ON THE ISLAND.
When he turned out of his berth next morning he noticed that the cabin
was entirely free from water, from which circumstance he judged that the
waves had quite subsided.
He climbed up on deck to take a look at the prospects there. He found
that the ship was high and dry upon the rocks, and that the water in her
hold had run out.
The sky was perfectly clear and beautifully blue; and the sun shone down
upon a sea as calm as the inland lake.
In the pure atmosphere the distant land could be distinctly seen, with
its rugged white line of rock-bound coast in strong relief between the
deep blue sky and deep blue sea.
But as Justin dropped his eyes upon the intervening space between the
land and the wreck, an exclamation of surprise and joy escaped him.
What he saw there was rescue! was safety! It was what could not have
been seen at any other period since the gale, for at no other such
period had the sea been so low as it was now. What he saw, then, was an
extremely long and narrow chain of rocks, reaching out from the distant
shore to the point upon which the ship had been wrecked. It was a
natural causeway, extending from the land far out into the sea. When the
sea was high, this causeway was deeply covered with water, and thus the
ship, when driven so far out of her course, had struck upon it and had
been wrecked. But now the sea had fallen; and the causeway was above
water; so that any expert walker and climber might pass over it almost
dry shod to the land.
Justin was not one of the sort who stand idle and indulge in
speculations while there is anything to do. He knew that the first thing
for him to do was to try to reach the shore by that causeway.
He knew that there was no danger of the ship breaking up just yet;
unless there should be another hurricane, which was not to be expected,
at least until the next change of the moon. He knew also that while she
held together, the ship afforded a safer place of refuge than the
unknown land might offer; for on the ship there was nothing to injure
him; while on the land he might fall into the hands of cannibals. And in
that case what could one man do against a whole tribe? Still, he
considered, that unless he would perish in the sea when the ship should
break up, that unknown land, with all its hidden dangers, must sooner or
later be his destination; and he thought the sooner he ventured upon it
the better.
With this resolution he went into the captain’s private cabin to look
for a small telescope, which he felt sure was there, and which he wished
to use in surveying the causeway and the shore. He found it and came
out. The little dog jumped down from the doctor’s berth, where he had
nestled himself in his accustomed place to sleep, and began barking and
jumping up and wagging his tail by way of a morning greeting to his new
master.
Justin patted his head, and then went out on deck, followed by his
little four-footed companion.
The ship had struck at right angles with the chain of rocks, so that the
starboard gangway was towards the shore. There Justin stood and,
adjusted his glass to view the far-reaching causeway and the distant
land.
But, even with the aid of his telescope, he could discover little more
than he knew before. He could only more distinctly ascertain that the
causeway was a chain of rocks leading to the shore—a road that would be
covered with water at high tide, and be entirely bare at low tide; and
that the distant land presented only a rock-bound and forbidding aspect.
While he was still gazing, he felt something claw at his boots, mewing
pitifully; and the next instant he heard a shrill barking, and spitting,
and clapper-clawing. And he looked down to see the cat and dog engaged
in a fierce combat, in which the fur flew plenteously.
Justin separated them, lifting the cat up in his arms, and giving the
dog an admonishing kick. Then he took them both down into the storeroom
and fed them apart.
While he was busy in this humane duty, he was greeted by a dismal
sound—a prolonged “Ooom-mow!” that he knew must come from the captain’s
cow. He followed the sound until it led him to her pen, which was
between decks in the stern, a position that had saved her from being
drowned, as the stern was lifted at such a high angle upon the rocks.
Justin had no sooner reached the cowpen, than he was greeted by a
perfect babel of noises from the animals confined in that part of the
ship. The hens clucked, the ducks quacked, the sheep baa’d, and, above
all, the pigs squealed as if they would have squealed themselves to
death, and their hearers to deafness.
All these animals had been saved by their position from drowning, but
they were in great danger of starving.
Justin went back to the storeroom, and found an ax, and broke open
several boxes of grain; and then went to the fresh water butts, and drew
water, and mixed food, and carried it to the pens, and fed the famished
creatures.
Then he set a pan of milk in the cabin for the cat. After which he
filled a little basket with a day’s provisions for himself, and put a
pair of revolvers in one pocket and a small telescope and a pocket
compass in the other. Then he put on a broad-brimmed hat, and took in
his hand a stout walking-stick, called the dog to follow him, and went
carefully down the leaning deck to the bows of the ship, that were
nearly on a level with the rocks. With one bound he sprang from the ship
to the causeway. The little dog jumped after him.
The causeway was high and dry above the sea, and long and narrow in its
course, and irregular and rugged in its aspect.
Walking on it would have been very dangerous, either to a reckless or a
timid pedestrian.
But Justin was at the same time careful and fearless, and he and his
little companion went on safely enough, though often slowly and with
difficulty; for often a deep chasm cut the causeway across, and then
Justin would be obliged to stop and consider the best way of getting
over it, and then, with the aid of his walking-stick, he would have to
descend very carefully down one side, and using his stick for a leaping
pole, throw himself across the isthmus at the bottom, and then as
carefully ascend the other side.
Sometimes the little dog would follow him well enough, tripping down the
first side, swimming the isthmus at the bottom, and climbing up the
other side; but at other times when the sides were very steep or the
stream at the bottom very rapid, the little dog would come to a dead
halt, and stand whining miserably, and Justin would have to turn back,
and take him up in his arms, and carry him over.
Thus Justin was two hours in going the distance between the ship and the
shore.
As he neared the shore, the causeway became wider and higher, until it
began to assume the aspect of a cape or promontory, and so it continued
to rise and widen until, almost unawares, Justin, with his dog, found
himself ascending a rocky hill, in character almost a barren mountain.
In this ascent he found his walking-stick of great service in getting a
purchase upon the difficult ground; but he found his little dog a great
trouble to him; for he—the dog—was tired, and would often stop and whine
as persistently to be taken up and carried as any spoiled child.
And Justin always indulged him, for he was much too kind-hearted to
leave his little four-footed companion behind. Another hour’s painful
toil brought Justin to the top of the mountain, which he judged to be
about a thousand feet above the level of the sea. The summit was as bare
of vegetation as the ascent from the causeway had been; so that Justin,
from his point of observation, had a very extended view of the
landscape. He took out his telescope, adjusted it, and took a sweeping
view around the horizon.
He found that the land was on all sides surrounded by the sea, and that
he was on an island oblong in shape, and as well as he could judge,
about twenty miles in length by about ten in its utmost width.
The lofty hill, or mountain, upon which he stood, was the highest point
upon the island, and was situated near the southern end—the long
causeway upon which the ship had been wrecked being the extreme southern
point. And, though this mountain was barren on the side descending
towards the interior, it was fringed with beautiful trees and gemmed
with sparkling fountains. The center of the island was very luxuriant in
tropical vegetation. Towards the extreme north the land descended and
narrowed to a sandy neck of not more than a mile in width from sea to
sea; but this neck was thickly wooded with the tall and graceful cocoa
palms.
Having observed so much, and the time being now about two hours after
noon, Justin, who was “sharp set,” from his long and toilsome walk along
the causeway and up the mountain, sat down and emptied his basket in
preparation for his midday meal. It was but a simple luncheon of cold
bacon, ship biscuit and milk, but he and his little dog enjoyed it very
much.
Having finished his meal, he began to descend the mountain, with the
purpose of exploring the island as far as he could that afternoon, and
of spending the night upon it, if he should find a convenient place of
repose.
He designed to return on the next morning to the ship to feed the
animals and make preparations for bringing away all that was likely to
be useful to him in this strange land, which he foresaw would probably
be his home for as long as he should live in this world.
With the aid of his stick he slowly descended the difficult mountain
side. About half way down he stopped at a fountain to assuage his
thirst. The little dog, who had kept close to his heels, followed his
example, and lapped lower down the stream.
Then Justin resumed his journey, and continued it without interruption
until, near the base of the mountain, the little dog startled a covey of
splendid oriental birds that burst up from their cover, deafening him
with their explosive cries, and dazzling him with their gorgeous colors,
so that the whole thing affected him something like the sudden
letting-off of fireworks would have done. The little dog took the affair
as a personal affront, and continued to bark himself hoarse long after
the winged fireworks had disappeared in the distance. Justin pacified
him at length, and they went on. As they reached the foot of the
mountain, the sun sank behind the horizon.
Justin sat down to rest and reflect.
“Night before last on the deck of the ship, scudding before a terrible
hurricane; last night alone upon the wreck, in the midst of the stormy
sea; to-night on an unknown and what seems to be an uninhabited island.
What next, I wonder! Well, I earnestly thank God that my life has been
preserved! But what has become of her—of Britomarte, whom I forced to
leave the ship? Oh, would to Heaven I had permitted her to remain! She
would have been even now by my side! And now—where is she? Where? Shall
I ever meet her again on this side of the grave? Ah, Heaven, who can
answer any of those questions?” he groaned, and unable longer to sit
still, he got up and walked forward, still followed by his faithful
little four-footed friend. He walked on and on through the woods at the
foot of the mountain, while twilight deepened into night, and the stars
came out in the purple-black sky; then he sat down and rested for a
little time, while the dog coiled itself up and went to sleep at his
feet. Then he got up again and resumed his walk, followed still by his
sleepy but loyal little adherent.
He walked on until the moon arose, when he discovered that he had come
out upon the seacoast, through the grove of cocoa palms that he had seen
from the mountain top.