"My dear," said Adams one morning to his spouse, as he was about to go
forth to superintend the working of his busy hive, "I'm beginnin' to
feel as if I was gettin' old, and would soon have to lay up like an old
hulk."
"You've done good service for the Master, John; perhaps He thinks you
should rest now," answered his wife. "You've got plenty able helpers to
take the heavy work off your hands."
"True, old woman, able, willin', and good helpers, thank God, but they
want a headpiece still. However, there's a deal of life in the old dog
yet. If that dear angel, Otaheitan Sally, were only a man, now, I could
resign the command of the ship without a thought. But I've committed
the matter to the Lord. He will provide in His own good time.
Good-day, old girl. If any one wants me, you know where to send 'em."
Not many days after that in which these remarks were made a sail was
seen on the horizon. So few and far between had these visitants been
that the excitement of the people was as wild as when the first ship
appeared, and much more noisy, seeing that the juveniles had now become
so very numerous.
The ship soon drew near. Canoes were sent off to board her. Thursday
October, as of old, introduced himself, and soon the captain and several
men were brought on shore, to the intense joy of the inhabitants.
One of the sailors who landed attracted Adams's attention in a special
manner, not so much because of his appearance, which was nothing
uncommon, as because of a certain grave, kindly, serious air which
distinguished him. This man's name was John Buffett. Another of the
men, named John Evans, less serious in manner, but not less hearty and
open, made himself very agreeable to the women, especially to old Mrs
Adams, to whom he told a number of nautical anecdotes in an undertone
while the captain was chatting with Adams himself. Buffett spoke
little.
After spending an agreeable day on shore, the sailors walked down to the
beach towards evening to return to their ship.
"You lead a happy life here, Mr Adams," said Buffett, in an earnest
tone. "Would you object to a stranger staying among you!"
"Object!" said Adams, with a quick, pleasant glance. "I only wish the
Lord would send us one; one at least who is a follower of Himself."
John Buffett said no more, but that same evening he expressed to his
captain so strong a desire to remain behind that he obtained leave, and
next day was sent on shore.
The sailor named John Evans accompanied him to see him all right and
bring off the latest news; but Evans himself had become so delighted
with the appearance of the place and people, that he deserted into the
mountains, and the ship had to sail without him.
Thus were two new names added to the muster-roll of Pitcairn.
John Buffett in particular turned out to be an invaluable acquisition.
He was a man of earnest piety, and had obtained a fairly good education.
Adams and he drew together at once.
"You'll not object, p'r'aps," said the former on the occasion of their
first talk over future plans, "to give me a lift wi' the school?"
"Nothing would please me better," answered Buffett. "I'm rather fond o'
teachin', to say truth, and am ready to begin work at once."
Not only did Buffett thereafter become to Adams as a right arm in the
school, but he assisted in the church services on Sundays, and
eventually came to read sermons, which, for the fixing of them more
effectually on the minds of the people, he was wont to deliver three
times over.
But Buffett could tell stories as well as read sermons. One afternoon
some of the youngsters caught him meditating under a cocoa-nut tree, and
insisted on his telling the story of his life.
"It ain't a long story, boys an' girls," said he, "for I've only lived
some six-and-twenty years yet. I was born in 1797, near Bristol, and
was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker. Not takin' kindly to that sort o'
work, I gave it up an' went to sea. However, I'm bound to say, that the
experience I had with the saw and plane has been of the greatest service
to me ever since; and it's my opinion, that what ever a man is, or
whoever he may be, he should learn a trade; ay, even though he should be
a king."
The Pitcairn juveniles did not see the full force of this remark, but
nevertheless they believed it heartily.
"It was the American merchant service I entered," continued Buffett,
"an' my first voyage was to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. I was wrecked
there, and most o' the crew perished; but I swam ashore and was saved,
through God's mercy. Mark that, child'n. It wasn't by good luck, or
good swimmin', or chance, or fate, or anything else in the shape of a
second cause, but it was the good God himself that saved, or rather
spared me. Now, I say that because there's plenty of people who don't
like to give their Maker credit for anything, 'cept when they do it in a
humdrum, matter-of-course way at church."
These last remarks were quite thrown away upon the children, whose
training from birth had been to acknowledge the goodness of God in
everything, and who could not, of course, comprehend the allusions to
formalism.
"Well," he continued, "after suffering a good deal, I was picked up by
some Canadian fishermen, and again went to sea, to be once again wrecked
and saved. That was in the year 1821. Then I went to England, and
entered on board a ship bound for China, from which we proceeded to
Manilla, and afterwards to California, where I stayed some time. Then I
entered an English whaler homeward bound, intendin' to go home, and the
Lord _did_ bring me home, for he brought me here, and here I mean to
stay."
"And we're all _so_ glad!" exclaimed Dolly Young, who had now become an
enthusiastic, warm-hearted, pretty young woman of twenty-three summers.
Dolly blushed as she spoke, but not with consciousness. It was but
innocent truthfulness. John Buffett paused, and looked at her steadily.
What John Buffett thought we are not prepared to say, but it may be
guessed, when we state that within two months of that date, he and Dolly
Young were united in marriage by old Adams, with all the usual
ceremonial, including the curtain-ring which did duty on all such
occasions, and the unfailing game of blind-man's-buff.
John Evans was encouraged, a few months later, to take heart and do
likewise. He was even bolder than Buffett, for he wooed and won a
princess; at least, if John Adams was in any sense a king, his second
daughter Rachel must have been a princess! Be this as it may, Evans
married her, and became a respected member of the little community.
And now another of these angel-like visits was looming in the distance.
About twelve years after the departure of the _Britain_ and _Tagus_, one
of H.M. cruisers, the _Blossom_, Captain Beechy, sailed out of the Great
Unknown into the circlet of Pitcairn, and threw the islanders into a
more intense flutter than ever, for there were now upwards of fifty
souls there, many of whom had not only never seen a man-of-war, but had
had their imaginations excited by the glowing descriptions of those who
had. This was in 1825.
The _Blossom_ had been fitted out for discovery. When Buffett first
recognised her pennant he was in great trepidation lest they had come to
carry off Adams, but such was not the case. It was merely a passing
visit. Three weeks the _Blossom_ stayed, during which the captain and
officers were entertained in turn at the different houses; and it seems
to have been to both parties like a brief foretaste of the land of
Beulah.
Naturally, Captain Beechy was anxious to test the truth of the glowing
testimony of former visitors. He had ample opportunity, and afterwards
sent home letters quite as enthusiastic as those of his predecessors in
regard to the simplicity, truthfulness, and genuine piety alike of old
and young.
If a few hours' visit had on former occasions given the community food
for talk and reflection, you may be sure that the three weeks' of the
_Blossom's_ sojourn gave them a large supply for future years. It
seemed to Otaheitan Sally, and Dinah Adams, and Dolly and Polly Young,
and the rest of them, that the island was not large enough now to
contain all their new ideas, and they said so to John Adams one evening.
"My dears," said John, in reply, laying his hand on that of Sally, who
sat beside him on their favourite confabulation-knoll, which overlooked
Bounty Bay, "ideas don't take up much room, and if they did, we could
send 'em out on the sea, for they won't drown. Ah! Sall, Sall--"
"What are you thinking of, dear father?" asked Sally, with a sympathetic
look, as the old man stopped.
"That my time can't be long now. I feel as if I was about worn-out."
"Oh, _don't_ say that, father!" cried his daughter Hannah, laying her
cheek on his arm, and hugging it. "There's ever so much life in you
yet."
"It may be so. It _shall_ be so if the Lord will," said Adams, with a
little smile; "but I'm not the man I was."
Poor John Adams spoke truly. He had landed on Pitcairn a slim young
fellow with broad shoulders, powerful frame, and curling brown hair. He
was now growing feeble and rather corpulent; his brow was bald, his
scanty locks were grey, and his countenance deeply care-worn. No
wonder, considering all he had gone through, and the severe wound he had
received upwards of thirty years before.
Nevertheless, Hannah was right when she said there was a good deal of
life in the old man yet. He lived after that day to tie the
wedding-knot between his own youngest child George, and Polly Young.
More than that, he lived to dandle George's eldest son, Johnny, on his
knees, and to dismiss him in favour of his little brother Jonathan when
that child made his appearance.
But before this latter event the crowning joy of John Adams's life was
vouchsafed to him, in the shape of a worthy successor to his Pitcairn
throne.
The successor's name was neither pretty nor suggestive of romance, yet
was closely allied with both. It was George Nobbs. He arrived at the
island in very peculiar circumstances, on the 15th of November 1828, and
told his story one afternoon under the banyan-tree to Adams and Buffett,
and as many of the young generation as could conveniently get near him,
as follows:--
"Entering the navy at an early period of life, I went through many
vicissitudes and experiences in various quarters of the globe. But
circumstances induced me to quit the navy, and for a short time I
remained inactive, until my old commander offered to procure me a berth
on board a ship of eighteen guns, designed for the use of the patriots
in South America.
"Accepting the offer, I left England early in 1816 for Valparaiso, and
cruised there for sixteen months, taking many prizes. While on board of
one of our prizes I was taken prisoner, and carried into Callao, where I
and my comrades were exposed to the gaze and insults of the people.
Here, for many months, I walked about the streets with fifty pounds
weight of iron attached to me, on a spare diet of beans and Chili
peppers, with a stone at night for a pillow. We were made to carry
stones to repair the forts of the place. There were seventeen of us.
Five or six of our party died of fever and exposure to the sun, after
which our guardians became careless about us. We managed to get rid of
our irons by degrees, and at length were left to shift for ourselves.
Soon after, with some of my comrades, I escaped on board a vessel in the
bay, and succeeded in getting put on board our own vessel again, which
was still cruising in these seas.
"Entering Valparaiso in the latter part of 1817, I had now an
opportunity of forwarding about 140 pounds to my poor mother in England,
who was sorely in need of help at the time. Some time after that I went
with a number of men in a launch to attempt the cutting out of a large
merchant ship from Cadiz. We were successful, and my share of the
prize-money came to about 200 pounds, one hundred of which I also sent
to my mother. After this I took a situation as prize-master on board a
vessel commanded by a Frenchman. Deserting from it, I sought to
discover a road to Guayaquil through the woods, where I suffered great
hardships, and failed in the attempt."
The adventurer paused a few seconds, and looked earnestly in Adams's
countenance.
"I am not justifying my conduct," he said, "still less boasting."
"Right you are, Nobbs," said Adams, with an approving nod. "Your line
of life won't stand justification according to the rule of God's book."
"I know it, Adams; I am merely telling you a few of the facts of my
life, which you have a right to know from one who seeks an asylum among
your people. Well, returning to the coast, I went on board an English
whaler, by the captain of which I was kindly treated and landed at
Talcahuans. I had not been long there, when, at midnight, on the 7th
May, in the year 1819, the Chilian garrison, fifteen in number, was
attacked by Benevades and his Indian troops. A number of the
inhabitants were killed, the town was sacked, and a large number of
prisoners, myself included, carried off. Next morning troops from
Concepcion came in pursuit, and rescued us as we were crossing a river.
"Soon after this affair I returned to Valparaiso, and engaged as first
officer of a ship named the _Minerva_, which had been hired by the
Chilian Government as a transport to carry out troops to Peru. Having
landed the troops, I took part, on 5th November, in cutting out a
Spanish frigate named the _Esmeraldas_ from under the Callao batteries.
This affair was planned and headed by Lord Cochrane. Owing to my being
in this affair I was appointed to a Chilian sloop of war, and received a
lieutenant's commission.
"I will not take up your time at present with an account of the various
cuttings-out and other warlike expeditions I was engaged in while in the
Chilian service. It is enough to refer to the last, which ended my
connection with that service. Having been sent in charge of a boat up a
river, to recover a quantity of property belonging to British and
American merchants, which had been seized by the miscreant Benevades, we
set off and pulled up unmolested, but finding nothing of consequence,
turned to pull back again, when volleys of musketry were poured into us
from both banks. We saw no one, and could do nothing but pull down as
fast as possible, losing many men as we went. At last a few horsemen
showed themselves. We had a carronade in the bow, which we instantly
turned on them and discharged. This was just what they wanted. At the
signal, a large boat filled with soldiers shoved out and boarded us. We
fought, of course; but with so many wounded, and assailed by superior
numbers, we had no chance, and were soon beaten. I received a
tremendous blow on the back of the neck, which nearly killed me.
Fortunately I did not fall. Those who did, or were too badly wounded to
walk, were at once thrown into the river. The rest of us had our
clothes stripped off, and some rags given us in exchange. A pair of
trousers cut off at the knees, a ragged poncho, and a sombrero fell to
my share. We were marched off to prison, where we lay three weeks.
Every Chilian of our party was shot, while I and three other Europeans
were exchanged for four of Benevades's officers.
"Soon after this event, while at Valparaiso, I received a letter from my
dear mother telling me that she was ill. I quitted the Chilian navy at
once, and went home, alas! to see her die.
"In 1822 I went to Naples, and was wrecked while on my way to Messina.
In the following year I went to Sierra Leone as chief mate of a ship
called the _Gambia_. Of nineteen persons who went out in that ship,
only the captain, two coloured men, and myself lived to return."
"Why, Mr Nobbs," interrupted John Buffett at this point, "I used to
think I'd seen a deal o' rough service, but I couldn't hold a candle to
you, sir."
"It is an unenviable advantage to have of you," returned the other, with
a sad smile. "However, I'm getting near the end now. In all that I
have said I have not told you what the Lord has done for my soul.
Another time I will tell that to you. At present it is enough to say,
that I had heard of your little island here, and of the wonderful
accounts of it brought home at various times. I had an intense longing
to reach it and devote my life to the service of Jesus. I sold all my
little possessions, resolving to quit England for ever. But I could
find no means of getting to Pitcairn. Leaving England, however, in
November 1825, I reached Calcutta in May 1826, sailed thence for
Valparaiso in 1827, and proceeded on to Callao. Here I fell in with
Bunker, to whom you have all been so kind. Finding no vessel going in
this direction, and my finances being nearly exhausted, I agreed on a
plan with him. He had a launch of eighteen tons, a mere boat, as you
know, but, being in bad health and without means, could not fit her out.
I agreed to spend my all in fitting this launch for sea, on the
understanding that I should become part proprietor, and that Bunker
should accompany me to Pitcairn.
"Well, you see, friends, we have managed it. Through the mercy of God
we have, by our two selves, made this voyage of 3500 miles, and now I
hope that my days of wandering are over, and that I shall begin here to
do the work of the Prince of Peace; but, alas! I fear that my poor
friend Bunker's days are numbered."
He was right. This bold adventurer, about whose history we know
nothing, died a few weeks after his arrival at Pitcairn.