might sail round the island, take sketches of the scenery, and then
paint a panorama, embracing all the best views, by exhibiting which at
twenty-five cents a head, we should all make our fortunes upon getting
home. He appeared to have some doubts, however, whether that particular
time of day could be painted, even by the most accomplished artist. The
lagoon channel wound through fields of branching coral trees of
luxuriant growth, among which, numbers of large fish were moving
sluggishly about, as if they had got up too early, and were more than
half inclined to indulge in another nap. As we passed over a sort of
bar, where there was not more than a fathom and a half of water, we
espied an immense green turtle at the bottom, quietly pursuing his way
across our track, and though by no means a beautiful creature, looking
infinitely happier and more lively than the dull-eyed wretches of his
race, which I have seen lying on their backs, at the doors of the New
York restaurants, ready to be converted into soup and steaks. Johnny
mourned over the impracticability of making any attempt at his capture,
and heaved a sigh which seemed to come from the bottom of his heart, as
the unsightly reptile disappeared among the mazes of the submarine
shrubbery. The hardship of the case, seemed to be greatly aggravated in
his eyes, as he contrasted it with the better fortune of Robinson Crusoe
and the Swiss Family, the former of whom, as he reminded us, caught "any
quantity of turtles" on the beach of his island, with no other trouble
than that of turning them over upon their backs; while the latter,
having surprised an enormous fellow taking an afternoon nap on the
surface of the water, treacherously harpooned him in his sleep, and
then, steering him as easily as one would drive a well-broken nag,
compelled him to tow themselves and their pinnace ashore.
A somewhat startling incident put an end to these interesting
reminiscences. Johnny was leaning over the gunwale, and with his face
almost touching the surface, and his hands playing in the water, was
peering down into the lagoon, probably on the look-out for another
turtle, when a large shark, coming as it seemed from beneath the boat,
rose suddenly but quietly, and made a snatch at him. Johnny saw the
monster barely in time; for just as he sprang up with a cry of affright,
and fell backwards into the boat the shark's shovel-nose shot four feet
above water at our stern, his jaws snapping together as he disappeared
again, with a sound like the springing of a powerful steel-trap. Though
baffled in his first attack, the voracious fish continued to follow us,
watching closely an opportunity for a more successful attempt. He was a
large brown shark, of the species known to sailors as the
"sea-attorney," which designation, together with his formidable
reputation for keenness, vigilance, and enterprise, shows the estimation
in which the members of the ancient and honourable profession of the
law, are held by the honest sons of Neptune. Max professed to recognise
him, as our acquaintance of the previous evening, by whom himself and
Browne had been for a time kept in a state of blockade: our present
visitor certainly evinced the same uncommon fierceness and audacity
which had astonished us in the individual referred to. He was a trim,
round-bodied, compact fellow with a wonderful display of vigour, and
even of grace, in his movements; but though not without a certain kind
of beauty, I do not wish to be understood as saying that his personal
appearance was upon the whole, prepossessing. On the contrary, his
expression, if I may venture to use the term, (and he certainly had a
good deal of expression), was, if not decidedly bad, at the least
exceedingly sinister. His flattened head, and long leather-like snout
together with a pair of projecting goggle eyes, so situated as to
command a view both in front and rear, and which he kept turning
restlessly on every side, contributed greatly to enhance this forbidding
aspect. Every moment he seemed to grow fiercer and bolder, and at
length he actually laid hold of our keel next the rudder and fairly
shook the boat from stem to stern. To our great relief, he soon
desisted from this, for such was his bulk and strength, that we hardly
knew what he might not effect in his furious efforts. His next move,
was to make a sudden dash at Max's oar, which had probably given him
offence by coming too near his nose, and which he jerked from his hands.
Max seemed to regard this last exploit as a personal affront, and loudly
declared that, "this was going altogether too far, and that he should
not stand it any longer." He accordingly proceeded with great energy,
to lash his cutlass to the handle of one of the remaining oars, with
some twine which he found in the locker, threatening all sorts of
terrible things against the unsuspecting object of his wrath. Meanwhile
Morton succeeded in fishing up the lost oar, which the vigilance and
activity of our attentive escort rendered a somewhat dangerous
undertaking; when recovered, the marks of six rows of formidable teeth
were found deeply indented upon its blade.
Max having completed his novel weapon, Browne, who had been engaged in
an unprofitable attempt to strike the shark across the eyes with his
cutlass, inquired, "what he was going to do with that clumsy
contrivance!"
"That clumsy contrivance, as you rashly term it," replied Max, with
dignity, "is designed as a shark-exterminator, with which I intend
forthwith to pay my respects to this audacious sea-bully. We have stood
on the defensive quite long enough, and I am now about to carry the war
into Africa."
He accordingly jumped upon the middle seat of the yawl, where, in spite
of all attempts at dissuasion, he stood watching a favourable
opportunity for a thrust. This was soon presented. All unconscious of
the unfriendly designs cherished against him, the shark came propelling
himself carelessly alongside, and directly under Max's nose, with his
back fin quite above water. The temptation was not to be resisted. Max
braced himself as firmly as possible in his position: Arthur
expostulated, and begged him at least to get down and stand in the boat:
Morton exhorted him to caution. But he only answered by a wave of the
hand and a grim smile; then requesting Browne to lay fast hold of his
waist-band, to assist him in preserving the centre of gravity, he raised
his weapon in both hands, and giving it a preliminary flourish, brought
it down with his full force, aiming at the broadest part of the fish's
back, just forward of the dorsal fin. But the weapon was too dull, or
the blow too feeble, to pierce the tough hide of the "sea-attorney," for
it glanced smoothly off and Max losing his balance, went headlong into
the sea. Browne, in a hasty effort to save him came near going over
also, while the boat careened until the water poured in over the
gunwale, and for a moment there was imminent danger of capsizing. Max
came to the surface, almost paralysed with fright, and clutched
convulsively at the side of the boat; when we drew him on board
unharmed, but pale and shivering, as he well might be, after so
extraordinary an escape. The shark had disappeared, and was now nowhere
to be seen. Not being accustomed to Max's system of "carrying the war
into Africa," so sudden and headlong an attack in his own element had
probably somewhat disconcerted him. Max made a great effort to assume
an air of composure. "Well!" said he, looking coolly around, "the enemy
has, I perceive, beaten a retreat. I dare say he was quite as much
frightened as I was, and that is saying a good deal."
"But what has become of that patent shark-exterminator!" observed
Browne, "I don't see it anywhere: has the enemy carried it off as a
trophy of victory, as conquering knights take possession of the arms of
their vanquished adversaries!"
"It is much more likely," replied Max with disdain, "that he has carried
it off stuck fast in his carcass."
But neither supposition proved to be correct, for we presently picked up
the "exterminator," floating near us. Johnny narrowly examined the
blade, and was much disappointed at not finding "any blood on it."
Max now took an oar to steady his nerves by rowing, for, notwithstanding
his assumed composure and forced pleasantry, they had evidently been a
good deal shaken by his recent narrow escape.
By the time we came in sight of Sea-bird's Point, the increasing light,
and the rosy glow in the "dappled east," heralded the rising of the sun,
and announced that the heat and glare of the tropical day, were on the
point of succeeding the mild freshness of "incense-breathing morn." Nor
were other tokens wanting, that the reign of night was over. A strange
confusion of indistinct and broken sounds, issuing from myriads of nests
and perches all along the beach, showed that the various tribes of
sea-fowl were beginning to bestir themselves. A few slumbrous,
half-smothered sounds from scattered nests preluded the general concert,
and then the notes were taken up, and repeated by the entire feathered
population for miles along the shore, until the clamour seemed like that
of ten thousand awakening barn-yards. And now the scene began to be
enlivened by immense multitudes of birds, rising in the air, and
hovering in clouds over the lagoon. Some wheeled around us in their
spiral flight; others skimmed the water like swallows, dipping with
marvellous promptness after any ill-starred fish that ventured near the
surface; others again, rose high into the air, from whence, by their
incredible keenness of sight, they seemed readily to discern their prey,
when, poising themselves an instant on expanded wings, they would pounce
perpendicularly downward, and disappearing entirely in the water for an
instant, emerge, clutching securely a struggling victim. But in
carrying on this warfare upon the finny inhabitants of the lagoon the
feathered spoilers were not perfectly united and harmonious; and fierce
domestic contentions occasionally interrupted and diversified their
proceedings. A number of unprincipled man-of-war hawks, who preferred
gaining their livelihood by robbing their neighbours and associates, to
relying upon their own honest industry, would sail lazily around on
wide-spread pinions, watching with the air of unconcerned spectators the
methodical toil of the plodding gannets. But the instant that one of
the latter rose from a successful plunge, with a plump captive writhing
in his grasp, all appearance of indifference would vanish, and some
dark-plumaged pirate of the lagoon, pouncing down like lightning upon
his unwarlike neighbour, would ruthlessly despoil him of his hard-earned
prize. One of these piratical gentry suffered before our eyes a fate
worthy of his rapacity. A gannet had seized upon a fish much larger
than his strength enabled him to manage, and was struggling in vain to
lift it into the air, when a hawk darted upon them, and striking his
talons into the fish, put the gannet to flight. But the greedy victor
had greatly miscalculated the strength of his intended prey. A
desperate conflict, sometimes under water, and sometimes just at the
surface, ensued. The hawk struggled gallantly, but in vain, and was at
length drawn under by his ponderous antagonist, to rise no more.
We landed a short distance beyond Johnny's row of "Oyster-trees," and by
the time we had climbed the hill, the sun had risen, though not yet
visible above the wooded heights which sheltered us to the eastward.
We were so intent upon our house-building project that, contenting
ourselves with a self-denying breakfast of cocoa-nuts, we at once set
zealously to work in carrying it out.
Arthur directed, superintended, and laid out the work in detail.
Morton, having fitted a handle to the hatchet-head, and laboriously
sharpened it upon a rough stone, undertook to supply materials as fast
as called for. While he cut down trees of the kind and size required by
Arthur, Max trimmed off the branches with his cutlass, and prepared them
for use. Johnny and Eiulo dragged them to the site of the building,
where Browne and I assisted Arthur in setting the posts into the ground,
and putting together the frame of the house. Of course, our destitution
of proper tools and implements rendered all this exceedingly laborious,
and, but for Arthur's perseverance and ingenuity, we should more than
once have given up in despair. Instead of spades, we were obliged to
use sharp bivalve shells from the shore, in digging places for the
upright posts of the building, and as it was necessary that these should
be set quite deep, in order to give it firmness and stability, the toil
was severe. Max, who came up occasionally to see how the work was
progressing, and to offer suggestions and criticisms, (more especially
the latter), on finding us upon our knees, patiently grubbing up the
earth with our shells, flatteringly compared us to so many hedge-hogs
excavating their burrows.
Nevertheless, we persevered; and before night we had nearly completed
the frame of our building, with the exception of the ridge-pole, the
rafters, and cross-pieces.
The posts at the sides stood six feet out of the ground, and were
stationed about three feet apart. The centre-posts, to support the
ridge-pole, were nine feet high, and made from the trunks of well-grown
trees, some six inches in diameter. This certainly was a good day's
work under the circumstances; at any rate, we were quite unanimous in
considering it so; and towards twilight we went down to the beach for
our evening bath, in an exceedingly complacent and self-satisfied state
of mind, Max enlarging upon the pleasures of industry, and professing to
be in the present enjoyment of those feelings--
"Which follow arduous duty well performed."
Instead of repairing to our usual bathing-place, we proceeded along the
beach to the north-west, until we reached the clump of trees at the edge
of the water, already mentioned as being visible from Castle-hill. As
we approached the spot, we found that what had appeared at a distance to
be but a single group of trees, was, in fact, a small grove extending
along the shore, and fringing a little cove of nearly elliptical form,
which at this point set into the land. The narrow, shelving beach,
rivalled the whiteness of a fresh snow-drift. The trees were mostly
cocoa-palms; indeed, scarcely any others could flourish in such a spot;
and there were no shrubs or undergrowth of any kind. The cove was
perhaps a hundred paces long, and half as wide in the widest part;
contracting to less than fifty feet where it communicated with the
lagoon. The water was clear, the bottom smooth and regularly formed,
and the greatest depth was only eight or ten feet. Max, after viewing
the cove with the eye of a connoisseur, pronounced it a noble spot for
bathing purposes, and fully equal to the basin on the reef in every
respect, except in depth and facilities for diving.
The impression of his morning's adventure, however, was still fresh, and
he hinted at the possibility that some shark of elegant tastes, and
possessing an eye for the beautiful, might be in the habit of
frequenting the cove. Arthur volunteered to keep watch at the narrow
entrance, while the rest of us were bathing, in order to give timely
notice of the approach of the dreaded enemy; but on walking out to the
edge of the lagoon we found that this precaution would be unnecessary.
A bar, consisting of a coral patch, very near the surface, stretched
across the mouth of the cove, rendering it almost impossible for a shark
to enter.
Johnny named the spot, "The Mermaid's Cove," but this possessive
designation was merely complimentary, for so far were we from renouncing
the cove in favour of the mermaids, that from the day on which we
discovered it, it became one of our favourite and regular resorts.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
THE CABIN BY THE LAKE.
A DEMOCRAT IN THE WOODS--ECHO-VALE AND LAKE LAICOMO--THE "WILD
FRENCHMAN" DISCOVERED AT LAST.
"A few firm stakes they planted in the ground,
Circling a narrow space, but large enow,
These strongly interknit they closed around
With basket-work of many a pliant bough.
The roof was like the sides; the door was low,
And rude the hut, and trimmed with little care,
For little heart had they to dress it now:
Yet was the humble structure fresh and fair.
And soon the inmates found that peace might sojourn there."
It took us an entire week to complete the frame of our building, and
this alone involved an amount and variety of labour which few of us had
anticipated when we commenced it. One day was consumed in selecting,
felling, and trimming a tree, tall and straight enough to serve as a
ridge-pole. We next had to get out some thirty rafters of hibiscus to
support the roof. Then, as we had no nails, (Max's ship with the
hardware not having yet arrived), we were obliged to adopt the means
used by the Polynesian builders for fastening the rafters to the
ridge-pole and cross-pieces, which consists of tying them firmly in
their places with sennit. To supply the place of sennit, we
manufactured a quantity of cord from twisted hibiscus bark, which
answered the purpose very well.
At length the skeleton of the house was completed. Twenty-seven strong
posts, (including the three tall centre ones), deeply planted in the
ground, supported the string pieces and the ridge-pole. Fifteen slender
rafters, regularly placed at small intervals, descended from the
ridge-pole to the eaves on either side, and the whole was firmly bound
together with tough and durable withes of our own manufacture.
The thatching occupied another week, and but for Eiulo's skill and
dexterity, we should never have accomplished this nice and difficult
operation, except after a very bungling and imperfect fashion. Arthur
understood very well how it should be done, but his knowledge was
theoretical rather than practical, while Eiulo had acquired considerable
skill in the art, by building and thatching miniature houses in the
woods, an amusement which he and his young playmates had often practised
at home. The only thing now remaining to be done, was to make a number
of coarse mats, with which to enclose the sides of the house--as far as
in such a climate it is desirable to enclose them--together with an
additional supply, ready to be put up in bad weather, on fastenings
constructed for the purpose. But for this, there seemed to be no
immediate necessity. The sides of the building were low, and the eaves
extended two feet beyond them, and as we had an excellent roof above us,
we considered ourselves tolerably prepared, even for rainy weather.
However, we commenced manufacturing mats, in which, with the instruction
and example of Arthur and Eiulo, we were tolerably successful; but we
proceeded with this very much at our leisure. One or two brief showers,
like that which had exerted so sudden an influence in hastening the
commencement of our building scheme, afforded us the most satisfactory
evidence of the good qualities of our roof, which did not admit a drop
of rain. But at the same time we became aware of another defect in our
house, as a dwelling in wet weather. We had no floor but the bare
earth, and though Arthur had so levelled it, and protected it by a
little trench and embankment, that no water from the adjacent grounds
could reach us, except by the gradual process of saturation, still it
was very damp after a severe rain. To remedy this, Arthur talked from
time to time of making a floor of cement, which would dry to the
hardness of stone, and through which the moisture from the ground could
not penetrate. When asked where lime was to be obtained with which to
make his cement he assumed an air of mystery, and merely said that there
would be no difficulty on that score. One day, after we had got a large
supply of mats completed, and ready for use, he again recurred to the
subject of improving our floor, and explained that he intended to
prepare his mortar or cement, from sand and lime, the latter of which
was to be procured by burning coral rock in a pit. He prevailed upon
Morton, Browne, and myself to set about digging a "lime-pit" in the
gully beside Castle-hill, while he took Eiulo and Johnny with him in the
boat, to go in search of a quantity of the sponge-shaped coral, which,
he said, was the best adapted to his purpose.
Max pronounced the whole project a humbug, and refusing to have anything
to do with it, equipped himself with club and cutlass, and started off
on a solitary excursion towards the south-easterly part of the island,
which we had not yet explored. He returned in the afternoon with a
glowing account of the discoveries he had made, among which were a
beautiful pond of fresh water, a stream flowing into it, and a
waterfall.
In two days we completed a lime-pit of proper dimensions. Arthur and
his assistants had in the same time collected and brought to the spot a
sufficient quantity of coral rock; we then covered the bottom of the pit
with fuel, and laid the coral, previously broken into small pieces, upon
it. The pile was next kindled, and when the fuel was consumed, we found
that the coral had yielded a supply of excellent lime, fine and
beautifully white. Without going into further details, it is enough to
say that the rest of Arthur's plan was carried out with the same
success. The cement was made, and a thick layer of it spread over the
floor of the house, as evenly and smoothly as could well be done, with
no better trowels than gigantic oyster-shells. In three days it was
hard as marble, and our house was now as complete as we could make it.
It had cost us a great deal of severe toil; we had found the
construction of it no such holiday employment as we had imagined; but it
was the fruit of our own ingenuity and perseverance, the work of our own
hands, and we regarded it with much complacency. Johnny impartially
compared it with the dwellings of I don't know how many other desert
islanders, and found it superior in some point to each and all of them.
Being now in a state of complete preparation, as we flattered ourselves,
for all sorts of weather, we began to feel as though a regular
out-and-out storm, would be rather a luxury than otherwise. These
bright skies and sunny days were very well in their way, but it wasn't
in anticipation of them, that we had been planning and working for a
month or more. There was no use at all for our model house in such fine
weather; indeed, while it continued, our old lodgings under the green
forest leaves and the star-light, were far preferable. It took full
half a dozen of our sleeping-mats, (and we had but three apiece), laid
upon the stony floor of our dwelling, to make a couch half as soft as
those heaps of leaves, which we used to pile up beneath the trees for
our beds, and which we could not now introduce into the house for fear
of "making a litter." The prudent citizen--who, having at the
threatened approach of winter laid in a bountiful provision of wood and
coal, put up his hall-stoves and his double windows, now feels quite
ready, in the strength of anthracite and hickory, to snap his fingers in
the face of Jack Frost, and bid him do his worst--is not more impatient
to have the thermometer fall to the neighbourhood of zero, in order that
he may realise the comforts he has paid for, than were we for the advent
of such a storm, as would enable us to say to one another, "Ah! is it
not fortunate that we have a roof over our heads? What should we do
_now_, if we had not made timely preparation?"
Well, at last we had our wish. A shower came up one day, in the
afternoon, which did not cease in half an hour, as the previous ones had
done. On the contrary, when darkness came on the rain still continued
falling steadily, with no sign of abatement. Johnny was in ecstasies.
This was evidently no night for camping out; it was a night to justify
all our expenditure of labour, in planning and perfecting our dwelling.
We hung up every extra mat, and fastened them securely with the store of
wooden pegs and pins prepared for that purpose. To be sure, we were in
complete darkness, but then we were perfectly snug and comfortable; and
what a luxury, to lie sheltered from the storm, and listen to the
pattering of the rain upon the root and the dismal sound of the water
dripping from the eaves!