"All right!" responded the captain, who looked for the moment more
cheerful at the idea of moving away, "make all the arrangements you
like, Mr Meldrum; I'm only a useless old hulk now, and can do nothing
to help you."
"Bedad you'll be all right agin, cap'en," said Mr McCarthy. "That is,
faix, when you say the say on t'other side, sure. Cheer up, my hearty,
and niver say die!"
"Thank you, Tim," said Captain Dinks, actually smiling, which was the
best sign he had shown for weeks; "your face is as good as a tonic any
day, old friend, and you make me feel better already!"
The very next day all began to prepare for the contemplated shifting of
their quarters, Mr Meldrum so contriving that each had his quota of
work to perform in making ready for the start.
Ben Boltrope was commissioned to manufacture as speedily as he could,
out of what spare timber he could get hold of--and, if necessary, he was
empowered to break up the longboat in default of finding any elsewhere,
for they would not want to use it again--a small light carriage with
large broad wheels similar to those commonly used in transporting life-
boats from place to place along the coast, when their services are
suddenly required at some spot remote from their station and it would
take too long to send them round by sea.
This carriage, of course, was for the accommodation of the jolly-boat,
whenever it should be found necessary for it to abandon its more
congenial element the water, for the land; and as the wheels required
some delicacy of manipulation, it was a lucky thing that the mutineers
had forgotten to take Ben's tool-chest out of the longboat, and that it
had been restored to his possession. Otherwise, the old man-o'-war's
man would have been unable to have completed satisfactorily the
difficult task set him with only an old axe and a hammer for his
available tools, as had been the case when the house was being built.
Such of the party as were not assisting the carpenter were set to work
collecting and curing everything in the shape of food, or provisions of
any sort that came to hand--the rabbit warren being depopulated and wild
ducks slaughtered to such an extent that the latter abandoned the
valley; while, the last remaining birds in the penguin colony, old and
young alike, were sacrificed to appease the craving gods of the common
larder.
Neither were the ladies idle; for, Kate Meldrum and Mrs Major Negus
were employed making canvas bags for the stowage of all these good
things in proper ship-shape fashion. Even Master Maurice--the whilom
"Imp," who had almost been reformed by his experience amongst the
penguins--and Miss Florry, had their services requisitioned in one way
or other.
One and all, without exception, had each something to do!
"I guess, mister," said Mr Lathrope a week later on, when he and Mr
Meldrum were returning from an unsuccessful foray on the adjacent
marshes that had been the haunt of the wild fowl--without once getting a
shot, much less bagging a duck to reward their trouble,--"this'll be a
tall moving; and the sooner we make tracks the better now, since all the
game's skeart. I don't see nary a grasshopper to aim at!"
"The arrangements are all completed," replied the other, "and I have
determined to start to-morrow. As you say, there's nothing to be gained
by our waiting any longer; so, as we've now as much provision collected
as we shall either want or can carry, and as Ben has finished the boat-
carriage, I don't see any reason for delaying our departure a single
day!"
Mr Meldrum was as good as his word. He gave out an intimation of the
projected start on the morrow to the household the same evening, as soon
as the two reached the little dwelling by the creek which they were
about to abandon so remorselessly after the long shelter it had given
them in their adversity!