Had the cows or horses been alive, they must have been left behind, for
we could not have removed them; but the smaller animals were with
comparatively little difficulty got on deck, and they descended with me
into the boat. We added a few things that lay handy, and in a few
minutes were laughingly driving our four-footed treasures on shore, to
the extreme astonishment of the gannets, which seemed as though they
would never cease to flap their wings, as their new associates were
driven by them.
In the same way we removed the most portable of the agricultural
implements, bed and bedding, cots and hammocks, furniture, the framework
of a house, preserved provisions of all kinds, a medicine-chest, boxes
of books, crates of china and glass, all sorts of useful tools, and
domestic utensils; in short, in the course of the next two or three
weeks, by repeated journeys, we filled every available place we could
find with what we had managed to rescue.
Then came another terrible storm that lasted two days, after which the
wreck having been broken up, was scattered in every direction. I
however managed to secure the driftwood, tubs, spars, and chests, which
were all got on shore, and proved of the greatest service to me some
time afterwards.
Numerous as our acquisitions had been in this way, both of us had been
infinitely better pleased had we been able to rescue some of the
ill-fated crew, to whom they had once belonged. But not one of them
could have escaped, and only one body was cast on shore, which was that
of a young woman, who lay with her face to the ground, and her wet
clothes clinging round her. We turned her carefully over, and I beheld
a face that seemed to me wonderfully fair and beautiful. She had
escaped the sharks, and had been dead several hours--most probably she
had been cast on shore by the waves, soon after the ship struck, for she
had escaped also the rocks, which, had she been dashed against, would
have left fearful signs of their contact on her delicate frame.
The sight of her corpse gave me many melancholy thoughts. I thought of
the delight she might have caused both of us, had she been saved. What
a pleasant companion she might have proved. Indeed, as I looked on her
pale cold features, I fancied that she might have reconciled me to
ending my existence on the island--ay, even to the abandonment of my
favourite scheme of seeking my grandfather to give him back his
diamonds.
We took her up with as much pity and affection as if she were our
nearest and dearest relative, and carried her home, and placed her on
Mrs Reichardt's bed; and then I laid some planks together, in the shape
of what Mrs Reichardt called a coffin--and I dug her a deep grave in
the guano.
And all the while I found myself crying as I had never cried before, and
my heart seemed weary and faint. In solemn silence we carried her to
her grave, and read over her the funeral service out of the Prayer-book,
kneeling and praying for this nameless creature, whom we had never seen
alive, as though she had been our companion for many years; both of us
shedding tears, for her hapless fate, as if we had lost a beloved
sister. And when we had filled up her grave and departed, we went home,
and passed the most miserable day we had ever had to endure since we had
first been cast upon the island.
I had now numerous occupations that kept me actively employed. Still I
could not for a long time help recalling to mind that pale face that
looked so piteously upon me when I first beheld it; and then I would
leave off my work, and give myself up to my melancholy thoughts till my
attention was called off by some appeal from my companion. I made a
kind of monument over the place where she was buried, and planted there
the finest flowers we had; and I never passed the spot without a prayer,
as if I were approaching holy ground.
I must not forget to add, that a few days after the wreck, we were
agreeably surprised by visitors that, though unexpected, were extremely
welcome. I had noticed strange birds wandering about in various parts
of the island. On their coming under the notice of my companion, they
were immediately recognised as fowls and ducks, that had no doubt
escaped from the ship.
We might now, therefore, constitute ourselves a little colony, of which
Mrs Reichardt and myself were the immediate governors, the settlers
being a mingled community of calves, sheep, pigs, and poultry, that
lived on excellent terms with each other; the quadrupeds having
permission to roam where they pleased, and the bipeds being kept within
a certain distance of the government house.
The old hut had suffered so much from the storm that I determined on
building another in a better position, and had recourse to the framework
of the house I had taken from the wreck. I had some difficulty in
putting the several parts together, but at last succeeded, and a small,
but most commodious dwelling was the result. Near it I laid out a new
garden, wherein I planted all the orange-trees we had reared, as well as
many of the seeds and roots we had brought from the wreck. A little
beyond I inclosed a paddock, wherein I planted the twigs we had found in
pots, which proved to be fruit-trees.
When I had done this, I thought of my agricultural implements, and very
much desired to make use of a handy plough that was amongst them, when I
learned the advantages that might arise from it. At first I yoked
myself to the plough, and Mrs Reichardt held it: this proved such hard
and awkward work, that I kept projecting all sorts of plans for
lessening the labour--the best was that of yoking our calves, and making
them pull instead of myself. This was more easily thought of than done.
The animals did not prove very apt pupils, but in course of time, with
a good deal of patience, and some manoeuvring, I succeeded in making
them perform the work they were expected to do.
Thus, in building, gardening, planting, and farming, the time flew by
quickly, and in the course of the next year the aspect of the place had
become quite changed. The guano that enriched the soil made every kind
of vegetation thrive with an almost marvellous rapidity and luxuriance.
We had a comfortable house, up which a vine was creeping in one place,
and a young pear-tree in another. We were supplied with the choicest
oranges, and had apples of several kinds. We had abundance of
furniture, and an inexhaustible stock of provisions. We had a most
gorgeous show of flowers, of many different species; our new
kitchen-garden was full of useful vegetables--young fruit-trees were
yielding their produce wherever they had been planted--the poultry had
more than doubled their number--the calves were taking upon themselves
the full dignity of the state of cow and bull--the ewes had numerous
lambs--and the pigs had not only grown into excellent pork, but had
already produced more than one litter, that would be found equally
desirable when provisions ran scarce. We had two growing crops, of
different kinds of grain, and a large pasture-field fenced round.
The Little Savage, at seventeen, had been transformed into a farmer, and
the cultivation of the farm and the care of the live stock soon left him
no time for indulging in vain longings to leave the island, or useless
regrets for the fair creature who, even in death, I had regarded as its
greatest ornament.
Two years later, still greater improvements, and still greater additions
became visible. We were establishing a dairy farm on a small scale, and
as our herds and flocks, as well as the pigs and poultry, increased
rapidly, we promised in a few years to be the most thriving farmers that
had ever lived in that part of the world by the cultivation of the land.