It is impossible for me to overrate the value of Mrs Reichardt's
assistance. Indeed had it not been for her, circumstanced as I was at
this particular period, I should in all probability have perished. Her
exhortations saved me from despair, when our position seemed to have
grown quite desperate. But example did more, even, than precept. Her
ingenuity in devising expedients; her activity in putting them in force;
her unfailing cheerfulness under disappointment, and Christian
resignation under privation, produced the best results. I was enabled
to bear up against the ill effects of our crippled resources, consequent
upon the ill conduct of the sailors of the whaler, and the failure of
our fish-pond.
She manufactured strong lines for deep-sea fishing, and having
discovered a shelf of rock, little more than two feet above the sea, to
which with a good deal of difficulty I could descend, I took my stand
one day on the rock with my lines baited with a piece of one of my
feathered favourites, whom dire necessity had at last forced me to
destroy. I waited with all the patience of a veteran angler. I knew
the water to be very deep, and it lay in a sheltered nook or corner of
the rocks about ten feet across; I allowed the line to drop some three
or four yards, and not having any float, could only tell I had a bite by
feeling a pull at the line, which was wound round my arm.
After some time having been passed in this way, my attention was
withdrawn from the line, and given to the narrative I had so lately
heard; that is to say, though my eyes were still fixed upon the line, I
had completely given up my thoughts to the story of the poor German boy,
who had been snatched from poverty by the interference of the parish
clerk's daughter; and I contrived to speculate on what I should have
done under such circumstances, imagining all sorts of extravagances in
which I should have indulged, to testify my gratitude to so amiable and
benevolent a friend.
A singular course of ideal scenes followed each other in quick
succession in my mind--as I fancied myself the hero of a similar
adventure. I regarded my imaginary benefactress with feelings of such
intensity as I had never before experienced; and it seemed that I was to
her the exciting object of sentiments of a like nature, the knowledge of
which awoke in our hearts the most agreeable sensations.
I was rudely disturbed out of this day-dream by finding myself suddenly
plunged into the deep water beneath me. The shock was so startling,
that some seconds elapsed before I could comprehend my situation; and
then it became clear that I must have hooked a fish, that had not only
succeeded in pulling me off my balance, but the line by which he was
held being round my arm, cutting painfully into the flesh, threatened
drowning by keeping me under water. With great difficulty I managed to
rise to the surface, and loosened the windings of the line from my limb;
then, anxious to retain possession of what from its force must have been
a fish well worth some trouble in catching, I held on with both hands,
and pulled with all my strength.
At first, by main force I was drawn through the water; then, when I
found the strain slacken, I drew in the line. This manoeuvre was
repeated several times, till I succeeded in obtaining a view of what I
had caught; or, more properly speaking, of what had caught me. It was
merely a glimpse; for the fish, which was a very large one, getting a
sight of me within a few yards of him, made some desperate plunges, and
again darted off, dragging me along with him, sometimes under the water,
and sometimes on the surface.
His body was nearly round, and about seven or eight feet long--rather a
formidable antagonist for close quarters; nevertheless, I was most eager
to get at him, the more so, when I ascertained that his resistance was
evidently decreasing. I continued to approach, and at last got near
enough to plunge my knife up to the haft in his head, which at once put
an end to the struggle.
But now another difficulty presented itself. In the ardour of the chase
I had been drawn nearly a mile from the island, and I found it
impossible to carry back the produce of my sport, exhausted as I was by
the efforts I had made in capturing him. I knew I could not swim with
such a burthen for the most inconsiderable portion of the distance. My
fish therefore must be abandoned. Here was a bountiful supply of food,
as soon as placed within reach, rendered totally unavailable.
I thought of Mrs Reichardt. I thought how gratified she would have
been, could I have brought to her such an excellent addition to our
scanty stock of food. Then I thought of her steadfast reliance upon
Providence, and what valuable lessons of piety and wisdom she would read
me, if she found me depressed by my disappointment.