THE SITUATION.
The first thing to be done was to rest. Utterly exhausted, the lads
dragged themselves a few feet from the water and threw themselves down
upon the sand, thinking of nothing and caring for nothing except to lie
still. The squall had passed away as quickly as it had come, and
although a stiff breeze was still blowing the afternoon sun beating down
upon them warmed as well as dried them rapidly. Jack Farnsworth was the
first to recover his wits.
"I say, fellows, this won't do," he said, raising himself to a sitting
posture. "The day is waning and we've got to get back to our camp before
night."
Ned and Charley tried to rise. Ned accomplished the feat, but poor
Charley found it impossible.
"Why, boys," he said, sinking back upon the sand, "I'm all of a tremble;
I don't know what's the matter."
"Reaction," said Ned.
"What's that?"
"Why, under all that excitement you kept your strength up by a
tremendous effort, and now you're paying the bill you owe your nerves."
"But I'm sure I didn't tremble when we were in danger."
"No, because you wouldn't give way then. Your will was master. It
ordered your nerves to furnish strength enough to keep still, and
commanded your muscles to do what was necessary to get you safe ashore.
They obeyed, and now your will is in their debt. It took more than was
due, and your nerves and muscles have presented their bill. They are
bullying your will in return for the bullying it gave them a little
while ago. That's the way my father explained it to me once when I
trembled after a big scare. Only lie still awhile and you'll come round.
I was as weak as water five minutes ago, but I'm getting my strength
back again now."
"'As weak as water,'" said Jack Farnsworth meditatively. "I used to
think that a good comparison, but I've altered my opinion. Water is the
strongest thing I know."
"How is that?" asked Ned.
"Why, think how it picked the _Red Bird_ up and flung her down on the
sand like an angry giant--but with ten thousand times a giant's
strength! And it picks great ships up in the same way and dashes them to
pieces as I might do with an egg-shell or a China cup. Water is a giant,
a demon of angry strength. I shall never think of it again as a thing of
weakness. It means infinite power to me now."
"Poor old _Red Bird_!" said Ned; "there are her bones!"
There indeed lay what was left of the boat, where it had been drifted
upon the sands by the swell. The tide, which had now begun to run out,
had left the wreck "high and dry," and instinctively the boys went to
look at it, Charley managing now to stagger forward slowly.
The wreck was a mass of timbers, ribs, and planking, looking like a boat
that has been crushed flat under some enormous weight.
"What kept her from going all to bits?" asked Charley.
"Her copper bolts," answered Ned. "You see, she was particularly well
built. There wasn't a nail in her. From stem to stern all the fastenings
were of copper, and copper is so tough that no ordinary wrenching will
break it. It bends instead. But if we had simply run upon a beach in
that sea, even copper bolts wouldn't have held the pieces together.
Every wave would have lifted the wreck up and dashed it down on the sand
until the planks and ribs were beaten into bits. As it is, the _Red
Bird_ struck only once. The next wave that came lifted her up and
carried her clear across the reef into deep water before it dropped her,
and so she received only that one blow. Once inside the reef, she
drifted with the swell toward shore. She is an utter wreck though, and
will never sail again."
There was a melancholy tone in the boy's voice as he said this, for he
had sailed in this boat many and many a time, and had come to love her
as if she had been a live thing.
"I'll tell you what, boys," said Jack; "we've got to start toward camp.
It won't do to be caught out to-night without supper or fire. Weary and
soaked as we are, we shall be sick if we don't get something to eat and
a fire to sleep by. Let's get a vine and tie the wreck here so that it
can't drift away with the next tide, and then be off at once. It's
nearly sunset."
When the "bones" of the boat were well secured, the boys set out;
Charley having recovered his strength somewhat, they walked at a good
pace along the shore, and reached camp just at dark. Building a large
fire they soon had a hearty supper, with plenty of hot coffee, and when
supper was done, they gladly put themselves to bed, aching a good deal
from exhaustion, but really unharmed by their adventure.
Jack was the first to wake the next morning, but he did not get up
immediately. He lay still, evidently thinking. After a while he arose
quietly and, before dressing himself, made an examination of the stores
of food on hand. Finally he roused his companions, and the three took a
dip into the water.
"Now," said Jack, when all were seated at breakfast, "I want you boys to
help me think a little, and you, Ned, to answer some questions."
"All right," said Ned, "I'm thinking already."
"What are you thinking?" asked Charley.
"That these fish aren't as fresh as they might be; so I'm going fishing
before dinner."
"What in?" asked Jack.
"That's a fact," said Ned and Charley in a breath. "We haven't a boat
now."
"No," said Jack. "We have no boat, and that's what I want to think
about. How far is it to Bluffton, Ned?"
"About twelve miles."
"Is that the nearest point on the mainland?"
"Yes."
"Then we've got to stay here till we can build a boat with such tools
and materials as we have, if we can do it at all," said Jack.
"We can't do it," said Ned, with a look of consternation on his face;
"we lack nearly every thing. We haven't even the plank!"
"Now don't let's become demoralized," said Jack, who, ever since the
accident of the day before, had been the leading spirit of the party.
"We must keep our wits about us and lay our plans intelligently. But
first of all we must look the facts in the face. We are on a deserted
island twelve miles from the mainland, without a boat. We must stay here
until we can make arrangements of some kind for getting away, and that
will be a good deal longer than we thought of staying when we came, for
I don't suppose you meant it, Ned, when you told Maum Sally that we'd be
gone a month."
"No, I hadn't a thought of staying more than a few days, or a week at
most. We didn't bring enough provisions to last for more than a week."
"That is what I was coming to," said Jack. "I've been looking over our
stores this morning. We've got to face the fact that we haven't nearly
enough, and we must use what we have judiciously, taking great care to
add other things as we can. Unluckily we lost our best friend when the
gun went down in the wreck of the _Red Bird_. We can't hunt, but must
depend upon other sources of supply. I suppose, Ned, there's very little
to be done fishing from the shore?"
"Nothing at all, I imagine," replied Ned; "but I may possibly catch a
few mullets with the cast net. You see mullets run up into little bays
to feed, and we sometimes go after them with the net, especially at
night. Then I can catch shrimps and some few crabs, and I suppose we
shall find an oyster bank somewhere."
"Yes," said Jack, "I suppose we can manage somehow to get enough food;
the trouble will be to get variety enough. Shrimps and crabs and oysters
and fish are good food, but one doesn't want to make them an exclusive
diet. For health we must have variety."
"That is true," said Ned, "and our greatest trouble will be about bread.
We haven't flour or rice or sweet potatoes enough to last more than a
few days."
"No," said Jack, "and we have nothing to substitute for them. We must
have everything of the vegetable kind that we can get. Now what is
there? I don't know, and can't think of a thing."
"There are several things," said Ned, "such as they are."
"Well, we'll hunt for them. What are they?" asked Jack.
"There may possibly be wild sweet potatoes somewhere on the island,
though that is doubtful. The soft parts of most roots are edible; there
are plenty of wild grapes in the woods, I suppose, and for a good
substantial vegetable, we can eat an occasional dish of algæ."
"What's that?"
"'What are they,' you should say; noun of the first declension,--alga,
algæ, algæ, algam, etc.,--so algæ is the nominative plural."
"Oh, stop the declension--we have enough of that at school--and tell us
what algæ are," said Charley.
"Sea-weeds. There are a great variety of them, and many kinds are eaten
in different parts of the world. They are all harmless and more or less
nutritious. We can try the different sorts that come ashore here and use
the best that we can get."
"Shall we boil them?" asked Jack.
"I don't know. We'll try that and see, at any rate."
"All right. Now we must manage each day to get as much food, of one kind
and another, as we eat; it won't do to run short and trust to the
future. We must save our flour and bacon for special occasions and as a
reserve to fall back upon if at any time the supplies of other food fail
us. We must keep our coffee, too, for use in case of sickness, or a bad
drenching in a cold rain. There may be times when we shall need it
badly, and so we must do without it now. I think we shall get on pretty
well for several weeks, and by that time I hope we shall be ready to
leave the island."
"How?"
"Well, I've a plan, but I'm not sure about it yet. I thought of it
yesterday, just after we came ashore. You two see what you can do toward
getting some food, while I go off to inspect and lay my plans. When I
come back I'll tell you about them."
When Jack departed without telling his companions what he meant to do,
Ned and Charley went up the shore with the cast net, and managed, within
an hour or two, to secure a good supply of shrimps, one or two mullets,
and a few oysters, though they discovered no oyster bed, as they had
expected to do. They hoped to accomplish this by a longer journey along
the shore, to be made on some other day. Having enough fish and shrimps
for immediate use, they wished now to see what could be done toward
securing a supply of vegetable food. They discovered no palmetto trees,
but gave their attention to the wild grapes, of which there were a good
many in the woods.
It was well past mid-day when Ned and Charley, loaded with their spoils
of sea and land, returned to the camp. There they found Jack, sitting on
a log meditating.
"Boys," he said, "the important thing is not to let any thing discourage
us. We must keep a stiff upper lip, no matter what happens."
"Yes, certainly," said Charley, "but what's the special occasion of this
lecture?"
"You are sure that no matter what happens, you'll not give up, or grow
scared, or get excited in any way?" asked Jack.
"Well, I must say--" began Charley.
"Hush, Charley," said Ned; "something's wrong. Let's hear what Jack has
to say."
"What is it, Jack? Tell us quick."
"Well, only that we're out of food."
"What do you mean?"
"Why, that some animal or other has robbed us while we were all away
from camp! Every thing's gone, even to the box of salt and the coffee.
We haven't a thing to eat except what you've brought with you."