All was explained now that had seemed to us extraordinary in our kind
captain's conduct the evening before, and as we hurried down to the
beach half in hopes not to find every one gone, we found at the usual
dining place, a packet of papers put in a conspicuous situation,
evidently meant to attract our notice. In this was a note from the
captain, apologizing for departing in such a secret manner, but
declaring that unless he had stolen away he could not have left us. That
it was of such importance he should go and return ere the rainy season
commenced, he could not even afford a day, and that he knew, however
cheerful I might talk about the matter, my heart would misgive me, when
the time came for him to leave, I might not probably grant him
permission to go, when it was of the most vital importance he should. He
was right in his last conjecture, the dread that came over me, as I read
his letter, and looked at our helpless party, made me feel how truly he
had judged me, tho' I so little knew it myself. The other papers
consisted of directions, lists of what he had left, and where they were
put. Also an account, written from Benjie's lips, as to what trees and
fruits might be poisonous, what we had better avoid, and particular
orders about the night air, the musquitos; in fact he seems to have left
nothing for us to think of, and the papers wound up with many sweet
messages to the children, and the dear young ladies, a characteristic
speech to Schillie, a hope that the good old lady would not be nervous,
or keep the children too long at their lessons, which was a bad thing in
hot climates, and a very urgent appeal to all to be careful of her,
whose heart was wrapped up in their happiness, to whom the breath of
life came ebbing and flowing, according to the welfare and goodness of
her precious charge.
There was a letter from Smart to the boys as follows, the spelling being
corrected:--
"HONOURED YOUNG GENTS,
"I hope this will find you, as it leaves me, in good health, but very
low in my spirits. I hope you will be good honourable young gentlemen,
and obey that good lady, your Mama; and also I hope you will learn your
lessons, as a sight of learning is a good thing, tho' I don't rightly
know who speaks them lingos as Madame talks. But, chiefly, my dear young
gents, I write to say, I am very low in my spirits, and I shall have no
peace until I see my dear young masters again. I have been very
melancholy ever since that big worm swallowed my two dogs, and I now
feel it more, as I should not have left you so uneasy in mind had they
been left with you. They were rale good dogs, and would mind you,
master Oscar, most as well as me. I am satisfied of one thing, that
there is no beere in the hisland, and you won't be eat up, and certainly
there never can be another such viper as that there, as took two dogs,
swallowing Daisy. But I write, young gents, to beg you to be careful,
and to mind them sharks; I have heard they swallow all things, and are
particular fond of bright buttons, and jackets like yours, young
masters, and also I have heard they have nine rows of teeth, so there
will be no escape, like Jonah in the whale's belly. Now I charge you to
be careful, woe's me, that ever I be going to leave you. My heart is
just broke, but do, master Oscar, be good to your little brother, and
don't put on him. He has a high spirit, and it is no doubt cantankerous,
but he must be honourably treated, and there's never a finer temper to
be seed.
"Well, my hand is weary of this cramping, tho' I have a deal more to
say. My respectful duty to the mistress and all the ladies, and my love
to the little ladies and Jane. My compliments to Mrs. Hargrave. May good
angels guard my dear young masters.
"Your true sorrowful servant till death,
"T. SMART."
Leaving the others still to pore over the letters and directions, I
wandered away to a shady nook, to recover the shock, only now _did_ it
weigh upon my mind, what a responsibility rested on my shoulders, and,
for a time, I was quite overcome with the fears that took possession of
my heart. How long I sat I know not, but a hand was laid on my arm,
interrupting my reverie. "For what reasonable purpose are you moping
here?" said Schillie. "I am very melancholy," I answered. "There is such
a weight on my heart, I cannot think how I ever suffered the captain to
leave." "And in the name of all that is ridiculous why did you not stop
him when you could? Now that it has become impossible, like a spoilt
child you are crying for them all back again."
"Don't speak so roughly, Schillie, I am sad enough without being
upbraided by you."
"I don't want to upbraid you, but you were so bent on humouring the
children it was no use talking common sense to you; otherwise I could
have suggested plenty of notions better than leaving a pack of women and
children alone on this wretched little island, dull as ditch water."
"Then pray mention one."
"Why what could be more easy, than for us all to wait together, until
some vessel came by, and getting them to take us away or take a
message?"
"You adjured me in the name of all that is ridiculous, pray may I ask in
the name of all that's sensible why you did not mention this before?"
"Because I saw you so bent on your own plans, and because I don't
particularly care what happens so long as I am with you, and lastly
because it has only just come into my head."
"Well, then, don't scold me any more, but comfort, me, Schillie." "With
all my heart, should anything happen to us, it will be a great comfort
to think that the captain will come and take away our bones to England,
and give them decent burial."
"How cruel you are, Schillie."
"But I am quite in the dark as to what you expect will happen; you are
crying your eyes out for some misfortune, but, unless you tell me what
you fear, how can I comfort you?"
"I fear so many things; here we are all alone, without a single
efficient person amongst us." "Pray speak for yourself."
"Well! then, only you with a spark of courage amongst us; and we don't
know what may be here."
"Now, that's nonsense, you know that there is scarcely a fly on the
island that will do you harm."
"Well, then, those sharks!"
"And, who is going to walk into the mouth of a shark, I should be glad
to know?"
"Nobody, certainly, but supposing a ship should come?"
"Then, we should have company, and a mighty good thing too. I think the
society of women and children very mawkish for a continuance."
"But, then, supposing they should not be friends."
"Then that will be their own faults, we are not likely to quarrel with
them."
"Stupid you are, Schillie! Don't you understand that they may take
advantage of such a helpless party, and, if they are slavers may seize
us, and sell us for slaves, and, if they are marauders or pirates they
may murder or marry us!!!"
"Well! of those two latter fates one is as bad the other. But, I will
comfort you by saying, nobody will want to marry you with that red nose.
Really if you go on fretting in this manner, you'll wear yourself into
an old hag. I see grey hairs and wrinkles springing up like mushrooms."
"Now, I'll return good for evil, and tell you that I never saw you
looking so well; your eyes are quite dazzling, and, as for your figure,
it has become slim and handsome."
"You may amuse yourself as you like about my dumpy figure, so long as
you smile and are merry; but, come, wash your face in the brook, and let
us join the rest. If the girls were to see you with that face they would
screech beyond stopping; and, as for Madame, she would go into such a
fit we should never be able to bring her round."
So I washed my face, but, in the middle of the business, said Schillie,
"You never told me what we should do if pirates and slaves come?"
"Do! Why, of course we would do the best we could. Wait till they come,
and then see if we don't do something. For my part I am not going to be
sold for a slave, and, as for a pirate's wife, there will be two words
about that matter. I don't intend to darn any one's stockings, and I
hate ordering dinner, both of which events occur, I suppose, in the
establishments of pirates, as well as more homely folk. Come, don't be
absurd, we have only six weeks to stay here, and we'll enjoy ourselves
as much as we can."
"Very well, I won't bother you any more, but we will join the others,
and settle what everybody is to do to pass away the time."
"Pooh! pooh! the time will pass quick enough. Why need ye fuss? But, if
we have regular habits so much the better for the girls."
"Nonsense, let the poor girls lead the life of larks for a change, they
will never have such another opportunity. You and I will always be
together, and you shall talk to me, and Madame may ruralize on that
green terrace with her book and big parasol; depend upon it we shall be
happy."
"Now, it is my turn to say pooh! pooh! Don't you know that even the
larks have to work to get them food?"
"Oh certainly, that I allow. I have no objection to help myself. I can
cook a beefsteak and make lobster salad against any one."
"First catch your beefsteak and lobster, saith Mrs. Glass. But here are
Madame and the girls."
"We are quite lost without our Mothers," said the girls as they sprang
towards us. "Here's Madame, wanting us to do lessons," said Gatty,
sending her great thumb right through her handkerchief. "I never heard
of gipsies saying lessons and we are now no better than gipsies," said
Serena.
"Or people at a pic-nic," said Sybil. "Madame, the next six weeks must
be one great pic-nic; do consent, now do; we will sketch if you like,
and sing songs, and eat and drink for ever."
"Saucy girls," said Madame, smiling most kindly on them, "but I am sure
your Mama would not allow such thorough waste of time," assuming a
slight austerity of manner.
"Oh yes she will, Madame," said Schillie, "so betake yourselves off
girls, wherever you choose, provided you don't come and bother us."
"Leave them alone, Madame," said I, in answer to her beseeching looks at
me, "let them have their own way for a day or two, and you will find
them come to you and beg for a dose of the multiplication table."
"Now, that's very comfortable, girls, you have leave to go to the moon
if you choose, and, Madame, I'll go for your parasol and book, and you
can amuse yourself on that sunny bank, watching us all," said Schillie.
But Madame was much more easily disposed of than the girls, in spite of
Schillie's broad hints, and, at last, open remonstrances, that they
would go about their own business, not one would stir.
"What's the use of a holiday, unless we may spend it with our Mothers?"
said Sybil.
"That's all that we want a holiday for," said Serena, "that we may be
with you all day."
"Yes," said Gatty, "this is most jolly, and now you may have one side of
the big Mother, and Sybil shall have the other; Serena shall sit behind
her, and I'll sit here," throwing herself down at our feet with such
force that we both sprang up with pain.
"How do you like this lark's life?" said I, laughing.
"Good lack, girls, do you mean to say that you are going to be such
geese, as to sit here all day? Have you no curiosity to examine those
caves, no wish to discover figs and plums, no ambition to get on the top
of that rock?"
"No," said Sybil, "our curiosity is at a low ebb, our wishes are quite
fulfilled at being seated here, and we have no ambition but to remain."
"Indeed, Miss Sybil, your tongue runs very glibly, but if you think I am
going to stand the bore of the company of you girls all day you are
mistaken, and, good lack, look at my handkerchief, with a hole in it a
dog could get through."
"Indeed, I beg your pardon, little Mother," said Gatty, reddening all
over, "I thought it was mine."
"And, does that make the matter any better? Can't you employ your
fingers any better than making holes in your handkerchiefs?"
"It's a way larks have," said I.
Schillie rose up in a huff.
"Come," said I, "let us all go and have a dip in the sea."
We all agreed to this, and we also agreed we would make an extensive
bathing place, where we could learn to swim, and yet be out of harm from
the sharks. In this matter every one helped. We rolled stones down to
the water, and then, placed them so as to form a wall or pier into the
sea, at twenty yards distance; from that we made another, and we sloped
them so as to make their ends nearly meet. "Thus," as Oscar said,
"leaving only room for a baby shark to get in."
"And we shall not mind that," said Zoe, "for it would not have cut its
teeth."
It took us two or three days to do this, but that evening at tea, being
heartily fatigued, we agreed to sit still and talk over all we should
do.
"Oscar and I intend to fish all day," said Felix, "and you may be very
much obliged to us, because it's very--"
"Very what, Felix," said his sister, who loved to tease him, "very
tiresome, I suppose you mean."
"No; not tiresome exactly, but very fatiguing."
"Oh very fatiguing indeed, I dare say, and you know you would cry like a
baby if any one prevented you fishing."
"Lilly, you are so aggravating, I wish Winny was my sister, that I do,
for she is so kind, and it's hard the only sister I have should tease me
in this manner."
The faithful Jenny was at hand to take the part of each, and please
both, while she put an end to the dispute.
"But, Mama," said Lilly, "if the boys do nothing but fish all day, may
we little girls pick up shells; ah you cannot think what lovely shells
there are; I am going to make a collection, and I should like to class
them all, and, by the time La Luna comes back, I want to have hundreds
and hundreds, and I will take them to ornament my garden, or they will
look lovely arranged all round the big hall; or, Mama, dear, we might
make a grotto, think how lovely it would be! So let us little girls do
nothing but pick up shells. Do, dear Mama, do let us?"
"What a little tongue you have, child. Do you think Zoe and Winny would
like to do nothing but pick up shells?"
"I am sure I should not," said Zoe. "I must say I rather think, but I am
not quite sure, that I shall not like it all day either," said Winny.
"We'll settle that important question soon, but at present I wish to
propound to the company at large whether you think Hargrave and Jenny
can wait on us all, without a little help?"
"Oh yes, Ma'am," said the smiling Jenny, "we can do well enough if
Master Felix does not wet his feet too often, and the little ladies will
do their own hair."
"I shall be happy to assist Jane, Ma'am, in any way I can after I have
waited on you," said Hargrave.
"I thank you, Hargrave," said I, "but I must do without the waiting on,
we must wait on each other."
"I hope not, Ma'am, I have always endeavoured to give you satisfaction,
and should not like seeing any one wait on you but myself."
"Yes, yes, all that I understand, but--"
"I beg your pardon, Ma'am, but I cannot think of stopping with you,
Ma'am, if any one else, Ma'am, is to be put above me, or take my place."
Hargrave was proceeding, in increased agitation and heat, when Gatty
interrupted the business by repeated peals of laughter.
"Pray, pray, Gertrude, refrain, how very unladylike; you laugh like a
great cow-boy," said Madame.
"I like Gatty's laughs, they are so merry," said Oscar, "but what are
you laughing at?"
"Why at Hargrave to be sure, giving warning here, on this desert
island."
"Who will you go to, Hargrave, if you leave your present mistress? The
Duchess of Puddleduck? Lady Ape? or Baroness Shark? Ha! ha! my dear
girls, did you ever hear anything so absurd?"
"Indeed, Miss Gertrude, I wonder at your manners to a poor servant like
me, but I am not going to be put upon any how."
"And who was going to put upon you, my good woman? I meant nothing but
that we must all help each other, and that there was no occasion for you
to wait upon me as heretofore, while we are in this island."
Slightly mollified, she grumbled out "That it was certainly no use
plaiting one's hair in such a place."
"Now, Schillie, what charge will you take?"
"Take! You mean do as I bid you."
"Then, if that's the case, you shall be caterer."
"No, no, that I protest against. Under no circumstances can I undertake
dinner, though I fancy one has no great variety here. I'll look after
your pet boys, and see that neither of them drown themselves fishing,
and I'll take charge of the guns, powder, and shot, and any little odd
things requiring to be done I am ready to be called on to help."
"Very good. And you, Madame?" I gave her a warning glance not to say
anything about lessons, so, after a pause, she said, "I will undertake
to prepare the table for meals, and collect fruit and flowers, with the
help of my three little ones."
"Thank you very much, that will be very kind, and now you elder girls!"
"Oh! we'll do as we are bid, except lessons," said Gatty.
"Then, Gatty and Serena, you must always bring the water from the brook
morning and evening, and you, Sybil, must see that the children are tidy
and that the things all put away in the tent, and you must, all three,
help Jenny to wash up the things, and put them in their places tidy. And
now then we will all disperse, until eleven o'clock, when Jenny must
give us dinner as usual, and then we will all take siesta, and in the
evening we shall be ready for no end of fun and mischief. Our dinner may
seem somewhat early, but then we were obliged to be up very early to
enjoy the cool part of the day." But I will begin my next chapter with a
description of our doings.