THE SIGNAL OF FIRE.
The wreck broke in upon the monotony of Brandon’s island life and
changed the current of his thoughts. The revelations contained in
Despard’s manuscript came with perfect novelty to his mind. Potts, his
enemy, now stood before him in darker colors, the foulest of miscreants,
one who had descended to an association with Thuggee, one who bore on
his arm the dread mark of Bowhani. Against such an enemy as this he
would have to be wary. If this enemy suspected his existence could he
not readily find means to effect his destruction forever? Who could
tell what mysterious allies this man might have? Cigole had tracked
and followed him with the patience and vindictiveness of a blood-hound.
There might be many such as he. He saw plainly that if he ever escaped
his first and highest necessity would be to work in secret, to conceal
his true name, and to let it be supposed that Louis Brandon had been
drowned, while another name would enable him to do what he wished.
The message of Despard was now a sacred legacy to himself. The duty
which the murdered man had imposed upon his father must now be inherited
by him. Even this could scarcely add to the obligations to vengeance
under which he already lay; yet it freshened his passion and quickened
his resolve.
The brig was a novelty to him here, and as day succeeded to day he found
occupation in searching her. During the hotter part of the day he busied
himself in shoveling out the sand from the cavern with a board. In the
cool of the morning or evening he worked at the hatchway. Here he soon
reached the cargo.
This cargo consisted of staves and short boards. All were blackened, and
showed traces of fire. The fire seemed to have burned down to a depth of
four feet, and two or three feet under the sides; then the water coming
in had quenched it.
He drew out hundreds of these staves and boards, which were packed in
bundles, six boards being nailed together as box-shooks, and thirty or
forty staves. These he threw out upon the deck and on the sand. What
remained he drew about and scattered loosely in the hold of the vessel.
He did this with a purpose, for he looked forward to the time when
some ship might pass, and it would then be necessary to attract her
attention. There was no way of doing so. He had no pole, and if he
had it might not be noticed. A fire would be the surest way of drawing
attention, and all this wood gave him the means of building one. He
scattered it about on the sand, so that it might dry in the hot sun.
Yet it was also necessary to have some sort of a signal to elevate
in case of need. He had nothing but a knife to work with; yet patient
effort will do much, and after about a week he had cut away the rail
that ran along the quarter-deck, which gave him a pole some twenty feet
in length. The nails that fastened the boards were all rusted so that
they could not be used in attaching any thing to this. He decided
when the time came to tie his coat to it, and use that as a flag. It
certainly ought to be able to attract attention.
Occupied with such plans and labors and purposes as these, the days
passed quickly for two weeks. By that time the fierce rays of the sun
had dried every board and stave so that it became like tinder. The ship
itself felt the heat; the seams gaped more widely, the boards warped and
fell away from their rusty nails, the timbers were exposed all over it,
and the hot, dry wind penetrated every cranny. The interior of the hold
and the cabin became free from damp, and hot and dry.
Then Brandon flung back many of the boards and staves loosely; and after
enough had been thrown there he worked laboriously for days cutting up
large numbers of the boards into fine splints, until at last a huge pile
of these shavings were accumulated. With these and his pistol he would
be able to obtain light and fire in the time of need.
The post which he had cut off was then sharpened at one end, so that he
could fix it in the sand when the time came, should it ever come. Here,
then, these preparations were completed.
After all his labor in the cabin nothing was found. The bedding, the
mattresses, the chests, the nautical instruments had all been ruined.
The tables and chairs fell to pieces when the sand was removed; the
doors and wood-work sank away; the cabin when cleared remained a wreck.
The weather continued hot and dry. At night Brandon flung himself down
wherever he happened to be, either at the brig or at the rock. Every day
he had to go to the rock for water, and also to look out toward the sea
from that side. At first, while intent upon his work at the ship, the
sight of the barren horizon every day did not materially affect him; he
rose superior to despondency and cheered himself with his task. But
at length, at the end of about three weeks, all this work was done and
nothing more remained. His only idea was to labor to effect his escape,
and not to insure his comfort during his stay.
Now as day succeeded to day all his old gloom returned. The excitement
of the last few weeks had acted favorably upon his bodily health, but
when this was removed he began to feel more than his old weakness. Such
diet as his might sustain nature, but it could not preserve health. He
grew at length to loathe the food which he had to take, and it was only
by a stern resolve that he forced himself to swallow it.
At length a new evil was superadded to those which had already afflicted
him. During the first part of his stay the hollow or pool of water on
the rock had always been kept filled by the frequent rains. But now for
three weeks, in fact ever since the uncovering of the _Vishnu_, not a
single drop of rain had fallen. The sun shone with intense heat, and the
evaporation was great. The wind at first tempered this heat somewhat,
but at last this ceased to blow by day, and often for hours there was a
dead calm, in which the water of the sea lay unruffled and all the air
was motionless.
If there could only have been something which he could stretch over that
precious pool of water he might then have arrested its flight. But he
had nothing, and could contrive nothing. Every day saw a perceptible
decrease in its volume, and at last it went down so low that he thought
he could count the number of days that were left him to live. But his
despair could not stay the operation of the laws of nature, and he
watched the decrease of that water as one watches the failing breath of
a dying child.
Many weeks passed, and the water of the pool still diminished. At last
it had sunk so low that Brandon could not hope to live more than another
week unless rain came, and that now he could scarcely expect. The
look-out became more hopeless, and at length his thoughts, instead of
turning toward escape, were occupied with deliberating whether he would
probably die of starvation or simple physical exhaustion. He began to
enter into that state of mind which he had read in Despard’s MSS., in
which life ceases to be a matter of desire, and the only wish left is to
die as quickly and as painlessly as possible.
At length one day as his eyes swept the waters mechanically out of pure
habit, and not expecting any thing, he saw far away to the northeast
something which looked like a sail. He watched it for an hour before
he fairly decided that it was not some mocking cloud. But at the end
of that time it had grown larger, and had assumed a form which no cloud
could keep so long.
Now his heart beat fast, and all the old longing for escape, and the
old love of life returned with fresh vehemence. This new emotion
over-powered him, and he did not try to struggle with it.
Now had come the day and the hour when all life was in suspense. This
was his first hope, and he felt that it must be his last. Experience had
shown that the island must lie outside the common track of vessels, and,
in the ordinary course of things, if this passed by he could not hope to
see another.
Now he had to decide how to attract her notice. She was still far away,
yet she was evidently drawing nearer. The rock was higher than the mound
and more conspicuous. He determined to carry his signal there, and erect
it somewhere on that place. So he took up the heavy staff, and bore it
laboriously over the sand till he reached the rock.
By the time that he arrived there the vessel had come nearer. Her
top-sails were visible above the horizon. Her progress was very slow,
for there was only very little wind. Her studding-sails were all set
to catch the breeze, and her course was such that she came gradually
nearer. Whether she would come near enough to see the island was another
question. Yet if they thought of keeping a look-out, if the men in the
tops had glasses, this rock and the signal could easily be seen. He
feared, however, that this would not be thought of. The existence of
Coffin Island was not generally known, and if they supposed that there
was only open water here they would not be on the look-out at all.
[Illustration: “STILL HE STOOD THERE, HOLDING ALOFT HIS SIGNAL.”]
Nevertheless Brandon erected his signal, and as there was no place on
the solid rock where he could insert it he held it up in his own hands.
Hours passed. The ship had come very much nearer, but her hull was not
yet visible. Still he stood there under the burning sun, holding aloft
his signal. Fearing that it might not be sufficiently conspicuous he
fastened his coat to the top, and then waved it slowly backward and
forward.
The ship moved more slowly than ever; but still it was coming nearer;
for after some time, which seemed to that lonely watcher like entire
days, her hull became visible, and her course still lay nearer.
Now Brandon felt that he must be noticed. He waved his signal
incessantly. He even leaped in the air, so that he might be seen. He
thought that the rock would surely be perceived from the ship, and if
they looked at that they would see the figure upon it.
Then despondency came over him. The hull of the ship was visible, but it
was only the uppermost line of the hull. He was standing on the very top
of the rock, on its highest point. From the deck they could not see the
rock itself. He stooped down, and perceived that the hull of the ship
sank out of sight. Then he knew that the rock would not be visible to
them at all. Only the upper half of his body could by any possibility
be visible, and he knew enough of the sea to understand that this
would have the dark sea for a back-ground to observers in the ship, and
therefore could not be seen.
Still he would not yield to the dejection that was rapidly coming over
him, and deepening into despair every minute. Never before had he so
clung to hope--never before had his soul been more indomitable in its
resolution, more vigorous in its strong self-assertion.
He stood there still waving his staff as though his life now depended
upon that dumb yet eloquent signal--as though, like Moses, as long
as his arms were erect, so long would he be able to triumph over the
assault of despair. Hours passed. Still no notice was taken of him.
Still the ship held on her course slowly, yet steadily, and no change
of direction, no movement of any kind whatever, showed that he had been
seen. What troubled him now was the idea that the ship did not come
any nearer. This at first he refused to believe, but at last he saw it
beyond doubt, for at length the hull was no longer visible above the
horizon.
The ship was now due north from the rock, sailing on a line directly
parallel with the island. It came no nearer. It was only passing by it.
And now Brandon saw that his last hope of attracting attention by the
signal was gone. The ship was moving onward to the west, and every
minute would make it less likely that those on board could see the rock.
During the hours in which he had watched the ship he had been busy
conjecturing what she might be, and from what port she might have come.
The direction indicated China almost undoubtedly. He depicted in his
mind a large, commodious, and swift ship, with many passengers on
their way back to England. He imagined pleasant society, and general
intercourse. His fancy created a thousand scenes of delightful
association with “the kindly race of men.” All earthly happiness seemed
to him at that time to find its centre on board that ship which passed
before his eyes.
The seas were bright and sparkling, the skies calm and deeply blue, the
winds breathed softly, the white swelling sails puffed out like clouds
against the blue sky beyond. That ship seemed to the lonely watcher like
Heaven itself. Oh! to pass beyond the limits of this narrow sandy waste!
to cross the waters and enter there! Oh! to reach that ship which moved
on so majestically, to enter there and be at rest!
It was not given him to enter there. Brandon soon saw this. The ship
moved farther away. Already the sun was sinking, and the sudden night of
the tropics was coming swiftly on. There was no longer any hope.
He flung the staff down till it broke asunder on the hard rock, and
stood for a few moments looking out at sea in mute despair.
Yet could he have known what was shortly to be the fate of that
ship--shortly, only in a few days--he would not have despaired, he would
have rejoiced, since if death were to be his lot it were better to die
where he was than to be rescued and gain the sweet hope of life afresh,
and then have that hope extinguished in blood.
But Brandon did not remain long in idleness. There was yet one
resource--one which he had already thought of through that long day, but
hesitated to try, since he would have to forsake his signal-station; and
to remain there with his staff seemed to him then the only purpose of
his life. Now since the signal-staff had failed, he had broken it,
as some magician might break the wand which had failed to work its
appropriate spell, and other things were before him. He took his coat
and descended from the rock to make a last effort for life. He walked
back through the gathering gloom toward the wreck. He did not run, nor
did he in any way exhibit any excitement whatever. He walked with a firm
step over the sand, neither hastening on nor lagging back, but advancing
calmly.
Before he had gone half-way it was dark. The sun had gone down in a sea
of fire, and the western sky, after flaming for a time, had sunk into
darkness. There was no moon. The stars shone dimly from behind a kind
of haze that overspread the sky. The wind came up more freshly from
the east, and Brandon knew that this wind would carry the ship which he
wished to attract further and further away. That ship had now died out
in the dark of the ebon sea; the chances that he could catch its notice
were all against him, yet he never faltered.
He had come to a fixed resolution, which was at all hazards to kindle
his signal-fire, whatever the chances against him might be. He thought
that the flames flaring up would of necessity attract attention, and
that the vessel might turn, or lie-to, and try to discover what this
might be. If this last hope failed, he was ready to die. Death had now
become to him rather a thing to be desired than avoided. For he knew
that it was only a change of life; and how much better would life be in
a spiritual world than life on this lonely isle.
This decision to die took away despair. Despair is only possible to
those who value this earthly life exclusively. To the soul that looks
forward to endless life despair can never come.
It was with this solemn purpose that Brandon went to the wreck, seeking
by a last chance after life, yet now prepared to relinquish it. He had
struggled for life all these weeks; he had fought and wrestled for life
with unutterable spiritual agony, all day long, on the summit of that
rock, and now the bitterness of death was past.
An hour and a half was occupied in the walk over the sand to the wreck.
Fresh waves of dark had come over all things, and now, though there were
no clouds, yet the gloom was intense, and faint points of light in the
sky above showed where the stars might be. Where now was the ship
for which Brandon sought? He cared not. He was going to kindle his
signal-fire. The wind was blowing freshly by the time that he reached
the place. Such a wind had not blown for weeks. It would take the ship
away farther. What mattered it? He would seize his last chance, if it
were only to put that last chance away forever, and thus make an end of
suspense.
All his preparations had long since been made; the dry wood lay loosely
thrown about the hold; the pile of shavings and fine thread-like
splinters was there awaiting him. He had only to apply the fire.
He took his linen handkerchief and tore it up into fine threads, these
he tore apart again and rubbed in his hand till they were almost as
loose as lint. He then took these loose fibres, and descending into the
hold, put them underneath the pile which he had prepared. Then he look
his pistol, and holding it close to the lint fired it.
The explosion rang out with startling force in the narrow hull of the
ship, the lint received the fire and glowed with the sparks into spots
of red heat. Brandon blew with his breath, and the wind streaming down
lent its assistance.
In a few moments the work was done.
It blazed!
But scarcely had the first flame appeared than a puff of wind came down
and extinguished it. The sparks, however, were there yet. It was as
though the fickle wind were tantalizing him--at one time helping, at
another baffling him. Once more Brandon blew. Once more the blaze
arose. Brandon flung his coat skirts in front of it till it might gather
strength. The blaze ran rapidly through the fine splints, it extended
itself toward the shavings, it threw its arms upward to the larger
sticks.
The dry wood kindled. A million sparks flew out as it cracked under the
assault of the devouring fire. The flame spread itself out to a larger
volume; it widened, expanded, and clasped the kindling all around in its
fervid embrace. The flame had been baffled at first; but now, as if to
assert its own supremacy, it rushed out in all directions with something
that seemed almost like exultation. That flame had once been conquered
by the waters in this very ship. The wood had saved the ship from the
waters. It was as though the WOOD had once invited the FIRE to union,
but the WATER had stepped in and prevented the union by force; as though
the WOOD, resenting the interference, had baffled the assaults of the
WATER, and saved itself intact through the long years for the embrace
of its first love. Now the FIRE sought the WOOD once more after so many
years, and in ardor unspeakable embraced its bride.
Such fantastic notions passed through Brandon’s fancy as he looked at
the triumph of the flame. But he could not stay there long, and as he
had not made up his mind to give himself to the flames he clambered up
quickly out of the hatchway and stood upon the sand without.
The smoke was pouring through the hatchway, the black voluminous folds
being rendered visible by the glow of the flames beneath, which now had
gained the ascendency, and set all the winds at defiance. Indeed it was
so now that whatever wind came only assisted the flames, and Brandon, as
he looked on, amused himself with the thought that the wind was like the
world of man, which, when any one is first struggling, has a tendency to
crush him, but when he has once gained a foothold exerts all its efforts
to help him along. In this mood, half cynical, half imaginative, he
watched the progress of the flames.
Soon all the fine kindling had crumbled away at the touch of the fire,
and communicating its own heat to the wood around, it sank down, a
glowing mass, the foundation of the rising fires.
Here, from this central heart of fire, the flames rushed on upon the
wood which lay loosely on all sides, filling the hull. Through that wood
the dry hot wind had streamed for many weeks, till every stave and every
board had become dry to its utmost possibility. Now at the first breath
of the flame the wood yielded; at the first touch it flared up, and
prepared to receive the embrace of the fire in every fibre of its being.
The flame rolled on. It threw its long arms through the million
interstices of the loose piles of wood, it penetrated every where with
its subtle, far-reaching power, till within the ship the glow broadened
and widened, the central heart of fire enlarged its borders, and the
floods of flame that flowed from it rushed with consuming fury through
the whole body of the ship.
Glowing with bright lustre, increasing in that brightness every moment,
leaping up as it consumed and flashing vividly as it leaped up. A
thousand tongues of flame streamed upward through the crannies of the
gaping deck, and between the wide orifices of the planks and timbers
the dazzling flames gleamed; a thousand resistless arms seemed extended
forward to grasp the fabric now completely at its mercy, and the hot
breath of the fire shriveled up all in its path before yet its hands
were laid upon it.
And fast and furious, with eager advance, the flames rushed on devouring
everything. Through the hatchway, around which the fiercest fires
gathered, the stream of flame rose impetuously on high, in a straight
upward torrent, hurling up a vast pyramid of fire to the ebon skies, a
[Greek: phlogos migan pogona] which, like that which once illumed the
Slavonic strait with the signal-fire first caught from burning Troy,
here threw its radiance far over the deep.
While the lighter wood lasted the flame was in the ascendant, and
nobly it did its work. Whatever could be done by bright radiance and
far-penetrating lustre was done here. If that ship which had passed
held any men on board capable of feeling a human interest in the visible
signs of calamity at sea, they would be able to read in this flame that
there was disaster somewhere upon these waters, and if they had human
hearts they would turn to see if there was not some suffering which they
might relieve.
But the lighter and the dryer wood was at last consumed, and now there
remained that which Brandon had never touched, the dense masses which
still lay piled where they had been placed eighteen years before. Upon
these the fire now marched. But already the long days and weeks of
scorching sun and fierce wind had not been without their effects, and
the dampness had been subdued. Besides, the fire that advanced upon them
had already gained immense advantage; for one half of the brig was
one glowing mass of heat, which sent forth its consuming forces, and
withered up, and blighted, and annihilated all around. The close-bound
and close-packed masses of staves and boards received the resistless
embrace of the fire, and where they did not flame they still gave forth
none the less a blazeless glow.
Now from the burning vessel the flame arose no more; but in its
place there appeared that which sent forth as vivid a gleam, and as
far-flashing a light. The fire had full sway, though it gave forth no
blaze, and, while it gleamed but little, still it devoured. From the
sides of the ship the planks, blasted by the intense heat and by the
outburst of the flames, had sprung away, and now for nearly all the
length of the vessel the timbers were exposed without any covering.
Between these flashed forth the gleam of the fire inside, which now in
one pure mass glowed with dazzling brightness and intense heat.
But the wood inside, damp as it was, and solid in its fibre, did not
allow a very swift progress to the fire. It burned, but it burned
slowly. It glowed like the charcoal of a furnace from behind its wooden
bars.
The massive timbers of mahogany wood yielded slowly and stubbornly
to the conflagration. They stood up like iron bars long after all the
interior was one glowing mass. But, though they yielded slowly, still
they had to yield with the passage of hours to the progress of the fire.
And so it came to pass that at length the strong sides, sapped by
the steady and resistless assault, surrendered. One by one the stout
timbers, now wasted and weakened, gave way and sank down into the fervid
mass beneath. At last the whole centre was one accumulation of glowing
ashes, and all that remained were the bow, covered with sand, and the
stern, with the quarter-deck.
The fire spread in both directions. The stern yielded first. Here the
strong deck sustained for a time the onset of the fire that had consumed
every thing beneath, but at last it sunk in; the timbers of the sides
followed next, and all had gone. With the bow there was a longer and
a harder struggle. The fire had penetrated far into that part of the
vessel; the flames smouldered there, but the conflagration went on, and
smoke and blue flames issued from every part of that sandy mound, which,
fiercely assailed by the heat, gave way in every direction, broke into
a million crevices, and in places melted and ran together in a glowing
molten heap. Here the fires burned longer, and here they lived and
gleamed until morning.
Long before morning Brandon had fallen asleep. He had stood first near
the burning wreck. Then the heat forced him to move away, and he had
gone to a ridge of sand, where this peninsula joined the island. There
he sat down, watching the conflagration for a long time. There the light
flashed, and if that ship for whom he was signaling had noticed this
sign, and had examined the island, his figure could be seen to any one
that chose to examine.
But hours passed on. He strained his eyes through the gloom in the
direction in which the ship had vanished to see if there were any sign
there. None appeared. The progress of the fire was slow. It went on
burning and glowing with wonderful energy all through the night, till at
last, not long before dawn, the stern fell in, and nothing now was left
but the sand-mound that covered the bows, which, burning beneath, gave
forth smoke and fire.
Then, exhausted by fatigue, he sank down on the sand and fell into a
sound sleep.
In the midst of thronging dreams, from the depths of that imaginary land
where his weary spirit wandered in sleep, he was suddenly roused. A hand
was laid on his shoulder, which shook him roughly, and a hoarse voice
shouted in his ear, “Mess-mate! Halloo, mess-mate! Wake up!”
Brandon started up and gazed with wild, astonished eyes around. It was
day. The sun was two or three hours above the horizon. He was surrounded
by half a dozen seamen, who were regarding him with wondering but kindly
eyes. The one who spoke appeared to be their leader. He held a spy-glass
in his hand. He was a sturdy, thick-set man of about fifty, whose
grizzled hair, weather-beaten face, groggy nose, and whiskers, coming
all round under his chin, gave him the air of old Benbow as he appears
on the stage--“a reg’lar old salt,” “sea-dog,” or whatever other name
the popular taste loves to apply to the British tar.
“Hard luck here, mess-mate,” said this man, with a smile. “But you’re
all right now. Come! Cheer up! Won’t you take a drink?” And he held out
a brandy-flask.
Brandon rose mechanically in a kind of maze, not yet understanding his
good fortune, not yet knowing whether he was alive or dead. He took the
flask and raised it to his lips. The inspiriting draught gave him new
life. He looked earnestly at the Captain as he handed it back, and then
seized both his hands.
“God Almighty bless you for this, noble friend, whoever you are! But how
and when did you get here? Who are you? Did you not see my signal on the
rock yesterday--?”
“One question at a time, mess-mate,” said the other, laughingly. “I’m
Captain Corbet, of the ship _Falcon_, bound from Sydney to London, and
these are some of my men. We saw this light last night about midnight,
right on our weather-bow, and came up to see what it was. We found shoal
water, and kept off till morning. There’s the _Falcon_, Sir.”
The Captain waved his hand proudly to where a large, handsome ship lay,
about seven miles away to the south.
“On your bow? Did you see the fire _ahead_ of you?” asked Brandon, who
now began to comprehend the situation.
“Yes.”
“Then you didn’t pass me toward the north yesterday?”
“No; never was near this place before this morning.”
“It must have been some other ship, then,” said Brandon, musingly.
“But how did you get here, and how long have you been here?”
Brandon had long since decided on the part he was to play. His story was
all ready.
“My name is Edward Wheeler. I came out supercargo in the brig _Argo_,
with a cargo of hogshead staves and box shooks from London to Manilla.
On the 16th of September last we encountered a tremendous storm and
struck on this sand-bank. It is not down on any of the charts. The
vessel stuck hard and fast, and the sea made a clean breach over us.
The captain and crew put out the boat, and tried to get away, but were
swamped and drowned. I staid by the wreck till morning. The vessel stood
the storm well, for she had a solid cargo, was strongly built, and the
sand formed rapidly all about her. The storm lasted for several days,
and by the end of that time a shoal had formed. Several storms have
occurred since, and have heaped the sand all over her. I have lived here
ever since in great misery. Yesterday a vessel passed, and I put up a
signal on the rock over there, which she did not notice. In despair I
set fire to the brig, which was loaded with wood and burned easily. I
watched till morning, and then fell asleep. You found me so. That’s all
I have to say.”
On hearing this story nothing could exceed the kindness and sympathy of
these honest-hearted seamen. The Captain insisted on his taking another
drink, apologized for having to carry him back to England, and finally
hurried him off to the boat. Before two hours Brandon stood on the deck
of the _Falcon_.