CHAPTER NINE.
AN ISLAND PARADISE.
The next morning dawned as fine as heart could wish, with a cloudlesssky of matchless blue, and a "glass" that showed a rising rather than afalling tendency. Immediately after breakfast, therefore, Leslieemerged from the brig's cabin provided with a basket of provisionsneatly packed by the fair Flora's hand and daintily covered with aspotlessly white cloth. This he deposited in the stern-sheets of hisboat; and then addressed Sailor, who stood at the gangway watching theproceedings with eager interest.
"Now, Sailor, come along down, boy; that's a good dog, then. Come down,you sir, I say!"
Sailor wagged his tail excitedly, and barked in response, making a greatshow of being about to jump down into the boat, but baulking at the lastmoment and looking round anxiously to see whether his beloved mistresswere coming, then approaching the side again and barking a response toLeslie's blandishments, but dexterously avoiding the efforts of thelatter to capture and drag him down into the boat; and so on _adinfinitum_ At length, however, Miss Trevor made her appearance, aradiant vision in white, and armed against the assaults of thetoo-ardent sun with a white lace parasol--one of the many spoils of thelate skipper's speculative investment--and approached the head of theside-ladder that Leslie had rigged for her accommodation. Then, as shebegan to descend, Sailor hesitated no longer but, fearing lest he shouldlose his passage, sprang down into the frail craft with an _abandon_that nearly capsized her, and placed himself in the eyes of the boat,obediently to a signal from Leslie's hand. Another moment and Flora hadtaken her place in the stern, and Leslie was bearing-off from the brig'sside.
With her load of three--for Sailor was nearly as heavy as his mistress--the boat proved to be somewhat crank, and Leslie had a momentary spasmof regret that he had not tied up the dog and left him aboard the brig,instead of bringing him with them; but the water was quite smooth, andthey all sat still. The passage was consequently accomplished withoutmishap; and in about an hour from the moment of starting they all threestood safely on the dazzlingly white beach of coral sand that stretchedfor about a mile in either direction from the spot where they hadlanded. From here the hull of the brig looked little more than a smallinconspicuous spot against the snow-white cloud of surf that brokeeternally upon the outer edge of the barrier reef; and Leslie made amental note to pull off aboard again betimes in the afternoon, for itwould be practically impossible to hit off her position in the darkness.
The beach on which they stood was of no great width, some sixty orseventy feet wide, perhaps, from the water's edge to the spot where itabruptly met the luxuriant growth of thick guinea-grass that seemed toform the turf of the island. Immediately opposite the spot where theyhad landed there stretched a clear space of this turf, measuring about aquarter of a square mile in area, entirely unencumbered by bush, ortree, or shrub of any kind. Leslie recognised this as the spot that hehad already fixed upon, while aboard the brig, as the site for his camp;and his nearer inspection of it now satisfied him that it was eminentlysuitable for the purpose and indeed could not be improved upon. Beyondthe confines of this open space, to right, left, and rear of it, shrubsand small bushes grew at first sparsely and, further on, in greaterprofusion, until ultimately this more or less scattered growth mergedinto the dense and apparently impenetrable bush and forest with whichthe entire island appeared to be clothed.
When Leslie's eyes had first fallen upon this island an uneasy suspicionhad arisen within him that so comparatively large and important an areamust almost of necessity be inhabited; and he had not been altogetherfree from doubt as to what, in such a case, the disposition of itsinhabitants might be toward him and his companion. He had an idea thathe had somewhere heard or read that the natives of certain of thePacific islands were addicted to cannibalism; and he felt that if by anyevil chance this particular island should happen to be inhabited by sucha race, the cup of their misfortunes would be full. Consequently, thework of constructing his pontoons had been frequently broken into bylong and anxious examinations of the island through the telescope, in asearch for indications of the presence of inhabitants.
These examinations had entirely failed to reveal any such indications;and the hope had gradually arisen in his mind that, after all, theisland might prove to be uninhabited. But he was not yet by any meanssatisfied that this hope was well-grounded, and he determined that thisfirst visit of his to the place should be mainly devoted to a furthersearch and examination. Before doing anything further, therefore, hesuggested to Flora that they should walk the entire length of thebeach--keeping to the grass as far as possible, in order to leave thesurface of the sand quite undisturbed--so that he might be able tocarefully and systematically scrutinise it in search of footprints. Forhe argued that if savages really existed on this island, they couldscarcely have failed to discover the existence of the wreck during theweek that she had lain upon the reef; in which case they would mostprobably have gathered at the water's edge, at the nearest possiblepoint, for the purpose of examining her. And since this particularstrip of beach happened to be nearer the wreck than any other point ofthe island, he felt tolerably certain that footprints would be foundupon it, if anywhere. A strong point in favour of the assumption thatthe island was uninhabited was the fact that the wreck had not beenapproached by canoes; for Leslie felt that if she had been seen bynatives, they would scarcely have left her unvisited for an entire week.
The careful and systematic inspection of the entire length of beachconsumed an hour, and was without result; no human footprints wereanywhere to be seen; and Leslie was confident that if any person hadwalked upon that sand within the week, he would have left plainindications behind him, for the wind throughout that time had been toogentle to obliterate marks of any kind, as was evidenced by the factthat the footprints of birds were everywhere clearly distinguishable.Once, indeed, he thought he had found what he sought; but upon closerinspection the signs proved to be the track of a turtle that had come upon the sand to lay her eggs, as was evidenced by the fact that the eggsthemselves were found, and a few of them appropriated.
Although his investigation thus far was reassuring, Leslie was not yetby any means satisfied. He wished to obtain a much clearer idea than heyet possessed of the actual extent and general shape of his island; andthe only way by which this was to be accomplished, and at the same timea general survey of it effected, was to ascend to the summit of themountain. This promised to be a decidedly arduous task, in thatclimate, especially as they had been cooped up for so long a time withinthe narrow confines of a small vessel, with very limited space fortaking exercise. But he determined nevertheless to attempt it, feelingthat he could never be perfectly easy in his mind until he had done so,and they accordingly set out forthwith on their way.
Path, of course, there was none; but this was of little moment, for theyknew that so long as they continued to ascend every step took them somuch nearer to the summit; and they were agreeably surprised to findthat the bush and undergrowth that, at a distance, had appeared to beabsolutely impenetrable, was not nearly so dense as it had looked. Theywere consequently enabled, by adopting a somewhat serpentine route, tomake very fair upward progress, although they occasionally encounteredspots where a passage had to be forced, and where Flora's dainty whitecostume suffered somewhat.
They had not gone very far upon their way before Leslie discovered, tohis great relief and satisfaction, that they certainly need have no fearof starvation, even in the event of their being doomed to remain wherethey were for the rest of their lives. For, as they went, fruit-bearingtrees of many kinds were found in great profusion, growing luxuriantly,and many of them loaded with most luscious fruit. Mangoes, bananas,plantains, limes, custard-apples, and bread-fruit were among thevarieties that Leslie recognised; and there were many others with whichhe was unfamiliar, and which he therefore regarded with more or lesssuspicion. They saw no signs of animals of any kind; but the forestseemed to be alive with birds, the extraordinary tamene
ss--or ratherfearlessness--of which seemed to argue an unfamiliarity with man.
Two hours of arduous climbing brought the adventurers to a most romanticspot, where a small stream of deliciously pure and cold fresh watergushed out from under a huge overhanging moss-grown rock, the banks ofthe rivulet being clothed with ferns of the most lovely and delicatevarieties, while the surrounding sward was gay with flowers of strangeforms and most exquisitely delicate and beautiful combinations ofcolouring. A huge tree, bearing large blossoms of vivid scarlet insteadof leaves--which Leslie identified as the "bois-immortelle"--overhungthe spot; and as the pair were by this time feeling somewhat tired andhungry, they seated themselves upon the yielding sward, and Lesliesurrendering the lunch-basket to Flora, the latter spread the cloth onthe grass and set out as dainty and enticing a luncheon as, supplementedby the fruit with which Leslie had filled his pockets, two hungry peopleneed ever desire to find before them.
A narrow vista through the trees afforded the travellers a glimpse ofthe sea stretching blue and foam-flecked below them and right out to thehorizon; and as Leslie judged from this glimpse that they must haveaccomplished considerably more than half their climb, the pair lingeredfor some time over their meal, resting their tired limbs and enjoyingthe loveliness of their surroundings. Then, after an interval of aboutan hour and a half, they again proceeded on their way, making betterprogress now than they did at first, as the undergrowth and trees becamefrom this point steadily thinner as they progressed, until at lengththey were able to catch occasional glimpses of the summit for which theywere aiming. Finally they emerged from the bush altogether, to findthemselves breasting a steep slope, the soil of which was composed offine scoriae and ashes.
"Just as I anticipated," ejaculated Leslie, as he stooped to examine theground. "This island is volcanic; and yonder peak--the top of which,you will notice, appears to have been broken off--is the crater. But donot be alarmed," he continued, seeing a startled expression leap intohis companion's eyes, "the volcano is undoubtedly extinct, and hasprobably been so for ages; for if you will but look around you at allthis vegetation you will notice that it bears no remotest sign orindication of ever having been disturbed by volcanic action. I am notbotanist enough to be able to judge the ages of those trees that we seebelow us; but thousands of them must be considerably more than half acentury old; and as it is evident that no eruption has taken place sincethey started to grow, I think we may rest satisfied that no disturbanceis in the least likely to occur during our occupation of the place. Butlet us push on; it is nearly one o'clock, and I am anxious to get upthere to have a good look round and make a complete survey of ourdominions."
They accordingly resumed their climb; and after a further three-quartersof an hour of arduous labour--the steepness of the acclivity and thelooseness of the soil rendering progress exceedingly slow anddifficult--they finally reached their goal, to find themselves standing,as it were, upon the rim of a huge basin about a third of a mile indiameter and some three hundred feet deep, the inner sides slopingalmost perpendicularly, and the bottom forming a small lake. Theperfectly bare sides were much too steep and the soil altogether tooloose and treacherous to render an attempt at descent advisable, evenhad they wished it--which they did not--it sufficed Leslie that thewhole appearance of the place confirmed his previous conviction that thevolcano was extinct; and without wasting a second glance upon it he atonce turned his attention to the scene beneath him.
They had happened, by a stroke of good luck, to hit upon the veryhighest point in the lip of the crater, and they were thus enabled tosee, from the spot on which they stood, the entire extent of the island,to its uttermost limits; and they found it much bigger than they hadanticipated.
In plan it bore a rough resemblance to a right-angled triangle, the bodyof which had been so twisted as to cause its apex to bear to the right.The base of this triangle, opposite to which the wreck of the brig couldbe seen as a tiny toy almost immediately beneath them, faced south-east,and appeared to measure between three and four miles across between itstwo extreme points, while the side corresponding to the perpendicular ofthe triangle was, according to Leslie's estimate, nearly, if not quite,ten miles long. The crater was situated not in the centre of theisland, but quite close to its south-eastern side, which accounted forthe steepness of the acclivity that the explorers had been obliged toclimb. Northward of the crater, after the first five hundred feet ofsteep decline that formed the summit proper, the ground, undulatingpicturesquely, fell away in quite a gentle slope to the most northerlyextremity of the island, which Leslie judged to be a fairly boldheadland. The barrier reef, upon which the brig lay stranded, wasvisible with startling distinctness throughout its entire length fromthis point; and Leslie observed that it formed a natural and mostefficient breakwater to the lagoon that stretched along the entiresouth-east shore of the island, curving gradually round in a crescentform until it joined the island itself at its most westerly extremity,while away to the eastward there was a deep-water passage, between thereef and the island, of about an eighth of a mile in width.
Turning his attention once more to the island itself, Leslie observedthat it was wooded to its uttermost extremity, and that no beach was tobe discovered in any direction save that upon which they had landed, theground appearing everywhere else to slope precipitously to the sea, inthe form of bold cliffs. And, as savages would naturally build theirvillages close to a beach, to secure facilities for their fishingoperations, Leslie was further confirmed in his hope that his island wasuninhabited; especially as he looked carefully in every direction forthe smoke of fires, and found none.
Then he allowed his eyes to wander farther afield, and intently scannedthe entire visible surface of the ocean, in search of a sail, butwithout success. He was not surprised at this; for he knew the islandto be situated far out of the track of all ships, save perhaps whalers,and craft that might be driven by adverse winds out of their propercourse; and although it is the first instinct of the castaway sailor tomaintain a ceaseless watch for a sail, the ex-lieutenant knew that thechance of rescue for himself and his companion by a passing ship wasaltogether too slight to be seriously given a place in his plans for thefuture. Nevertheless, for a moment he entertained the idea of erectinga flagstaff on the summit and hoisting a flag upon it for the purpose ofattracting the attention of any ship that might perchance pass theplace; but a very brief consideration of the project sufficed toconvince him that the benefit to be derived therefrom was much tooproblematical to justify the expenditure of so much labour and time asit would involve. Moreover he had a conviction that any ship sightingso conspicuous an object as the island in a spot shown upon the chartsas clear sea, would approach and give the place an overhaul.
But although Leslie's most careful scrutiny failed to reveal any sign ofthe presence of ships, he was astonished to discover that there wasother land in sight from his lofty lookout. He clearly saw two othereminences peering above the horizon to the westward, one bearing asnearly as possible due west, and the other about south-west, while awayin the north-western quarter he believed he detected the loom of land ata very great distance. The two islands in clear view were apparentlyabout the same distance away--a distance which, from their delicate,filmy appearance, he estimated to be quite a hundred miles; and he knewthat they must be, like his own, mountainous, from the fact that theyshowed above the horizon.
The sun was by this time settling perceptibly in the western sky, and,lovely as was the prospect that stretched around them, Leslie felt thatthe time had arrived for them to be moving once more; they accordinglythrew a final parting glance around them, and began the descent of themountain. To ascend was one thing; to descend, quite another; and in alittle more than an hour from the moment of leaving the summit theyfound themselves once more on the beach and beside their boat. Then,greatly fatigued by their unwonted exertions, but with the memory of athoroughly enjoyable day fresh upon them, they paddled leisurely off tothe brig, reaching her just as the
sun was dipping below the horizon.
Their experiences of that day only whetted Leslie's--and, it must beconfessed, Flora's--appetite for further exploration and adventure; theformer in particular felt that he would never be satisfied until he hadcircumnavigated his island and critically examined every yard of itscoast-line. To do this, a boat was of course necessary, or at leastsomething of a much more seaworthy character than the "pontoon" in whichhe had adventured the passage to the island. And they had nothing ofthe kind. After Flora had retired to her cabin, however, Leslie spentan hour or so on deck, smoking his pipe and pondering upon the problemof how to supply the deficiency; and when at length he turned in, hebelieved he saw his way.
The following morning accordingly found him astir bright and early,eager to put his ideas into immediate execution. He first got on deckagain the pontoon that he had used on the previous day, and proceeded toconsiderably strengthen her by the addition of further wales, stringers,and beams; and when he had got her to his liking, he proceeded to treatthe other in a precisely similar fashion. Then he fitted them both withrudders. Next, having carefully disposed the two pontoons on deck, withtheir longitudinal centre-lines parallel and nine feet apart, he firstdecked them both completely in, leaving only a manhole eighteen inchessquare in the middle of each deck; and then proceeded to frame and fittogether a thoroughly strong platform, twelve feet square, so arrangedthat it could be securely bolted to the gunwales of the two pontoons inthe positions they occupied relatively to each other. This done, helaunched the whole arrangement overboard; and found himself the proudand happy possessor of what, for want of a better and more appropriatename, he called a "catamaran;" the structure consisting, of course, ofthe two pontoons arranged parallel to each other, with a water space ofsix feet between them, and firmly and strongly connected with each otherby the platform; the whole forming a very buoyant and commodious raft,capable of being rigged, and promising to behave exceedingly well undersail in smooth and even in moderately rough water. To rig thissingular-looking craft with an enormous mainsail and jib was no verydifficult matter, the wreckage alongside furnishing him with therequisite spars, canvas, and rigging. Each of the rudders was thenfurnished with a tiller; and these two tillers being connected togetherwith a cross-piece, were controlled by a central tiller that actuatedboth rudders simultaneously. The construction and completion of thiscatamaran cost Leslie three whole weeks of arduous labour; but when shewas finished he felt that the time had been well spent.
The next thing in order was to subject the craft to a sea-trial; andthis Leslie at once proceeded to do. He left Flora on board the brig,with Sailor as her companion and protector, not caring to risk thegirl's safety on the catamaran until the reliability and sea-goingqualities of the latter had been tested; but he promised her that hewould not be absent more than two hours at the utmost, when, ifeverything proved satisfactory, he would return and take her for acruise; and he suggested that she might devote the interval to thepreparation of a luncheon-basket to serve them for the day. Then,hoisting his sails, he pushed off, and got the craft under way.
His first act, after getting away from the brig, was to test thebehaviour of the catamaran under sail by putting her through a series ofevolutions, such as tacking, jibing, and so on; and then, finding thatshe proved to be marvellously handy, he tested her speed off and on thewind. The trade wind happened to be piping up quite strong that day,and it was therefore a very favourable occasion upon which to subjectthe craft to such a test as Leslie desired; and he was not onlydelighted but astonished at the quite unexpected turn of speed that thecraft developed, this being doubtless due to the enormous spread ofcanvas that her peculiar form of construction enabled her to carry. Sheskimmed down-wind with the speed of a swallow, and was scarcely lessswift when close-hauled and looking up within four points of the wind.
More than satisfied with the behaviour of his catamaran in smooth water,Leslie next headed her to the north-east, steering for the passagebetween the island and the reef that led to the open sea. The distanceto be traversed was about four miles, and this the quaint-looking craftcovered in seventeen minutes by Leslie's watch, passing in an instantfrom smooth water out on to a tumbling surface of sapphire-blue creamingand foaming sea, with a long and rather formidable swell under-runningit. This was the sort of sea to find out for Leslie the weak points inhis structure, if it had any; and for the next half-hour--while"carrying-on," and driving his craft full tilt against the sea under theheavy pressure of her enormous unreefed sails--he watched his craftcarefully and anxiously, ready at the first sign of weakness to up-helmand run back to the shelter of the lagoon. But no such sign revealeditself; on the contrary, she not only stood up to her canvas "as stiffas a house," but slid along over the high-running sea as buoyantly as anempty cask, hanging to windward with a tenacity that filled her happyowner with wonder; throwing a little spray over her weather bowoccasionally, it is true, but otherwise going along as dry as a bone.Her speed, too, was truly astounding; had the poor old _Mermaid_ beenall ataunto and alongside her, the catamaran could have sailed round andround her. At length, thoroughly satisfied with his trial, and fullyconvinced of the absolute seaworthiness of his craft, Leslie tacked--thecatamaran working like a top, even in the heavy sea that was running--and, putting up his helm, bore away back for the lagoon, reaching thebrig once more after an absence of about an hour and a half.
He found Flora awaiting him, attired in a good serviceable andcomfortably warm serge gown--for he had warned her that she would findthe strong breeze a trifle chill out at sea--and with the lunch-basketpacked and ready. It was the work of less than a minute to transfer herand the basket from the deck of the brig to that of the catamaran, when,leaving Sailor to take care of the former--much to his disgust--theyonce more pushed off, and headed straight out for the passage skirtingthe inner edge of the reef, and noting, as they slid rapidly along, thatthis inner margin of the reef was simply teeming with fish. Then,almost before they had time to realise it, they were in the open seaonce more, and heading away to the northward and westward with themainsheet eased off to its utmost limit, and the main-boom square out tostarboard. Leslie allowed himself an offing of about a mile, as thiswould enable him not only to get a very good general idea of the islandas a whole, but would also enable him to carefully examine thecoast-line.
The easternmost extremity of the island--between which and the barrierreef the deep-water passage lay--was a bold headland thickly overgrownwith tall and stately forest trees, and terminating in a rocky cliffabout one hundred and fifty feet high, that dipped sheer down into thesea; and beyond this, to the northward, the coast-line curved inwardsomewhat to the most northerly point on the island, forming what mightalmost be termed a shallow bay--shallow, that is to say, in point ofdepth of itself, but not of its depth of water, for the wholenorth-easterly coast-line of the island consisted of precipitous cliffsaveraging about a hundred feet in height, with water enough alongside tofloat the biggest ship that was ever launched, if one might judge fromits colour. There was no sign or possibility of a beach anywhere alonghere, which was comforting to Leslie, whose mind somehow still clungrather tenaciously to the idea of possible savages. But nothing mortalcould by any possibility land on that eastern seaboard, nor wouldsavages be likely to establish themselves in a spot so completelyinaccessible from the sea. Moreover, the entire country, from the ridgeor backbone of the island, that ran from the crater down to the mostnortherly point of the island, was densely covered with vegetation,showing no faintest sign of clearing or cultivation, so that Lesliebegan once more to feel reassured.
The most northerly point of the island was reached and rounded in someforty minutes from the moment of leaving the lagoon and bearing awayround Cape Flora--as Dick insisted on naming the bold headland thatformed the eastern extremity of the island. This most northerly pointwas, like the other, a lofty vertical cliff, timber--crowned to its veryverge and descending vertically into the sea; and Flora declared thatth
e only possible designation for it was Point Richard.
Rounding Point Richard, then, and hauling in the mainsheet, the voyagersfound themselves suddenly under the lee of the land and in smooth water,save for the long undulations of swell that came sweeping up to themfrom the southward. They were now coasting down the western side of theisland; and here again Leslie was gratified to discover that theconclusions arrived at by him during his visit to the summit werecorrect; there was no beach throughout the whole length of thecoast-line; nothing but sheer perpendicular cliffs everywhere, althoughin places these cliffs rose no higher than some twenty feet above thesea-level. Finally they arrived off the south-westerly extremity of theisland--which they agreed to name Mermaid Head--and found themselvesskirting the outer edge of the reef, at a distance of about one hundredyards from the surf-line, lost in wonderment and admiration of the greatwall of snowy foam and spray that leapt, sparkling like a cloud ofjewels, some forty feet into the clear sunlit air. Then they re-enteredthe lagoon and ran alongside the brig--to the exuberant delight ofSailor--some three hours from the moment of starting, having had a mostenjoyable sail, and satisfied themselves definitely that, since nosavages existed on their own side of the island, the place must ofnecessity be altogether free from their unwelcome presence. Andthenceforward Leslie's mind was completely free from at least that oneanxiety.
And now, having provided himself with the means not only to pass freelyand rapidly between the brig and the shore, but also to venture out tosea in chase of a ship, should occasion to do so arise, Leslie felthimself free to proceed with the execution of his great plan for theestablishment of a dockyard ashore, and the construction of a craftsufficiently substantial and seaworthy to convey him and his companionback to the world of civilisation.
The first part of his task consisted in the erection of a spacious tenton shore for the accommodation of his companion and himself; and this heproposed to do with the aid of the old sails on board the brig,reserving the new ones and such canvas as he could find for the makingof a suit of sails for the proposed new boat. He accordingly got outall the old sails, and deposited them on the deck of the catamaran,together with a quantity of cordage, blocks, and other gear, a crowbar,pickaxes, hammer, and shovel, an axe, and a number of miscellaneous oddsand ends that he thought would be useful, and conveyed the whole to theshore. Then entering the woods, he selected the first nine suitablesaplings that he could find, and cut them down, afterwards conveyingthem, one at a time and with considerable labour, to the site that hehad chosen for his tent. He next dug six holes in the ground--three foreach gable-end--and in four of these holes he reared four of hisstoutest saplings to form the four corners of the tent, setting themcarefully upright by means of temporary stays, and ramming the loosesoil round about their feet until they stood quite firmly. Then, midwaybetween the poles that were to form the gable-ends of the tent, hereared two others, some ten feet longer than the first four, these lastbeing intended to support the ridge-pole of the structure, which he nexthoisted into position and securely lashed. Then he similarly raised theeaves-poles into position and lashed them, thus completing the skeletonof the tent. The sides and ends of the structure, together with acentral partition, were formed of sails, laboriously hoisted intoposition by means of tackles, laced to the ridge-pole, and securelypinned to the ground with stakes; and a spare main-course drawn over theridge-pole, sloping down over the eaves, and drawn tight all round byropes spliced into the leeches and secured to the ground with stout tentpegs, completed the whole. To prevent the flooding of the tent in wetweather, Leslie took the precaution to dig a good deep trench all roundit to receive the rain-water, and from this he dug another to carry itoff.
The next matter demanding attention was the furnishing of the tent. Theneed of bedsteads was easily met by driving four stout stakes into theground, connected at their tops by side and end poles, to which lengthsof stout canvas were attached by a lacing; and the structure was thenready to receive the mattress and bedding generally. The cabin lampefficiently illuminated Miss Trevor's half of the tent, while a lamptaken from the steward's berth afforded Leslie all the light he neededto undress by. Then the cabin table, the locker cushions, thedeck-chair, the ship's slender stock of books, and a variety of odds andends conducive to comfort were transferred from the brig to the shore,together with the galley stove and its appurtenances; and the pair thenwent into residence in their new abode--which, it may be said, theyfound much more roomy, airy, and comfortable than their former quartersaboard the brig. The galley stove, it should be mentioned, was set upoutside and to leeward of the tent, all cooking operations beingconducted in the open air. The erection of the tent, from start tofinish, absorbed a fortnight of Leslie's time, and involved such alavish expenditure of labour that, could he have foreseen it, he would,as he afterwards confessed, have started much less ambitiously.
And now the ex-lieutenant found himself confronted by a truly formidabletask, compared with which all that had gone before was a mere trifle.This consisted in overhauling the cargo of the brig, with the view ofappropriating everything that could by any possibility prove of use tothem either during their--as they hoped--temporary sojourn upon theisland, or in the construction of the boat that was to take them awayfrom it. Leslie had become aware, from remarks made by Purchas, thatthe brig was taking out a very considerable quantity of machinery, butthis was all stowed in the bottom of the ship. On top of this there wasa vast miscellaneous assortment of mixed goods of almost everyconceivable description, and this it was that Leslie wished to get holdof and overhaul.
Accordingly, he one morning went off to the brig and proceeded to liftoff the main hatches, disclosing to view a number of bales andpacking-cases, mostly of a size and weight that it would be impossiblefor him to deal with single-handed. He saw that before it would bepossible for him to raise even a fourth part of them it would benecessary for him to have the assistance of certain appliances, such assheers, tackles, etcetera; but he succeeded in dragging a few of thelightest of them on deck and opening them.
The first case opened proved to contain china--a breakfast, dinner, tea,and toilet service, very handsome, and apparently very expensive. Thiswould be exceedingly useful to them, for, to tell the truth, the brig'spantry had never been too liberally stocked; and the carelessness of thesteward, combined with the heavy weather experienced by the brig, hadplayed havoc with it. He therefore fastened up the case again andlowered it carefully over the side on to the deck of the catamaran.Then he got hold of a bale of rugs. These, he told himself, would helpto make Flora's half of the tent more comfortable; and they, too, wentdown over the side. The next case--a small one, bearing what appearedto be a private address--contained a dainty little sewing-machine--possibly useful also to Flora. It followed the rugs. The next casethat came to hand, though a large one, was unexpectedly light, so Leslieroused it on deck and opened it. It contained a number of bird-cages,such as are used for canaries. Some of them were of large size--largeenough to accommodate half a dozen of the little songsters--and all werevery handsome and, apparently, expensive. But they were not in theleast likely to be of service, and would therefore only be in the way,so overboard they went, ruthlessly; the case itself, however, Lesliekept, as the wood and the screws might possibly be useful. There wereno more packages at hand that could be manipulated without appliances,so Leslie replaced the hatches, drew the tarpaulin over them andbattened it down, and then made sail for the shore.
As the catamaran ran in and grounded on the beach, Flora came down tomeet him.
"Well, Dick," she said--the name came glibly enough to her lipsnow--"what luck have you met with?"
"Not bad," answered Leslie. "I have not been able to do very much, forthe cases are mostly too large to handle without a tackle, and I havenot thus far found anything that will go toward building our littleship; but I have here a set of china that will gladden your heart andreplenish your pantry; some rugs for the floor of your compartment; anda sewin
g-machine that you may possibly find handy later on."
"And what have you brought that will be useful for yourself?" she asked.
"Nothing," answered Leslie. "The only other case that I could get atcontained bird-cages--"
"Bird-cages?" she repeated, with a burst of hearty laughter. "Why, thebrig must be quite a general emporium!"
"Yes," Leslie assented soberly. "I quite expect she will prove so. Yousee, a place like Valparaiso imports every imaginable thing from Europe;and it would not surprise me to find even pianos, watches and jewellery,as well as clothing, books, and such like among the cargo."
"Pianos?" exclaimed Flora, with delighted surprise. "Oh, Dick, if youshould find a piano, please--_please_ bring it ashore for me. I ampassionately fond of music, and a piano would be such a solace to ushere."
"If there is a piano in the ship you shall have it," answered Leslie."Poor little girl! it must be horribly slow for you, cooped up here,practically alone, as you are. I am but a poor companion, I know, atthe best of times; and henceforth I shall be so busy that you will beleft more alone than ever. Yes; you shall certainly have a piano, ifthere is one in the brig."
"Now, Dick, you _know_ I did not mean that--about your being a poorcompanion," answered Flora. "On the contrary, you are the very bestcompanion that a girl in my unfortunate situation could possibly have;for you are, before and above all else, a gentleman--a chivalrous,courteous, tender-hearted gentleman, with whom I feel as safe as thoughyou were my brother. And then you are brave, strong, resourceful, andso utterly unselfish that you amaze me--"
"There, that will do, thank you," laughed Leslie. "Do you wickedly wishto make me conceited? Because you will, if you say much more in thatstrain. As to `brothers,' I hope you don't look upon me as a brother,do you?"
"Why, yes--almost," answered the girl, a little doubtfully. "Do you notwish me to regard you as a brother, Dick?"
"Um," he meditated; "of course that would be better than nothing; but--oh no; on the whole I think I have no desire that you should regard meas a brother. There, now of course I have offended you. What an assand a cad I am!"
"You are not; you are _not_! And I will not have you say so," exclaimedthe girl, passionately. "And you have not offended me," she went on."It is only that I am feeling a little depressed to-day; and your--Imean--oh, I cannot explain!"
And therewith she turned away abruptly, and beat a hasty retreat to theshelter of the tent.
Leslie looked after her as though for a moment he felt inclined tofollow her. Then he thought better of it, and meditatively proceeded toland the things that he had brought ashore from the brig. This done, hehunted up the axe and wandered off to the woods in search of a couple ofspars to serve as sheers for working the main hatchway. The cuttingdown of these, the conveyance of them to the shore, and the towing ofthem off alongside the brig provided him with plenty of work for theremainder of the day; he therefore did not again meet his companionuntil the day's work was over and they sat down to dinner. It wasapparent that by that time the young lady had completely recovered herspirits; but she carefully avoided all reference to the little scenethat had occurred earlier in the day, so Leslie thought it best to letthe matter drop, although he continued to puzzle over it for severaldays thereafter.
The following day saw Leslie once again aboard the brig, where he busiedhimself in getting his spars in on deck, converting them into sheers,fitting them, and by means of tackles and stays rearing them intoposition and securing them. It was a long and heavy job, occupying himthe entire day, and sending him back to the island at night completelyfagged out. But on the succeeding day he went off to the brig early--infact, before Flora made her appearance--and strenuously devoted himselfto the task of breaking out the contents of the main hold. He spent theentire morning in rousing cases, bales, and packages of all kinds up ondeck; and after partaking of a hurried lunch he carefully opened theseand examined their contents. Two of the largest he found to containrespectively men's and women's clothing; another contained books andmusic; a fourth contained stationery and drawing-paper; a fifthcontained rolls of silk, linen, drapery, ribbons, laces, andhaberdashery; and all these he lowered on to the deck of the catamaranfor conveyance to the shore. Others contained rolls of wall-paper,ironmongery, photographic materials, drugs--with the properties and usesof which he was unacquainted--lawn-mowers, garden rollers, and othermatters that did not appeal to him; and these he sent over the side tokeep the bird-cages company. Then, when the sun was within half an hourof the western horizon, he left the brig and returned to the island withhis booty.
Flora seemed greatly amused when Leslie told her what he had broughtashore.
"Why, Dick," she exclaimed, "there is enough clothing in those two casesto last us for the rest of our lives; to say nothing of that third casewhich you say is full of unmade silks and linen. Surely it was scarcelynecessary to cumber yourself with the last, was it?"
"Who knows?" answered Leslie. "It is impossible to say how long we maybe compelled to remain on this island; and I intend to save every singlearticle and thing that may by any possibility be useful to us. I am notgoing to take any chances. For aught that I can tell, it may be beyondmy power to construct such a craft as I have in my mind; in which casewe may be compelled to remain here until--it may be years hence--a shipcomes along and rescues us. I have no wish to alarm you, dear,"--it wassurprising how often that term now rose to his lips, and how difficulthe found it to avoid letting it slip out--"but I cannot conceal frommyself--and it would be unfair to conceal from you--the possibility thatwe may be obliged to spend a quite appreciable portion of our liveshere; and I intend to make the very fullest provision possible for sucha contingency. But do not be frightened," he continued, catching thesudden look of gravity that leapt into her face; "you shall not bedetained here a moment longer than I can help."
"Oh, Dick, it is not so much _that_," she murmured; "it is the terribleanxiety that my poor father must be suffering that worries me."
"Ah, yes," agreed Leslie; "I can quite understand the poor gentleman'sfeelings. Why didn't I think of that before?" he suddenly ejaculated."Look here. I will write a message, seal it up in a bottle, and set itadrift clear of the island to-morrow. There is just a chance in athousand--or perhaps ten thousand--that it may be picked up; and in thatcase, not only will your father's anxiety be relieved, but help andrescue will be brought to us. I will write my statement immediatelyafter dinner."