HOMEWARD BOUND.
Noddy shook out the sail of the boat, and pushing her off, followed the
canoe. Though the exiles had been on the island but little over two
months, they had become much attached to their new home, and it was with
a feeling of sadness that they bade adieu to it. The house and other
improvements had cost Noddy so much hard labor that he was sorry to
leave them before he had received the full benefit of all the comfort
and luxury which they were capable of affording.
"Don't you think we ought to live on the island for a year or so, after
all the work we have done there?" said Noddy, as the boat gathered
headway, and moved away from the shore.
"I'm sure I should be very happy there, if we had to stay," replied
Mollie, "But I don't think I should care to remain just for the sake of
living in the house you built."
"Nor I; but it seems to me just as though I had done all the work for
nothing."
"You worked very hard."
"But I enjoyed my work, for all that."
"And you think you did not win anything by it," added she, with a smile.
"I don't think that. I used to hate to work when I was at Woodville. I
don't think I do hate it now."
"Then you have won something."
"I think I have won a great deal, when I look the matter over. I have
learned a great many things."
Noddy had only a partial appreciation of what he had "won," though he
was satisfied that his labor had not been wasted. He had been happy in
the occupation which the necessities of his situation demanded of him.
Many a boy, wrecked as he had been, with no one but a weak and timid
girl to support him, would have done nothing but repine at his hard lot;
would have lived "from hand to mouth" during those two months, and made
every day a day of misery. Noddy had worked hard; but what had he won?
Was his labor, now that he was to abandon the house, the cisterns, the
stores, and the garden,--was it wasted?
Noddy had won two months of happiness.
He had won a knowledge of his own powers, mental and physical.
He had won a valuable experience in adapting means to ends, which others
might be years in obtaining.
He had won a vast amount of useful information from the stubborn toil he
had performed.
He had won the victory over idleness and indifference, which had beset
him for years.
He had won a cheerful spirit, from the trials and difficulties he had
encountered.
He had won a lively faith in things higher than earth, from the gentle
and loving heart that shared his exile, for whom, rather than for
himself, he had worked.
His labor was not lost. He had won more than could be computed. He had
won faith and hope, confidence in himself, an earnest purpose, which
were to go through life with him, and bless him to the end of his days,
and through the endless ages of eternity. He had worked earnestly; he
had won untold riches.
The wind was tolerably fresh after the boats passed the reef, and in two
hours they were near enough to a large island to enable the young
voyagers to see the objects on the shore. But they followed the canoe
beyond a point of the land; and, after a run of several miles more, they
rounded another point, and discovered the tall masts of a ship, at
anchor in a small bay.
"It may be many months before we can get home. This ship may have to
cruise a year or two before she obtains her full cargo of oil."
"I hope not."
"But we may find some way to get home. I have all the money I saved from
the vessel, and we can pay our passage home."
The money reminded the orphan girl of her father, and she mused upon the
past. The boat sped on its way, and in a short time reached the ship.
"Hallo, Noddy!" shouted Mr. Lincoln, as the boat approached. "And Mollie
too!"
The mate was overjoyed to see them, and to find that they had been saved
from the wreck. He leaped into the boat, took Mollie in his arms, and
kissed her as though she had been his own child. He grasped the hand of
Noddy, and wrung it till the owner thought it would be crushed in his
grip.
"I was sure you were lost," said Mr. Lincoln.
"And we were sure you were lost," replied Noddy.
"How did it happen? The cabin was full of water when we left the
schooner."
"You didn't wait long, Mr. Lincoln."
"We couldn't wait long. The sea made a clean breach over the wreck. Only
four of us were saved; the rest were washed away, and we never saw
anything more of them!"
Noddy and Mollie were conducted to the deck of the whale ship, where
they were warmly welcomed by the captain and his officers. The three
sailors who had been saved from the wreck of the Roebuck were rejoiced
to see them alive and well. In the presence of the large group gathered
around himself and Mollie, Noddy told his story.
"Captain McClintock was lost, then?"
"Yes," replied Noddy, breaking through the crowd, for he did not like to
tell the particulars of his death in poor Mollie's presence.
At a later hour he found an opportunity to inform his late shipmates of
the manner in which the corpse of the captain had been found, and of its
burial on the island. In return, Mr. Lincoln told him that he had cast
off the boat a moment after the schooner struck the reef. The men who
happened to be on the quarter-deck with him had been saved; the others
were not seen after the shock. With the greatest difficulty they had
kept the boat right side up, for she was often full of water. For hours
they had drifted in the gale, and in the morning, when the storm
subsided, they had reached the island.
They had been kindly treated by natives, who were partially civilized by
their intercourse with vessels visiting the island, and with which they
carried on commerce, exchanging the products of the island for guns,
ammunition, and other useful and ornamental articles. The savages knew
that, if they killed or injured any white men, the terrible ships of war
would visit them with the severest punishment.
"What ship is this?" asked Noddy, when the past had been satisfactorily
explained by both parties.
"The Atlantic, of New Bedford," replied the mate. "She is full of oil,
and is homeward bound."
"Good!" exclaimed Noddy. "I suppose I have nothing further to do in this
part of the world, and I may as well go in her."
"This hasn't been a very profitable cruise to me," added Mr. Lincoln.
"Well, I suppose there is no help for it; and I hope you will have
better luck next time."
"I don't grumble; these things can't always be helped. We were lucky to
escape with our lives, and we won't say a word about the wages we have
lost."
"Perhaps you won't lose them," added Mollie; and there was a slight
flush on her fair cheeks, for her pride and her filial affection were
touched by the reflection that these men had suffered from her father's
infirmity.
The captain of the whale ship was entirely willing to take the exiles as
passengers; and Noddy told him he had saved a great many articles, which
might be of service to him. The next day, when the vessel had taken in
her water, she sailed for the beautiful island. Outside the reef she lay
to, and the boats were sent on shore to bring off such of the goods as
would be useful on the voyage.
Noddy and Mollie had an opportunity to visit their island home once
more; and, while the former assisted the men in selecting and loading
the goods, the latter gathered fresh flowers, and for the last time
strewed them on the grave of her father.
The "big heap thigs" was very much reduced by the visit of the boats;
but there was still enough left to reward the natives who had befriended
the young islanders for the service they had rendered. According to the
captain's estimate,--which was rather low,--he took about four hundred
dollars' worth of goods from the island. Mollie, as her father's heir,
was the owner of the property, subject to Noddy's claim for salvage.
With Mr. Lincoln's aid the accounts were settled. Mollie insisted upon
paying the mate and the three seamen their wages up to the time they
would reach their native land. This, with their own passage, consumed
nearly the whole sum.
Besides the property saved from the island, there were about sixteen
hundred dollars in gold and silver, and the valuable nautical
instruments of Captain McClintock, making a total of over two thousand
dollars. Though the disposition of this property was properly a subject
for the maritime courts to settle, Mr. Lincoln and the officers of the
ship talked it over, and decided that one half belonged to Mollie, in
right of her father, and the other half to Noddy, as salvage,--which is
the part of property saved from a wrecked imperilled ship, awarded to
those who save it.
Noddy at first positively objected to this decree, and refused to take a
dollar from the poor orphan girl; but when the captain told him that a
court would probably award him a larger share, and when Mollie almost
cried because he refused, he consented to take it; but it was with a
determination to have it applied to her use when he got home. The whale
ship filled away when the goods had been taken on board, and weeks and
months she stood on her course, till the welcome shores of their native
land gladdened the sight of the exiled children. Mollie had been a great
favorite with the officers and crew during the voyage, and many of them
were the wiser and the better for the gentle words she spoke to them.
The captain sold the nautical instruments, and the money was divided
according to the decision of the council and officers. Noddy was now the
possessor of about twelve hundred dollars, which was almost a fortune to
a boy of twelve. It had been "work and win" to some purpose, in spite of
the disastrous conclusion of the voyage.