FAIR ISLAND
For the nonce I will make bold to leave Captain Marmaduke sailing the
seas and to occupy myself solely with the fate of those who were
encamped on the island, and chiefly of Marjorie and Lancelot and thereby
myself who had the good fortune to be with them to the end of the
enterprise. And, oh, as I think of Marjorie in those days it is ever
with fresh wonder and delight and infinite gratitude to Heaven for the
privilege to have seen her. She seemed just a boy with boys, she with
Lancelot and me, and she wore her boyish weed with a simple
straightforward ease that made it somehow seem the most right and
natural thing in the world. But that was ever her way; whatever she did
seemed fit and good, and that not merely to my eyes who loved her, but,
as I think, to most. And she was very helpful in mind and body, always
eager to bear her share in any work that was toward, and in council
advising wisely without assertion. It might seem at first blush a
handicap for adventurers to have a girl on their hands, but we did not
find it so, only always, save for the peril in which the maid was, a
gain and blessing. And so to our fortunes. You must know that from the
further coast of our island--the further from our wreck, I mean--we
could discern the outlines of other islands, the nearest of which
appeared to be within but a few hours' sail. It was plain, therefore,
that we were, very fortunately for us, cast away in the neighbourhood of
a considerable archipelago, and that we had every reason on the whole to
rejoice at our condition instead of bewailing it.
Now, though the island we were on was in many ways fair and commodious,
we were not without confidence that another island, which lay a little
further off, as it might be a couple of hours' sail, would serve us even
in better stead, and at least we resolved to explore it. So Lancelot and
Marjorie and I, with some thirty of our own men, resolved to cross over
in the shallop boat which had conveyed the first party to the island
while the weather was still fair, taking with us a great plenty of arms
and implements, canvas and abundance of provisions, as well as a
quantity of lights and fireworks, which we had saved from the ship, and
which Lancelot thought might be useful for many purposes. It was agreed
between us and the colonists that if we found the new island better than
the old we were to make great bonfires, the smoke of which could not
fail to be seen from the first island, or Early Island, as we came to
call it. This they should take as a signal to come with all speed to the
new camping-ground.
You must not think it strange that we set out upon this expedition
thoughtlessly and leaving the other folk unprotected. For, in the first
place, there were a goodly number of the colonists--as many in number as
the sailors; and, in the second place, the sailors were not so
well-armed as many of the colonists were, having nothing but their
knives and a few axes. Furthermore, as Cornelys Jensen was not among
them, and as it seemed most unlikely that the purpose, if purpose he
had, would hold with his fellows now that there was, as it were, no ship
to seize, we felt that there could be no danger to our companions in
leaving them while we went on our voyage of exploration. So you will
please to bear in mind how matters now stood. There was Captain
Marmaduke in the skiff, who had sailed away from us to seek succour for
us all. There was on the island with which we had first made
acquaintance the majority of our colonists--men, women and children,
together with the greater part of the sailors--under the authority of
Hatchett. There were, further, Lancelot and Marjorie and myself and our
thirty men, who had gone off in the shallop to explore the adjacent
islands in the hope of finding a better resting-place for our whole
party. As for Cornelys Jensen, I took him to be at the bottom of the
sea.
We had arranged that during our absence the administration of the colony
should be vested in a council, of whom the Reverend Mr. Ebrow was one
and Hatchett another, for, as the leading man among sailors, he could
not be overlooked, and I mistrusted him no more now that Jensen was
gone. Certain of the soldierly men and two or three of the most
cool-headed amongst the colonists made up the total of this council,
whose only task would be to apportion the fair share of labour to each
man in making the island as habitable a place as might be till our
return. For, after all, it was by no means certain that we should have
better luck with the near island, and in any case it was well to be
prepared for all emergencies.
It was late on the second day of our arrival at the island that Lancelot
and Marjorie and I with our companions set off on our expedition. We
followed the coast-line of our island a long while, keeping a
sufficiently wide berth for fear of the shoals. When we had half
circumnavigated it there lay ahead of us the island for which we were
making. It lay a good way off, and, as the day was very fine and still,
it seemed nearer to us than it proved to be. As far as we could judge at
that distance, it seemed to be a very much larger island than the one
which we had just left; and so indeed it proved to be.
The shallop was a serviceable vessel, and ran bravely before the wind on
the calm sea. Had the wind been fully in our favour we should have made
the island for which we were steering within the hour; but it blew
slightly across our course, compelling us to tack and change our course
often, so that it was a good two hours before we were close to our goal.
When we came close enough we saw that the island seemed in all respects
to be a more delectable spot than that island on which chance had first
cast us. There was a fine natural bay, with a strand of a fine, white,
and sparkling sand such as recalled to me the aspect of many of the
little bays and creeks in the coast beyond Sendennis, and in the
recollection brought the tears into my mouth, not into my eyes. From
this strand we could see that the land ran up in a gentle elevation
that was very thickly wooded. Beyond this again rose in undulating
succession several high hills, that might almost be regarded as little
mountains, and these also seemed to be densely clothed with trees.
Marjorie declared that the place looked in its soft greenness and the
clean whiteness of its shore a kind of Earthly Paradise, and indeed our
hearts went out to it. I found afterwards, from conversation with my
companions, that every man of us felt convinced on our first close sight
of Fair Island, as we afterwards called it, that we should find there
abundance of water and all things that we needed which could reasonably
be hoped for.
We came, after a little coasting, to a small and sheltered creek, into
which it was quite easy to carry our vessel. The creek ran some little
way inland, with deep water for some distance, so here we beached the
shallop and got off and looked about us.
Although by this time the day was grown somewhat old, we were determined
to do at least a measure of exploring then and there, and ascertain
some, at least, of the resources of our new territory. There was, of
course, the possibility that we might meet with wild animals or with
still wilder savages, but we did not feel very much alarm about either
possibility. For we were a fairly large party; we were all well-armed,
and well capable of using our weapons. Each of us carried pistols and a
hanger, Marjorie with the rest, she being as skilful in their use as any
lad of her age might be. For my own part I always wore in my coat pocket
a little pistol Lancelot had given me, that looked like a toy, but was a
marvel of mechanism and precision. Weaponed as we were, we had come,
moreover, into that kind of confidence which comes to those who have
just passed unscathed through grave peril, a confidence which is, as it
were, a second wind of courage.
It would not do, of course, to leave our boat unprotected, so it was
necessary to tell off by lot a certain number of our men to stay with it
and guard it. All the men were so eager for exploration that those upon
whom the lots fell to remain behind with the shallop made rather wry
faces; but Lancelot cheered them by telling them that theirs was a
position to the full as honourable as that of explorers, and that in any
case those who looked after the boat one day should be relieved and go
with the exploring party on the next day, turn and turn about.
This satisfied them, and they settled down to their duty in content. It
was agreed upon that in case of any danger or any attack, whether by
savages or by wild beasts--for in those parts of the world there might
well be monstrous and warlike creatures--they were to make an alarm by
blowing upon a horn which we had with us, and by firing a shot. It was
to be their task while we were away to prepare a fire for our evening
meal. We had our supply of provisions and of water with us, but those of
us who were to explore had very good hopes that we should bring back to
the skiff not merely the good news that we had found water, but also
something in the way of food for our supper. Lancelot, for one,
expressed his confidence that there must be game of various kinds in so
thickly a wooded place, and when Lancelot expressed an opinion I and the
others with me always listened to it like Gospel.
Luckily for us, we soon found one and then another spring of fresh
water. But it took us a matter of three days to explore that island
thoroughly, for it was very hilly, and in many parts the woods were
well-nigh impenetrable in spite of our axes. Most of the trees and
shrubs had at this time either blossoms or berries on them, red, white,
and yellow, that filled the air with sweet and pungent odours. It was a
large island, and on the other side of the ridge of hills which rose up
so sharply from the place where we first landed the land stretched
almost level for a considerable distance before it dropped again in low
cliffs to the sea. Part of this plain was grass-grown land, not unlike
English down land, but in other parts the grass grew in great tufts as
big as a bush, intermixed with much heath, such as we have on our
commons in England; part of it was thickly grown with all manner of
bright flowers and creeping plants, that knotted themselves together in
such an entanglement that it was very hard to cut a path. We had need to
go carefully here, for suspicion of snakes. We found no sign of savage
wild beasts, though of harmless ones there were plenty, some of which
made very good meat. As for savages, we saw none; and as far as we could
make out we were the only human beings upon the island. Yet Lancelot,
who was wonderfully quick at noting things, thought that he detected
signs here and there which went to show that we were not the first men
who had ever explored it. There were few land fowls--only eagles of the
larger sort, but five or six sorts of small birds. There were waterfowl
in abundance of many varieties, with shellfish to our hands, and good
fish for the fishing, so between the sea and the land we were in no fear
of want of victual, which cheered us very greatly.
We had rigged up some rough tents with our canvas, one apart for
Marjorie and one for me and Lancelot, and half a dozen for our men, and
altogether our condition had fair show of comfort, and to me indeed
seemed full of felicity.
Until we had thoroughly explored the island we did not deem it wise to
make our promised communication with the former island. But as soon as
we had pretty well seen all that there was to be seen, we thought that,
the time still being fair, we could scarcely do better than get our
fellow-adventurers over. Our men were therefore set to work collecting
as large a quantity of fuel as might be, and in clearing a path to the
summit of the nearest hill, from which we might set off our bonfire to
the best advantage.
Our men were all dispersed about the island busy at this business, and
Marjorie was in her tent, taking at her brother's entreaty the rest she
would never have allowed herself. It was a very hot day, and Lancelot
and I, who had been collecting firewood on the near slope of the hill,
but a few yards from the creek where our craft was beached, were lying
down for a brief rest under a tree and talking together of old times.
The sight of a small gaudy parrot, of which there was an abundance in
the island, had sent our memories back to that parlour of Mr. Davies's
where we had first met, and where there were parrots on the wall, and so
we chatted very pleasantly.
By-and-by our talk flagged a little, for we grew drowsy with the heat,
and our eyes closed and we fell into dozes, from which we would lazily
wake up to enjoy the warm air and the bright sunlight and the vivid
colours of everything about us, sea and sky and trees and flowers and
grasses.
I remember very well musing as I lay there upon the strangeness of
disposition which leads men to pine out their lives in the mean air of
smoky cities, with all their hardship and their unloveliness, when the
world has so many brave places only waiting for bold spirits to come and
dwell therein. Boylike, I had forgotten all the perils which I had
undergone before ever I came to Fair Island. I was only conscious of the
delicious appearance of the place, of our good fortune in finding so
fair a haven; and if only Captain Marmaduke and my mother had been with
us I think I could have been very well content to pass the remainder of
my days upon that island, which seemed to me to the full as enchanted as
any I had read of in the Arabian tales.
I had dropped into a kind of sleep, in which I dreamt that I was Sindbad
the Sailor, when I was awakened by a light step and the sound of a soft
voice. I looked up and saw that Marjorie was bending over Lancelot, who
was sitting up by me. She held him by the arm and pointed out across the
sea.
'Don't you see something out there?' she asked, speaking quite low, as
she always did when excited by anything.
Lancelot and I followed the direction of her gaze and her outstretched
finger, and discerned very far away upon the sea a small black object.
It lay between us and the island we had left, but somewhat to the right
of it.
'What is it?' I asked.
'That's just what I want to know,' said Marjorie. 'How if it should be
savages?'
The very thought was disquieting. We had grown so secure that we had
almost forgotten the possibility of such dangers; but now, at Marjorie's
words, the possibilities came clearly back to me. Captain Marmaduke had
told us many a time stories about savages and their war canoes and
their barbarous weapons, and it was very likely indeed that what we saw
was a boat filled with such creatures creeping across the sea to attack
us.
It moved very slowly across the smooth waters, and there was a strong
bright sun, which played upon the surface of the water very dazzlingly,
which added to our difficulty in understanding the floating object. But
as it came slowly nearer we saw that it must be some kind of vessel, for
we distinguished what was clearly a mast with a sail, though, as there
was very little wind that morning, the sail hung idly by the mast. A
little later we were able to be sure that what we saw was a kind of
raft, with, as I have said, a mast and sail, but that its propulsion
came from some human beings who were aboard it, and who were causing its
slow progress with oars. By this time I had got out a spy-glass from our
tent; and then Lancelot gave a cry of amazement, for he recognised in
the new-comers certain of those colonists our companions whom we had
left behind on the hither island. There were five of them on board, all
of whom Lancelot named to us, and as he named them, Marjorie and I,
looking through the glass in turns, were able to recognise them too.
By-and-by they saw us too, for one of them stood up on the raft, and
stripping off his shirt waved it feebly in the air as a signal to us, a
signal which we immediately answered by waving our kerchiefs. It takes a
long time to tell, but the thing itself took longer to happen, for it
must have been fully an hour after we first noted the raft before it
came close to the shore of our island.
As soon as it was within a couple of boats' lengths Lancelot and I, in
our impatience and our anxiety to aid, ran into the water, which was
shallow there, for the beach sloped gently, and was not waist high when
we reached the voyagers, so that we had no fear of sharks. The
new-comers were huddled together on as rudely fashioned a raft as it had
ever been my lot to see, and had it not been for the astonishing
tranquillity of the sea it is hard to believe that they could have made
a hundred yards without coming to pieces. They all leaped into the water
now, and between us we ran the crazy raft on to the beach, Lancelot and
I doing the most part of the work, for the poor wretches that had been
on board of her seemed to be sorely exhausted and scarcely able to speak
as they splashed and staggered through the shallow water to the shore,
where Marjorie was waiting anxiously for us.
They did speak, however, when once they were safely on dry land and had
taken each a sip from our water-bottles, for all their throats were
parched and swollen with thirst. It was a terrible tale which they had
to tell, and it made us shiver and grow sick while they told it. I will
tell it again now, not, indeed, in their words, which were wild,
rambling, and disconnected, but in my own words, making as plain a tale
of it as I can, for indeed it needs no skill to exaggerate the horror of
it.