"There!" I exclaimed soothingly, "that's all right, old man. Cry if
you want to; but when you've done, slip in and see if you can make your
mother and sister understand that there's land in sight, and that we
shall reach it in about two hours."
"Yes, yes, I will," whispered the boy. "It was of them I was thinking."
He got upon his hands and knees and crawled in under the deck, where he
remained about five minutes or thereabout. Then he reappeared, his eyes
wide with horror.
"Walter," he gasped, "Walter, I can't rouse them. I--I--guess they're
dead!"
"Dead!" I croaked. "Oh, no, surely not! It would be too cruel that
they should have endured so much, only to perish when all that we need
is within sight. Take the dipper--there is still a little water left--
and see if you can get them to swallow a drop or two; then, if they will
take any at all, give them a good drink--half a dipper each, but no
more, mind you. Tell them that in two hours we shall be ashore on the
fairest island God's sun ever shone upon. Go at once, old boy; a few
minutes may make all the difference between life and death. I would go
myself, but I am afraid you are too weak to stand and steer."
"No, no, I'm not," he protested. "I can steer all right. And I'd ever
so much rather that you went in there than I. You will manage better
than I could. And--and, Walter, I'm afraid--afraid that I--that they
wouldn't wake for me."
I thought I saw what was the matter with the lad; he feared that his
mother and sister were dead, and shrank from converting that fear into
certainty. I therefore surrendered the steering oar to him, and,
drawing a small quantity of water from the almost empty cask, crept in
under the deck, where I found the four women lying, each by herself, as
far apart from the others as possible, all of them apparently dead. Yet
although the place smelt close and stuffy enough, I could detect no
trace of the taint which, in a hot climate, so quickly betrays the
presence of death, and with renewed hope I proceeded to my task.
I happened to turn to Miss Anthea first, and although the light in there
was too subdued to enable me to distinguish very clearly the ravages
wrought by slow starvation, the ease with which I, feeble as I was,
raised her poor emaciated form into a semi-sitting posture was eloquent
enough. She lay, with closed eyes, quite inanimate in my arms; but upon
bending over her I thought I could detect that she still breathed,
although I was by no means certain. I dipped my finger in the pannikin
of water which I had brought with me, and moistened her dry, cracked
lips, repeating the operation two or three times. Presently I
distinctly heard her sigh, and saw that she was making a feeble effort
to lick her lips, whereupon I held the pannikin to them and allowed a
little water to trickle into her mouth. This she endeavoured to
swallow, but the effort was so painful as to extort a low groan from
her. Then she opened her eyes and looked about her vacantly, as though
she did not recognise her surroundings; but when she found me bending
over her she smiled faintly--a smile which strangely gladdened my heart.
"You are feeling better?" I whispered. "Try to swallow a little more
of this water; but hold it in your mouth for a moment or two first, then
I will give you more. Listen: there is land in sight, a most lovely
island embowered in richest verdure, where I am sure we shall be able to
get all the food we need. It is quite near, so near that we shall be
there in about two hours from now. Surely you can hold out two hours
longer if I give you enough water to quench your thirst?"
She smiled again. "Land, do you say?" she whispered. "Land--and food?
Oh, yes, I am sure I can; the mere thought of it will sustain me. But
are you sure, Walter--quite sure?"
"Absolutely certain," I answered. "Julius has seen it, too, and is
steering the boat straight for it. Now, drink a little more water, and
then let me help you to get into the fresh air. You will feel ever so
much better out there on deck."
She drank again, this time avidly, almost savagely, her small teeth
clenching on the rim of the pannikin and her poor thin fingers grasping
it tightly when I attempted to remove it from her lips. When, knowing
that, in her condition, to drink freely would be hurtful to her, I
forcibly removed the pannikin, the poor girl cried pitifully, and
whispered that I was cruel; but I presently pacified her with the
promise of a little more as soon as she was outside. At last, with less
difficulty than I had anticipated, I got her out on deck, where, after
the administration of about a quarter of a pint of water, with just a
suspicion of brandy in it, she revived in the most marvellous manner.
Then I went below again, and, pursuing the same tactics with the others,
eventually had the happiness to restore them all to animation and get
them out on deck, where they sat feasting their eyes upon the glorious
prospect that was gradually unfolding itself before them. To achieve
this result I had to expend the very last drop of water that could be
coaxed from the breaker; and as I did so I realised to the full what the
torments of Tantalus must have been. Not a drop had passed my own lips
during the previous twelve hours, and to witness the ecstasy with which
the others absorbed the precious liquid was almost more than I could
endure in my then weak state.
As we crept slowly in toward the island we naturally obtained a more
distinct view of its characteristics. Let me try to describe them.
From north to south I judged the island to measure a little over eight
miles long. At about a third of its length from the north end there
occurred a sort of peak, to which the land sloped in every direction
from its extremities, which seemed to consist of rocky cliffs ranging
from about forty to perhaps two hundred feet in height, except towards
the north, where the soil sloped gently down to a white sandy beach
about half a mile in length. Within about a mile and a half of the
southern extremity there was another elevation, a sort of knoll, and
about a mile further south another knoll, about half the height of its
neighbour. The cliffs were almost black in colour; but above them there
were glimpses of most inviting grassy slopes peeping coyly out from
between great masses of umbrageous trees, among which I felt it would be
strange if we did not find fruit trees of some sort. Indeed, I detected
certain palms that I was morally certain were coconut palms, while,
unless my eyes deceived me, I believed I could also descry foliage that
strongly suggested the idea of plantain or banana trees. About a
hundred yards from the southern extremity of the island, and quite
detached from it, there towered out of the sea a great vertical column
of black rock, like a rugged pillar with a rounded top, which looked
quite inaccessible.
Naturally I headed the boat, in the first instance, for the only bit of
beach in sight. But when we had arrived within about a mile of the
shore I detected a break in the cliffs which seemed to hint at the
existence of a small harbour near the southern part of the island,
between the two knolls recently mentioned, and I at once headed the boat
for this spot, finding the wind just free enough to permit us to reach
it.