BOAT-BUILDING EXTRAORDINARY--PETERKIN TRIES HIS HAND AT COOKERY, AND
FAILS MOST SIGNALLY--THE BOAT FINISHED--CURIOUS CONVERSATION WITH THE
CAT, AND OTHER MATTERS.
For many days after this, Jack applied himself with unremitting
assiduity to the construction of our boat, which at length began to look
something like one. But those only who have had the thing to do can
entertain a right idea of the difficulty involved in such an
undertaking, with no other implements than an axe, a bit of hoop-iron, a
sail-needle, and a broken penknife. But Jack did it. He was of that
disposition which _will_ not be conquered. When he believed himself to
be acting rightly, he overcame all obstacles. I have seen Jack, when
doubtful whether what he was about to do were right or wrong, as timid
and vacillating as a little girl; and I honour him for it!
As this boat was a curiosity in its way, a few words here relative to
the manner of its construction may not be amiss.
I have already mentioned the chestnut-tree with its wonderful buttresses
or planks. This tree, then, furnished us with the chief part of our
material. First of all, Jack sought out a limb of a tree of such a form
and size as, while it should form the keel, a bend at either end should
form the stem and stern-posts. Such a piece, however, was not easy to
obtain; but at last he procured it by rooting up a small tree which had
a branch growing at the proper angle about ten feet up its stem, with
two strong roots growing in such a form as enabled him to make a
flat-sterned boat. This placed, he procured three branching roots of
suitable size, which he fitted to the keel at equal distances, thus
forming three strong ribs. Now the squaring and shaping of these, and
the cutting of the grooves in the keel, was an easy enough matter, as it
was all work for the axe, in the use of which Jack was become
wonderfully expert; but it was quite a different affair when he came to
nailing the ribs to the keel, for we had no instrument capable of boring
a large hole, and no nails to fasten them with. We were, indeed, much
perplexed here; but Jack at length devised an instrument that served
very well. He took the remainder of our hoop-iron and beat it into the
form of a pipe or cylinder, about as thick as a man's finger. This he
did by means of our axe and the old rusty axe we had found at the house
of the poor man at the other side of the island. This, when made red
hot, bored slowly through the timbers; and the better to retain the
heat, Jack shut up one end of it and filled it with sand. True, the
work was very slowly done; but it mattered not--we had little else to
do. Two holes were bored in each timber, about an inch and a half
apart, and also down into the keel, but not quite through. Into these
were placed stout pegs made of a tree called iron-wood, and when they
were hammered well home, the timbers were as firmly fixed as if they had
been nailed with iron. The gunwales, which were very stout, were fixed
in a similar manner. But besides the wooden nails, they were firmly
lashed to the stem and stern-posts and ribs by means of a species of
cordage which we had contrived to make out of the fibrous husk of the
cocoa-nut. This husk was very tough, and when a number of the threads
were joined together they formed excellent cordage. At first we tied
the different lengths together; but this was such a clumsy and awkward
complication of knots that we contrived, by careful interlacing of the
ends together before twisting, to make good cordage of any size or
length we chose. Of course it cost us much time and infinite labour;
but Jack kept up our spirits when we grew weary, and so all that we
required was at last constructed.
Planks were now cut off the chestnut-trees of about an inch thick.
These were dressed with the axe--but clumsily, for an axe is ill-adapted
for such work. Five of these planks on each side were sufficient; and
we formed the boat in a very rounded, barrel-like shape, in order to
have as little twisting of the planks as possible, for although we could
easily bend them, we could not easily twist them. Having no nails to
rivet the planks with, we threw aside the ordinary fashion of
boat-building and adopted one of our own. The planks were therefore
placed on each other's edges, and sewed together with the tough cordage
already mentioned; they were also thus sewed to the stem, the stern, and
the keel. Each stitch or tie was six inches apart, and was formed thus:
Three holes were bored in the upper plank and three in the lower, the
holes being above each other--that is, in a vertical line. Through
these holes the cord was passed, and when tied, formed a powerful stitch
of three-ply. Besides this, we placed between the edges of the planks
layers of cocoa-nut fibre, which, as it swelled when wetted, would, we
hoped, make our little vessel water-tight. But in order further to
secure this end, we collected a large quantity of pitch from the
bread-fruit tree, with which, when boiled in our old iron pot, we paid
the whole of the inside of the boat, and while it was yet hot, placed
large pieces of cocoa-nut cloth on it, and then gave it another coat
above that. Thus the interior was covered with a tough, water-tight
material; while the exterior, being uncovered, and so exposed to the
swelling action of the water, was, we hoped, likely to keep the boat
quite dry. I may add that our hopes were not disappointed.
While Jack was thus engaged, Peterkin and I sometimes assisted him; but
as our assistance was not much required, we more frequently went
a-hunting on the extensive mud-flats at the entrance of the long valley
which lay nearest to our bower. Here we found large flocks of ducks of
various kinds, some of them bearing so much resemblance to the wild
ducks of our own country that I think they must have been the same. On
these occasions we took the bow and the sling, with both of which we
were often successful, though I must confess that I was the least so.
Our suppers were thus pleasantly varied, and sometimes we had such a
profusion spread out before us that we frequently knew not with which of
the dainties to begin.
I must also add that the poor old cat which we had brought home had
always a liberal share of our good things; and so well was it looked
after, especially by Peterkin, that it recovered much of its former
strength, and seemed to improve in sight as well as hearing.
The large flat stone, or rock of coral, which stood just in front of the
entrance to our bower, was our table. On this rock we had spread out
the few articles we possessed the day we were shipwrecked; and on the
same rock, during many a day afterwards, we spread out the bountiful
supply with which we had been blessed on our Coral Island. Sometimes we
sat down at this table to a feast consisting of hot rolls--as Peterkin
called the newly baked bread-fruit--a roast pig, roast duck, boiled and
roasted yams, cocoa-nuts, taro, and sweet potatoes; which we followed up
with a dessert of plums, apples, and plantains--the last being a
large-sized and delightful fruit, which grew on a large shrub or tree
not more than twelve feet high, with light-green leaves of enormous
length and breadth. These luxurious feasts were usually washed down
with cocoa-nut lemonade.
Occasionally Peterkin tried to devise some new dish--"a conglomerate,"
as he used to say; but these generally turned out such atrocious
compounds that he was ultimately induced to give up his attempts in
extreme disgust--not forgetting, however, to point out to Jack that his
failure was a direct contradiction to the proverb which he (Jack) was
constantly thrusting down his throat--namely, that "where there's a will
there's a way." For he had a great will to become a cook, but could by
no means find a way to accomplish that end.
One day, while Peterkin and I were seated beside our table, on which
dinner was spread, Jack came up from the beach, and flinging down his
axe, exclaimed:
"There, lads, the boat's finished at last! So we've nothing to do now
but shape two pair of oars, and then we may put to sea as soon as we
like."
This piece of news threw us into a state of great joy; for although we
were aware that the boat had been gradually getting near its completion,
it had taken so long that we did not expect it to be quite ready for at
least two or three weeks. But Jack had wrought hard and said nothing,
in order to surprise us.
"My dear fellow," cried Peterkin, "you're a perfect trump! But why did
you not tell us it was so nearly ready? Won't we have a jolly sail
to-morrow, eh?"
"Don't talk so much, Peterkin," said Jack; "and, pray, hand me a bit of
that pig."
"Certainly, my dear," cried Peterkin, seizing the axe. "What part will
you have? A leg, or a wing, or a piece of the breast--which?"
"A hind leg, if you please," answered Jack; "and, pray, be so good as to
include the tail."
"With all my heart," said Peterkin, exchanging the axe for his hoop-iron
knife, with which he cut off the desired portion. "I'm only too glad,
my dear boy, to see that your appetite is so wholesale, and there's no
chance whatever of its dwindling down into re-tail again--at least, in
so far as this pig is concerned.--Ralph, lad, why don't you laugh, eh?"
he added, turning suddenly to me with a severe look of inquiry.
"Laugh!" said I. "What at, Peterkin? Why should I laugh?"
Both Jack and Peterkin answered this inquiry by themselves laughing so
immoderately that I was induced to believe I had missed noticing some
good joke, so I begged that it might be explained to me; but as this
only produced repeated roars of laughter, I smiled and helped myself to
another slice of plantain.
"Well, but," continued Peterkin, "I was talking of a sail to-morrow.
Can't we have one, Jack?"
"No," replied Jack, "we can't have a sail; but I hope we shall have a
row, as I intend to work hard at the oars this afternoon, and if we
can't get them finished by sunset, we'll light our candle-nuts, and turn
them out of hands before we turn into bed."
"Very good," said Peterkin, tossing a lump of pork to the cat, who
received it with a mew of satisfaction. "I'll help you, if I can."
"Afterwards," continued Jack, "we will make a sail out of the cocoa-nut
cloth, and rig up a mast; and then we shall be able to sail to some of
the other islands, and visit our old friends the penguins."
The prospect of being so soon in a position to extend our observations
to the other islands, and enjoy a sail over the beautiful sea, afforded
us much delight, and after dinner we set about making the oars in good
earnest. Jack went into the woods and blocked them roughly out with the
axe, and I smoothed them down with the knife, while Peterkin remained in
the bower spinning, or rather twisting, some strong, thick cordage with
which to fasten them to the boat.
We worked hard and rapidly, so that when the sun went down Jack and I
returned to the bower with four stout oars, which required little to be
done to them save a slight degree of polishing with the knife. As we
drew near we were suddenly arrested by the sound of a voice. We were
not a little surprised at this--indeed, I may almost say alarmed; for
although Peterkin was undoubtedly fond of talking, we had never, up to
this time, found him talking to himself. We listened intently, and
still heard the sound of a voice as if in conversation. Jack motioned
me to be silent, and advancing to the bower on tiptoe, we peeped in.
The sight that met our gaze was certainly not a little amusing. On the
top of a log which we sometimes used as a table sat the black cat with a
very demure expression on its countenance, and in front of it, sitting
on the ground with his legs extended on either side of the log, was
Peterkin. At the moment we saw him he was gazing intently into the
cat's face, with his nose about four inches from it, his hands being
thrust into his breeches pockets.
"Cat," said Peterkin, turning his head a little on one side, "I love
you!"
There was a pause, as if Peterkin awaited a reply to this affectionate
declaration. But the cat said nothing.
"Do you hear me?" cried Peterkin sharply. "I love you--I do! Don't you
love me?"
To this touching appeal the cat said "mew" faintly.
"Ah, that's right! You're a jolly old rascal! Why did you not speak at
once, eh?" and Peterkin put forward his mouth and kissed the cat on the
nose!
"Yes," continued Peterkin after a pause, "I love you. D'you think I'd
say so if I didn't, you black villain? I love you because I've got to
take care of you, and to look after you, and to think about you, and to
see that you don't die--"
"Mew, me-a-w!" said the cat.
"Very good," continued Peterkin; "quite true, I have no doubt. But
you've no right to interrupt me, sir. Hold your tongue till I have done
speaking. Moreover, cat, I love you because you came to me the first
time you ever saw me, and didn't seem to be afraid, and appeared to be
fond of me, though you didn't know that I wasn't going to kill you. Now
that was brave, that was bold, and very jolly, old boy, and I love you
for it--I do!"
Again there was a pause of a few minutes, during which the cat looked
placid, and Peterkin dropped his eyes upon its toes as if in
contemplation. Suddenly he looked up.
"Well, cat, what are you thinking about now? Won't speak, eh? Now tell
me: don't you think it's a monstrous shame that those two scoundrels,
Jack and Ralph, should keep us waiting for our supper so long?"
Here the cat arose, put up its back and stretched itself, yawned
slightly, and licked the point of Peterkin's nose!
"Just so, old boy; you're a clever fellow.--I really do believe the
brute understands me!" said Peterkin, while a broad grin overspread his
face as he drew back and surveyed the cat.
At this point Jack burst into a loud fit of laughter. The cat uttered
an angry fuff and fled, while Peterkin sprang up and exclaimed:
"Bad luck to you, Jack! You've nearly made the heart jump out of my
body, you have!"
"Perhaps I have," replied Jack, laughing, as we entered the bower; "but
as I don't intend to keep you or the cat any longer from your supper, I
hope that you'll both forgive me."
Peterkin endeavoured to turn this affair off with a laugh. But I
observed that he blushed very deeply at the time we discovered
ourselves, and he did not seem to relish any allusion to the subject
afterwards; so we refrained from remarking on it ever after, though it
tickled us not a little at the time.
After supper we retired to rest, and to dream of wonderful adventures in
our little boat and distant voyages upon the sea.