When morning broke, the reef-encircled islands could be indistinctly
seen over the port-quarter rising out of the sparkling ocean. The wind
being against us we expected to have a long beat before we could reach
our destination; but Harry resolved to persevere, hoping that we might
get a favourable breeze at last. Things on board went on as usual.
After I had had my sleep out in the forenoon I gave Dick a lesson in
navigation, which I had done regularly every day of late since I
discovered that he was anxious to learn.
"I am most grateful to you, Mr Ned," he said. "If I can fit myself to
be an officer I shall not be ashamed to return home, which I should have
had I gained no more knowledge than I should have done under ordinary
circumstances, as a ship's boy."
"Much depends on the way you work, and whether you keep to your good
resolutions," I observed. "But I say, Dick, you have never told me
anything about yourself; though from the first I saw that you had had a
good education."
"To tell you the truth, my father is a merchant in London, and my mother
moves in good society," he answered, speaking rapidly. "She was very
fond of me, and I do not think that if I had been with her I could have
run away; but I went off from school, where I was not happy, quite
forgetting how miserable it would make her when she heard that I was
missing. The thought of that has preyed on my mind more than anything
else. I wrote to her, however, when I reached Brisbane, and paid the
postage with the last shilling I had, so that she knows now that I am
alive, though I did not like to tell her how miserable I was. I only
asked her and my father to forgive me, and promised to return home when
I had made my fortune, for I just then fancied if I could escape from
the ship that I should be able to do that. I soon found when I did get
on shore that I was miserably mistaken, and if it had not been for you I
believe that I should have died. I am sure that none of my own
brothers, of whom I have five older than I am, could have treated me
more kindly. I have three sisters also, and when I look at Mrs Morton
and Miss Fanny they remind me of them, and I think of my folly in
leaving them all and running the chance of never seeing them again."
After Dick had made this confession I felt more than ever inclined to
befriend him.
When I told Harry, he said that he would consider what was right to be
done. "I think it best, however, that Dick should remain in his present
position for a time," he added. "He is learning the details of
seamanship from old Tom and the rudiments of navigation from you, and as
he does not mix much with the crew he will gain no harm from them."
We were standing on that evening close hauled to the south-east when,
just as the sun went down, dark clouds began to gather to windward.
"We'll shorten sail at once," said Harry. "It may not come on to blow,
but it looks like it and we cannot be too cautious." He issued the
order to Tom, and we soon had the schooner under snug canvas. It was
fortunate that she was. Not ten minutes afterwards, just as Harry had
gone below, a squall struck her.
"Luff! Luff!" shouted Tom, but before Jack Lizard, who was at the helm,
could do so, over the schooner heeled, till the water rushed through the
scuppers high up her deck. Lower and lower she went, until I thought
she was going to capsize. Harry sprang up from below. Tom had rushed
forward, and with the hands stationed there let fly the jib-sheets, and
was hauling down the forestay-sail--the foresail had been stowed.
Suddenly she rose, and I heard a loud crack, like the report of a musket
fired close to my ear.
"We've sprung the mainmast, I fear," exclaimed Harry, and he called the
men aft to lower the mainsail, while he and I sprang to the peak and
throat halliards to let them go. On examining the mast we found that it
was so badly sprung that it would be impossible again to set sail on it
without the risk of carrying it away. It seemed a wonder that it had
not gone altogether.
"We must bear up for Samoa," said Harry. "It is very provoking, but
there is no place nearer where we can hope to obtain a fresh spar."
Accordingly the headsails were again hoisted, the fore-topsail was set,
and the helm being put up, away we ran before the wind on a course for
Upalu, the centre island of the group, in which Apia, the chief port, is
situated. The wind increased, and we soon had to close-reef the
fore-topsail, the only sail we could carry; then down came the rain in
huge drops, or rather in sheets which wetted us as thoroughly as if we
had jumped overboard, and so deluged the deck that had it not run out at
the scuppers as the vessel rolled from side to side the water would have
been up to our ankles in a few minutes. What with the pattering of the
rain, the howling of the wind and the dashing of the sea, we could
scarcely hear each other's voices. Though we had no sail set on the
mainmast, and had secured it with spars lashed round the injured part,
and additional stays, I frequently, as the schooner pitched into the
fast rising seas, expected to see it carried away altogether. Old Tom,
who seemed to have the same fear, told us to look out and stand from
under, in case it should go, but the difficulty was to know in what
direction it would fall, should it come down.
On we ran day after day, the gale apparently following us, though Harry
said that as storms were generally circular we should in time run out of
it. Each time, however, that I turned out to keep my watch, there we
were, running on; the seas leaping and hissing and foaming around us;
the dark clouds flying overhead; the vessel rolling and pitching in the
same uncomfortable fashion as before. Harry did his best to keep up the
spirits of his wife and Fanny, who behaved like heroines, though they
agreed that they little expected to meet with such weather in the
Pacific.
"It is as well to get it over, and we may hope to have finer for the
rest of the voyage," answered Harry, to console them.
We had other dangers to encounter, of which he did not speak. Although
the sea we were traversing was pretty well known by this time, there
might be small islands or coral reefs improperly placed on the chart, or
not laid down at all, and at any moment during the darkness of night, or
even in the daytime, we might come upon one, when in an instant the
vessel would have been dashed to pieces, and all on board must have
perished. We had, therefore, to keep the sharpest possible look-out,
for a moment's want of vigilance might cause our destruction. Once I
saw the sea leaping and foaming high up above the surrounding water away
on the starboard hand. I pointed out the spot to Tom.
"The end of a reef," he observed. "If we'd been a little more to the
nor'ard we should likely enough have been on it, but a miss is as good
as a mile. We may be thankful to have escaped."
He afterwards told me that we passed another reef to the northward while
I was below, how many we escaped during the night we could not tell.
Thus some of the dangers to be encountered by those navigating among
coral islands will be understood. At length, one morning when I came on
deck to keep my watch, I saw the stars shining brightly overhead--the
wind had fallen, the sea was going down, and the schooner, with her
squaresail rigged out, was running gaily along. At noon we took an
observation, when we found that we were less than a hundred miles from
the port of Apia, which we therefore expected to reach the next day,
unless the wind should fail us.
We were more fortunate than we expected. Early the next morning the
land was seen over the port bow rising in a succession of ridges to a
moderate height above the sea. We had made an excellent landfall, for
the harbour of Apia was almost directly ahead. Before we reached it, a
large whaleboat came off and put an Englishman on board, who introduced
himself as the chief pilot of the place. He carried us through a
somewhat intricate passage between coral rocks to a safe anchorage not
far from the shore.
We were surprised to see several tastefully-built houses among trees, a
large church, stores, and other buildings, besides a number of
whitewashed cottages, many of which, the pilot told us, were inhabited
by natives who have learned the art of building and the use of lime from
the missionaries. Through their instrumentality also, although but a
few years ago the people inhabiting different parts of the island were
constantly fighting with each other, warfare has entirely ceased, and
all have become Christians by profession, many of them adorning the
Gospel by their lives and conversation, while others have gone forth to
carry its blessings to the still benighted heathen in the western
islands of the Pacific.
I must be brief in my account of the events which occurred during our
stay at Apia. On going on shore we were received with great kindness by
several of the English and American residents, who invited Harry and his
wife and her sister to take up their abode at their houses, but they
preferred sleeping on board the schooner. We were fortunate in finding
a mast from a vessel wrecked on the coast, which by cutting down
slightly could be made to replace the mainmast we had sprung.
We had been in harbour a couple of days when a fine-looking young chief
came on board, prompted by curiosity to see the vessel so unlike the
whalers which generally visit the port. He was unpicturesquely dressed
in shirt and trousers and we should not have taken him to be a chief,
except from his handsome figure, unless he had introduced himself as
Toa, the nephew of the great chief Maleatoa. He spoke English well, and
seemed very intelligent. On being introduced to Mary and Fanny, he made
a bow which would have become a French courtier, and appeared
wonderfully struck by them. He soon drew me aside and inquired who they
were. When I told him that one was married to my brother, and the other
was her sister, he appeared suddenly lost in thought, but said nothing
at the time. We asked him into the cabin, as we were just going to sit
down to dinner. He behaved in all respects like a polished gentleman,
narrowly watching us, and imitating the way he saw us eat. He told us a
great deal about his country, the progress it had made during the last
few years since the inhabitants had become Christians and wars had
ceased; the roads that had been constructed, the houses built, the
fields cultivated, and horses and cattle introduced. He described their
astonishment on first seeing a large animal, a mule, which they supposed
to be an enormous dog, and accordingly gave it an appropriate name. In
return for the civility we had shown him on board, he invited me to
accompany him on a sporting expedition into the interior.
"I will show you how we catch pigeons and kill wild hogs," he said.
Harry gave me leave to go, and I asked if Dick might accompany me, as I
knew he would like it. My brother consented. On going on shore early
the next morning we found the chief and several companions waiting for
us. Each person carried a tame pigeon on his arm secured by a string,
as also a bamboo thirty or forty feet long with a small net at the end
of it. Several attendants accompanied us carrying guns and ammunition.
"We shall depend upon the provisions we find in the woods for our
support," said Toa to me. "We can easily obtain all we require."
We proceeded for about four hours amid tangled bushes, across marshes,
and up the slippery sides of hills, till we arrived at a district with
here and there open spots, but generally covered with brushwood. The
attendants set to work to clear away a large circle by cutting down the
brushwood; we then retired to a spot which had been previously fixed on,
where a camp was formed, and some, arbours which would shelter us for
the night erected. Some of our people had in the meantime collected
some wild bread-fruit, dug up some wild yams, and brought down some
cocoanuts, which gave us an ample repast. Formerly the chiefs would
have indulged in drinking kava, but that custom had been abandoned.
Having satisfied our hunger we returned to our ambushes round the ring.
Each sportsman, if so he could be called, now stuck a stick with a
cross-piece on it into the ground for his pigeon, which was secured by a
string forty yards in length, to perch on. After remaining a short time
quiet Toa gave the signal, and the birds were simultaneously thrown into
the air, when they flew up and commenced, as they had been taught,
wheeling round and round. In a short time a number of wild pigeons
seeing them from a distance, and supposing from their movements that
they were hovering over their food, came from all directions to join
them. I was much surprised at the dexterity with which as the wild
birds circled among the decoy pigeons the sportsmen, rapidly raising
their nets, captured them. The moment a bird was caught the net was
again raised and another captured in the same manner. Toa in this way
caught a dozen in as many minutes. Dick and I tried our skill, but we
only knocked against the tame birds. It was a long time before I
managed to catch even one; Dick was still less successful. It seemed at
first very easy, but then it must be remembered that the rods were
upwards of thirty feet long, and that the birds flew very rapidly.
"Formerly," said Toa to us, "large parties of young men used to go out
for a month together, but we have now other occupation for our time, and
only now and then engage in the sport."
"This is a funny sort of fishing in the air," said Dick.
"I call it birding," I answered.
"Very right," observed Toa; "I will show you how we fish some day."
We caught several dozen pigeons during the morning. The afternoon was
to be devoted to hog-shooting, at a spot a short distance off. We were
divided into two parties--Dick and I accompanied Toa, while another
young chief, who had arrived with a number of ugly-looking dogs, led
another party.
After going some distance we arrived at a spot where the pigs had been
rooting about, and away went the curs in chase. Before long their
shrill yelping bark told us that the herd was found, and following the
sound we discovered the chief and a companion tying the legs of a young
boar, which had been caught by running it down with some of the dogs.
The barking increased as we went on.
Presently Toa cried out, "Take care; get behind the trees all of you,"
and we saw an enormous wild boar which the dogs had been keeping at bay.
The chief advanced running from tree to tree with great rapidity, that
he might get near enough to the animal to shoot it without injuring the
dogs. At length the boar caught sight of him and charged. Toa fired,
and apparently missed, and the brute came rushing towards me. I aimed
at his fore-shoulder, hoping, if I did not kill him outright, to stop
his career. In another moment he would have been into my side, for I
had no time to reload, when, just as he was near me, I made a spring and
caught the bough of a tree, which I could not under other circumstances
have reached, and my feet struck his back as he dashed under them. Toa
had now reloaded, but before he could fire the boar again charged; he,
however, nimbly sprang behind a tree, and the brute rushed past, giving
me an opportunity to recover my rifle. He now caught sight of Dick, at
whom he made a dash. Dick not attempting to fire, nimbly sprang up a
young tree. On seeing its enemy thus escaping, the boar made a dash at
the tree, and attacked it with its tusks, biting at it with the greatest
fury, till Toa, approaching, settled it with a ball through its head.
In this way, in a short time, we killed four large hogs, each weighing
at least five hundredweight. Thus it will be seen that the sport, if
exciting, was not wanting in danger, and I must own that I was very glad
when it was over, and we had all escaped without wounds.
We had a luxurious supper on boar's flesh and wild pigeons, and roots
and fruits of various descriptions, all of which had been collected in
the woods, showing the abundance of food to be obtained in that favoured
region.
After supper, Toa invited me to walk out with him away from the rest,
when he confided to me his deep admiration for Fanny Amiel, and inquired
whether I thought she would consent to remain at Samoa and become his
wife. I did not answer at once, as I was unwilling to offend him, and
yet was certain that she would not consent to any such proposal. I
replied that English ladies preferred marrying their own countrymen, and
then not until they were certain of their good qualities and had been
long acquainted. I undertook, however, to mention the subject to my
brother, but observed that I could not venture to say anything about it
to the lady herself, who would be much pained at having to refuse him.
He seemed somewhat downcast at my reply, but soon recovered his spirits,
and we returned to the camp to prepare for sleep.
As, with the exception of wild boars, there are no savage animals in
Samoa, and the people of different tribes no longer tried to surprise
and murder each other, no sentries were placed, and every one laid down
to rest in perfect security.
Next morning we returned to Apia. The tide was high as we went down to
the harbour, at which time, when there is a swell, the breakers burst
with considerable force over the reefs outside. We found a number of
boys and girls swimming off, some with boards, others without them, and
others paddling in paopaos, or little canoes. On reaching the reef,
where the waves curled up and broke into foam, the swimmers threw
themselves forward with a jump, just as the sea took them, and away they
glided in the midst of the white foam, shouting and yelling at the top
of their voices. The chief took us off in his canoe to see the fun.
When the breaker had spent itself the swimmers were left in smooth
water, on which all turned again towards the sea, breasting the smaller
waves, and quietly sinking down again as the larger and stronger ones
passed over, or frequently dashing boldly through them.
"They will keep at that sport till the tide falls and the reef is left
bare," observed our friend Toa, as we pulled on board the schooner.
"When I was a lad I was very fond of it, and could beat most of my
companions, keeping longer at it and going out farther than any of
them."
He had brought, I should have said, a number of pigeons and some of the
wild boar's flesh as a present to Harry, and which was very acceptable
on board. The ladies were on deck when we got alongside, and I was much
afraid that Toa might say something to Fanny which would annoy her,
before I had time to tell my brother that he might give her due warning.
The young chief, however, stood in a modest manner without advancing,
till Mary went up to him to thank him for his present. I in the
meantime managed to tell Harry what the chief had said to me.
"I am sorry for this, but we must manage to get him on shore again as
politely as possible, and I will not tell her of his proposal before he
has gone."
Our attention, however, was just then attracted by seeing a vessel
standing in for the harbour; she approached within a mile or so, when
the wind fell. She had a signal flying for a pilot, and the men who
brought us in went out to her. Toa, who had an eye to business, wishing
to be on board early to see what trading could be done, said that he
should go out, and invited me to accompany him in his large canoe. As
we got near the vessel we found three of her boats towing ahead. On
boarding her the captain said he must get in at once, as she was leaking
terribly, and was besides short of provisions and water. Toa, on this,
offered to bring out provisions; and the pilot told him that it was
dangerous, without a leading breeze, to attempt entering the harbour,
especially as the tide was falling. The brig was, I found, the
_Caesar_, an American vessel, bound from California to Sydney, and had
come to Apia for the reasons the captain stated.
"If you won't take her in, I will by myself," he exclaimed. "Where's
the difficulty? The boats can tow her, as there isn't a breath of wind
to stop her way."
"But you cannot tell how the tide will set you, and I advise you to let
the boats tow you off," answered the pilot.
The skipper, however, was obstinate, and was, I suspect, pot-valiant.
He ordered the boats to continue pulling ahead, while he went to the
helm himself. The pilot on this, again warning him that he was risking
the safety of the vessel, stepped into his boat and pulled for the
harbour. Toa, however, believing that he could leave at any moment in
his canoe, remained on board, and I, of course, had to stay with him.
All apparently went well for some minutes, till, just as we were at the
entrance, the tide caught the vessel; the after-part struck heavily; she
heeled broadside on to the reef, and the next moment, with a tremendous
roar, a breaker burst over us. All was confusion on board; shrieks and
cries arose from the passengers, the men swearing as they rolled and
slipped about. The skipper, however, recovered in a moment his
self-possession, and swore he would shoot the first man that attempted
to leave the vessel; but as he had no gun or revolver in his hand, no
one appeared to care for the threat. One of the crew, a New Zealander,
indeed, immediately jumped overboard, when the captain threw a
marline-spike at his head, but, sinking, he avoided it, and managed to
reach the smooth water inside the reef, where the pilot had in the
meantime anchored his boat prepared to assist those who might be able to
reach her. Other boats were coming off from the shore, those which had
been towing, as well as the chiefs canoe, had been cut adrift directly
the vessel struck, and pulled away, or they would have been swamped in
an instant.
It will be understood that owing to the heavy breakers it was impossible
to get off from the vessel on the sea side, and that our only hope of
safety was to pass through the foaming surf on the reef, till we reached
smooth water in the inside. The vessel, lightly built, was already
breaking up, and her bottom planks were appearing, floating up to the
surface, while the water rushed freely in and out of her. There was
therefore no time to be lost. Toa at once proposed to the skipper to
tie a rope to a plank, and to swim with it to the boats inside the reef,
so that the passengers and those unable to help themselves might be
passed along it, and their lives saved. The rope was speedily got up.
"I will go with you," I said to Toa.
"Come along," he answered, and taking my hand he jumped with me into the
foaming surf. The first great roller curled high above our heads, and
broke with a terrific roar. As it did so we let go the plank and sank
down, keeping our eyes turned upwards to watch when it had passed.
Quickly returning to the surface, we again clutched the plank and shoved
it before us. We had twice to perform the same operation before we
reached the smooth water. I wanted to return, but Toa advised me to
remain, as I was not accustomed to the water as he was. He quickly
again made his way along the rope to the deck of the vessel. The next
moment he appeared again, holding a young lady with one arm, while he
dragged himself along the rope with the other, but he twice had to
descend to avoid the rollers. The young lady seemed more dead than
alive when he placed her in the boat, but she quickly recovered, while
he, not in the slightest degree exhausted, dashed off again on board the
vessel, and brought another girl in the same way through the surf. A
third time he went, and on this occasion he encountered a young man, a
gentleman apparently, who was endeavouring to make his way by himself
along the rope. He was clutching the rope desperately, when a roller
going over him tore him away from his hold. Toa, seeing what had
happened, dashed after him, and seizing him brought him back to the
rope. Again Toa had to dive twice with the almost senseless stranger,
whom he at length placed, greatly exhausted, in the boat. The young
ladies had quickly recovered, so that I was able to pay attention to the
last comer, and with the assistance of the old pilot and two other men
we brought him to.
"The sooner we get ashore with these people the better, and let them
have a change of duds," said the old pilot. "But I do not like leaving,
while there are any people remaining on board."
"Oh, pray wait," said one of the young ladies. "There is a poor woman
and her child and several other people, besides the captain and crew,
who, I suppose, do not require so much help."
By this time, seeing the possibility of getting alongside the ill-fated
vessel in a boat, two put off from the shore, manned by stout fellows.
The first succeeded in getting alongside and bringing away a number of
the passengers, but the next was less successful. The brig gave a
tremendous roll, and striking the boat, capsized her in a moment, and
the whole of the people were scattered about in the raging surf. They
were, however, all picked up in various ways by the boats, but one poor
woman had her child washed from her arms. It was being rapidly carried
away by the receding sea, when Toa, who was on board the brig, sprang
after it and catching it in one arm, held its head above the surf while
he swam forward with the other. Thus the little fellow was borne along
by his preserver. Now the brave chief rose to the summit of a foaming
sea, now he sank down into the trough, again to rise with the boy still
grasped in his powerful hand. In a short time he placed him in the arms
of his almost frantic mother. Loud cheers burst from all the spectators
as they witnessed the gallant act, which few, indeed, would have been
able to accomplish.
Shortly after the last person had been taken from the brig she broke
into a thousand fragments, which, with her cargo, soon, for a mile or
more on either side, strewed the beach. I felt much interested in the
stranger whom Toa had saved, and as he required to be attended to more
than any one else, I invited him at once to come on board the _Dainty_,
where I was sure Harry would be glad to receive him till he was better
able than at present to go on shore. The ladies who had friends
preferred at once going on shore to the house of one of the English
residents. The pilot, therefore, pulled up alongside the schooner.
Harry, on hearing the account I gave him, immediately begged the
stranger to come on board. He signified his gratitude, but was scarcely
able to speak.
As Harry and I helped him along the deck, we called old Tom and Dick to
come and assist us; and with their help we carried him below.