In a few minutes Sails joined me, with the extra gun and a biscuit tin
full of cartridges; and between us we got the catamaran afloat, swung
her round with her bows pointing seaward, and both jumped aboard. Then,
while I seized the steering paddle, Simpson sprang to the main halyards
and hoisted the big lateen sail, which at once filled, when we gathered
headway and began to draw away from the shore, heading about south-west
out of the bay; and as soon as the sail was fully set and the halyards
belayed, Sails came aft and took the helm, while I gave the spare gun an
overhaul before loading it.
As we drew out from under the lee of the island and began to feel the
true breeze it became apparent that it was fast freshening up again, for
we could see the heads of the seas bursting into little patches of white
froth here and there, at which I was profoundly grateful; for I felt
that a fresh breeze, dead in their teeth, was likely to hamper the
progress of the savages quite as much as I could hope to do, and every
minute of delay now was worth a gold mine to us. And that the advance
of the savages was indeed being retarded by the rapidly freshening
breeze soon became apparent, for we were fully three miles offshore when
we at length made out the canoes, about two miles to leeward of us,
heading straight in for the island.
Running rapidly down toward them, we soon neared them sufficiently to
enable us to see that they were big, lumping craft, about sixty feet
long by six or seven feet beam, each canoe being manned by about fifty
savages, every mother's son of whom was wielding a short, broad-bladed
paddle as though his life depended upon it. Yet the canoes were not
making very much headway, for they were unwieldy--looking craft, with
long, high-peaked, overhanging bows, and sterns which seemed to catch
and hold a good deal of wind, making the paddling of them to windward,
especially against a heavy head sea, exceedingly hard work.
To do anything really effective with these craft, and especially to make
good shooting in the heavy sea that was running, it was necessary to get
to close quarters with them; I therefore directed Simpson to haul up two
or three points to the northward, my intention being to pass the
flotilla on their port beam, come to the wind as soon as we had passed
them, cross their sterns, raking them as we passed, and then follow
them, maintaining a steady fire all the way, and crowding them up to the
northward as much as possible, so that they might not land in South-west
Bay.
Our approach was greeted with yells of defiance from the crowded canoes,
many of the occupants of which dropped their paddles, sprang to their
feet, and hurled their long spears at us as we swept past them at a
distance of some two hundred yards from the nearest canoe. They were
experts in the hurling of spears, those savages; but it was no part of
my plan to run the risk of getting either Simpson or myself hurt--two of
us against some five hundred left no room for quixotic displays of
daring; and we were careful to keep beyond the range of their spears,
every one of which dropped harmlessly into the water at varying
distances from us, the nearest of them all falling short by about thirty
or forty fathoms. But if I was anxious that neither of us should be
hurt, I was also anxious to avoid hurting the savages, as far as might
be, my object being not so much to destroy them as to prevent them from
landing on our island, if possible; and I thought that this might
perhaps be done, and the savages compelled to retreat, by drilling their
canoes so full of bullet holes that at least some of them would sink,
when the remainder would become so crowded that it would be found
impossible to continue paddling to windward--for I took it for granted
that if one or two of their canoes sank, their crews would be picked up
by the rest. Of course there was the risk that, in endeavouring to sink
their canoes, I might wound or even kill a few savages; but that was
their lookout, not mine.
Therefore, when our antagonists opened the ball by casting spears at us,
I retaliated by seizing my gun and aiming at the water line of the
nearest canoe, expecting the bullet to pass right through her, leaving
two holes which would admit quite a quantity of water, unless the
savages happened to possess the means to plug them. My shot went true,
for as the smoke blew away I saw a small white puncture show in the
bottom of the canoe for an instant before it was hidden by the roll of
the craft. A loud yell of astonishment greeted my first essay, showing
that these particular savages had never before had experience of
firearms; but the yell was not wholly the result of astonishment either,
for I saw a native clap his hand to his leg, and shrewdly guessed that
the bullet had punctured him as well as the canoe. I had time to drop
the discharged gun, seize the loaded one, and fire a second shot before
we were fairly past that particular craft; but that second shot was less
successful than the first, for it missed the canoe. However, it caught
a native, who sprang convulsively to his feet, his hands clutching his
head, as, wheeling half-round, he staggered backward and tumbled head
over heels into the sea. I naturally expected that his friends would
stop and endeavour to pick him up, but not a bit of it; they merely
uttered another yell, apparently of encouragement to each other, and
drove their paddles into the water with increased energy.
Both guns being now empty, I signed Simpson to come to the wind and luff
athwart the sterns of the flotilla, while I busied myself upon the
recharging of the pieces. By the time that this was done we were on the
starboard quarter of the most southerly of the canoes, and I immediately
proceeded to test my skill upon her. Making short tacks across her
stern, I fired half a dozen bullets into her, every one of which hit,
five out of the six wounding and disabling one or more of her occupants
as well as drilling a hole in the canoe herself, with the result that
she began to drop astern of the others, the crews of which were exerting
themselves to their very utmost, having apparently come to the
conclusion that the sooner they could reach the island the better it
would be for them. Wherefore I attacked the next canoe in like manner:
but now I was less careful than before in the matter of hurting her
occupants, for it began to dawn upon me that these savages had no notion
of standing by to help a disabled consort, and that, do what I would, I
could not possibly prevent some of them at least from effecting a
landing; therefore my business must be to see that as few of them as
possible should set foot on the island. Incidentally, I found that by
persistently attacking the southernmost canoe I was slowly but surely
effecting one part of my purpose, by causing the whole flotilla to edge
slowly away to the northward, thus diverting them from any purpose that
they might have had of landing in South-west Bay.
Then another plan suggested itself to me. I saw that the savages were
either destitute of means to plug the bullet holes in their canoes or
had not wit enough to make use of them; but each canoe appeared to carry
several large calabash bowls, which were used as balers: my plan,
therefore, was to shoot promptly at any man whom I saw attempting to
bale a leaky canoe, with the result that the particular canoe which I
happened to be attacking gradually filled and ultimately swamped,
leaving her crew to cling helplessly to her as she floated full to her
gunwale, or to strike out for the island, now some three miles distant.
And since the fellows swam like seals there was no doubt that they would
ultimately reach it--unless a shark happened to encounter them on the
way; but I did not allow the probability of their ultimate arrival on
the island to worry me much, for I felt tolerably certain that, before
that could happen, we should have made good our escape, if indeed we
were going to escape at all.
Our effective antagonists were now reduced to eight canoes and their
crews, who were all hanging together as much as possible for mutual
protection, but were making poor headway against the steadily increasing
wind and sea. If I could hinder them still further, so much the better;
and the most obvious way to do that was to weaken their crews by
wounding as many as possible: therefore I now resumed my original
tactics of tacking to and fro athwart their sterns, and raking them as
we passed. And this, I soon found, was a very excellent plan, for it
not infrequently happened that by this mode of attack I was able to make
one bullet do double, and in some cases even treble duty; the result
being that by the time that we all drew up abreast of the island the
entire fleet was in such difficulties that they were scarcely able to
make any headway at all, two of the canoes indeed being so seriously
crippled that at last, notwithstanding their close proximity to the
island, they were actually compelled to bear up and run away to leeward
again, while another of them was swamped, leaving five out of the
original ten still to contend with.
And now my trouble began in earnest, for so desperate were the savages
rendered by the merciless persecution to which they had compelled me, in
self-defence, to subject them, that they made the most strenuous efforts
to get into South-west Bay; and, indeed, it was not until I bore up and
took the extreme risk of running down one canoe that I was finally able
to turn them from their purpose. But ultimately, after a running
fight--if so one-sided an affair could be so called--four of them
contrived to weather North-west Cape and effect a landing in North Bay.
Then, after chasing them right into the bay, and keeping up a brisk fire
upon them until they landed, to the number of about one hundred and
twenty, and vanished into the woods, we in the catamaran bore up, headed
out to sea again, and made the best of our way back to South-west Bay
and the shipyard, hoping that upon our arrival we should find the
schooner afloat; for we had been gone fully four hours.
But to my intense disappointment, when we entered the bay there was the
schooner still high and dry upon the stocks, with Chips, the boatswain,
and Cunningham all busily engaged in turning over the small pile of
lumber that still remained from the dismembered wreck of the _Martha_.
Presently one of them looked up, saw us coming, and apparently reported
the fact to the others, for Cunningham at once straightened himself up
and came down to the water's edge to meet us.
"Well, Temple," he exclaimed, as the catamaran grounded and I stepped
ashore, "how have things gone with you? Have you managed to beat off
our friends the enemy?"
"I have not," I answered, just a trifle sourly, I am afraid. "A hundred
or more of them have landed round there in North Bay; and we may
confidently expect a visit from them within the next half-hour. But
what the mischief have you fellows been up to all this time? I fully
expected to find the schooner afloat, under way, and only awaiting our
return to be off! What have you been doing? Playing poker, or what?"
"Now, my dear chap, don't you go and turn rusty as well as the rest of
us, or there's no knowing what may happen; for, let me tell you, we're
all just as savage as bears with sore heads," remonstrated Cunningham.
"No," he continued, "we've not been playing poker, or hunt the slipper,
or even kiss in the ring; to put it plainly, we've been trying to do the
impossible. The long and the short of it is, Temple, that we have used
up our last scrap of available timber, and there still remains a good
half-hour's work to be done on the cradle before we dare start to wedge
up. We have been nailing and plugging bits together, and working them
in to the best of our ability, until our last nail is expended; and now
we seem to be at a standstill. I'll be shot if I know how we're going
to get over the difficulty."
"What! do you mean to tell me that after getting as far as that we are
brought to a standstill for the sake of a few pieces of timber?" I
demanded. "How much do you require?"
"Oh, very little," was the answer. "A few feet--ten or fifteen feet of
three-inch stuff would serve--but the mischief of it is that we haven't
got it. Even the remains of the wreck will not yield us another inch."
"Then," said I, "all that remains is to break into the catamaran, and
take out of her as much as is required. She has served her turn; we
shall not require her any more if we can get the schooner into the
water; and--"
"Kick me; kick me hard!" shouted Cunningham in an ecstasy of delight, as
he smote me a blow between the shoulders that made me stagger. "The
catamaran!" he continued. "Of course. Oh, what a lot of fools we were
not to have thought of that before! But," suddenly bethinking himself,
"if we had, it would have been of no use, for you had her. She is
available now, however, and in ten minutes we'll rip enough stuff out of
her to finish our job. I know exactly where to find the kind of stuff
we want. Chips ahoy! bring your tools down to the catamaran, my son;
we're going to break her up!"
The carpenter flung his hand aloft in joyous intimation that he
understood, and at once made a dash for his tools, while Simpson and I
wended our way to the schooner, to see how things looked in that
direction, and also to forage for a morsel of food, for we had eaten
nothing since breakfast, and were feeling pretty hungry.
A single glance at the cradle, which, when wedged up, would lift the
schooner off the keel blocks and throw her weight upon the launching
ways, sufficed to reveal the pitiful straits to which Chips had latterly
been reduced; for worked into it there were scraps of wood less than a
foot in length, fastened to other pieces of similar size with nails or
plugs, and presenting a most flimsy and unsatisfactory appearance. But
when I came to look more closely I saw that the only unsatisfactory part
of the work was its appearance; it was not nearly so flimsy as at first
sight it had appeared to be. Chips had evidently fully realised his
responsibility, and had taken care that, let the material be what it
might, there should be nothing faulty about his workmanship. And I saw
also that, given the necessary amount of material, he would be able to
finish his work in a very short time.
The boatswain routed out some food for us, and while Simpson and I sat
down to eat and drink, Murdock, upon my instructions, went down to the
catamaran--which the carpenter and Cunningham had already attacked--and
brought away from her the two guns and the ammunition that remained from
our engagement with the savages. And when he had performed this errand
I bade him get aboard the schooner, rout out a few extra guns and a
further supply of ammunition, load the weapons, and then station himself
in the bows as a lookout, with special instructions to keep a wary eye
upon the neighbouring cliffs and report the very first indication of the
approach of an enemy.
The boatswain had scarcely been on the lookout a matter of twenty
minutes when he hailed me.
"Mr Temple," he shouted, "I wish you'd come up here, sir, for a minute,
and bring that there glass of Mr Cunnin'ham's along with ye. There's
some'at up there on top o' them cliffs that I can't rightly make out,
and I'd like you to come and have a look at it."
Accordingly up I went, with Cunningham's telescope still slung over my
shoulders, and joined Murdock where he stood right in the eyes of the
schooner, peering intently at a particular spot on the top of the
cliffs.
"Now then," said I, withdrawing the telescope from its case, "where is
this mysterious something that you can't make out?"
"Ye see that there big tree with the thick, knobbly-lookin' trunk, up
there, sir?" he demanded, pointing. "Well, just to the nor'ard of it
there's a bush with a lot of white flowers upon it. See that?"