CAST ASHORE.
WHEN Jack opened his eyes he lay for some time wondering where he was
and what had become of him. There were stars in the sky overhead, but
the light was stealing over it, and he felt that it was daybreak. There
was a loud, dull, roaring sound in his ears--a sound he could not
understand, for not even a breath of wind fanned his cheek. At last
slowly the facts came to his mind. There had been a great storm, the
vessel was among the breakers, he had got into the long-boat with Arthur
to put in the plugs, they had been lifted up and blown away--and then
suddenly Jack sat upright.
It was light enough for him to see that he was still in the boat, but
its back was broken and its sides staved in. Around him was a mass of
tangled foliage, and close beside him lay Arthur Hill, the blood slowly
oozing from a terrible gash in his forehead. Jack leaned over and raised
him, and loudly shouted his name in his ear. With a sigh Arthur opened
his eyes.
"What is it, Jack?" he asked feebly.
"We are saved, old man. We have been blown right ashore in the boat, and
we have both got shaken and hurt a bit; but, thank God, we are both
alive."
"Where are we?" Arthur asked, looking round.
"As far as I can see," Jack replied, "we are in the middle of a grove of
trees that have been blown down by the gale, and the leaves and branches
have broken our fall, otherwise we must have been smashed up. We must
have been lying here for the last ten hours. It was just about six
o'clock when we struck, for I looked at the clock in the cabin the last
time we were down there; and as the sun will be up before long, it must
be getting on for five now. Now, let us try to get out of this."
With the greatest difficulty, for they were still weak and terribly
shaken, the boys made their way through the tangle of trees and
branches, into which they had so providentially fallen. Both uttered an
exclamation of surprise as they reached the edge of the wood: the sea
was nearly half a mile away! A tremendous surf was still breaking, and
for a quarter of a mile out a band of white breakers extended along the
shore. There were no signs of the _Wild Wave_.
Scarce speaking a word they made their way down to the shore, with the
faint hope that some of their comrades might have been thrown on the
strand alive. A few bits of broken timber alone showed that a wreck had
taken place; the rest had probably been swept by the current up or down
the coast. They walked for half a mile and then stopped. The sea here
had made a clean breach over the land, and extended as far as the eye
could reach. Retracing their steps they were again stopped by a similar
obstacle. Then they went inland, passed round the grove of fallen trees,
and looked landward.
As far as they could see stretched a broad sheet of water, broken only
by the branches of fallen trees. It was evident that a vast tract of
country had been submerged by the storm, and that what was now an island
upon which they stood had only been saved from a similar fate by being a
few feet higher than the surrounding country. Every tree upon it had
been felled, and the very surface of the soil seemed to have been torn
off by the fury of the gale.
Scarcely a word had been spoken from the time they first reached the
shore. The fate of their shipmates had depressed them profoundly, and as
yet they could scarcely feel grateful for their own escape. Jack was the
first to rouse himself from this state of despondency.
"Well, Arthur," he said, "things don't look very bright, but we must
hope for the best. At any rate let us thank God for having rescued us in
such a marvellous manner. It seems almost a miracle."
Both the boys were bareheaded, their caps having been blown away at the
commencement of the gale, and they now stood with bended heads for some
minutes silently thanking God for their preservation.
"Now, Arthur," Jack said cheerfully, "let us go down to the water and
see how fast it is sinking. It was running like a sluice into the sea at
both ends of this island, and I do not suppose that it will be many
hours before it is gone. As soon as it is we must set out and make our
way across to the land beyond it. We are sure to find some villages
there and to get some sort of food after we've been down to the water. I
vote we go back to the wood and lie down in the shade there. The sun
will soon be unpleasantly hot, and as there is no chance of our getting
a drink the sooner we are out of it the better."
The day passed slowly; the boys talked but little, and when they did so
their conversation turned entirely upon their lost shipmates, for that
subject occupied their thoughts far more than their present situation.
Before night the water had so far sunk that only some glistening pools
appeared where a broad sheet of water had before spread. Arthur was
suffering much from thirst and would have started at once, but Jack
persuaded him to wait until the next morning.
"We may tumble into deep holes full of mud," he said, "and should get on
very slowly. Let us have a good night's sleep and start with the first
gleam of daylight. We shall be able to get along fast then."
They found, however, that it was not very fast work; for the country had
been cultivated and the soil was now converted into a soft mud, in which
they sank up to their knees. Here and there as they went on they saw
piles of mud and sunburnt bricks, with timbers projecting, and knew that
these marked the site where villages or houses had stood. Among the
clumps of fallen trees they saw bits of colour, and knew that these were
the bodies of some of the natives. Here and there, too, they saw the
carcass of a bullock. At last they found the ground under their feet
much firmer.
"This has been a road," Jack said. "The flood as it went down has left
three or four inches of mud on it, but it is fairly firm underneath. If
we can manage to keep on this we shall get on well."
For six hours they plodded on, sometimes losing the path and floundering
in the deep mud, at others regaining it and going along briskly. At the
end of that time the mud was less deep, and in half an hour they were
beyond the range of the inundation. Here and there a tree was still
standing, and after an hour's walking they came to a village. All the
houses were unroofed and many of them levelled to the ground, but the
walls of a few were still erect; some natives were moving about, and a
few were digging at the ruined houses, apparently searching for the
remains of those buried there. They evinced no interest in the arrival
of the two shipwrecked white boys, being too utterly cowed and broken to
think of anything but their own misery.
"There is a well, Arthur; at least I expect it is that," Jack said,
pointing to a post upon which was a long pole with a rope hanging from
the end in the air.
They hurried to the spot, for both were suffering severely, and Arthur
was scarcely able to speak. They found to their delight that Jack's
surmise was a correct one, and hauling up the rope a bucket full of
water came to the surface. Arthur was about to seize it, when Jack said,
"You had better take this thing, Arthur; the natives might make a row if
you drank from their bucket." Arthur seized the half gourd that Jack had
picked up, dipped it into the bucket, and handed it to Jack.
"Fire away, man; you are worse than I am," Jack replied.
The gourd had to be refilled two or three times before they were both
satisfied, then they went back into the village. Jack pointed to his
mouth, and made signs that they wanted something to eat. The natives
shook their heads apathetically and proceeded with their work. At last
they went up to an old woman sitting in a chair, and rocking herself
backwards and forwards. She paid no attention when Jack addressed her,
but upon his holding out a shilling to her her manner at once changed.
She hobbled into the house and returned with a pile of flat cakes made
from some native grain.
"We shall do now," Jack said, as, munching away at the bread, they
tramped on. "We must get to some place sooner or later where there is
somebody who can talk English. How much money have you got, Arthur?"
"I have got two pounds," Arthur said. "I took it out of my chest while
the gale was going on. I thought if we were wrecked and did get to shore
it might be useful."
"I wish I had done the same," Jack said. "I have luckily got a sovereign
in my pocket, for I was going to pay Joe Scales for those six light
canvas trousers he made me. Well, three pounds between us is not bad;
and I have got four or five shillings loose, which will do, I hope,
until we get to some place where we can change our gold."
They walked on till sunset, passing several other villages by the way.
All of these had suffered more or less severely by the storm, but it was
evident that as they got further inland the work of destruction had been
less complete. At sunset they sat down in a grove of trees still
standing, the first they had passed, and there spent the night.
"That looks a good-sized place," Jack said, as late on the following
afternoon they came in sight of what was evidently a town of some size.
"We shall probably find someone there who can speak English."
After crossing a bridge over a river they entered the town. They
addressed several people, but these shook their heads and pointed
forward.
"What do they mean, Jack?"
"I am sure I don't know, unless they mean there is somebody farther on
who speaks English." Presently they came to a large house. Several
people were passing in and out. Jack spoke to one of these, but he shook
his head and pointed indoors, "This must be the right place, Arthur."
They went into a large room, where two or three natives were sitting
writing. They looked up in surprise at the two travel-stained English
lads.
"Can any of you speak English?" Jack asked. One of them at once left his
desk and came forward.
"I can speak English. What do you want?"
"Thank goodness!" Jack exclaimed fervently. "We are two officers
belonging to an English ship that was wrecked in the storm two days ago.
We believe all the rest have been drowned. We have made our way on foot
across the country, and you are the first person we have met who can
speak English."
At the word "officer" the clerk had assumed a more respectful attitude.
"The collector-sahib went away yesterday to see what could be done and
what supplies are needed; he will be back this evening. If you will
follow me I will take you to the memsahib, who will see after you."
Wondering whom they were going to see, the boys followed their conductor
out at the back of the house into a large garden, in the centre of which
stood a pretty bungalow. In the shaded verandah a lady was sitting
reading. Motioning the boys to remain where they were the clerk went
forward and addressed the lady, who at once rose. He beckoned to the
boys, who advanced to her as she was coming forward to meet them.
"So you have been shipwrecked, I hear?" she said. "It was a terrible
gale. We did not feel it so much here, but I hear the destruction on the
coast has been awful, and they say thousands of lives have been lost.
Pray, come in. My husband is away, but he will be back this evening."
The boys soon found themselves seated in easy-chairs in the verandah,
while white-robed servants brought them refreshments. "Now," the lady
said, "tell me all about yourselves. You belong to a ship that was
wrecked; whereabout did she come ashore?"
"We have not the least idea," Jack said. "We had been hours running
before the gale before we were cast ashore. We have been walking for two
days, and have not found a soul who could speak English until now, so
that we have not the least idea where we are."
"This is Cuttack," the lady said. "It is just outside the Madras
Presidency. We are only separated from it by the river Mahanuddy. You
must have been wrecked somewhere between the mouth of the river and
Palmyras."
"How far are we away from Calcutta, ma'am?"
"About two hundred miles," she replied. "It is a low swampy unhealthy
country all the way, but you will have no difficulty in taking a passage
from here in a native craft. My husband will see about that for you.
Where are your companions? You surely cannot be the only two saved from
the wreck?"
"I am greatly afraid we are," Jack replied; "and we were saved almost
by a miracle. I hardly expect you to believe me when I tell you." He
then related the events of the storm, and the manner in which they had
reached land.
"It is certainly extraordinary," the lady said; "but it does not seem to
me by any means impossible, for I have heard that in these terrible
cyclones houses have been taken up and carried long distances, and I can
quite understand the same thing happening to a boat."
An hour later Mr. Darcy the collector returned, and after hearing the
boys' story said he would at once cause inquiries to be made along the
coast whether any white men had been thrown up alive.
"I fear that there is but little hope," he said, "for the surf on the
coast in a cyclone like that we have had is tremendous, and even were
anyone to float in on a spar he would probably be dashed to pieces when
he approached the shore, and if he escaped that would be carried out
again by the under tow. However, I will cause every inquiry to be made.
The destruction has been terrible: numbers of villages have been swept
away, and I hear that a great number of native craft are missing. Of
course you will stop here for a few days with us to recover from your
fatigue. I will rig you out until you can get fresh clothes made."
The lads stopped for a week under the hospitable roof of Mr. Darcy. No
news came of any Europeans having been washed ashore alive, though
several dead bodies were reported as having been cast up at various
points. At the end of the week they were rigged up afresh, and Mr. Darcy
procured passages for them in a dhow, bound for Calcutta. He laughed at
the idea of the boys paying for their clothes or passage, and said he
was only too pleased that he and his wife should have been of service to
them.
They arrived at Calcutta without adventure, and at once reported
themselves to the agent of the _Wild Wave_ and told the story of her
loss. Here again they experienced the warm-hearted hospitality which is
so general in India, the agent taking them out to his house and
installing them there until the next steamer was to sail for England. He
had telegraphed upon the day of their arrival to Mr. Godstone, and
received an answer requesting him to take passages home for them to
England, where they duly arrived without any exciting incident.
Seven years have passed away, and Jack Robson is now second mate in one
of Mr. Godstone's ships, and will be his first officer on next voyage.
He has gone through many adventures since, but none approaching in
interest and excitement to those which occurred on his two voyages in
the _Wild Wave_. His mother still lives at Dulwich, and Lily is engaged
to be married to Arthur Hill as soon as the latter attains the rank of
captain. Jack is neither engaged nor married, but his mother has a
strong idea that before very long he and Mildred Godstone will come to
an understanding with each other.
Jack is always at the house when at home, and is treated by Mr. Godstone
and his wife as one of the family. Indeed, Mrs. Godstone has as much as
hinted to Jack's mother that she and her husband will offer no objection
to the young sailor, but that, of course, they will wish their
son-in-law to leave the sea and settle as one of the firm in London.
Each time he is at home Jack makes a point of running down to Leigh and
spending a few days there. "Sea-life is all very well, uncle," he says,
"but for downright good sailing there is nothing in the world that to my
mind beats a bawley."
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Page 112, the edge of the print was not visible, the following words
were filled in:
"arrival of tl" changed to "arrival of the"
"of the ric" changed to "of the riot,"
"and alarmed t" changed to "and alarmed to"
Page 167, last letter on edge missing: "o" changed to "of" (great
mountain of)
Page 184, "did'nt" changed to "didn't" (We didn't much care)
Pages 122 and 169, "dozed" spelled "dosed" in this text (dosed off)