than his word. He used to remind me of that young man in the
Scripture, who refused when his father bid him do something, but
"afterwards repented and went," and was more to be admired than the
plausible sneak, his brother, who said to his father, "I go, sir," and
then did nothing of the sort. I once told Billy about this, and he was
very much interested, never having heard it before, and said he'd like
to know that man, and asked me if I could tell him any more things like
that. Accordingly I told him at different times all that I could
remember of the Bible stories, and the one he liked best was the story
of David, who took his admiration greatly, and whom he always called
"the little fellow," thinking of Goliath.
However, to return to our dam. Billy helped me very diligently to pile
up a dam of rocks, which was pretty laborious, for we had to haul them
a good distance, and since it rained all the time we were constantly
drenched, and I wonder we did not take an ague. We were about three
days in doing it, and then, sure enough, as soon as it was done, the
rain ceased, and Billy turned a triumphant countenance upon me, and
asked what I thought of that. But I had the better of him next day,
for the rain came again, and we saw with great delight that the stream
was diverted by the dam into the narrow channel we had cut to bring it
to our trench, and before long it was flowing through this in
considerable volume, and fell into the lake. It nobly answered my
expectations, for the loosened earth was not only more easy for us to
dig with our rude spades, but it became mud as soon as it was dug up,
and was washed away. We began to deepen the trench into a moat at the
two ends opening on the lake, working backwards to the middle; but
before we had done very much the rain ceased again, and the rivulet
dried up. However, we were fairly come to the wettest part of the
year, and the rainy days were more than the fine ones, so that in the
course of a few months we had made good progress, and had indeed
widened and deepened the whole trench, though not near so much as I
should have liked. The part directly in front of our door was the
deepest, and we made a kind of drawbridge, of the nature of a hurdle,
to throw over it; not at this time, however, attempting any contrivance
for raising or lowering it.
[Sidenote: On the Watch]
Though we went about our daily work with great regularity, we were
never, I think, quite so cheerful as we had been before the visit of
our whilom shipmates. The thought that they might come back kept us
continually on the stretch, so to speak; we went up to our watch-tower,
one or other of us, not twice a day, as before, but three or four
times, and we never went to bed at night without an uneasy feeling that
when we awoke we might find our enemies upon us. For several nights,
indeed, Billy and I took turns to watch, though we soon gave it up,
partly because it was so fatiguing, and partly because, when we
considered of it calmly, we thought it very unlikely that the men would
arrive in the darkness, for, not knowing the coast, they might very
easily run upon a rock and lose their boat, a calamity which they would
not risk.
One day, I know not how many months after we had scared away Hoggett
and his friends, Billy had gone up Flagstaff Hill to take his turn at
looking out, and he came running to tell me that he had descried a
small object on the eastern horizon. I immediately accompanied him
back to the station, and when we got there, he told me that the object
was scarce any bigger than when he first saw it, so that if it was a
boat, which we could not yet determine, it was moving very slowly. The
day was very hot, so that no one would wish to put forth any great
exertion, least of all the crew of the _Lovey Susan_. We watched for a
long time until we made out that the object was indeed a boat, and
moving with oars alone, there being not a capful of wind. It was
heading straight for our island, and we saw that it was a ship's boat
of European make, and not a native canoe, so that we had no doubt it
contained Hoggett and his fellows.
"Let's try and scare 'em with the fizzy rock," said Billy; but though
we raised a dense cloud of smoke by this means the boat held on its
course, and we saw that this device at least had lost its terrors.
"I wish Old Smoker would wake up," says Billy. "Wouldn't I like to go
down and poke up his fire, that's all! Or to blow it up with bellows
would be better still."
I could not help thinking it a little unlucky that the mountain-top had
been for some time clear of smoke, which, indeed, was perhaps the
reason why the men had ventured once more to make the voyage. Finding
our stratagem of no avail, we ran down to the hut to put it, so far as
we might, in a posture of defence, judging by the slow progress of the
boat that we should have time. We took several of the fowls and one
pig into the house, unwelcome inmates though they were; the rest of the
pigs we let loose, taking our chance of recovering them later; we saw
that our bows had sound strings, and laid our arrows in readiness; and
then we returned to Flagstaff Hill, to watch the boat. Our own canoe,
I had almost forgot to say, lay in the little retired cove on the east
side of the island.
[Sidenote: Return of the Crew]
When the boat drew near to our coast, we lost sight of it, and could
not tell where the men would land; but we guessed that they would make
for the little bay on the south-west, where the landing was certainly
the easiest. Accordingly we hastened towards that spot, and having got
to the cliffs we saw the boat at some little distance from the shore,
so as to avoid shoals or rocks, as we guessed, and going in the very
direction we had surmised. When they were opposite the bay they pulled
the boat's head round, and came in very well, and running her ashore,
landed, all but two men whom they left in the boat to guard her. I saw
with great apprehension that the rest of the party were armed, some
with muskets, others with cutlasses and other weapons, which they had
taken into the boats when they left the _Lovey Susan_. And, moreover,
there were more men than had come before. They mounted the cliff more
briskly than I had expected to see them do it, and when we perceived,
ourselves being hidden all the time, that they were making a bee-line,
as people say, for our hut, we immediately made all speed back, lifted
the drawbridge when we had crossed the moat, and took it with us into
the hut, where we set up the door, and pulled out the plugs from a good
many loopholes in the walls, both that we might have a little light,
and also to be in readiness to defend ourselves.
Through the loopholes we spied the men presently, coming towards us
from the high ground between us and the cliffs. "They are coming
mighty fast," says Billy. "Won't they sweat! What's the hurry, I
wonder?" Their pace was indeed more rapid than I should have chosen on
so hot a day. They were coming straight towards the house; but all on
a sudden all but one of them turned aside into the wood on their right
hand, and while we were wondering why they had gone out of their
course, we saw some of them swarm up the cocoa-nut palms that were on
the fringe of the wood, and knock down the fruit to their comrades
below, who immediately broke them open and quaffed the liquor.
"Them's our cocoa-nuts, master," says Billy, with indignation.
"They're poaching."
But I paid no heed to him, being intent on watching the one man who had
not swerved from the course with the others, but came straight on. It
was Hoggett. I observed that he looked about him with great curiosity
as he came nearer, and having reached the edge of the trench he stood
and pulled at his beard, looking this way and that like a man that is
puzzled. It was plain he saw that the appearance of the place was
somewhat altered since he saw it before, and from the glances he cast
at the hut I thought he seemed to question whether there was any one in
it or not.
[Sidenote: Hoggett]
"Shall I shoot him, master?" says Billy eagerly in my ear. I own I was
tempted to say yes, for we could have killed him easily, he being but a
few yards away, and the loss of their leader would very likely have so
much daunted the others that they would have withdrawn themselves. But
I could not bring myself to take him thus unawares, nor indeed did I
wish to be the first to open hostilities, so I bade Billy hold his
hand; and immediately afterwards Hoggett hailed us in seaman's fashion.
"Ahoy there!" says he, and putting my mouth to the loophole I shouted
"Ahoy!" back, and we laughed to see the start he gave, though if he
hadn't expected an answer, why did he shout, as Billy said. But if he
was startled it was only for a moment, for he lifted up his voice,
which was a very boisterous one, and with many oaths bade me to come
out, calling me by name, and when I refused he cursed me again,
uttering terrible threats of what he would do to me if I did not
immediately obey him. The others, hearing the shouts, left the wood
and came straggling up, and when they called to Hoggett to know what he
was about, he shouted that the rat was trapped, at which Billy could
contain himself no longer, but called out, "Don't you be so sure of
that, you thieving villain!"
"So there's two of you, is there?" shouts the man, who had not known up
to this moment that more than one was in the hut, and then he unslung
his musket, and, taking good aim, fired through the loophole at which I
had been speaking, which he could very easily do, the range being so
short. But of course his taking aim had given me time to slip away,
and the slug passed clean through the hut, doing no damage, but merely
striking the wall on the other side, and setting Little John barking
furiously. I was somewhat amazed that after all these years the men
had any powder and shot left, and considered that they must have
husbanded their stock with remarkable care. However, I did not lose
any time in replying to Hoggett, but went to a loophole near the roof,
which was pretty well concealed on the outside by the thatch that
overhung the wall an inch or two; and standing on the little platform
beneath it I fitted an arrow to my bow and let fly, aiming to hit the
fellow's shoulder, for I was loath to take his life. It happened that
just as I shot he shifted his posture, so that the shaft, instead of
striking his shoulder as I intended, transfixed his forearm; whereupon
he dropped his musket with a howl as much of rage as of pain, I think,
and pulled out the arrow, while the rest of the men, who had plainly
not looked for anything of this sort, instantly took to their heels and
ran until they were out of range. Hoggett was a man of sterner mettle,
and held his ground, shaking his fist at the hut, and vowing with
horrible imprecations that he would have his revenge. Billy was
fingering his bow very restlessly, and asked me if he might shoot now,
but I would not let him, for at present we were in no danger; so
Hoggett, having picked up his musket, was suffered to go and rejoin his
comrades, which he did at length, stopping at every few yards to hurl
more curses at us. Then they stood in a group at the edge of the wood,
and seemed to take counsel together.
"Wabberley ain't so fat, master," says Billy all of a sudden.
I owned that he had fallen away somewhat.
"And Chick's pretty near a skellington," Billy goes on. "And
Pumfrey----" He broke off, then cried, "Why, master, I do believe
they're famished."
[Sidenote: The Interlopers]
Indeed, having leisure now to observe the mariners more carefully than
it had been possible to do before, I saw that they were all very
woebegone in appearance, and not at all equal to what they had been.
They talked together for some time, and there did not seem to be
perfect agreement among them, for they grew very heady, and their
gestures began to be so violent that we looked for them to come to
blows, and Billy was delighted at the prospect of seeing them fight.
The chief parts in their discourse were taken by Wabberley and Hoggett,
and I saw the former point more than once towards the mountain, which,
as I have said, was clear that day. We could not even guess at the
subject of their deliberation, but presently the group broke up, and
the men went severally in different directions, and quite disappeared
from our view. We durst not leave the hut to follow them, lest they
were practising a trick on us, to entice us forth; and so we remained
for the rest of that day in a miserable state of uncertainty, not
knowing whether they had sailed away, or what they were doing.
However, when it began to be dark, we saw through the trees towards the
cliffs the glow of a fire, and guessed that they were camping; and not
long afterwards Little John growled, and then we heard the squeal of a
pig, by which we guessed that some of the pigs we had turned a-loose
had come back to their sty, and one had fallen a victim, which we were
quite unable to prevent. But as soon as it was full dark I thought it
pretty safe to go forth and spy out what they were doing, so I straitly
charged Billy to keep a good watch, and went out, creeping along very
stealthily by the edge of the wood as long as I could, until I came to
a place where I could easily see the men. They were, as I expected,
sitting around the fire eating their supper, and there came to my
nostrils the savorous odour of roast pork. I wished I could draw near
enough to them to hear what they said, but this I durst not do, because
the top of the cliff here was pretty open, so after a little I went
back to the hut, and we had our own supper, and then settled on what we
should do for keeping guard during the night.
[Sidenote: The Mariners Depart]
Neither of us had much sleep, for when our turn of watching was done,
we were uneasy at the chance of being attacked in the darkness, and so
slept but fitfully. However, nothing happened to alarm us, and in the
morning when we looked forth we could see none of the men, and supposed
that they were either still asleep or had already gone a-hunting their
breakfast. But when the sun rose in the heavens and we had not yet
seen a man of them, we fell into that same uneasiness that we had felt
before, until I could endure it no longer, but resolved to sally out
and see what had become of our visitors. I told Billy to be ready to
pull the drawbridge from the moat if he should see any of the men
approaching, and when he asked how I should get over if the bridge was
gone I told him not to worry about me, because, knowing the island as I
did, I could find some remote spot, and hard of access, if I should be
pursued. Accordingly, I left the hut, but instead of going directly
towards the cliffs, I made my course at first towards the mountain,
intending to make a circuit and so come near the place where I had last
seen the men. But I had not gone above half the distance when, looking
over the sea, I was beyond measure amazed to see the boat departing
under sail and oars, only instead of returning to the eastward, whence
it had come, it was going westward. It was soon hidden from my sight
by the shape of the cliffs, but I made great haste to go up to our
watch-tower, whence there was a view all round the island, and
perceived with as much puzzlement as joy that our enemies were in very
truth sailing clean away, and not merely cruising about the coast, as I
thought might be their design. I watched until the boat was almost out
of sight, and then went back to the hut to acquaint Billy with our
surprising good fortune. He immediately asked me whether I had counted
the men, and when I said that I had not thought of doing so, and
besides the boat was already too far off when I saw it, he cried, "Then
I take my davy 'tis a trick, and they have left some behind to trap
us." This fairly startled me, for such a notion had not come into my
head; and though I thought it unlikely that the boat would have gone so
far if the men's intention had been to return, yet I saw it was needful
we should be still on our guard. However, when half the day was gone
and we had seen never a sign of the men, but on the contrary some of
our pigs came back and entered their sty like wanderers returning home,
we thought it was ridiculous to be scared at mere fancies, and resolved
to set forth and see if any man had indeed been left. We took our bows
and arrows, and our axes in our belts, and went abroad very valiantly,
yet with caution; but though we spent the rest of the day in searching
the island, we found no man, nor indeed any trace at all of the
seamen's visit save their camp fire and signs of cooking, and also a
jack-knife, which one of them had without question left by mistake.
When we were pretty well assured that we were still alone on the
island, we debated together what had brought the men back to our shore,
and why they had so soon gone again, especially after Hoggett had been
wounded and had uttered such terrible threats of vengeance.
"What could they do, master?" says Billy. "They couldn't conquer us so
long as we stayed in the hut, and they couldn't starve us out, because
they'd have starved first; and 'tis my belief that, what with the trees
having no fruits to speak of, and Old Smoker, and the griping water of
Brimstone Lake, they considered this island to be an uncomfortable sort
of place, and so sheered off."
[Sidenote: Story of the Mariners]
We afterwards discovered that Billy's guess was very near the truth,
and for the better understanding of my story, I deem it convenient to
relate here what we only learnt at a later time. The seamen of the
_Lovey Susan_, when they left us on the island the first time, went
away to the south-east, and by and by came to a small island,
uninhabited as ours was, but pretty well furnished with fruit trees,
and there they took up their abode, and for many months lived in
plenty, their fare, in addition to the fruits, being fish and
birds--when they could catch them--and pigs, of which there were a few.
They made simple grass huts for themselves, not taking the trouble to
build substantial houses, and when this was done, they being not at all
diligent, did nothing else but quarrel among themselves, and their
laziness and improvidence in due time found them out. They lived very
comfortably while their supplies of food lasted, but they hunted down
the pigs until one day they were astonished to find there were no more;
and as to fish, that was very plentiful at certain seasons and scarce
at others, and during the time of plenty they did not trouble about
curing any--at least, only two or three men did, one of whom was Mr.
Bodger, and these gave up doing it when they found that the others
expected to share with them. But their principal food at all times was
bread-fruit, because they got less tired of this than of cocoa-nuts and
other fruits; yet they were so reckless that they consumed the fruit
when it was ripe without any thought for the morrow, having no notion
of preserving it. The season of bread-fruit being over, they subsisted
on cocoa-nuts, but they being a score of ravenous men, and the island
small, they had well-nigh consumed all the cocoa-nuts before the next
bread-fruit ripened; thus they had at one time more than they could
eat, and at another very short commons, and at these times they became
very sour in temper, and there were constant bickerings and
recriminations amongst them.
One day a fleet of canoes filled with savage warriors came to their
island, and the savages having landed, there was a sharp fight betwixt
them and the mariners, in which the latter came off victors by virtue
of their firearms, though not without suffering considerable loss, two
of them being killed and nearly all wounded. When we heard of this
fight, Billy and me, we guessed that the savages were those we had seen
one day from our watch-tower, though, of course, we could never prove
it. Saving for this fight, the mariners were unmolested on their
island; but in course of time the scarcity of food drove them to make
voyages in search of islands that would afford better sustenance,
which, however, they failed to discover. Then it was that one of them
proposed that they should return to our island, which they knew from
what they had seen of it to be fertile--at least, in parts--but they
had so clear a recollection of the terrors of the volcano, especially
Wabberley, who had been scalded the worst by the boiling water, that
they were some time in making up their minds to the voyage, but did so
at last. This was the occasion of their first visit to our island,
when they discovered our hut, and were driven to panic and flight by
our invention of an eruption. The boat being leaky, they had not
ventured to lengthen their voyage, lest they should not be able to get
back to their own island, where there was at least present security,
and where they had left some of their number. Thither they returned,
and lived there as best they could until the pinch of want again
compelled them to set forth. Having seen from the slopes of our island
the dim line on the western horizon betokening other land, they
determined to sail thither; for though they suspected that their
enemies the savages might have come thence, the bolder spirits among
them thought it better to risk sudden death at the hands of savages
than slow starvation on their island prison, especially as there was a
chance that they might find friendly savages on some island or another.
Accordingly they did what they could to patch up their boat for the
voyage, and set forth, all of them this time, for four being dead--two
slain by the savages and two by disease--the boat would hold them all.
Their design was to touch at our island on the way for rest and
refreshment, and see, also, whether there were still signs that it was
inhabited, for on their former visit they believed that we had been
driven away by fear of the volcano, so that they did not think of
settling on the island themselves. But when they landed, and Hoggett
saw that, so far from being scared away, we had remained--or, at any
rate, returned--and improved our settlement, he was for capturing our
hut and entering into possession of the island, and was deterred from
attempting this design only by finding that we could defend ourselves
and by the overruling of his companions when they found, on roaming
over the island, that it was not near so fertile as they had supposed.
They did not discover our yam plantation, and feared that their case
here would very soon be no better than it had been on their own island.
Accordingly they sailed away, westward, as I have said, to accomplish
the purpose with which they had set forth.
All this, I say, we did not learn till a good while afterwards, and
having set it down for the better understanding of those that read, I
will now return to the place where I left our own story--like a child
standing in a drawn circle and forbid to move till he is told. We were
greatly rejoiced to find that our visitors had quite left us, and went
with cheerful hearts about our work, a part of it on this day being the
gathering together of our swine which we had released. Some came back
of themselves; others had struck up acquaintance with some of the wild
pigs that were still on the island, and appeared to be indisposed to
return to civilization, though one did indeed come in what I thought
was a shamefaced way above a week after all the rest, and him I called
the prodigal son.
"The what son?" says Billy.
"The prodigal son," said I; and then I told him the story, which he
heard with the same eagerness and pleasure as he heard all my stories,
whether out of the Bible or out of profane history. When I came to
that part where the wretched young man "would fain have filled his
belly with the husks that the swine did eat," Billy interrupted me,
saying it was clear they did not feed their pigs half so well in that
country as we did, and he warranted that Wabberley and the other seamen
would be pleased enough if they got as good food as our pigs, for he
persisted in believing (which turned out to be true) that the men were
famishing, and he went on to declare that he was sure they would come
back again.