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A BOUNTY BOY
Being some Adventures of a Christian
Barbarian on an unpremeditated Trip
Round the World
by
FRANK T. BULLEN, F.R.G.S.
Author of “The Cruise of the Cachalot,”
“With Christ at Sea,” etc.
London
Holden & Hardingham
Adelphi
1912.
* * * * * *
_PREVIOUS WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR_
THE CRUISE OF THE _CACHALOT_.
IDYLLS OF THE SEA.
THE LOG OF A SEA WAIF.
THE MEN OF THE MERCHANT SERVICE.
WITH CHRIST AT SEA.
A SACK OF SHAKINGS.
A WHALEMAN’S WIFE.
DEEP SEA PLUNDERINGS.
THE APOSTLES OF THE SOUTH-EAST.
SEA WRACK.
SEA PURITANS.
A SON OF THE SEA.
CREATURES OF THE SEA.
BACK TO SUNNY SEAS.
SEA SPRAY.
FRANK BROWN, SEA APPRENTICE.
OUR HERITAGE, THE SEA.
ADVANCE; AUSTRALASIA.
THE CALL OF THE DEEP.
* * * * * *
To
DR. ROBERT F. HORTON
IN LOVING ADMIRATION
PREFACE
This perhaps should rather be called a prefatory note, since all the
introduction to my book that I deem necessary is to say that in it I
have endeavoured to sketch a community for whom I have the highest
admiration, the descendants of the mutineers of the _Bounty_, who I
maintain are a standing proof of the miraculous power of the Gospel in
the regeneration of mankind when unhindered by sacerdotal interference.
And in order to make the subject as full as possible, I have taken one
typical islander, the Bounty Boy, out of his surroundings into the
world, and told his adventures therein with a view of showing how the
Christian who is one indeed may fare.
FRANK T. BULLEN.
MELBOURN, CAMBS.,
_September, 1907_.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I A CHRISTMAS BOUNTY 11
II A WHALE HUNT 20
III C. B.’S CHILDHOOD 32
IV EVIL FROM WITHOUT 46
V ENTERTAINING DEVILS UNAWARE 60
VI C. B.’S DEPARTURE 75
VII C. B. JUSTIFIES HIS POSITION 90
VIII TREACHERY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 105
IX THE GREAT CATCH 120
X A GAM AND A REVENGE 135
XI THE STORY OF A CRIME 150
XII C. B.’S GREAT TEMPTATION 166
XIII C. B.’S NARROWEST ESCAPE 182
XIV A MOMENTOUS PASSAGE 198
XV FAREWELL TO THE SHIP 214
XVI POPULARITY 229
XVII A TROUBLESOME APPRECIATION 244
XVIII A HERO IN SPITE OF HIMSELF 259
XIX C. B.’S AWAKENING 274
XX C. B.’S TASK CONCLUDES 289
XXI MARRIAGE AND DEPARTURE 305
XXII BACK TO PRIMITIVE THINGS 320
XXIII SAVED FROM THE SEA 336
XXIV HOME AT LAST 351
CHAPTER I
A Christmas Bounty
Fifty years ago, in a primitive but comfortable house situated in one
of the fairest spots that this world can show, a group of men and
women were holding a prayer meeting. An unobserved listener who had
been accustomed to such gatherings elsewhere would have been at once
impressed by the perfect naturalness of these people, in that not one
of them behaved differently from how we should expect a happy family
to act in the presence of their parents while one of them was relating
some interesting experience. There was no self-conscious posing for
effect, no making of long prayers composed of meaningless repetitions
with an occasional verse of Scripture or of a hymn thrown in for
effect, no unnatural groaning or shouting, all was quiet, sweet, and
delightful.
But truly, never did a body of Christians exercise their privileges
under more heavenly conditions upon this earth. Through the open sides
of the house could be seen in one direction a delectable stretch of
pasture land interspersed with graceful trees and edged by dazzlingly
white sand, beyond which lay a vast sapphire space flecked with
snowy-topped wavelets, whose diamond spray glittered rejoicingly
under the glowing beams of the fervent sun. In the opposite direction
tree-clad hills sprang from emerald meadows and cultivated land,
soaring upward until the fleecy cloud forms kissed their summits
lovingly as they gently glided past, flecking the smiling verdure
beneath with patches of softest shade and thus enhancing the beauty of
the picture.
Yes, it was a fair spot to the eye, as any one who knows Norfolk Island
can testify, but that to the worshippers was not the greatest of their
many blessings. Time had been, and that not long before, when this
earthly paradise was polluted and degraded by the presence of the very
dregs of humanity, the lees of the convict settlements of New South
Wales; and it would be hard to say which was worst, the crimes for
which they were being punished, or the nameless horrors to which they
were subjected in excess of legal punishment. Happily that evil blot
had been removed from the lovely island, and now it was peopled by a
tiny community of less than two hundred, who were, it is safe to say,
quite near attainment of the heavenly state on earth, and consequently
were as happy as it is possible for man to be while bearing about with
him the body of physical death.
Here the worship of God, free from any idea of form or ceremony, was
as natural to all as their ordinary conversation. Crime and vice were
unknown as was wealth, possessions were practically held in common,
sickness and disease and their necessary concomitant the doctor had no
place, and a spirit of idyllic simplicity reigned, of sweet contentment
and peace such as has never been known elsewhere in any other community
whatever.
Now on this particular Christmas Day the meeting of which I spoke at
the beginning of the chapter had a special significance. The fifteen
or sixteen persons composing it had met together to celebrate, not
Christmas merely, but the birth of a babe who was hourly expected. It
would not be fair to say that they were special friends or relations
of the parents in a community where no enmity existed and where all
were more or less related to one another, better to say that they were
just those who could most conveniently be there on a day when every
household was celebrating in purest fashion the coming of the Babe of
Bethlehem. And these particular friends were in specially bright and
happy mood, for to them the expected event bore a double character. So
they passed the time in the pleasant exercises of which I have spoken,
their petitions being singularly free from suggestions that the mother
elect or the coming babe were in any danger, until suddenly the door of
the one inner apartment was thrown open, and a splendidly handsome man
appeared bearing the welcome infant, which plunged, squalled, and gave
other vigorous tokens of his conscious entrance to the world of sense.
As if with one accord and in perfect harmony all burst into the
glorious old song “Angels from the realms of glory,” singing with all
their heart in their voices. And as the lovely strains of the refrain
died away, a sweet voice from within cried, “Thank you all, dear ones;
I’m so happy.” A glad response went up from all, and then, after duly
admiring the boy, the visitors strolled away, all but two, to spread
the glad news among the community that another dear life had arrived to
share their happy lot.
Now this was a particularly happy occasion, for the parents of the new
comer were, in a society where all were friends, all were stalwart,
healthy and handsome, pre-eminently so. Grace, the mother, who had
only been married to Philip Adams some eighteen months, had been the
acknowledged beauty of the island, no mean honour where all the girls
were beautiful. She was also exceedingly beloved by all the women and
men alike, nor was there a trace of jealousy of her, that hateful weed
that poisons so many lives. Moreover, she was an accomplished musician,
and had for a long time filled the post of teacher of that precious
acquirement of singing (they had no instruments), with the result that
their choir, which comprised nearly the whole of them, would have taken
high rank anywhere, except that the vocal exercises were almost wholly
confined to hymns, just a very few old songs, such as the “Land o’ the
Leal,” “Robin Adair,” “Allan Water,” etc., making up the balance.
Philip, her husband, was a prime favourite too, but for his high manly
qualities allied to a simple and gentle nature that invited as well as
gave confidence to all. He was awarded, without claiming it, the chief
place in the island as the strongest swimmer, the swiftest runner and
the most expert boatman, as well as the hardest worker of them all.
And those were the qualities that appealed to these children of nature
next to their supreme adoration of the good and true. Physically he was
easily first of the community, standing six feet six inches on his bare
feet, forty-five inches round the chest, with a perfect mouth of teeth;
and at the time of the birth of his first child he had never known an
hour’s illness in his life.
Thus it will be seen that the entrance of our hero upon life’s arena
was one that any monarch might vainly covet for his child, one indeed
that left nothing to be desired, even though his surroundings were
almost as primitive as those which encompassed the birth of the Babe
of Bethlehem. In fact, I feel sure that I shall be accused of painting
too idyllic a picture of the conditions which obtained in Norfolk
Island at that date, and I hope and believe in a great measure in both
Norfolk and Pitcairn Islands to-day; but when I recall the great mass
of unbiassed testimony to all these facts which is easily available, I
feel much comforted in the belief that my readers will rejoice with me
in the knowledge that so happy a people have been and are existing in
the simple light of the Gospel.
But we must return to the scene in the house after the guests had gone
singing away. The two remaining were John Young, father of the mother,
and Christian Adams, father of Philip, their respective wives being in
the inner room with the mother. As soon as Philip had handed back his
son to the women he returned to the society of the elder men, who were
both of them splendid specimens of manhood in the prime of middle age
or between forty and fifty. It must be noted in passing that, strange
as it may seem to our exotic notions of hospitality, there was nothing
set before these guests to drink: the water jar stood in the corner
with a coco-nut shell to drink out of; there was no tobacco, there were
no chairs, only clean soft mats upon the spotless floor; and yet they
were perfectly happy because none of these things had become desirable
or necessary to them.
As Philip stretched his great limbs on the mat by the side of his
father, the latter looked round at him lovingly and said, “What are you
going to call the babe, Philip?”
“Ha! ha!” laughed Philip. “I’ve thought of the finest name for him you
ever heard, and I want you to guess what it is. I’ve told Grace about
it, and she is delighted, says it’s just a splendid idea. Now guess.”
The two elder men ran through practically every name on the island;
truly there was not much variety, for, as some of you know, these happy
folk have always seemed averse from using any but a certain set of
well-known names. But to all their suggestions Philip laughingly shook
his head until his father’s brow clouded a little and he said, “I hope
you haven’t got any high-falutin names out of some book; it will savour
of sinful pride if you have.”
“No, father,” cried Philip, “but what do you say to Christmas Bounty
Adams?”
Up sprang the two men to their feet in such delight that it seemed as
if they must leap into the air.
“Why that is the most splendid set of names in all the world. Christmas
Bounty Adams! Well, he’s a lucky fellow, and I only hope he’ll be a
Christmas bounty all the days of a long life. And now, if the wife
can spare you--she’ll do with a little sleep, I’m sure--we’ll stroll
round and tell our friends this fresh bit of news, they will all be so
pleased.”
Only pausing to peep in at his wife for a moment Philip rejoined the
two elder men, and together they strode through the beautiful glades
with the sound of gladsome song ringing in their ears on every hand, in
tune with their overfull hearts.
Very briefly, for the story should be well known, let me recall the
circumstances of these primitive folk being on Norfolk Island. Most
people know the romantic story of the mutiny of the _Bounty_, and
how, after scenes of bloodshed and riot as bad as can be imagined,
the mutineers and their descendants, on their little island home of
Pitcairn, turned to God and became as little children in their simple,
loving faith. Not so many, however, are aware that in 1831, some forty
years after their first landing on Pitcairn, they outgrew their small
territory, and at their own request many of them were conveyed to
Tahiti. The gross immorality of the natives of that lovely island,
however, so dismayed them that they sacrificed the only available
wealth they possessed, the copper bolts of the old _Bounty_, and
purchased a passage back to their beloved Pitcairn. They managed to
maintain themselves there, although much straitened for room, until in
1855, two years before my story opens, the British Government, having
discontinued the use of Norfolk Island as a penal settlement, granted
it to as many of them as cared to migrate thither, a privilege which
was taken advantage of by between two and three hundred of them.
And although they never wavered in their earnest affection for the
little island that had seen their first emergence into the shining
light of the Gospel, they evinced the same sweet spirit of contentment,
coupled with energy, in all they undertook, so that in about a year
they were as fully and completely settled there as could possibly
be, and were, if anything, more passionately fond of England, a land
they never saw, than ever they had been. Thus, having cleared the way
as it were, let me go on to say that in addition to the features of
natural beauty which I have already enumerated, Norfolk Island is the
centre of a most prolific haunt of sperm whales, and the capture of
these gigantic and dangerous mammals is one of the chief pursuits of
the agile islanders, who are probably about the best boatmen in the
world. For in addition to their wonderful whaling skill, the practice
of landing in the tremendous surf that beats upon the harbourless
coast has made them very expert in this most difficult art, while in
the water they are, like their maternal ancestors the Tahitians, almost
amphibious.
Now, as the three men strolled along they were continually invited
as they passed the pretty houses to come in and join in the general
rejoicings that were afoot, the singing and thanksgiving; for all this
people’s joys were intimately associated with their simple faith;
their religion, bright and happy, was not merely a part of their life,
but the whole, the mainspring of all they thought and said and did.
And as the three were nothing loth, besides having their bit of news
to communicate, their progress was but slow. Still, eventually they
reached the abode of their venerable pastor, who was not only the
shepherd of this peaceful, docile flock, but teacher and magistrate, or
rather arbitrator since there were no evil-doers to punish. He received
them literally with open arms, and having heard their news lifted up
his voice in praise and solemnly blessed them, promising to visit them
the next day in their homes and view the wonderful new baby.
Then as the day was wearing to a close practically the whole population
came joyously down to the shore, and there more like a school of
porpoises than men and women, boys and girls, they disported in the
limpid waves, swimming and living until, healthily wearied, they
regained the shore and sought their several homes.
Philip and Grace, overflowing with happiness, knelt by the side of the
babe and solemnly commended him to their loving Almighty Friend, asking
only that he might grow to be a good man amongst good men, preserving
the golden tradition of the community, and if it should please God
that he should wander from their shores as some of their brethren had
done, that he might always present to the eyes of those with whom he
associated the pattern of a man of God. Then they took their simple
meal of fruit and bread and milk and went to rest.