The shrieks and cries and shouts of Paul's companions rang in his ears
as he found himself with them struggling in the foaming water amid the
fragments of their boat. His great desire was to preserve his presence
of mind. He struck out with hands and feet, not for the purpose of
making way through the water, but that he might keep himself afloat till
he could ascertain in which direction the sea was driving him. That
some of his companions were yet alive, he could tell by hearing their
voices, though already it seemed at some distance from each other. He
felt that, though now swimming bravely, his strength must soon fail him.
Something struck him. He stretched out his hands and grasped an oar.
He found himself carried along, even more rapidly than before, amid the
hissing foam. He judged by the sensation that he was lifted to the
summit of a wave; it rolled triumphantly on with him, and it seemed as
if he was thrown forward by it a considerable distance, for he dropped,
as it were, into comparatively smooth water. He did not stop, but he
was borne on and on till he felt his feet, for the first time, touch for
an instant something hard. It might have been the top of a rock, and he
would be again in deep water; but no--he stretched out one leg. It met
the sand--a hard beach. Directly after, he was wading, and rapidly
rising higher out of the water. He found some difficulty in
withstanding the waters as they receded, but they did not seem to run
back with the force they frequently do; and struggling manfully, he at
length worked his way up till he was completely beyond their power.
Then exhausted nature gave way, and he sank down in a state of
half-stupor on the ground. The hurricane howled over his head; the
waves roared around him; he had the feeling that they would come up and
claim him as their prey, and yet he had no power to drag himself farther
away. He had consciousness enough left to show that he was on a wild
sea beach, and to believe that his last moments were approaching. At
length he fell asleep, and probably slept for some hours, for when he
awoke he felt greatly refreshed. It was still dark. He tried to stand
up, that he might ascertain the nature of the country on which he had
been thrown; he could see no trees, and he fancied that he could
distinguish the foam-covered waves leaping up on the other side of the
land. It might be a point of land, or it might be some small sandy
islet; it had, at all events, a very desolate appearance. Was he its
sole occupant? He scarcely dared to shout out an inquiry, lest the
sea-bird's shriek should be the only reply he might receive--or, what
would be worse, no responding voice should answer him. He sat down
again, wishing that day would come. He felt very sad--very forlorn. He
could scarcely refrain from crying bitterly, and almost wished that he
had been swallowed up by the foaming sea. He sat on, wishing that the
night would come to an end. How long it seemed! Hour after hour passed
by; he could not sleep, and yet he would gladly have lost all
recollection of his past sufferings, and thoughts of those which were to
come. He watched the hurricane decreasing; the wind grew less and less
in strength; the waves lashed the island shores with diminished fury;
and the foam no longer flew, as heretofore, in dense showers over him.
Dawn at last broke, and before long the sun himself rose up out of his
ocean bed. Paul started to his feet, and looked about him. Along the
beach, at no great distance, his eye fell on two figures. He rushed
towards them. They did not see him, for they were sitting down, looking
the other way. He shouted for joy on recognising Devereux and O'Grady.
On hearing his voice they turned their heads, and the latter, jumping
up, ran to meet him. The greeting was warm, for both looked on each
other as rescued from the grave. Poor Devereux, however, did not move;
and as Paul got nearer to him he saw that he was very pale.
"I'm so glad that you have escaped, Gerrard, both for your sake and
ours," exclaimed O'Grady, shaking hands with Paul, and forgetting all
about their supposed difference in rank: "I do believe that with your
help Devereux may recover. He and I, you see, were thrown on shore near
here, and as his feet were hurt I managed to drag him up here; but, had
my life depended on it, I could not have dragged him up an inch further.
We can manage to get some shelter for him from the heat of the sun, and
while one stays by him, the other can go in search of food."
"Oh! my good fellow, it will be all right," said Devereux, scarcely able
to restrain a deep groan. "I am sure Gerrard will be a great help, and
we ought to be thankful; but I can't help mourning for the poor fellows
who have gone. There's Alphonse, and his fiddle too--I didn't know how
much I liked the poor fellow."
"Yes, he was a merry little chap; and then that honest fellow, Reuben
Cole, and old Croxton too, in spite of his sermons--they were not very
long, and he had good reason for them," chimed in O'Grady with a sigh,
which sounded strange from his lips. "It seems a wonder that any of us
are alive. But I am getting terribly hungry, and it doesn't seem as if
there were many fruits or vegetables to be procured on this island;
however, I will go in search of what is to be found, though I suspect we
shall have to make up our minds to live on shell-fish and sea-weed. In
the meantime, Gerrard, do you look after Mr Devereux."
"I will do as you order, sir; but perhaps I know more about getting
shell-fish out of the crevices in the rocks than you do, and a person
may easily slip in and be drowned: so if you will let me I will go,"
observed Gerrard.
"No, no, I'll go," said O'Grady; "lend me your knife--I shall want it to
scrape the shells off the rocks. And now I'm off."
"Look out for fresh water on your way," said Devereux, as O'Grady was
moving off; "I am already fearfully thirsty."
Devereux and Paul watched O'Grady for some time as he walked along the
beach, where, as there were no rocks, he vainly searched for shell-fish.
At length he was lost to sight in the distance.
"This is, I fear, a barren spot we are on, Gerrard; still, we must never
give in while we are alive," observed Devereux. "I say this, because I
feel that I am not long for this world; and when you and O'Grady are
left alone, you may fall into despair. Remember, struggle on till the
last moment, for you do not know when help may come."
"Oh! don't speak in that way, Mr Devereux," cried Paul, taking the
other's hand; "you are not acting as you advise us to act. We may find
food and water too. The island seems much larger than I at first
thought it was."
"I have no wish to die, but still I do not feel as if I should recover,"
answered Devereux, in a feeble voice. "If I do not, and you should get
home, I wish you to go to my father and mother and sisters, and to tell
them that my earnest prayer was, that those who have the right to it
should have the fortune, and that I said I would rather dig or plough
all my days than enjoy what is not my own."
Paul had little doubt as to what Devereux was thinking of; still he did
not like to ask him to be more explicit, so he replied--
"I am afraid that I should not be believed if I took such a message, so
pray do not ask me to convey it."
Devereux made no reply, and for some time seemed very unwilling to
converse. Paul earnestly wished that O'Grady would return, or that
Devereux would give him leave to go in search of fresh water, which he
thought might be found further in the interior. Devereux, whose eyes
had been shut, at last looked up.
"Oh, for a glass of water, Gerrard! None but those who have been placed
as we are know its true value," he whispered.
"Let me go and try to find some, sir," said Paul. "I see a large shell
a few yards off; it will carry as much as you can drink. And now that
the light is stronger, I observe in the distance some shrubs or low
trees, and I cannot but hope that water will be found near them."
"Then go," said Devereux; "but take care that you can find me again."
Paul looked about, and saw a small spar floating on to the beach.
Without hesitation, he ran into the water to bring it out. He seized
the prize, and was dragging it on shore, when a large monster darted
towards him. He struck out the spar with all his force in the direction
of the creature. It was almost torn from his grasp, and he was nearly
dragged, with his face down, into the water; but he held on manfully,
and sprang back. He just saw a pair of fierce eyes, two rows of sharp
teeth, and a glance of white skin, convincing him that he had narrowly
escaped from the jaws of a ravenous shark. He felt also that he had
additional cause for thankfulness at having escaped the sharks when he
and his companions had been so long helplessly tumbled about in the
waves during the night. "Poor Alphonse and the rest! what has been
their fate?" he thought. He did not tell Devereux of his narrow escape;
but planting the pole in the sand, with a handkerchief tied to the top
of it, he set off towards the spot where he hoped to find water.
Devereux wished him good speed.
"You will easily find me again," he said, as Paul left him. Paul
hurried on. The ground was composed of sand and rock, with scarcely any
vegetation. The spot where he had left Devereux was the summit of a
bank; the space he was traversing looked as if it had been recently
covered by the sea. The trees were much farther off than he had
fancied. The heat of the sun increased; he felt very weak and hungry,
and it was with difficulty that he could make his way through the deep
sand.
"If I do not go on, poor Mr Devereux will die of thirst, and water must
be found," he said to himself whenever he found his resolution flagging.
A famous word is that _must_. We _must_ do what has to be done. We
_must_ not do what ought not to be done. Paul struggled on in spite of
the heat, and thirst, and hunger, and weariness, and the strange
creatures which crawled out from the crevices in the rocks, and ran
along the hot sand. He had no time to examine them. At length he found
that he was rising on the side of another bank, and what had seemed mere
shrubs in the distance, now assumed the appearance of a group of tall
cocoa-nut trees. "Should there be no water below, I shall find what
will be almost as refreshing," thought Paul, as he hurried on, almost
forgetting his fatigue in his eagerness to reach the spot. The sand,
however, seemed deeper and hotter than any he had before traversed.
Below the cocoa-nut trees there were low shrubs and some herbage. These
indicated water without doubt. He ran on. He stopped and hesitated.
There was a long, low building, capable of holding a number of persons.
If it was at present occupied, what reception could he expect to meet
from its inmates? He had read about savage Caribs, and buccaneers, and
pirates, and he thought that, possibly, the people in the hut might be
one or the other. He advanced cautiously, expecting every moment to see
some one come out of the hut. "I am but a boy, and however bad they may
be, they will not hurt me; and I must have the water at all events--for
water there must be, or the hut would not have been built on that spot."
Saying this, he hurried on, treading lightly, "The people may be
asleep, and I may get the water and be away without any one seeing me,"
he thought. He passed the door of the hut. Before him appeared a tank
cut in the coral rock, with the pure clear water bubbling up in the
middle of it. Stooping down, he quickly washed out his shell, and then
took a long, delicious draught. He felt as if he could never take
enough. He did not forget his companions; and while he was considering
how little the shell could carry, his eye fell on an iron pot by the
side of the tank. He stooped down and filled it, and was carrying it
off, when the door of the hut opened, and a woolly head with a hideous
black face popped out, and a voice which sounded like a peal of thunder,
the roll of a muffled drum, and the squeak of a bagpipe, mingled in one,
shouted out to him in a language he could not understand. Instead of
running away, Paul turned round and asked the negro what he wanted. The
latter only continued growling as before, and making hideous faces,
while his eye glanced at the can. Paul made signs that he was only
borrowing it, and would bring it back. He, however, did not venture
within grasp of the unattractive-looking negro, who showed no
inclination to follow him. The reason was soon apparent, for, as the
black came rather more out of the doorway, Paul perceived that he had
lost both his legs, and stood upon two wooden stumps. No one else
appeared to be moving inside the hut, and Paul concluded, therefore,
that the black was its only inmate. To avoid that unprepossessing
individual, he had made a circuit, and as he looked about to ascertain
the direction he was to take, he discovered that he was near the head of
a long narrow lagoon, or gulf, which ran up from the sea. He had no
time to examine it, as he was anxious to get back to Devereux. He ran
on as fast as he could without spilling the water. He thought that he
knew the way. He stopped. He feared that he had mistaken it. He
looked back at the tall cocoa-nut trees, and wished that he had brought
some of the fruit with him; but then he remembered that alone he could
not have got it, and that the black, might possibly not have chosen to
give him any. Again and again he stopped, fearing that he must be going
in a wrong direction. The flagstaff could nowhere be seen. "Poor Mr
Devereux! what will become of him should I miss him?" he said frequently
to himself, as he worked his way on through the heavy sand. At last the
looked-for signal appeared above the top of a bank. Devereux was lying
where he had left him, but seemed unconscious of his approach. "Was he
asleep--or, dreadful thought! could he be dead?" He ran on, nearly
spilling the precious water in his eagerness. He called. Devereux did
not answer. He knelt down by his side. His eyes were closed, and his
arms were helplessly stretched out like those of the dead. Paul
moistened his lips, and by degrees got them far enough apart to pour
some water down his throat. At length, to Paul's great joy, Devereux
opened his eyes.
"Where is O'Grady?" he asked, and then continued--"Ah! Gerrard, is that
you? Where did you get the water? It is delicious! delicious!"
In a short time Devereux appeared to be sufficiently recovered to
understand what was said to him; and while Paul was giving him an
account of his adventures, O'Grady was seen running towards them. He
arrived almost breathless, with his arms full of shell-fish, which he
threw before them on the ground.
"I have had hard work to get them, but there is no lack of more on the
lee side of the island, so we shall not starve," he exclaimed. "But set
to and eat, for it won't do to wait for cooking, as we have no means of
kindling a fire. When we have broken our fast, I will tell you what I
have seen."
Although raw fish and cold water was not luxurious fare, the party were
much strengthened by it, and after a time Devereux declared that he felt
able to accompany his companions either to the spring, or in the
direction O'Grady had been. They came to the conclusion that the island
was inhabited; for O'Grady had seen some objects moving, which he took
for people, on a rock at some little distance from the shore, and he
supposed that they had gone there in a canoe for the purpose of fishing.
It was finally agreed that they would go towards the rock, and
endeavour to gain some information as to the island on which they had
been cast, which they were not likely to obtain from the black Paul had
seen at the hut. Devereux had much difficulty in walking, though with
the help of his shipmates he got on faster than could have been
expected. They made a shorter cut than O'Grady had taken, and were soon
opposite the rock on which he fancied that he had seen some people.
"There are two men and a boy," exclaimed Paul, whose eyesight was the
keenest of the party. "Who can they be?"
The three lads hurried on, as fast as Devereux's weakness would allow,
to the beach.
"I thought so. There can be no doubt about it," cried Paul. "They see
us. They are making signs to us. There is Alphonse, and Reuben Cole,
and old Croxton. How can they get to us?"
Devereux and O'Grady were soon convinced that they were their shipmates.
O'Grady proposed swimming to them, as the distance was not great; but
Paul remembered the shark from which he had so narrowly escaped in the
morning, and urged him not to make the attempt. It was then agreed that
they must either hollow out a canoe or build a raft.
"But where is the tree from which the canoe is to be formed, and the
axes with which it is to be cut down?" asked Paul. "There are no trees
nearer than the fountain."
The midshipmen had in their eagerness overlooked that consideration, and
there did not seem much greater probability of their finding materials
for the raft. Still, something must be done to rescue their shipmates,
and that speedily, or they would die of thirst if not of hunger. Paul
recollected the spar he had stuck up, and which had some rope attached
to it, and O'Grady had observed some driftwood on the beach. They had
passed some low shrubs, with thick stems, of a bamboo character, and
they would assist to make the platform for the raft if a framework could
be formed. The rope, by being unlaid, would serve to bind the raft
together. No time was to be lost. Paul set off for the spar, while the
other two, making signals to their friends that they would try to help
them, went along the shore to collect what wood they could find. There
was plenty of driftwood fit for burning, but too small for their object.
At last they found a plank, and not far off a spar, and then another
plank. Their spirits rose.
"What is one man's poison is another man's meat," cried O'Grady, as he
found several planks together. "Some craft has been lost hereabouts,
and probably all hands with her, and we are likely to benefit by her
remains."
They had now, they fancied, got enough wood, with the aid of the shrubs,
to form a raft, on which they might ferry themselves across to the rock.
They accordingly began to drag them towards the spot where they had
parted from Paul. It was a work, however, of no little labour, as they
could draw only one plank at a time over the heavy sands. They had
made, three trips, and still Paul did not appear. They began to fear
some accident might have happened to him, and, now that they had found
so large a supply of wood, to regret that they had sent him for the
spar. They had brought together all they had found; and while Devereux
began to form the framework, O'Grady cut down with his knife branches
from the shrubs near at hand. They had little doubt that their friends
on the rock knew what they were about. While thus employed, a shout
made them turn their heads, and, looking up, they saw Paul, with the
spar on his shoulder, running towards them. When he came up, he had an
extraordinary tale to tell. The spar, which had been left planted in
the sand, had been removed. He had hunted about for it in every
direction, and had almost given up the search, when he saw it lying on
the ground in the direction of the hut. It was a sign that there must
be somebody on the island besides the black, as with his wooden stumps
he could scarcely have got as far and back again without having been
seen. Paul reported also that he had seen a vessel a long way to
leeward, but that she appeared to be beating up towards the island.
However, all their thoughts were required for the construction of their
raft. The rope had not been removed from the spar, and this was a great
assistance in strengthening it. The raft, however, without the means of
guiding it, would be of little use. They had, therefore, to construct a
couple of paddles and a rudder, and they then found that, with the help
of two small spars, they could form a makeshift mast and yard, their
shirts and pocket-handkerchiefs fastened together forming a sail. This
would carry them to the rock, as the wind was off the shore, and they
must trust to the assistance of their friends to get back. What was
their disappointment, on stepping on the raft, to find that it would
only well support two people, and that although a third could be carried
on it, a fourth would most certainly upset it, and bring it under water.
The two midshipmen, therefore, agreed to go, and to leave Paul on
shore, much to his disappointment. "Shove us off," cried O'Grady to
Paul, as he let fall the sail, to which their neck-handkerchiefs and
stockings served as sheets.
Devereux steered with the long spar, which had a piece of board fastened
to the end of it, and O'Grady tended the sail with one hand, aided by
his teeth, and paddled with the other. They made fair progress, but
Paul watched them anxiously, for the raft was difficult to steer, and it
was very possible that they might miss the rock, and, if so, have hard
work to save themselves from being carried out to sea. The people on
the rock waved their hands to encourage them. The wind came somewhat
more on the quarter, and they had to paddle hard to keep the raft on its
proper course.
Paul was eagerly watching their progress, when he was startled by a loud
guttural sound behind him, and looking round there, he saw the hideous
black standing on what might be literally called four wooden legs--for
besides his two timber extremities, he supported his shoulders on a pair
of crutches with flat boards at the bottom, which accounted for his
being able to move on so rapidly over the soft sand. Paul could not
escape from him except into the sea, so he wisely stood still. There
was something very terrific in the black's countenance, increased by the
grimaces he made in his endeavours to speak. He pointed to the iron
pot, which Paul had slung by his side. Paul at first thought that he
was accusing him of stealing it. "If he catches hold of me, I do not
know what he may do; but at the same time, as he has no weapon in his
hand, I do not suppose that he intends to hurt me," he thought. "I will
boldly go up to him and give him the cup, and if he looks as if he would
grab me, I can easily spring out of his way."
Paul forgot that the black's crutch would make a very formidable and
far-reaching weapon. He advanced slowly, but was much reassured when
the black, pointing to the rock, made signs of drinking. "After all, he
is come as a friend to help us. He is not so ugly as I thought," he
said to himself, as he handed the can to the black. No sooner did the
black receive it, than away he went at a great rate over the sand.
Meantime the raft had been making good progress. The great fear was,
lest it might meet with some current which would sweep it out of its
course. Paul had no selfish feelings--he dreaded any accident as much
as if he had been himself on the raft. O'Grady seemed to be paddling
harder than ever. Devereux was too weak, he feared, to do much. "I
wish that I had gone," he said more than once to himself. Now the raft
was again making direct for the rock; the sail was lowered. One of the
men caught it as it was being driven round the rock by the surge of the
sea, and while they steadied it Alphonse was placed upon it, and
immediately it began to return to the shore. Alphonse had taken a
paddle, and he and O'Grady worked away manfully. They made good
progress, and in a short time reached the beach. Alphonse was sitting
on a box. It was the case of his beloved fiddle. He put it under his
arm as he stepped on shore, and shook Paul warmly by the hand.
"Ah! this has been the means of saving my life," he said; "I clung to it
when I had nothing else to support me, and was washed, with the wreck of
the boat to which Croxton and Cole were hanging on, up to the rock,
though how we got on to it I do not know, nor do my companions, I
believe."
Alphonse looked very pale, and complained of hunger and thirst. While
he was speaking, the black was seen coming over the sand at a great rate
on his four legs. To one of his arms was slung the can of water. It
showed that he had good instead of evil intentions towards the
shipwrecked seamen. He made signs for Alphonse to drink, which he
thankfully did.
Paul was eager to go off for the rest, and obtained leave to take
Devereux's place. The negro seemed to take an interest in their
proceedings, and both Devereux and Alphonse expressed their belief that
he wished to be friendly.
When O'Grady and Paul arrived at the rock, they found old Croxton and
Reuben disputing who should remain to the last.
"The old before the young," cried Reuben.
"Ay, but the old should have the choice of the post of honour," said
Croxton.
However, he was at last induced to step on to the raft. It was not a
time to stand on ceremony, for the sky gave indications that the weather
was about to change, and it was very evident that, should the sea get
up, the rock would no longer be tenable. The raft felt the weight of
the old man, and the two boys found it much more difficult to paddle to
the shore.
They had not got far when Paul observed a dark triangular-shaped object
above the water; then he saw a pair of fierce eyes fixed on him. It was
a huge shark--large enough to upset the raft with a whisk of his tail.
He did not tell his companions, but paddled steadily on. What did the
appearance of the monster portend? He had heard of the instinct of
sharks. Did the creature follow in the expectation of obtaining a
victim?
On this trip the shark was to be disappointed, for they reached the
shore in safety, and landing the old man, who was suffering much from
thirst, and was therefore doubly grateful for the supply of water
brought by the black, they for the last time shoved off. Both the lads
felt greatly fatigued, and though they set their sail, they had to
paddle hard to keep the raft on a right course. The sea had been
getting up, and every moment made Reuben's situation on the rock more
insecure. Even if he could have swum across the channel, the monster
Paul had seen would have taken good care that he should never have
reached the shore. The knowledge of this, as well as their own safety,
made them exert themselves to the utmost. Already more than one sea had
dashed over the rock, and Reuben had to grasp it tightly to prevent
himself from being washed off. A huge foaming billow was seen rolling
in. It must sweep over the reef, and perhaps come thundering down on
the raft.
The boys had just lowered their sail, and were paddling in. Reuben saw
the roller coming. Making a sign to them to paddle back, he sprang into
the water and struck out towards them. On came the billow--roaring,
foaming. The rock was hidden from view by a mass of spray as the wave
curled over it.
"Oh, he has gone! he has gone!" cried Paul, as, looking back, he could
nowhere see his friend.
It was but for a moment. He had been concealed by the swelling water.
Again he appeared.
"Your hand! your hand!" cried Reuben.
Paul stretched out his hand with terror at heart, for at that moment he
saw the dark fin of a shark on the surface of the water. He seized
Reuben's hand, and dragged with all his might. The wave rushed on,
dashing over the raft, and almost sweeping O'Grady and Paul from off it;
but they held on, and it served the purpose of lifting Reuben on to it
at the moment that a pair of ravenous jaws appeared opening in an
attempt to seize him. The same sea, lifting the raft, drove it rapidly
towards the shore--and another following, the boys paddling at the same
time, sent it high up on the beach; but even then the receding waters
would have carried it off, had not the negro and old Croxton rushed
towards them, the former planting his crutches against it, and the
latter grasping it tightly. Even thus they could not hold it long, but
they gave time to the boys and Reuben to spring on shore, and then it
was carried off, and soon shattered to pieces.
The black now made signs to all the party to accompany him to his hut,
which, as may be supposed, they gladly did.
"Faith, Mr Charcoal is better than he looks," observed O'Grady, as he
bade them enter.
The inside offered a strong contrast to the outside. There was a large
table and chairs, and several bed-places, with coverlids to the beds of
rich damask, and there were numerous chests and articles of ships'
furniture in corners and ranged along the wall. The black, too,
produced from a chest several silver and richly-embossed plates, dishes,
and other utensils, into which having emptied a rich stew from an iron
pot, he placed them before his guests, and made them a sign to fall to.
This they were not slack to obey, for all were desperately hungry. No
one inquired of what it was composed, though a qualm came over the
feelings of Devereux, who was likely to be the most particular, as he
hooked up what certainly looked very like the body and feet of a lizard.
However, he said nothing, and minced up the remainder of his portion
before he examined it. O'Grady made some queer faces at some of the
things which caught his eye in the pot, but he said nothing, as he was
too hungry to be particular.
When the whole party were satisfied, the good-natured black pointed to
the couches, and signified that they might rest on them--a permission of
which they did not fail immediately to avail themselves, and in a few
minutes all were fast asleep. The black, meantime, in spite of the
warmth of the weather, sat down by the side of the fire at which he had
been cooking, and gave himself up to contemplation. How completely at
that moment were all his guests in his power! Who could tell what
injuries he had to avenge on the white men? Whatever were his feelings,
he gave them no cause for suspicion.
Having waited till they were so sound asleep that a great gun fired
close to their ears would scarcely have awakened them, he took his
crutches and stumped out of the hut. Some hours passed away. Paul was
the first to open his eyes; no one besides his friends were in the hut.
He did not like to rouse them up, though, in a short time, hunger--the
same cause which had awoke him--made them also awake. They had consumed
all the food the negro had given them in the morning, and they could
find nothing more to eat in the hut. O'Grady proposed that they should
climb the trees, and get some cocoanuts.
It was, however, more easy to propose than to execute the achievement.
He himself first tried to get up a tree, and then Paul made the
experiment; but, sailors as they were, they could not manage to grasp
the stem with sufficient firmness to ascend. Paul, being the lightest,
helped by his companions, had got up some way, when a gruff shout made
them turn round, and old Charcoal, as they called the black, was seen
shambling along on his crutches towards them. He beckoned Paul to come
down from the tree in a way which showed that he would not be disobeyed.
They saw that he had a basket on his back, and, pointing to the
fountain to intimate that he wanted water, he set about turning its
contents, which were of a very heterogeneous character, into the large
stew-pot from which he had supplied their breakfast. The midshipmen, as
before, saw enough to convince them that it would be wise not too
minutely to examine the contents of the pot. The black produced some
rum at dinner, which, though they partook of it sparingly, helped down
the strange mess.
Two or three days passed by, and the black continued to treat them as at
first, though O'Grady suggested that he was possibly like the ogre in
the fairy tale--only fattening them up that he might eat them in the
end. Still, it was agreed that he was a very good fellow, and the
majority were of opinion that he would help them to reach the nearest
British island if he had the power. However, hitherto not a word had
been exchanged between him and them. He made no objection to their
exploring the island, but their discoveries only convinced them that it
was very barren, and that no means existed of their getting away from
it. They came, to be sure, on a canoe, in which they concluded that the
black occasionally went out fishing; but it was only just large enough
to hold him, and the paddles were nowhere to be found. Soon after this,
O'Grady, who was in advance, saw a large boat hauled up under some
bushes. "Hurrah, boys! here's a craft which will carry us to Jamaica,
if need be," he shouted, and ran on, followed by Paul and Alphonse.
The tone of his voice changed as he got nearer. "She has a mighty
antique look about her, but she may still serve our purpose," he said.
"But I'm not quite certain," he added, as he struck his fist against a
plank, which crumbled away before the blow. A kick sent another plank
into fragments. The whole boat was mere touchwood.
There was a smile on the countenance of old Charcoal, who came in sight
directly afterwards and had evidently been watching them at a distance.
They were in a certain sense his prisoners, and yet he could not mean
them ill, or he would not have treated them with so much hospitality.
How he procured their food, was a question, and certainly it was his
wish that they should not be able to provide it for themselves. Over
and over again they discussed the means by which they might get away;
but when they expressed their wish to him by signs, he shook his head,
and tried to show that it would be impossible to do so.
At last they began to suspect that he had some motive for detaining
them. Not a vessel had been seen since the morning when they were
thrown on the island; but one day, on waking, just as it was light, Paul
got up, and going out, saw a schooner gliding along through the lagoon
or creek leading to the hut. He called up his companions, who were
speedily on foot, and all rushed out to see the stranger. She was a
long, low, dark schooner, with mischief in her very look--such as was
not at that time to be found in European waters.
"That craft doesn't go about on any lawful errand," observed old Croxton
to Reuben.
"I should think not, mate. If ever there was a pirate, that 'ere craft
is one," was the answer.
The matter was pretty well set at rest by the appearance of a black
flag, which had hitherto hung against the mast, but which, now blown out
by the breeze suddenly freshening up, exhibited the skull and
cross-bones which the rovers of those days delighted to carry, either in
the presence of a weak enemy, or to exhibit in triumph to their friends.
The midshipmen felt that their uniforms would not be looked on with a
favourable eye by the pirates, and yet they could not nor would have
attempted to hide themselves. The vessel was soon securely moored, and
several boats being lowered, and hampers, casks, and cases placed in
them, the crew, with shouts, and songs, and wild gestures, came on
shore. They appeared to be men of all nations and of every hue, from
the jet-black African, to the fair Englishman or Dane. They soon made
it evident that they intended to indulge in a thorough debauch, for the
greater number began without loss of time to unpack cases of wine and
provisions in a shady spot under the trees. Several, however,
surrounded the Englishmen, and one of them, stepping forward, inquired
in a rough tone what had brought them there.
Devereux replied calmly that they had been cast on the island, and hoped
that he and his companions would be treated with courtesy.
"That depends on how you behave yourselves, my spark," answered the man,
gruffly. "We want a few hands to supply the places of those who were
killed in our last engagement. If you like to join us, well and good;
if not, look out for squalls."