therefore, these two tasks were taken in hand. Such cases and packages
as it was thought the doctor would have a difficulty in breaking open
unaided were attacked by the three men, and their contents laid bare;
and then Gaunt and Nicholls got on board the raft--which was berthed at
a short distance from the beach and made thoroughly secure by being
moored with the ship's smallest kedge--and, hoisting her huge lateen
sail, cast off from the mooring-buoy, and proceeded to execute a few
trial evolutions preparatory to the exploration of the reef. The mode
of working the raft under sail was, as has already been intimated, the
same in principle with that in vogue among the Ladrone Islanders; that
is to say, the vessel was sailed indifferently, with either end
foremost, the sail being always kept on the same side of the mast. In
order to accomplish this two broad-bladed steering-oars were necessary--
one for each end of the craft--and a long tripping-line, with its ends
bent on to either end of the yard, hanging down in a bight on deck, so
that by its means the end of the yard which was to form the tack might
be hauled down on deck. It will be understood that when plying to
windward a craft so rigged is never thrown in stays, but when it is
necessary to go on the opposite tack her stern is thrown up to windward
by means of the steering-oar, which is then laid in; the end of the yard
which is down on deck and made fast is released, and the opposite end of
the yard is hauled down and secured; the sheet is transferred from one
end of the vessel to the other; the steering-oar at that end is laid
out; and the vessel, gathering way, moves off in the required direction.
It is probably the most simple mode of working a craft known to
navigating mankind, and it obviates all possibility of missing stays; a
difficulty which mainly induced Gaunt to adopt it on board his raft.
This was the first occasion upon which it had had a fair trial, and it
was found to answer admirably; the raft proving to be not only so stiff
as to be absolutely uncapsizable, but also remarkably fast considering
her shape, a speed of six knots being got out of her unloaded and with a
good fresh breeze blowing.
As soon as the somewhat novel mode of working her had been
satisfactorily tested, the exploration of the reef was begun in earnest.
They cruised along its inner edge to the southward in the first
instance, and discovered several places where it would probably have
been possible for them to pass out to sea; but in every case the
channels, if indeed they were worthy of the name, were so narrow and
tortuous that Gaunt had no fancy for attempting them unless as a last
resource. They next tried the northern side of the bay; and here they
were more successful, for just where the reef seemed to join the land
there was a channel of about one hundred feet in width, nearly straight,
and trending in a north-westerly direction, with so much water in it
that the sea only broke in one or two places throughout its entire
length. This channel was all that they could desire; for as the
prevailing wind seemed to be about south-west, they were enabled to pass
in and out of the bay with the sheet slightly eased off.
Standing through this channel, which was only about a quarter of a mile
long, they soon found themselves in the open sea, with a considerable
amount of swell, over which the raft rode with a buoyancy which was most
satisfactory to her designer. If Gaunt had any doubt whatever about the
strength of any portion of his novel construction it was in the
transverse bracing which connected the bottoms of his two pontoons, and
he was therefore rather anxious for the first ten minutes or quarter of
an hour after he found himself fairly in the open sea. But the bracing
was found amply sufficient to give the required rigidity, and this fact
once demonstrated he kept away before the wind, and coasted along the
northern shore of his island, keeping at a sufficient distance from the
tremendously lofty cliffs to prevent his being becalmed. With the wind
over her quarter the raft travelled remarkably fast, and within an hour
of the time when she passed out through the channel she was abreast of
the entrance to the river--which, by the way, was so effectually masked
that Gaunt actually ran past it, and arrived off a point which they had
seen from their original landing-place before he became aware of the
fact. Retracing his way, the engineer, after a careful search, found
the opening and passed into the river. Their course for the first two
miles was dead to windward; but the raft sailed remarkably near the
wind, and held her own even better than her designer had believed to be
possible--the long, flat sides of the two pontoons seeming to act the
parts of leeboards, and so preventing her from making any perceptible
leeway. They reached the lake, sailed round the islet, landed there,
and procured a liberal supply of fruits of various descriptions, which
seemed to grow more luxuriantly and of a finer flavour there than on the
mainland, and then embarking once more made the best of their way back
to the bay, where they anchored the raft and proceeded on shore in a
small boat, which had been built as a sort of tender to the larger
craft.
They found Henderson still busy with his examination of the cargo, and
Gaunt in particular was highly delighted with its multifarious
character. There were many articles which he foresaw would be of the
utmost use to them in the construction of their little ship, but perhaps
the find which delighted him most was a large circular saw. When his
eye fell upon this his vivid imagination at once pictured it as in
operation in a mill erected upon a spot which he had already recognised
as most suitable for the purpose; and he saw, too, that now they need no
longer be dependent upon the old ship-timber, full of bolt and trenail
holes, for the timber and planking of their craft, as they would be
enabled with the assistance of the saw to provide themselves with all
the planking, and, indeed, timber of every description which would be
necessary in their work, from the magnificent teak and other trees which
grew in such abundance on the island.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
CAPTAIN BLYTH AND YOUNG MANNERS REAPPEAR.
Having now secured from the wreck every scrap which it was possible to
obtain, the little party had more leisure than they had had since the
moment of their landing; for there was now no longer any fear that if a
gale sprang up they would sustain any material loss. True, the greatest
part of their work still remained to be done; but there was no longer
the same necessity for hurry that there had been whilst any portion of
the cargo remained at the mercy of wind and wave, and they therefore
resolved that in future they would take matters a little more easily.
The next portion of their task consisted in the conveyance of everything
landed from the wreck round to the islet; which the ladies had suggested
should be called "Fay Island," its exquisite and fairy-like beauty
seeming to them to render such a name appropriate. The men of the party
were by this time beginning to feel that of late they had somewhat
overworked themselves; they needed rest, and they determined to indulge
in a couple of days' holiday before engaging in the task of
transhipment. Up to this time the ladies had found themselves unable to
render any very material assistance; yet they had not been altogether
idle, for under Doctor Henderson's directions, and with his assistance,
they had succeeded in luring into large wicker-work baskets, which the
doctor had very ingeniously framed, the whole of the fowls; the capture
consisting of three cocks, fourteen or fifteen hens, and a couple of
broods of chickens. So that, with a little careful management they now
believed they need never be at a loss for eggs, or even an occasional
dinner of roast fowl.
During the two days of holiday which the men permitted themselves
Henderson employed himself in wandering about the island, gun in hand,
in search of botanical and natural history specimens; and he not only
secured several rare birds, the skins of which he managed to cure, but
also some very valuable medicinal plants. Gaunt and Nicholls, on the
other hand, chose to devote their time to a further and more complete
examination of the island, the result being that they discovered a very
much more suitable site for the shipbuilding-yard than the one already
fixed upon; a site which, though somewhat further away from the spot
where they had intended to build their house, was much more secure and
less liable to discovery by an enemy, should such unhappily make his
appearance.
Nothing worthy of mention occurred during these two days, and on the
morning of the third work was once more resumed with a will. The task
of reloading the raft proved, as had been anticipated, a somewhat
laborious one, and, indeed, their first idea had been that instead of
discharging on the beach it would be better to convey the goods direct
from the wreck round to the islet; but the loss of time which this would
involve seemed to them so serious that, rather than incur it and the
loss which might possibly result therefrom, they had decided to put up
with the inconvenience and the extra labour of an additional handling of
all their goods. The real value of the raft and the wisdom which had
suggested her construction now became fully apparent, for she made two
and sometimes three trips a day between the west bay and Fay Island with
loads averaging about ten tons on each trip.
The day at length arrived when this part of their task drew so near its
completion that they expected to finish the transfer before evening; and
on this particular day they experienced a most agreeable surprise. For,
as the raft, with Gaunt and Nicholls on board, was running down with its
last load, Nicholls caught sight of what he took to be a tiny sail in
the offing to the northward, to which he drew Gaunt's attention. The
latter, who usually carried his telescope with him, at once brought the
instrument to bear upon the object, and found that Nicholls was right;
it was indeed a sail. The craft, a very small one, was some four miles
to leeward when first descried, and notwithstanding the loss of time
which such a step would involve the engineer promptly bore up to examine
it. As the two craft closed with each other it was seen that the small
sail was heading in for the island, and a few minutes later she was made
out to be an out-rigger canoe with two persons on board. Her
construction was of so primitive a character that Gaunt naturally
expected to find that the persons on board her were natives who had
possibly been blown off the land, and, failing to make their own island
again, had perhaps been wandering aimlessly about the ocean for many
days. What was his surprise, then, when he observed one of the
individuals rise in the canoe and lift something to his shoulder, the
movement being followed by a flash, a little puff of smoke, and the
faint report of a gun. Keeping his glass fixed upon the canoe, Gaunt
next observed that the individual who had fired the gun was
gesticulating violently, the gesticulations being such as to convey the
idea of rejoicing rather than an effort to attract attention. A few
minutes later the raft was so close to the canoe that the engineer,
almost doubting the evidence of his senses, was able to identify the two
persons in the canoe as none other than Captain Blyth and young Manners.
At the proper moment the raft was rounded-to, the canoe shot alongside,
and Captain Blyth, closely followed by young Manners with the canoe's
painter in his hand, sprang upon the deck of the raft and gave Gaunt a
hearty hand-grasp.
"My _dear_ fellow!" he exclaimed, "how _are_ you? And you, too,
Nicholls, my lad--I did not expect to see _you_ here! How are you, my
good fellow? Well, Mr Gaunt," he continued, "this is the happiest day
I have known since the mutiny. I am heartily glad to meet you once
more, sir, and to see you looking so well. And how"--with a slight
shade of hesitation--"how are the rest of your party?"
"All perfectly well, thank you; and as happy as can reasonably be
expected under the circumstances," answered Gaunt. "But where on earth
have you come from?" he continued; "and how did you manage to effect
your escape from the _Flying Cloud_?"
"We have come from a bit of an island away yonder, one hundred miles or
so to the eastward of the spot where we _now_ are. And we did not
_escape_ from the _Flying Cloud_ at all, sir--John Blyth is not the sort
of man to voluntarily desert his ship as long as she will hang together
or float with him--no; we were simply shoved ashore by those scoundrels
of mutineers, and left to shift for ourselves as best we might. And a
precious poor shift it would have been, I can tell you, but for Ned,
who--fine fellow that he is--managed somehow to scrape together for us
not only a fair supply of food, but also arms, a few tools, and nails
enough to knock that bit of a canoe together. He gave us the exact
position of your island, and told us that _we_ might possibly get a
sight of the top of yonder mountain on a clear day--which, as a matter
of fact we did, once or twice--so that I knew exactly how to steer in
order to make a good land-fall. And so you are all in good health, eh?
Well, I am delighted to hear that. And where are the rest of your
party? It will be a pleasant sight for my old eyes when they rest upon
the ladies and those dear children once more--bless their sweet innocent
little hearts!"
"You shall see them in good time--in the course of two or three hours--
as soon as we have landed our cargo and can work back to the western end
of the island, where our camp is at present located," answered Gaunt,
with a smile. "But, tell me," he continued, "before our conversation
drifts away from the subject, where and how is Miss Stanhope?"
"She is--or was, when I saw her last--on board the _Flying Cloud_,"
answered the skipper. "You must understand that I was landed from the
ship on the day following that on which they put you ashore here; so I
know nothing whatever about what may have happened to her since then.
But they let me wish her good-bye before I was landed, and I had a few
minutes' conversation with her; and, from what passed then and in a chat
I previously had with Ned, I am in hope that she is as safe as a girl
can be in the hands of such a set of ruffians. It seems that they are
keeping Ned to navigate the ship for them; and they are keeping Miss
Stanhope as a hostage for his good faith, and to insure his dealing
honestly with them. And from what I know of Williams I am not
altogether without hopes that so long as Ned faithfully obeys their
orders the young lady will be perfectly safe. But, at best, her
situation is a very terrible one, and I would give my right hand this
moment to see her safe once more among us. And now, tell me, what have
you been doing all the time, and what is the meaning of this raft and
her cargo?"
Gaunt, in reply, gave a pretty fully detailed account of all that they
had done, and of their future plans; winding up by expressing the
exceeding satisfaction he felt that the little party would now be
benefited by the aid and advice of two such valuable auxiliaries as the
skipper and young Manners.
Captain Blyth listened most attentively to everything the engineer told
him--the raft meanwhile being worked to windward toward the harbour's
mouth--and when he had heard everything he remarked:
"Well, so far you have done admirably; I do not believe matters could
have been managed better had I been here myself. And as to this raft of
yours--if raft you call her--she is simply a wonder; why she turns to
windward like a racing cutter. I am sure _I_ should never have dreamed
of scheming out anything half so handy. You engineers are very clever
people, there is no denying that, and can even give an old salt like
myself a wrinkle now and then, as I have learned before to-day. But
now, to say a word or two about the future. You tell me that this is
your last cargo; and that on your next trip you propose to transfer all
hands to this bit of an islet that lies away inland there somewhere.
Now, let me ask you, have you had any craft of any description prowling
about in the neighbourhood lately?"
"We have not sighted a sail of any description since we saw the _Flying
Cloud's_ canvas sink below yonder horizon," answered Gaunt, pointing to
the eastward.
"So much the better," said the skipper; "and I am right glad to hear it.
These waters, as you may perhaps know, are not often traversed by the
craft of civilised nations; indeed, so far as I can make out, we are
quite out of all the regular ship-tracks. But Manners and I have been
alarmed on two or three occasions on our own island yonder by the
appearance of proas--a class of craft which, I may tell you, are usually
manned by Malays, or semi-savages of a somewhat similar race and
character; and if any such should come prying about here they will
certainly beat up our quarters and give us no end of trouble. Indeed,
to speak the whole truth, my dear fellow, I would as soon be in the
hands of a crew of mutineers as in theirs. So, if you will listen to my
advice, our first job should be the building of a house large enough to
accommodate all hands; and, if possible, it should be so fortified as to
enable us to hold out with some chance of success against such an attack
as those fellows would be likely to make in the event of their looking
in here."
This was news indeed, the gravity and importance of which is would be
difficult to over-estimate. Gaunt already knew something of the Malays
by reputation; and he was aware that Captain Blyth was speaking no more
than the truth when he asserted that the party would be certainly no
worse off in the hands of the mutineers than they would be in those of a
horde of Malay pirates, whose calling only fosters their natural
propensity for rapine and bloodshed. He had heard one or two perfectly
hideous stories of atrocities committed by those wretches when
unfortunate ships' crews had fallen into their hands. And he shuddered,
and his blood ran cold as his vivid imagination pictured the women and
children of the party in the hands and at the mercy of such a band. In
this, as in every other case of difficulty or danger, the safety and
welfare of the women and children would naturally be the first
consideration; and Gaunt's first mental question was how would they be
affected by these tidings. It was true, he reflected, that the proas
might _not_ visit the island; but, as it was evident that they were
cruising in the neighbourhood, it would be the height of folly to rely
only upon chance in such a matter. And he forthwith began to turn over
in his mind what would be the best steps to take in the emergency. It
would be possible for the weaker members of the party to find
concealment somewhere among the spurs of the mountain; but any such
arrangement as this, whilst highly inconvenient, would be open to many
other disadvantages. And he could not help thinking of what their fate
would be, supposing that whilst lying thus concealed the men of the
party should be attacked and made captive or slain. Were such a
catastrophe as this to befall them, the fate of those poor women and
children would be little better than a living death; left as they would
be to shift for themselves unaided, unprotected, and their hearts wrung
with anguish for the loss of those to whom they were naturally in the
habit of looking for help and protection, and with little or no chance
of ultimate escape from their island prison. And, to add to the
difficulties of the situation, the little party were so weak-handed that
to construct such a fortified habitation as Blyth had suggested would
be, if not an absolute impossibility, a work of such time and labour
that for all practical purposes it might as well be unattempted. This
was no case of ordinary difficulty; it was not a difficulty which could
be overcome by the skilful and judicious application of a practically
unlimited supply of manual labour. And almost for the first time in his
life the engineer found himself confronted with a question which he was
unable to satisfactorily answer.
Whilst Gaunt was still revolving this difficult matter in his mind the
raft arrived at her usual berth at Fay Island, and her cargo was as
rapidly as possible discharged; after which she sailed at once for the
western settlement. Here the unexpected appearance of Captain Blyth and
Bob Manners was greeted with every manifestation of surprise and
delight; and the former had, as a matter of course, to recount to his
interested friends the whole story of his sojourn upon, and escape from
the island upon which the pair had been landed. The ladies were
naturally most anxious to learn the latest news concerning Miss
Stanhope; and the wary skipper, whilst telling them what little he knew
about her, did his best to allay their fears with regard to that young
lady, carefully concealing his own somewhat gloomy anticipations as to
her future. And so successfully did he manage this business that Mrs
Henderson's heart was considerably lightened of the load which had for
so long a time been secretly pressing upon it.
As soon as it could be done without exciting suspicion in the minds of
the ladies, Gaunt contrived upon one pretext or another to draw away all
the male members of the party, to whom forthwith he disclosed the
alarming intelligence which Captain Blyth had brought to the island with
him; pointing out to them the new danger which thus threatened the very
existence of them all, and earnestly begging them to give the matter
their most serious consideration. Suggestions were, of course, at once
offered in plenty, but they all possessed one very serious drawback;
they lacked practicability. The least unpromising of them all was that
of Captain Blyth, who boldly advocated the abandonment of the scheme for
building a vessel; and proposed that, instead of incurring the delay and
risk involved in the carrying out of such a plan, the raft should first
be strengthened as much as possible, and that he, Manners, and Nicholls
should then sail in her to Singapore, from whence it would be easy to
dispatch a rescue vessel to the island to take off the rest of the
party.
But when this proposal came to be canvassed more in detail, it was found
that there were several very grave objections to it, the most grave of
them all lying in the fact that, according to their calculations, the
stormy season must now be close at hand; and, strengthen the raft as
much as they would, or could, Gaunt believed that if she happened to be
caught in a hurricane, nothing could prevent her going to pieces.
Moreover, Singapore was well to windward of the island they were then
upon, and, though the raft did very fairly upon a taut bowline in fine
weather and in a moderate sea-way, Gaunt expressed very grave doubts as
to how she would behave in a strong breeze and a heavy sea. Then,
again, the absence of the skipper, Manners, and Nicholls would reduce
the defensive strength of those left behind to two men only, and that,
too, without any artificial protection, save such as their united
strength might enable them to throw up. On the whole, after canvassing
the question thoroughly, it was decided that the skipper's plan was very
much too risky for adoption under the then existing circumstances of the
party, and they eventually came to the conclusion that no better course
seemed open to them than to carry out Gaunt's original plan--namely, the
construction of a house which should be strong enough to serve also as a
fort in case of need.