Now of the search which we made through the valley for the body of
Tompkins, that being the name of the lost man, I have some doleful
memories. But first, before we left the camp, the bo'sun gave us all a
very sound tot of the rum, and also a biscuit apiece, and thereafter we
hasted down, each man holding his weapon readily. Presently, when we were
come to the beach which ended the valley upon the seaward side, the
bo'sun led us along to the bottom of the hill, where the precipices came
down into the softer stuff which covered the valley, and here we made a
careful search, perchance he had fallen over, and lay dead or wounded
near to our hands. But it was not so, and after that, we went down to the
mouth of the great pit, and here we discovered the mud all about it to be
covered with multitudes of tracks, and in addition to these and the
slime, we found many traces of blood; but nowhere any signs of Tompkins.
And so, having searched all the valley, we came out upon the weed which
strewed the shore nearer to the great weed-continent; but discovered
nothing until we had made up towards the foot of the hill, where it came
down sheer into the sea. Here, I climbed on to a ledge--the same from
which the men had caught their fish--, thinking that, if Tompkins had
fallen from above, he might lie in the water at the foot of the cliff,
which was here, maybe, some ten to twenty feet deep; but, for a little
space, I saw nothing. Then, suddenly, I discovered that there was
something white, down in the sea away to my left, and, at that, I climbed
farther out along the ledge.
In this wise I perceived that the thing which had attracted my notice was
the dead body of one of the weed men. I could see it but dimly, catching
odd glimpses of it as the surface of the water smoothed at whiles. It
appeared to me to be lying curled up, and somewhat upon its right side,
and in proof that it was dead, I saw a mighty wound that had come near to
shearing away the head; and so, after a further glance, I came in, and
told what I had seen. At that, being convinced by this time that Tompkins
was indeed done to death, we ceased our search; but first, before we left
the spot, the bo'sun climbed out to get a sight of the dead weed man and
after him the rest of the men, for they were greatly curious to see
clearly what manner of creature it was that had attacked us in the night.
Presently, having seen so much of the brute as the water would allow,
they came in again to the beach, and afterwards were returned to the
opposite side of the island, and so, being there, we crossed over to the
boat, to see whether it had been harmed; but found it to be untouched.
Yet, that the creatures had been all about it, we could perceive by the
marks of slime upon the sand, and also by the strange trail which they
had left in the soft surface. Then one of the men called out that there
had been something at Job's grave, which, as will be remembered, had been
made in the sand some little distance from the place of our first camp.
At that, we looked all of us, and it was easy to see that it had been
disturbed, and so we ran hastily to it, knowing not what to fear; thus
we found it to be empty; for the monsters had digged down to the poor
lad's body, and of it we could discover no sign. Upon this, we came to a
greater horror of the weed men than ever; for we knew them now to be foul
ghouls who could not let even the dead body rest in the grave.
Now after this, the bo'sun led us all back to the hill-top, and there he
looked to our hurts; for one man had lost two fingers in the night's
fray; another had been bitten savagely in the left arm; whilst a third
had all the skin of his face raised in wheals where one of the brutes had
fixed its tentacles. And all of these had received but scant attention,
because of the stress of the fight, and, after that, through the
discovery that Tompkins was missing. Now, however, the bo'sun set-to upon
them, washing and binding them up, and for dressings he made use of some
of the oakum which we had with us, binding this on with strips torn from
the roll of spare duck, which had been in the locker of the boat.
For my part, seizing this chance to make some examination of my
wounded toe, the which, indeed, was causing me to limp, I found that I
had endured less harm than seemed to me; for the bone of the toe was
untouched, though showing bare; yet when it was cleansed, I had not
overmuch pain with it; though I could not suffer to have the boot on,
and so bound some canvas about my foot, until such time as it should
be healed.
Presently, when our wounds were all attended to, the which had taken
time, for there was none of us altogether untouched, the bo'sun bade the
man whose fingers were damaged, to lie down in the tent, and the same
order he gave also to him that was bitten in the arm. Then, the rest of
us he directed to go down with him and carry up fuel; for that the night
had shown him how our very lives depended upon a sufficiency of this;
and so all that morning we brought fuel to the hill-top, both weed and
reeds, resting not until midday, when he gave us a further tot of the
rum, and after that set one of the men upon the dinner. Then he bade the
man, Jessop by name, who had proposed to fly a kite over the vessel in
the weed, to say whether he had any craft in the making of such a
matter. At that, the fellow laughed, and told the bo'sun that he would
make him a kite that would fly very steadily and strongly, and this
without the aid of a tail. And so the bo'sun bade him set-to without
delay, for that we should do well to deliver the people in the hulk, and
afterwards make all haste from the island, which was no better than a
nesting place of ghouls.
Now hearing the man say that his kite would fly without a tail, I was
mightily curious to see what manner of thing he would make; for I had
never seen the like, nor heard that such was possible. Yet he spoke of no
more than he could accomplish; for he took two of the reeds and cut them
to a length of about six feet; then he bound them together in the middle
so that they formed a Saint Andrew's cross, and after that he made two
more such crosses, and when these were completed, he took four reeds
maybe a dozen feet long, and bade us stand them upright in the shape of a
square, so that they formed the four corners, and after that he took one
of the crosses, and laid it in the square so that its four ends touched
the four uprights, and in this position he lashed it. Then he took the
second cross and lashed it midway between the top and bottom of the
uprights, and after that he lashed the third at the top, so that the
three of them acted as spreaders to keep the four longer reeds in their
places as though they were for the uprights of a little square tower.
Now, when he had gotten so far as that, the bo'sun called out to us to
make our dinners, and this we did, and afterwards had a short time in
which to smoke, and whilst we were thus at our ease the sun came out,
the which it had not done all the day, and at that we felt vastly
brighter; for the day had been very gloomy with clouds until that time,
and what with the loss of Tompkins, and our own fears and hurts, we had
been exceeding doleful, but now, as I have said, we became more cheerful,
and went very alertly to the finishing of the kite.
At this point it came suddenly to the bo'sun that we had made no
provision of cord for the flying of the kite, and he called out to the
man to know what strength the kite would require, at which Jessop
answered him that maybe ten-yarn sennit would do, and this being so,
the bo'sun led three of us down to the wrecked mast upon the further
beach, and from this we stripped all that was left of the shrouds, and
carried them to the top of the hill, and so, presently, having unlaid
them, we set-to upon the sennit, using ten yarns; but plaiting two as
one, by which means we progressed with more speed than if we had taken
them singly.
Now, as we worked, I glanced occasionally towards Jessop, and saw that he
stitched a band of the light duck around each end of the framework which
he had made, and these bands I judged to be about four feet wide, in this
wise leaving an open space between the two, so that now the thing looked
something like to a Punchinello show, only that the opening was in the
wrong place, and there was too much of it. After that he bent on a bridle
to two of the uprights, making this of a piece of good hemp rope which he
found in the tent, and then he called out to the bo'sun that the kite was
finished. At that, the bo'sun went over to examine it, the which did all
of us; for none of us had seen the like of such a thing, and, if I
misdoubt not, few of us had much faith that it would fly; for it seemed
so big and unwieldy. Now, I think that Jessop gathered something of our
thoughts; for, calling to one of us to hold the kite, lest it should
blow away, he went into the tent, and brought out the remainder of the
hemp line, the same from which he had cut the bridle. This, he bent on to
it, and, giving the end into our hands, bade us go back with it until all
the slack was taken up, he, in the meanwhile, steadying the kite. Then,
when we had gone back to the extent of the line, he shouted to us to take
a very particular hold upon it, and then, stooping, caught the kite by
the bottom, and threw it into the air, whereupon, to our amazement,
having swooped somewhat to one side, it steadied and mounted upwards into
the sky like a very bird.
Now at this, as I have made mention, we were astonished, for it appeared
like a miracle to us to see so cumbrous a thing fly with so much grace
and persistence, and further, we were mightily surprised at the manner in
which it pulled upon the rope, tugging with such heartiness that we were
like to have loosed it in our first astonishment, had it not been for the
warning which Jessop called to us.
And now, being well assured of the properness of the kite, the bo'sun
bade us to draw it in, the which we did only with difficulty, because of
its bigness and the strength of the breeze. And when we had it back again
upon the hilltop, Jessop moored it very securely to a great piece of
rock, and, after that, having received our approbation, he turned-to with
us upon the making of the sennit.
Presently, the evening drawing near, the bo'sun set us to the building of
fires about the hill-top, and after that, having waved our goodnights to
the people in the hulk, we made our suppers, and lay down to smoke, after
which, we turned-to again at our plaiting of the sennit, the which we
were in very great haste to have done. And so, later, the dark having
come down upon the island, the bo'sun bade us take burning weed from the
center fire, and set light to the heaps of weed that we had stacked
round the edges of the hill for that purpose, and so in a few minutes the
whole of the hill-top was very light and cheerful, and afterwards, having
put two of the men to keep watch and attend to the fires, he sent the
rest of us back to our sennit making, keeping us at it until maybe about
ten of the clock, after which he arranged that two men at a time should
be on watch throughout the night, and then he bade the rest of us
turn-in, so soon as he had looked to our various hurts.
Now, when it came to my turn to watch, I discovered that I had been
chosen to accompany the big seaman, at which I was by no means
displeased; for he was a most excellent fellow, and moreover a very lusty
man to have near, should anything come upon one unawares. Yet, we were
happy in that the night passed off without trouble of any sort, and so at
last came the morning.
So soon as we had made our breakfast, the bo'sun took us all down to the
carrying of fuel; for he saw very clearly that upon a good supply of this
depended our immunity from attack. And so for the half of the morning we
worked at the gathering of weed and reeds for our fires. Then, when we
had obtained a sufficiency for the coming night, he set us all to work
again upon the sennit, and so until dinner, after which we turned-to once
more upon our plaiting. Yet it was plain that it would take several days
to make a sufficient line for our purpose, and because of this, the
bo'sun cast about in his mind for some way in which he could quicken its
production. Presently, as a result of some little thought, he brought out
from the tent the long piece of hemp rope with which we had moored the
boat to the sea anchor, and proceeded to unlay it, until he had all three
strands separate. Then he bent the three together, and so had a very
rough line of maybe some hundred and eighty fathoms in length, yet,
though so rough, he judged it strong enough, and thus we had this much
the less sennit to make.
Now, presently, we made our dinner, and after that for the rest of the
day we kept very steadily to our plaiting, and so, with the previous
day's work, had near two hundred fathoms completed by the time that the
bo'sun called us to cease and come to supper. Thus it will be seen that
counting all, including the piece of hemp line from which the bridle had
been made, we may be said to have had at this time about four hundred
fathoms towards the length which we needed for our purpose, this having
been reckoned at five hundred fathoms.
After supper, having lit all the fires, we continued to work at the
plaiting, and so, until the bo'sun set the watches, after which we
settled down for the night, first, however, letting the bo'sun see to
our hurts. Now this night, like to the previous, brought us no trouble;
and when the day came, we had first our breakfast, and then set-to upon
our collecting of fuel, after which we spent the rest of the day at the
sennit, having manufactured a sufficiency by the evening, the which the
bo'sun celebrated by a very rousing tot of the rum. Then, having made
our supper, we lit the fires, and had a very comfortable evening, after
which, as on the preceding nights, having let the bo'sun attend our
wounds, we settled for the night, and on this occasion the bo'sun let
the man who had lost his fingers, and the one who had been bitten so
badly in the arm, take their first turn at the watching since the night
of the attack.
Now when the morning came we were all of us very eager to come to the
flying of the kite; for it seemed possible to us that we might effect
the rescue of the people in the hulk before the evening. And, at the
thought of this, we experienced a very pleasurable sense of excitement;
yet, before the bo'sun would let us touch the kite, he insisted that we
should gather our usual supply of fuel, the which order, though full of
wisdom, irked us exceedingly, because of our eagerness to set about the
rescue. But at last this was accomplished, and we made to get the line
ready, testing the knots, and seeing that it was all clear for running.
Yet, before setting the kite off, the bo'sun took us down to the further
beach to bring up the foot of the royal and t'gallant mast, which
remained fast to the topmast, and when we had this upon the hill-top, he
set its ends upon two rocks, after which he piled a heap of great pieces
around them, leaving the middle part clear. Round this he passed the
kite line a couple or three times, and then gave the end to Jessop to
bend on to the bridle of the kite, and so he had all ready for paying
out to the wreck.
And now, having nothing to do, we gathered round to watch, and,
immediately, the bo'sun giving the signal, Jessop cast the kite into
the air, and, the wind catching it, lifted it strongly and well, so
that the bo'sun could scarce pay out fast enough. Now, before the kite
had been let go, Jessop had bent to the forward end of it a great
length of the spun yarn, so that those in the wreck could catch it as
it trailed over them, and, being eager to witness whether they would
secure it without trouble, we ran all of us to the edge of the hill to
watch. Thus, within five minutes from the time of the loosing of the
kite, we saw the people in the ship wave to us to cease veering, and
immediately afterwards the kite came swiftly downwards, by which we
knew that they had the tripping-line, and were hauling upon it, and at
that we gave out a great cheer, and afterwards we sat about and smoked,
waiting until they had read our instructions, which we had written upon
the covering of the kite.
Presently, maybe the half of an hour afterwards, they signaled to us to
haul upon our line, which we proceeded to do without delay, and so,
after a great space, we had hauled in all of our rough line, and come
upon the end of theirs, which proved to be a fine piece of three-inch
hemp, new and very good; yet we could not conceive that this would stand
the stress necessary to lift so great a length clear of the weed, as
would be needful, or ever we could hope to bring the people of the ship
over it in safety. And so we waited some little while, and, presently,
they signaled again to us to haul, which we did, and found that they had
bent on a much greater rope to the bight of the three-inch hemp, having
merely intended the latter for a hauling-line by which to get the heavier
rope across the weed to the island. Thus, after a weariful time of
pulling, we got the end of the bigger rope up to the hill-top, and
discovered it to be an extraordinarily sound rope of some four inches
diameter, and smoothly laid of fine yarns round and very true and well
spun, and with this we had every reason to be satisfied.
Now to the end of the big rope they had tied a letter, in a bag of
oilskin, and in it they said some very warm and grateful things to us,
after which they set out a short code of signals by which we should be
able to understand one another on certain general matters, and at the end
they asked if they should send us any provision ashore; for, as they
explained, it would take some little while to get the rope set taut
enough for our purpose, and the carrier fixed and in working order. Now,
upon reading this letter, we called out to the bo'sun that he should ask
them if they would send us some soft bread; the which he added thereto a
request for lint and bandages and ointment for our hurts. And this he
bade me write upon one of the great leaves from off the reeds, and at the
end he told me to ask if they desired us to send them any fresh water.
And all of this, I wrote with a sharpened splinter of reed, cutting the
words into the surface of the leaf. Then, when I had made an end of
writing, I gave the leaf to the bo'sun, and he enclosed it in the oilskin
bag, after which he gave the signal for those in the hulk to haul on the
smaller line, and this they did.
Presently, they signed to us to pull in again, the which we did, and so,
when we had hauled in a great length of their line, we came to the little
oilskin bag, in which we found lint and bandages and ointment, and a
further letter, which set out that they were baking bread, and would send
us some so soon as it was out from the oven.
Now, in addition to the matters for the healing of our wounds, and the
letter, they had included a bundle of paper in loose sheets, some quills
and an inkhorn, and at the end of their epistle, they begged very
earnestly of us to send them some news of the outer world; for they had
been shut up in that strange continent of weed for something over seven
years. They told us then that there were twelve of them in the hulk,
three of them being women, one of whom had been the captain's wife; but
he had died soon after the vessel became entangled in the weed, and along
with him more than half of the ship's company, having been attacked by
giant devil-fish, as they were attempting to free the vessel from the
weed, and afterwards they who were left had built the superstructure as a
protection against the devil-fish, and the _devil-men_, as they termed
them; for, until it had been built, there had been no safety about the
decks, neither day nor night.
To our question as to whether they were in need of water, the people in
the ship replied that they had a sufficiency, and, further, that they
were very well supplied with provisions; for the ship had sailed from
London with a general cargo, among which there was a vast quantity of
food in various shapes and forms. At this news we were greatly pleased,
seeing that we need have no more anxiety regarding a lack of victuals,
and so in the letter which I went into the tent to write, I put down
that we were in no great plentitude of provisions, at which hint I
guessed they would add somewhat to the bread when it should be ready. And
after that I wrote down such chief events as my memory recalled as having
occurred in the course of the past seven years, and then, a short account
of our own adventures, up to that time, telling them of the attack which
we had suffered from the weed men, and asking such questions as my
curiosity and wonder prompted.
Now whilst I had been writing, sitting in the mouth of the tent, I had
observed, from time to time, how that the bo'sun was busied with the men
in passing the end of the big rope round a mighty boulder, which lay
about ten fathoms in from the edge of the cliff which overlooked the
hulk. This he did, parceling the rope where the rock was in any way
sharp, so as to protect it from being cut; for which purpose he made use
of some of the canvas. And by the time that I had the letter completed,
the rope was made very secure to the great piece of rock, and, further,
they had put a large piece of chafing gear under that part of the rope
where it took the edge of the cliff.
Now having, as I have said, completed the letter, I went out with it to
the bo'sun; but, before placing it in the oilskin bag he bade me add a
note at the bottom, to say that the big rope was all fast, and that they
could heave on it so soon as it pleased them, and after that we
dispatched the letter by means of the small line, the men in the hulk
hauling it off to them so soon as they perceived our signals.
By this, it had come well on to the latter part of the afternoon, and the
bo'sun called us to make some sort of a meal, leaving one man to watch
the hulk, perchance they should signal to us. For we had missed our
dinner in the excitement of the day's work, and were come now to feel the
lack of it. Then, in the midst of it, the man upon the lookout cried out
that they were signaling to us from the ship, and, at that, we ran all of
us to see what they desired, and so, by the code which we had arranged
between us, we found that they waited for us to haul upon the small line.
This did we, and made out presently that we were hauling something across
the weed, of a very fair bulk, at which we warmed to our work, guessing
that it was the bread which they had promised us, and so it proved, and
done up with great neatness in a long roll of tarpaulin, which had been
wrapped around both the loaves and the rope, and lashed very securely at
the ends, thus producing a taper shape convenient for passing over the
weed without catching. Now, when we came to open this parcel, we
discovered that my hint had taken very sound effect; for there were in
the parcel, besides the loaves, a boiled ham, a Dutch cheese, two bottles
of port well padded from breakage, and four pounds of tobacco in plugs.
And at this coming of good things, we stood all of us upon the edge of
the hill, and waved our thanks to those in the ship, they waving back in
all good will, and after that we went back to our meal, at which we
sampled the new victuals with very lusty appetites.
There was in the parcel, one other matter, a letter, most neatly
indited, as had been the former epistles, in a feminine handwriting, so
that I guessed they had one of the women to be their scribe. This
epistle answered some of my queries, and, in particular, I remember that
it informed me as to the probable cause of the strange crying which
preceded the attack by the weed men, saying that on each occasion when
they in the ship had suffered their attacks, there had been always this
same crying, being evidently a summoning call or signal to the attack,
though how given, the writer had not discovered; for the weed
_devils_--this being how they in the ship spoke always of them--made
never a sound when attacking, not even when wounded to the death, and,
indeed, I may say here, that we never learnt the way in which that
lonesome sobbing was produced, nor, indeed, did they, or we, discover
more than the merest tithe of the mysteries which that great continent
of weed holds in its silence.
Another matter to which I had referred was the consistent blowing of the
wind from one quarter, and this the writer told me happened for as much
as six months in the year, keeping up a very steady strength. A further
thing there was which gave me much interest; it was that the ship had not
been always where we had discovered her; for at one time they had been so
far within the weed, that they could scarce discern the open sea upon the
far horizon; but that at times the weed opened in great gulfs that went
yawning through the continent for scores of miles, and in this way the
shape and coasts of the weed were being constantly altered; these
happenings being for the most part at the change of the wind.
And much more there was that they told us then and afterwards, how that
they dried weed for their fuel, and how the rains, which fell with great
heaviness at certain periods, supplied them with fresh water; though, at
times, running short, they had learnt to distil sufficient for their
needs until the next rains.
Now, near to the end of the epistle, there came some news of their
present actions, and thus we learnt that they in the ship were busy at
staying the stump of the mizzen-mast, this being the one to which they
proposed to attach the big rope, taking it through a great iron-bound
snatch-block, secured to the head of the stump, and then down to the
mizzen-capstan, by which, and a strong tackle, they would be able to
heave the line so taut as was needful.
Now, having finished our meal, the bo'sun took out the lint, bandages and
ointment, which they had sent us from the hulk, and proceeded to dress
our hurts, beginning with him who had lost his fingers, which, happily,
were making a very healthy heal. And afterwards we went all of us to the
edge of the cliff, and sent back the look-out to fill such crevices in
his stomach as remained yet empty; for we had passed him already some
sound hunks of the bread and ham and cheese, to eat whilst he kept watch,
and so he had suffered no great harm.
It may have been near an hour after this, that the bo'sun pointed out to
me that they in the ship had commenced to heave upon the great rope, and
so I perceived, and stood watching it; for I knew that the bo'sun had
some anxiety as to whether it would take-up sufficiently clear of the
weed to allow those in the ship to be hauled along it, free from
molestation by the great devil-fish.
Presently, as the evening began to draw on, the bo'sun bade us go and
build our fires about the hilltop, and this we did, after which we
returned to learn how the rope was lifting, and now we perceived that it
had come clear of the weed, at which we felt mightily rejoiced, and waved
encouragement, chance there might be any who watched us from the hulk.
Yet, though the rope was up clear of the weed, the bight of it had to
rise to a much greater height, or ever it would do for the purpose for
which we intended it, and already it suffered a vast strain, as I
discovered by placing my hand upon it; for, even to lift the slack of so
great a length of line meant the stress of some tons. And later I saw
that the bo'sun was growing anxious; for he went over to the rock around
which he had made fast the rope, and examined the knots, and those places
where he had parceled it, and after that he walked to the place where it
went over the edge of the cliff, and here he made a further scrutiny; but
came back presently, seeming not dissatisfied.
Then, in a while, the darkness came down upon us, and we lighted our
fires and prepared for the night, having the watches arranged as on the
preceding nights.