The first few days were devoted by the mutineers to conveying ashore
every article that was likely to prove useful. Not only were chests,
boxes, tools, bedding, culinary implements, etcetera, removed from the
vessel, but the planks that formed the bulkheads, much of the cordage,
and all the loose spars and removable iron-work were carried ashore. In
short, the vessel was completely gutted.
When this was finished, a council was called to decide what should be
done with the _Bounty_ herself, for although Christian was the
acknowledged leader of the party, he took no important step without
consulting his comrades.
"You see it is useless," he said, "to think of venturing again to sea in
the _Bounty_; we are too short-handed for that. Besides, we could not
find a more suitable island than this. I therefore propose that we
should burn the ship, to prevent her being seen by any chance vessel
that may pass this way. If she were observed, men might be tempted to
land, and of course they would tell that we were here, and His Majesty
would soon have a cruiser out in search of us. What say you?"
"I say wait a bit and consider," replied Young.
"Ditto," said Adams.
Some of the others thought with Christian. Quintal, in particular, who
seemed to live in a chronic state of objection to being hanged, was
strong for destroying the vessel. Eventually, after a good deal of
delay and much discussion, the good ship _Bounty_ finished her career by
being burned to the water's edge in Bounty Bay. This occurred on the
23rd January 1790. The lower part of the vessel, which would not burn,
was towed out into deep water and sunk, so that not a vestige of her
remained.
And now all was bustling activity. A spot some few hundred yards
farther inland than that selected as their camping-ground on the day of
arrival, was fixed on as suitable for their permanent location. It was
beautifully situated, and pleasantly sheltered by trees, through between
the stems of which the sea was visible. To this spot everything was
conveyed, and several of the most powerful of the men began to clear the
ground, and fell the trees with axes.
One morning, soon after landing, a party was organised to traverse the
island and investigate its character and resources. As they were not
yet quite sure that it was uninhabited, this party was a strong one and
well armed. It consisted of Christian, Adams, Brown, Martin, and four
of the Otaheitans. Edward Young stayed at the encampment with the
remaining men and the women.
"In which direction shall we go?" asked Christian, appealing to Brown.
The botanist hesitated, and glanced round him.
"If I might make so bold, sir," said Isaac Martin, "I would suggest that
we go right up to the top o' the mountains. There's nothin' like a
bird's-eye view for fillin' the mind wi' right notions o' form, an'
size, an' character."
Following this advice, they traversed the lower ground, which was found
very prolific everywhere. Then they ascended the undulating slopes of
the mountain-sides until they reached the rugged and bare rocks of the
higher ground.
On the way they found further and indisputable evidence of the island
having been inhabited at some previous and probably long past era.
Among these evidences were spear-heads, and axes of stone, and several
warlike weapons.
"Hallo! here's a circumstance," exclaimed Martin, stopping in front of
an object which lay on the ground.
On closer examination the "circumstance" turned out to be an image made
of a hard and coarse red stone.
"It is evidently an idol," said Christian; "and here are some smooth
round stones, resembling those used by the Otaheitans in war."
Not far from the spot, and in other places as they advanced, the
exploring party found heaps of stone chips, as well as more images and
tools.
"I've been thinking," said Brown, turning for a moment to look down at
the sea, which now lay spread out far below them like a blue plain,
"I've been thinking that the proof of people having been here long ago
lies not only in these stones, axes, spears, and images, but also in the
fact that we find the cocoa-nut trees, bananas, plantains,
breadfruit-trees, as well as yams and sweet potatoes, grow chiefly in
the sunny and sheltered parts of the island, and gathered together as if
they had been planted there."
"Here's the best proof of all," exclaimed Martin, who had a tendency to
poke about, with his long nose advanced, as if scenting out things.
They looked at the spot to which Martin pointed, and there saw a human
skeleton in the last stage of decay, with a large pearl shell under the
skull. Not far-off more human bones were discovered.
"That's proof positive," said Brown. "Now, I wonder why these natives
came here, and why they went away."
"P'r'aps they didn't come, but was born'd here," suggested Martin; "an'
mayhap they didn't go away at all, but died here."
"True, Martin," said Adams; "and that shell reminds me of what Captain
Bligh once told me, that the natives o' the Gambier Islands, which must
lie to wind'ard o' this, have a custom of puttin' a shell under the
heads of the dead in this fashion. Moreover, he told me that these same
Gambier chaps, long ago, used to put the people they vanquished in war
on rafts, and turn 'em adrift to sink or swim, or fetch what land they
might. No doubt some of these people got drifted here."
As he spoke the party emerged from a somewhat rugged pass, close to the
highest peak of the mountain-ranges. A few minutes' scramble brought
them to the summit, whence they obtained a magnificent view of the
entire circuit of the island.
We have said that the peak is just over a thousand feet high. From this
commanding position the Pacific was seen with a boundless horizon all
round. Not a speck of land visible save the rocky isle on which they
stood. Not a sail to mark the vast expanse of water, which, from that
height, seemed perfectly flat and smooth, though a steady breeze was
blowing, and the islet was fringed with a pure white ring of foam. Not
a cloud even to break the monotony of the clear sky, and no sound to
disturb the stillness of nature save the plaintive cries, mellowed by
distance, of the myriads of sea-fowl which sailed round the cliffs, or
dipped into the water far below.
"Solitude profound," said Christian, in a low voice, breaking the
silence which had fallen on the party as they gazed slowly round them.
Just then a loud and hideous yell issued from, apparently; the bowels of
the earth, and rudely put to flight the feeling of profound solitude.
The cry, although very loud, had a strangely muffled sound, and was
repeated as if by an echo.
The explorers looked in each other's faces inquiringly, and not without
an expression of awe.
"Strange," said Adams; "an' it sounded very like some one in distress."
It was observed suddenly that Isaac Martin was absent.
"But the voice was not like his," said Brown.
The mysterious cry was repeated at the moment, and Christian ran quickly
in the direction whence it seemed to come. As they neared a rugged mass
of rocks which lay close to the peak on which they had been standing,
the cry lost much of its mystery, and finally assumed the tones of
Martin's voice.
"Hallo! hi! murder! help! O my leg! Mr Christian, Adams, Brown, this
way. Help! ho! hi!"
What between the muffled sound and the echo, Martin created a noise that
would have set his friends into fits of laughter if they had not been
greatly alarmed.
In a few seconds the party reached what seemed to be a dark hole, out of
which the poor man's left leg was seen protruding. Christian and Adams
grasped it. Brown and one of the Otaheitans lent a hand, and Martin was
quickly dragged out of danger and set on his legs.
"I say, Martin," said Brown, anxiously, "sit down or you'll bu'st.
Every drop o' blood in your body has gone to your head."
"No wonder," gasped Isaac, "if you'd bin hangin' by one fut half as
long, your blood would have blowed your head off altogether."
"There now, sit down a minute, and you'll be all right," said Christian.
"How did it happen?"
To this Martin replied that it was simple enough. He had fallen a few
yards behind, and, taking a wrong turn, had come on a hole, into which
he looked. Seeing something like a light at the bottom of it, he
stooped down to look further, slipped on the rocks, and went in head
foremost, but was arrested by his foot catching between two rocks and
getting jammed.
In this position he would soon have perished had not his comrades come
to the rescue.
With some curiosity they now proceeded to examine the hole. It turned
out to be the entrance to a cave which opened towards the northern side
of the island, and from which a splendid sweep of the sea could be seen,
while in the immediate neighbourhood, far down the precipices,
innumerable sea-birds were seen like flakes of snow circling round the
cliffs. A few of the inquisitive among these mounted to the giddy
height of the cave's seaward-mouth, and seemed to gaze in surprise at
the unwonted sight of man.
"A most suitable cavern for a hermit or a monk," said Brown.
"More fit for a monkey," said Martin.
"Not a bad place of refuge in case our retreat should be discovered,"
observed Christian.
"H'm! the Mutineers' Retreat," muttered John Adams, in a slightly bitter
tone.
"A few resolute men," continued Christian, taking no notice of the last
remark, "could hold out here against a hundred--at least while their
ammunition lasted."
He returned as he spoke to the cave's landward entrance, and clambered
out with some difficulty, followed by his companions. Proceeding with
their investigations, they found that, while a large part of the island
was covered with rich soil, bearing fruit-trees and shrubs in abundance,
the remainder of it was mountainous, rugged, and barren. They also
ascertained that, although the place had been inhabited in times long
past, there seemed to be no inhabitants at that time to dispute their
taking possession. Satisfied with the result of their investigations,
they descended to their encampment on the table-land close to the
heights above Bounty Bay.
On drawing near to the clearing they heard the sound of voices raised as
if in anger.
"It's Quintal and McCoy," said Adams; "I know the sound o' their
ill-natured voices."
Presently the two men could be seen through the trees. Quintal was
sitting on a felled tree, looking fiercely at McCoy, who stood beside
him.
"I tell you the baccy is mine," said Quintal.
"It's nothin' o' the sort, it's mine," answered McCoy, snatching the
coveted weed out of the other's hand.
Quintal jumped up, hit McCoy on the forehead, and knocked him down.
McCoy instantly rose, hit Quintal on the nose, and tumbled him over the
log on which he had been sitting.
Not much the worse, Quintal sprang to his feet, and a furious set-to
would have immediately followed if the arrival of Christian and his
party had not prevented it. It was no easy matter to calm the ruffled
spirits of the men who had treated each other so unceremoniously, and
there is no doubt the bad feeling would have been kept up about the
tobacco in dispute if Christian had not intervened. McCoy reiterated
stoutly that the tobacco was his.
"You are wrong," said Christian, quietly; "it belongs to Quintal. I
gave it to him this morning."
As there was no getting over this, McCoy returned the tobacco with a bad
grace, and Christian was about to give the assembled party some good
advice about not quarrelling, when the mother of little Sally appeared
suddenly, wringing her hands, and exclaiming in her native tongue, "My
child is lost! my child is lost!"
As every one of the party, even the roughest, was fond of Sally, there
was an eager and anxious chorus of questioning.
"Where away did 'ee lose her?" asked McCoy; but the poor mother could
only wring her hands and cry, "Lost! lost!"
"Has she gone over the cliffs?" asked Edward Young, who came up at the
moment; but the woman would say nothing but "Lost! lost!" amid floods of
tears.
Fortunately some of the other women, who had been away collecting
cocoa-nuts, arrived just then, and somewhat relieved the men by
prevailing on the mother to explain that, although she could not say
positively her child had fallen over the cliffs, or come by any other
mishap, Sally had nevertheless disappeared early in the forenoon, and
that she had been searching for her ever since without success.
The process of interrogation was conducted chiefly by Isabella, _alias_
Mainmast, the wife of Fletcher Christian, and Susannah, the wife of
Edward Young; and it was interesting to note how anxious were the native
men, Talaloo, Timoa, Ohoo, Nehow, Tetaheite, and Menalee. They were
evidently as concerned about the safety of the child as were the white
men.
"Now, lads," said Christian, after it was ascertained that the poor
woman could give no information whatever, "we must search at once, but
we must go about it according to a fixed plan. I remember once reading
of a General having got lost in a great swamp one evening with his
staff. It was near the sea, I think, and the tide was making. He
collected his officers and bade them radiate out from him in all
directions, each one in a straight line, so as to make sure of at least
one of them finding the right road out of the danger. We will do
likewise."
Following out this plan, the entire party scattered themselves into the
bush, each keeping in a straight line, searching as he went, and
widening the field of search as his distance from the centre increased.
There was no time to lose, for the shades of night had already begun to
fall.
Anxiously did the poor mother and one or two of the other women sit in
the clearing, listening for the expected shout which should indicate
success. For a long time no shout of any kind was heard, though there
was considerable noise when the searching party came upon the lairs of
members of the livestock that had taken up their quarters in the bush.
We will follow only the line of search which ended in success. It was
pursued by Christian himself. At first he came on spots where domestic
fowls had taken up their abode. Then, while tramping through a mass of
luxuriant ferns, he trod on the toes of a slumbering hog, which
immediately set up a shriek comparable only to the brake of an ill-used
locomotive. This uncalled-for disturbance roused and routed a
considerable number of the same family which had taken refuge in the
same locality. After that he came on a bevy of cats, seated at
respectful distances from each other, in glaring and armed neutrality.
His sudden and evidently unexpected appearance scattered these to the
four points of the compass.
Presently he came upon a pretty open spot of small size, which was
surrounded by shrubs and trees, through the leafy branches of which the
setting sun streamed in a thousand rays. One of these rays dazzled the
eyes, and another kissed the lips of a Nanny-goat. It was Sally's pet,
lying down and dozing. Beside it lay Sally herself, sound asleep, with
her pretty little face resting on its side, and one of her little fat
hands holding on to a lock of its white hair.
With a loud shout Christian proclaimed his success to the Pitcairn
world, and, picking up the still slumbering child, carried her home in
triumph to her mother.