THE BEGINNING AND END OF A VOYAGE.
The first care of the boys the next morning was to dig their well. This
was a comparatively trifling task, as they had only to dig four or five
feet through soft alluvial soil and sand. Instead of making
perpendicular sides to their well, they dug it out in the shape of a
bowl, so that they could walk down to the water and dip it up as they
needed it.
Having a hut to live in and a well from which to get fresh water, they
were now free to begin the sport for which they had come to the island.
They went fishing first, of course, that being the obvious thing to do,
but after a few hours of this the tide became too full, and the fish
ceased to bite satisfactorily.
"Let's crusoe a little," said Jack, winding up his line.
"In what particular way?" asked Ned.
"Why, let's sail around our domain and see how the island looks on its
other sides. Perhaps we may discover the savages, or find some game."
"A good idea; but we must go back to camp first, to leave our fish and
get the gun and the sail; and while we're there we'd better get some
dinner."
So said, so done. Dinner was very hastily dispatched, as the boys were
anxious to get off, in order that the circuit of the island might be
completed before night.
"It looks like rain," said Ned, as he shook out the sail, "but we don't
mind a wetting."
There was a good breeze, and the boat bounded away, rocking a good deal,
for the wind had been blowing all day, and there was more sea on than
was usual in those quiet waters. Ned let the centre-board down, which
steadied the boat somewhat, and enabled her to carry her sail without
danger. The plan was to coast along about half a mile off shore in order
that the island might be seen to good advantage; but as the eastern
shore was reached the sea became heavier, and the roar of the surf on
shore warned Ned of broad sands upon that side.
"I've got to make more offing here," he said.
"What do you mean by that? turn it into English," said Charley Black,
who persistently refused to understand any thing that sounded like a
nautical term.
"Well, I mean I've got to sail farther away from the shore."
"'Cause why?" asked Jack.
"Because of two things," replied Ned. "In the first place the sea comes
in between those two islands over there, and has a fair sweep at about
half a mile of our island's coast, and so for the next half mile we
shall have some pretty rough water, and I prefer to be well off shore."
"I should think you'd prefer to be close inshore if there's danger. Then
if any thing happens we can land."
"That's all you know about it," said Ned. "I don't think there's the
least danger, so long as we keep off shore, because this boat, with her
centre-board down, is seaworthy; but as she isn't beach-worthy--and no
vessel is that--I don't want to get her upon a beach. That brings me to
my second reason. I want to take a good offing, because by the way the
surf roars here, and by the look of it, I judge that there's a long
sandy beach running out from this part of the island, and I don't want
to risk getting into too shallow water."
"But why couldn't we land if there were danger?" asked Jack Farnsworth.
"If I had the helm that would be the first thing I'd try to do."
"So should I if I had a harbor to run into," replied Ned. "But don't you
see that if we ran upon a sandy beach when there was a sea on, we should
soon come to a place where there wouldn't be water enough except as a
wave came in? Then the boat would be lifted up by every wave, and
suddenly dropped upon the hard sand, and I can tell you she wouldn't
stand much of that. Did you never notice that nearly all shipwrecks
occur along shore?"
"Yes, that's true," replied Jack. "Ships that come to grief nearly
always run on breakers or something; but I never thought of it before."
By this time Ned had secured at least a mile of offing but the sea grew
every moment heavier. The wind had risen to half a gale, and in spite
of the close reefing of the sail the boat lay far over and Ned directed
his companions to "trim ship" by sitting upon the gunwale.
Jack Farnsworth soon discovered that Ned was becoming anxious. He
quietly said:
"You suspect danger, Ned?"
"Oh, no," replied Ned, "at least I think not."
"Yes you do. I see it in your face. Now I want to say at once that
whatever the danger is, we can only increase it by losing our wits. The
important thing is for you to keep perfectly cool, because you know more
than we do about sailing. Then you can tell us what to do, if there's
any thing."
"Thank you," said Ned; "the fact is this: I think by the look of the
horizon out there at sea, that we are likely to have a squall--that is,
a sudden and very violent blow, added to the steadier wind that blows
now. If we can run across this open space before it comes, we'll be all
right under the lee of that island over there, and if no squall comes
we're safe enough even here, because the boat is seaworthy. But a
knock-over squall might capsize us. It's coming, too--let go the
sheet--cut it--any thing!"
As he said, or rather shouted this, Ned tried to head the boat to the
wind, while Jack and Charley let go the sheet, and thus set the sail
free. If the squall had struck the boat with the sheet fastened and the
sail thus held in position, the _Red Bird_ would have capsized
instantly; but with the sail swinging freely, less resistance was
offered, and Ned expected in this way to avoid a catastrophe. He headed
the boat to the wind, which was the best thing to do.
The squall struck just as the sail swung free, but before the _Red Bird_
could be brought completely around.
It seemed to the boys that the boat had been struck violently by a solid
ball of some kind, so sharply did the squall come upon it. Having her
head almost to the wind, she reared like a horse, swung around, and very
nearly rolled over, but she did not quite capsize. The mast, however,
snapped short off, and the sail fell over into the water, being held
fast to the boat only by the guys.
"Cut the guys, Jack," cried Ned, "or that sail will swamp us! There! now
all sit down in the bottom of the boat; no, no, Charley, not on the
thwart, but on the bottom!"
Ned had to shriek these orders to be heard above the roar of the squall,
which had not yet subsided. He knew that the immediate danger now was
that the boat might turn over, and to prevent this, he ordered his
companions to sit upon the bottom, as he himself did, in order that
their weight might be where it would best serve as ballast.
This brought the three very nearly together, so that they could speak to
each other without shouting quite at the top of their voices.
"Well, Ned?" said Charley Black.
"Well," replied Ned, "we shan't capsize now. That danger is over; but
there's another before us that is just as bad."
"What is it?" asked Charley.
"And what shall we do toward meeting it?" asked Jack, whose superb
calmness and manly resolution to look things in the face and to make
fight against danger won Ned's heart.
"We're being driven at railroad speed upon the beach," answered Ned,
"and we'll strike pretty soon. We've already lost the oars, and we
couldn't use them if we had them in this sea; so we have nothing to do
but wait. When we strike, the boat will be mashed into kindling wood.
Every thing depends then upon where we strike. If it is far from shore
the big waves will beat us to a jelly on the sand. Our only chance will
be, as soon as the boat strikes, to catch the next wave, swimming with
it toward shore, taking care, when it recedes, to light on our feet, and
then run with all our might up the sand. If we can get inside the break
of the surf before the next wave catches us we're safe; but that's the
only chance. Every thing depends now on where we strike."
"Boots off," cried Jack; "we may have to swim."
Ned and Charley accepted the suggestion. All now anxiously scanned the
shore, which seemed to be coming toward them at a tremendous speed.
Suddenly Ned cried out:
"There's a reef just ahead; when we strike try to cross it into the
stiller water."
At that moment it seemed as if the sandy reef had suddenly shot up from
below, striking the bottom of the boat as a trip-hammer might, and
shivering it into fragments. What had really happened was this: the
boat, driving forward on the crest of a wave, had been carried to a
point immediately over the sand ridge or reef, and there suddenly
dropped by the receding of the wave. It had struck the sandy bottom with
sufficient violence to crush its sides and bottom into a shapeless mass.
The boys were wellnigh stunned by the blow, but rallying quickly they
ran forward in water only a few inches deep, and before the next
incoming wave struck, they had crossed the narrow sand reef, and plunged
into the deep, but comparatively still water that lay inside. The surf
was broken, of course, upon the reef, and although the waves passed
completely over it, their force was expended upon it, so that inside the
barrier the boys found the water disturbed by nothing more than a swell.
The distance to the shore was small, and they soon swam it, pulling
themselves out on the sand, drenched, bare-headed, bootless, and weary
beyond expression, not so much from exertion as from the strain through
which their brains and nerves had passed.