THE VALLEY ON FIRE.
There was a sudden rustling in the bushes.
"Hallo, there!" shouted a voice. I looked round and beheld a
fellow-passenger, a strange, eccentric man, who was seldom known to
laugh, and whose chief pleasure consisted in reducing every thing to the
practical standard of common sense. He was deeper than would appear at
first sight, and not a bad sort of person at heart, but a little wayward
and desponding in his views of life.
"You'll catch cold," said he; "nothing gives a cold so quick as sitting
on the damp ground."
"True," said I, smiling; "but recollect the romance of the thing."
"Romance," rejoined the sad man, "won't cure a cold. I never knew it to
cure one in my life."
"Well, I suppose you're right. Every body is right who believes in
nothing but reality. The hewer of wood and the drawer of water gets more
credit in the world for good sense than the unhappy genius who affords
pleasure to thousands."
"So he ought--he's a much more useful man."
"Granted; we won't dispute so well-established a truism. Now let us cut
a few walking-sticks to carry home. It will please our friends to find
that we thought of them in this outlandish part of the world."
"To be sure; if you like. But you'll never carry them home. No, sir, you
can't do it. You'll lose them before you get half way to America."
"No matter--they cost nothing. Lend me your knife, and we'll try the
experiment, at all events."
I then cut a number of walking-sticks and tied them up in a bundle. And
here, while the warning of the doubter is fresh in my mind, let me
mention the fate of these much-valued relics. I cut four beautiful
sticks of myrtle, every one of which I lost before I reached California,
though I was very careful where I kept them--so careful, indeed, that I
hid them away on board the ship and never could find them again.
On our way back to the cave, as we emerged from the grove, I was
astonished to see the entire valley in a blaze of fire. It raged and
crackled up the sides of the mountains, blazing wildly and filling the
whole sky with smoke. The beautiful valley upon which I had gazed with
such delight a few hours before, seemed destined to be laid waste by
some fierce and unconquerable destroyer, that devoured trees, shrubs,
and flowers in its desolating career. The roar of the mad rushing
flames, the seething tongues of fire shooting out from the bowers of
shrubbery, the whirling smoke sweeping upward around the pinnacles of
rock, the angry sea dimly seen through the chaos, and the sharp
screaming of the sea-birds and dismal howling of the wild dogs,
impressed me with a terrible picture of desolation. It seemed as if some
dreadful convulsion of nature had burst forth soon to cover the island
with seething lava or ingulf it in the ocean.
"What can it be?" said I. "Isn't it a grand sight? Perhaps a volcano has
broken out. Surely it must be some awful visitation of Providence. It
wouldn't be comfortable, however, to be broiled in lava, so I think the
sooner we get down to the boats the better."
"There's no hurry," said my friend; "it's nothing but the Californians
down at the cave. I told them before I left that they'd set fire to the
grass if they kept piling the brush up in that way. Now you see they've
done it."
"Yes, I see they have; and a tolerably big fire they've made of it too."
I almost forgave them the wanton act of Vandalism, so sublime was the
scene. It was worth a voyage round Cape Horn to see it.
"Plenty of it," muttered the sad man, "to cook all the food that can be
raised in these diggings. I wouldn't give an acre of ground in Illinois
for the whole island. I only wish they'd burn it up while they're at
it--if it be an island at all, which I ain't quite sure of yet."
THE CALIFORNIANS IN JUAN FERNANDEZ.
We reached the cave by rushing through the flames. When we arrived near
the mouth, I was amused to find about twenty long-bearded Californians,
dressed in red shirts, with leather belts round their bodies, garnished
with knives and pistols, and picks in their hands, with which they were
digging into the walls of Selkirk's castle in search of curiosities.
Their guns were stacked up outside, and several of the party were
engaged in cooking fish and boiling coffee. They had battered away at
the sides, top, and bottom of the cave in their eager search for
relics, till they had left scarcely a dozen square feet of the original
surface. Every man had literally his pocket full of rocks. It was a
curious sight, here in this solitary island, scarcely known to mariners
save as the resort of pirates, deserters, and buccaneers, and chiefly to
the reading world at home as the land of Robinson Crusoe, to see these
adventurous Americans in their red shirts, lounging about the veritable
castle of the "wild man in the goatskins," digging out the walls,
smoking cigars, whittling sticks, and talking in plain English about
California and the election of General Taylor. Some of them even went so
far as to propose a "prospecting" expedition through Crusoe's Valley in
search of gold, while others got up a warm debate on the subject of
annexation--the annexation of Juan Fernandez. One long, lank, slab-sided
fellow, with a leathern sort of face, and two copious streams of
tobacco-juice running down from the corners of his mouth, was leaning on
his pick outside the cave, spreading forth his sentiments for the
benefit of the group of gentlemen who were cooking the fish.
[Illustration: THE CALIFORNIANS IN JUAN FERNANDEZ.]
"I tell you, feller-citizens," said he, aroused into something like
prophetic enthusiasm as the subject warmed upon his mind, "I tell you
it's manifest destiny. Joo-an Fernandays is bound by all the rights of
con-san-guity to be a part of the great Ree-public of Free States.
Gentlemen, I'm a destiny-man myself; I go the whole figure, sir; yes,
sir, I'm none of your old Hunkers. I go for Joo-an Fernandays and
California, and any other small patches of airth that may be laying
around the vicinity. We want 'em all, gentlemen; we want 'em for our
whale-ships and the yeomanry of our country! (cheers.) We'll buy 'em
from the Spaniards, sir, with our gold; if we can't buy 'em sir, by
hokey! we'll TAKE 'EM, sir! (Renewed cheers.) I ask you, gentlemen--I
appeal to your feelins as feller-citizens of _thee_ greatest
concatenation of states on _thee_ face of God's airth, are you the men
that'll refuse to fight for your country? (Cheers, and cries of No, no,
we ain't the men; hurra for Joo-an Fernandays!) Then, by Jupiter, sir,
we'll have it! We'll have it as sure as the Star of Empire shines like
the bright Loo-min-ary of Destiny in the broad Panoply of Heaven (and
more especially in the western section of it). We'll have it, sir, as
sure as that redolent and inspiring Loominary beckons us on, sir, like a
dazzling joo-el on the pre-moni-tary finger of Hope; and the glorious
Stars and Stripes, feller-citizens, shall wave proudly in the zephyrs of
futurity over the exalted peaks of Joo-an Fernandays!" (Tremendous
sensation, during which the orator takes a fresh chew of tobacco, and
sits down.)
As soon as the party of annexationists perceived us, they called out to
us to heave to, and make ourselves at home. "Come on, gentlemen, come
on! No ceremony. We're all Americans! this is a free country. Here's
fish! here's bread! here's coffee! Help yourselves, gentlemen! This is a
great country, gentlemen--a great country!" Of course we fell to work
upon the fish, which was a splendid cod, and the bread and the coffee
too, and very palatable we found them all, and exceedingly jolly and
entertaining the "gentlemen from the Brooklyn." These lively individuals
had made the most of their time in the way of enjoying themselves
ashore. About a week before our arrival they gave a grand party in
honor of the American nation in general. It was in rather a novel sort
of place, to be sure, but none the worse for that--one of the large
caves near the boat-landing. On this eventful occasion they "scared up,"
as they alleged, sundry delicacies from home, such as preserved meats,
pound-cake, Champagne, and wines of various sorts, and out of their
number they produced a full band of music. They also, by clearing the
earth and beating it down, made a very good place for dancing, and they
had waltzes, polkas, and cotillons, in perfect ballroom style. It was
rather a novel entertainment, take it altogether, in the solitudes of
Juan Fernandez. I have forgotten whether the four Chilian ladies of the
island attended; if they did not, it was certainly not for want of an
invitation. The American Crusoe was there, no longer monarch of all he
surveyed. Poor fellow, his reign was over. The Californians were the
sovereigns now.
[Illustration: FISHING.]
After our snack with the Brooklynites, we joined our comrades down on
the beach. They had shot at a great many wild goats, without hitting
any, of course. The rest of the afternoon we spent in catching fish for
supper.