THE STORM AND ESCAPE.
When we reached the summit of the cliff, and looked over once more into
the enchanted valley, we could hardly believe that such a change as we
beheld could have taken place during our absence. That scene of beauty
upon which we had lingered with so much pleasure now seemed to be a
moving ocean of clouds, ingulfing every visible point in its billows of
mist, raging and foaming as it swelled up over the heights; the wild
roar of the tempest vibrating fiercely through the air--the very rocks
upon which we stood trembling in the dread coming of its wrath. While we
gazed in silence upon the wilderness of surging billows, the whole
island became hidden in mist; and that happy valley, so lovely in its
solitude but a brief hour before, so calm in its slumbering beauty, so
softly steeped in sunshine, was now buried in the fierce conflict of the
elements. Nothing was to be seen but an ocean of misty surf below, and a
wilderness of dark clouds flying madly overhead. It seemed as if we had
been suddenly cut off from the world, and left floating on a huge mass
of burned rock, in a chaos of convulsed elements. On every side the
impenetrable mists covered the depths, and it needed but a single step
to open to us the mysteries of eternity.
The storm set in upon us in fierce and sudden gusts, driving us down for
safety upon the lee of the rock. No longer able to stand upright, we
cowered beneath the shelter which we found there, and so bided our time.
From all we could judge, there was no appearance of a change for the
better. As soon as there was a lull, we hurried on along the ridge, in
the hope of reaching the valley of the huts before dark, for we had
eaten nothing since morning, and were not prepared to spend the night in
these wild mountains. After infinite climbing and toil, we came to a
part of the path where there were neither trees nor bushes. It was about
half a mile in length, and was exposed to the full fury of the gale.
About midway we were attacked by a terrific gust of wind and deluge of
rain, and it was with great difficulty we could retain our foothold. The
rain swashed against us with resistless power, driving us down upon our
hands and knees in its fury, while it surged and foamed over us like a
white sea in a typhoon. Blinded and dizzy, we rose again and rushed on,
staggering in the fierce bursts of the tempest, and gasping for breath
in the deluge of spray. How we lived through it I know not; how it was
that we were not cast over into the abyss that threatened to devour us,
there is but One who knows, for no eye but His was upon us. Breathless,
and blinded with the scourging waters, we staggered against a large
rock. Here we fell upon our knees, no longer able to contend against the
tempest, and clung to the bushes that grew in its clefts, while we
silently appealed to Him who holds the winds in the hollow of His hands
to take pity upon us, and cast us not away in His wrath.
The worst part of the path being yet before us, where we had previously
found it difficult to get over in good weather, we determined upon
trying the steep descent on the right, leading directly into the valley
of the huts. It was almost a perfect precipice, and was bare and smooth
for three hundred yards, where it ran out into a kind of ledge, covered
with a stunted growth of trees. If we could reach the grove we would be
safe; but between us lay a steep and precipitous field of loose earth,
smoothed into a bank of mud by the rains. As we had no alternative, we
began the descent as cautiously as possible, thrusting our toes and
fingers into the clay, and letting ourselves down by degrees for fifty
or a hundred feet at a time, when we stopped a while to look below us.
Such was the roar of the storm that I hardly knew whether Abraham was by
me or not, when, hearing a loud shout, I looked round and beheld him
flying down the precipice with the velocity of lightning. "Oh! he'll be
killed!" I exclaimed; "he'll be killed! Oh! what a dreadful death!" At
the same moment I felt my hold give way, and I dashed after him in spite
of myself, grasping madly at the loose earth, and shouting wildly for
somebody to stop me. It was a fearful chase--a chase of life or death!
On we sped, upheaving the loose masses of sod, and whizzing through the
tempest as we flew; grasping desperately at every rock, tearing up the
shrubs that grew in the clefts, and dashing blindly over gaping fissures
that lay hidden with the grass. Great masses of burned rock went smoking
down into the chaos of mist below, crashing and thundering as they fell.
On, and still on, in our wild career we sped, with the vision of death
flitting grimly before us! Atoms we were in the strife of elements,
whirled powerless into the dark abyss. There was a confused crash of
bushes; a stunning sensation--a sudden check--a jarring of the
brain--and all was still! I looked, and saw that I was safe. The grove
was around me. Consciousness returned as I clung panting to the trees;
life was given yet; the vision of death fled in the mists of the
tempest.[A]
For a moment, dizzy and confused, I clung to a tree, and offered up my
inward thanks to that Providence which had spared me through the fearful
ordeal. Then, hearing the voice of Abraham near by to where I stood, I
looked, and saw him seated upon the ground, wailing aloud as if in
extreme bodily pain. Selfish wretch that I was, had I, in my
thankfulness for my own safety, forgotten the friend of my heart!
Letting go my grasp of the tree, I ran to his side, and asked in choking
accents,
"Abraham! oh, Abraham, are you hurt? Tell me quick--tell me, are you
hurt?"
"My skull! my skull!" groaned Abraham, in rending tones; "oh! Luff, my
skull is broken!"
"Good heavens!" I exclaimed, "what are we to do? This is terrible!
Wretch that I am, I thought only of myself!"
Abraham groaned again. His face was livid, and a small streak of blood
that coursed down his right cheek told how truly he had spoken.
"Abraham, my friend Abraham!" I exclaimed, in a perfect agony of
distress, "perhaps it's not so bad. It may not be broken."
"Yes it is," said Abraham; "I heard it crack when I fell. My feet flew
up, and I fell on my back. It must have struck a rock."
"Oh, Abraham, what are we to do? I wouldn't have had this to happen for
the whole island. Here, I'll tear my shirt off and tie it up."
"No, no, Luff, it can't be mended; it's broken all to smash. I wouldn't
have had it happen for a thousand dollars. It can never, never be
mended!"
"Let me see," said I, carefully laying back his hair; "something must be
done, Abraham."
"No, no--nothing can be done; the trouble's not there, Luff; it's
_here_--HERE, in my pocket!" At the same time, while I started back in a
perfect maze of confusion, Abraham thrust his hand into his coat pocket,
and brought forth a whole handful of thin flat bones, broken into small
pieces, which he held out with a rueful face, groaning again as he
looked at them.
"No, no, it can't be mended, Luff."
"The devil!" said I, angrily, "you may thank your stars it isn't any
worse than that!"
"Worse! worse!" cried Abraham, highly excited; "what do you mean? In the
name of common sense, isn't that bad enough? How could it be any worse?"
"Pshaw! Abraham; I thought, when I heard your lamentations, and saw that
scratch of a bush on your face, that your own natural cranium was
fractured."
"Well, what if you did?" cried Abraham, still irritated. "Would you call
that worse? A live skull will grow together, but a dead one won't. And
this--_this,_ with such a history to it--to lose this, after all my
trouble in finding it--oh, Luff, Luff, it's too bad!"
However, having no farther time to spare over his ruined skull, he put
back the bones in his pocket, and, with a heavy sigh, joined me as I
sprang down through the grove.
The rest of our descent was comparatively easy. When we got down to the
head of the valley, a muddy stream broke wildly over the rocks, carrying
down with it the branches and leaves of trees, and roaring fearfully as
it rushed on toward the ocean. We followed this in its rapid descent,
and were soon with our friends at the boat-landing.
FOOTNOTE:
[A] It has already been mentioned that in many parts of the island the
soil was loose, and undermined by holes, and the rock weathered almost
to rottenness. Pursuing a goat once in one of these dangerous places,
the bushy brink of a precipice to which he had followed it crumbled
beneath him, and he and the goat fell together from a great height. He
lay stunned and senseless at the foot of the rock for a great while--not
less than twenty hours, he thought, from the change of position in the
sun, but the precise length of time he had no means of ascertaining.
When he recovered his senses he found the goat lying dead beside him.
With great pain and difficulty he made his way to his hut, which was
nearly a mile distant from the spot; and for three days he lay on his
bed enduring much suffering. No permanent injury, however, had been done
him, and he was soon able to go abroad again.--[LIFE OF ALEXANDER
SELKIRK.]