In a short time, however, he and Brown got tired of their daily fare of
turtle, and the latter proposed to try and get some fish. Though idle,
Brown was not destitute of ingenuity. He first set to work, and out of
some nails which he drew from a plank washed on shore, he manufactured
several very good hooks, his chief tool being a file which he had in his
knife. He soon, also, found several fibrous plants from which he made
some strong, and yet fine lines. Among the things left by Mr Henley
was an axe: with this two trees were cut down, and a sort of double
canoe, or rather raft, was constructed. The fanlike leaves of the palm
served for paddles. Brown and Sills insisted on going off together,
though Tom and I would have much liked to have accompanied them. They
only proposed, however, to fish inside the reef. The doctor charged
them, as they were shoving off, not to get carried outside, and to
beware of being capsized, for fear of sharks. They laughed and said
that they knew very well how to take care of themselves. We watched
them paddling about, and at times, it seemed, catching a good many fish.
At length they returned on shore.
"Well, you see, doctor, we were not capsized or eaten by sharks,
notwithstanding all your prognostications!" exclaimed Sills as he jumped
on shore.
"I am truly glad to find it," answered the doctor, examining the fish
just caught; "but let me assure you, if you eat those fish, in a few
hours hence it will make but little difference to you; they are without
scales, and of a highly poisonous character."
"I don't believe that, doctor," answered Sills, with a foolish laugh.
"Brown says he has eaten them a hundred times and not been the worse for
them, so I'm not afraid."
"Brown may have eaten the same fish in other latitudes, or at different
times of the year; but from my knowledge of them I should advise you not
to touch them, or at all events eat but a very small portion at a time,
and see what effects it produces."
After this warning I could not have supposed it possible that Sills
would have neglected to follow the doctor's advice; but in a short time
I saw him and Brown light a fire, and proceed to cook the fish over it.
We had manufactured some flour from one of the palms we had cut down,
and with this and some salt they made a hearty meal. Having cooked a
further supply they brought it to us.
"Come--nonsense, take some of this, old fellows," exclaimed Sills,
holding out a toasted fish at the end of a stick. "We are not a bit the
worse for it, you see;--it's very rich and luscious, let me tell you."
"I trust you are right, but wait a few hours; the effects are not likely
to be immediate," answered the doctor gravely. He told me at the same
time to boil some salt water, and to heat several large flat stones--the
only remedies he could think of in his power to apply, should the fish
prove poisonous.
Finding that none of us would eat any of the fish, Sills returned to
Brown and sat smoking and talking for an hour or more. Some hours had
passed after they had eaten the fish, when we saw Sills approaching the
hut looking dreadfully ill, and scarcely able to crawl along.
"O doctor, doctor, I am dying--I know I am. I wish that I had done as
you told me," he exclaimed in a feeble voice. "There is Brown, he is
still worse; he ate more than I did, and was unable to come here."
On hearing this we dosed the poor fellow with hot salt water, and put
the hot bricks to his stomach and feet, and then Tom and I ran on with
our remedies and applied them to Brown, whom we found in dreadful pain,
and looking as if he wag dying. I believe both of them would have died
had not the salt water made them very sick, while the hot stones
restored their suspended circulation. Still, I would advise no one to
depend on such remedies under similar circumstances. They got better;
but still for many days were subject to racking pains, and remained weak
and ill. While they were in this state, one morning, as Tom and I were
at the top of the peak taking our usual survey of the horizon, in the
hopes of a vessel appearing in sight, we saw a white speck to the
westward, the rays of the sun glancing brightly on it as it rose above
the blue sea. At first I thought that it was a sea-fowl flying between
us and the horizon; but, after a more steady look, I shouted--"A sail! a
sail!" There could be no doubt about it, but still I remembered that it
might not come near us. However, I watched and watched anxiously, and
it rose higher and higher above the horizon, and was evidently gliding
on towards the island. When I had ascertained this to a certainty, I
ran down with the good news to the doctor, for I thought that it would
raise his spirits. He had been much depressed and rather worse, I
feared, lately.
"She may touch here and relieve us, but we must not be too sanguine," he
replied, with a faint smile. "I have ceased to hope for any improvement
in my health or strength, and doubt if I should even survive a voyage."
By this remark I guessed how ill the doctor thought himself. I hoped,
however, that from being out of spirits he might fancy himself even
worse than he was. Again Tom and I went up to the peak. I was
surprised to find how fast the stranger had come on. I made out that
she was a large square topsail schooner. On she stood, making directly,
and evidently purposely, for the island.
"Could it be possible that Mr Henley or any of the crew of the _Orion_
have escaped and given information of our being left on the island?" I
thought to myself.
With this feeling we could not help regarding the stranger as a friend.
We waited, watching her till she got quite close, then heaving to, to
leeward of the island, a boat was lowered from her side. On seeing this
we ran down to the beach to welcome those coming on shore. They clearly
knew the place, for they made directly for the opening in the reef. As
I looked through my glass at them, they appeared to be a very rough set,
exhibiting various coloured specimens of the race of man. I did in no
way like their looks. As soon as the boat touched the beach they jumped
out, and seemed very much surprised at seeing Tom and me. Much greater
was mine, on regarding attentively the officer of the boat, to discover
that he was no other than the pretended cobbler who had been a passenger
on board the _Orion_, Any doubt I might have had was put to flight by
seeing Solon run up to him and bark, as much as to say, "I have seen you
before;" then he turned round and growled at two other men of the crew.
This drew my attention towards them, and I soon recognised Cobb and
Clink, two of the chief mutineers on board the ill-fated ship. They, of
course, at once recognised us, and Mr Barwell, or, as I found his
people call him, Captain Hansleig, began to make inquiries about her.
When I told him of the fate which had overtaken her, his reply was--
"I thought so. A drunken captain and mate are pretty certain to lose
their ship before long; my only surprise is that she got as far as
this."
As we walked along to the huts, he told me what a fine craft he had got,
and how successful he had been, but he did not say how she was employed.
In the meantime the men who followed us had been talking to Tommy in
the same strain. Sills and Brown were evidently well pleased at seeing
them, and at once asked Captain Hansleig if he would take them off the
island. This he said at once that he would do, if they chose to enter
on board his craft, but that he could not undertake to carry passengers.
They without hesitation accepted his offer, saying that they liked the
look of his craft, and the roving commission which he had told them he
held. The doctor received them very coldly, and seemed in no way
pleased at their appearance. He seized the first moment that they were
out of hearing to warn me against them.
"Depend on it, that if they are not pirates they are little better--
slave carriers and men kidnappers," he said with an earnest tone. "Have
nothing whatever to do with them."
Before he had time to say more they returned. I managed to whisper to
Tom to reply that he would do just what the doctor and I did. As we
expected, Captain Hansleig soon after turned to us and said--
"I suppose, doctor, you and the lads will join us. I have a berth open
for you, and for Marsden there, also; he shall be fourth mate soon if he
is as attentive as he used to be on board the _Orion_."
"Thank you for your offer," answered Dr Cuff; "I am too ill to do any
duty, and prefer remaining where I am. Marsden and the boy must speak
for themselves."
"Thank you for your offer," I answered bluntly, "but I have made up my
mind to remain with Dr Cuff, and I hope Tom Bigg will stay by me."
Captain Hansleig seemed somewhat annoyed at this reply. "Why, what do
you think of me and my craft that you refuse to join us?" he asked.
"Provided a person does nothing to offend, really he cannot be called on
to express his thoughts," observed the doctor. "It is enough to tell
you that Marsden is anxious to reach Ceylon, and unless you are going
there it is a sufficient reason rarely for his declining to join your
vessel."
Dr Cuff spoke in so calm and yet so resolute a tone that the reply
seemed fully to satisfy Captain Hansleig.
"Well, every man to his taste," he answered, "If you prefer living on in
this desolate spot, I'll not force you away. Only I warn you that it is
very little known, and very many months may pass before any other vessel
may touch here. I happened to be in want of a supply of turtle, and
cocoanuts, and fresh water, or I should not have come near the place."
I told him that I should abide by my first decision, and he did not
press the matter further. The slaver traffickers, as the doctor called
them, or pirates, as I suspect they also deserved to be called, spent a
whole day and two nights on the island. The nights they employed in
catching turtles--the days in carrying them on board, and in procuring
cocoa-nuts. I observed that they made Sills and Brown work as hard as
themselves, ill as they still were from the effects of the fish they had
eaten. I doubted, indeed, whether either of them could recover, they
looked so wretchedly ill when they went on board. We could, however,
have done them no good had they remained; and though it was satisfactory
to see them and their new associates take their departure, yet I could
not help feeling a pang of regret as I saw the vessel once more spread
her sails and stand away to the southward.
The doctor, Tom, and I, were thus left alone on that solitary isle. It
soon also became evident to me that the former would soon be taken from
us. He had long thought so himself. One day he called me to him, and
begged me to write, on a blank page of the journal I had brought from
the ship to use as a sketch-book, according to his dictation. I found
that I was drawing up a short will, by which he bequeathed all his
little property to some sisters in England, with his devoted love. He
signed it, and Tom and I witnessed his signature. There was no power of
making his will more valid. By this I knew that he himself did not
expect to live many days. He had been latterly spending his entire time
in prayer and in giving good advice to Tom and me, and also in reading
the Bible, a small copy of which he constantly carried in his pocket.
He was a highly scientific man, and as a surgeon first rate; and he was,
as I have found many such, at the same time a sincere Christian. I owe
much to his counsels and exhortations, and if, as some may observe, a
vein showing a mind turned to serious thoughts run through my journal, I
am much indebted to him for it. Scarcely did I think as I was drawing
out his simple will how soon that voice would cease to sound.
Tom and I slept in his hut, and one of us always kept awake that we
might in a moment render him any assistance he might require. I had
just been awoke by Tom, who whispered that he thought the doctor was
worse. Just then we heard him in a feeble voice uttering a few words of
prayer. He was silent. We thought he was asleep. For some time we
waited, then we went to his side and took his hand. It was icy cold,
and fell down again on the leafy couch we had formed for him. Then we
knew that he was indeed gone from us. We both sat down and cried
heartily. Daylight came, and we closed his glassy eyes. We knew that
we must bury him soon. We dug his grave in the sand with bits of board,
and having taken his watch and other things which he had about him, that
we might deliver them to his friends should we ever reach home, we
buried him in it, and then once more sat down and cried as before.
We, however, soon recollected nearly the last advice he gave us. It was
to read some of the Bible every day we remained on the island, and never
to give up the practice elsewhere as long as we lived. Not only did we
read a chapter at a time, but we were reading it constantly and talking
about it. In time it formed the chief--indeed, nearly the only subject
of our conversation, and a most delightful one we found it. I certainly
before that time could not have supposed that I could have become so
deeply interested in the subject; but I am certain that anybody who
firmly believes in it as the result of divine inspiration, who will give
up his mind to its study, and who feels the unspeakable comfort it is
capable of affording, will agree with me that no other book, ancient or
modern, can in the remotest degree be compared to it. Too many people
read it merely as a matter of conscience. They skim over a chapter at a
time with very little thought or reflection. Even that way may be
better than neglecting it altogether, but surely that is not the way a
book with consequences so immeasurably important depending on the truths
it promulgates deserves to be read.
On the death of our kind friend I had fancied it was one of the greatest
misfortunes that could have happened to us to be left alone on the
island, but I soon discovered that it was an especial blessing. I
should never otherwise, perhaps, have become so well acquainted with
God's holy Word as I did at that time. At first we had been inclined to
regret at times that we had not all gone away in the schooner, and run
the chance of being landed at a portion of some civilised country or
other. Now we were every day more and more thankful that we had done
what was right, and had not consorted with the wicked. We could not
help remarking, also, how everything had occurred to produce results the
most favourable to us. By the departure of Mr Henley and his
companions we were left to our own resources, and taught to seek
strength and support from above. By the arrival of Dr Cuff, a Bible
was brought us, while he, as a friend, gave us counsel the most
important, and set us a beautiful example of the calmness and
resignation of a true Christian. From Sills and Brown's going away,
those who might have tempted us to do evil, or at all events, to be
idle, were removed; and at length, when fitted for solitude, and with
our minds attuned aright from our previous training, we were left once
more alone to employ ourselves in the way most advantageous to us.
Every Christian man who will carefully trace God's dealings with him
will perceive that events which may at first have appeared prejudicial
to him, have been directed for his benefit, and that many which he at
the time thought misfortunes have ultimately proved, without doubt, to
have been the greatest of blessings. Such is the result of my own
experience, and I feel that I am bound to bear faithful testimony to
what I know to be the truth. Would that all who read these pages could
make up their minds once and for ever to do the same.