VII
The Island in the Weed
It was as we were all discussing the matter of the devil face that hadpeered up at me out of the water, that Job, the ordinary seaman,discovered the island in the light of the growing dawn, and, seeing it,sprang to his feet, with so loud a cry that we were like for the momentto have thought he had seen a second demon. Yet when we made discovery ofthat which he had already perceived, we checked our blame at his suddenshout; for the sight of land, after so much desolation, made us very warmin our hearts.
Now at first the island seemed but a very small matter; for we did notknow at that time that we viewed it from its end; yet despite this, wetook to our oars and rowed with all haste towards it, and so, comingnearer, were able to see that it had a greater size than we had imagined.Presently, having cleared the end of it, and keeping to that side whichwas further from the great mass of the weed-continent, we opened out abay that curved inward to a sandy beach, most seductive to our tiredeyes. Here, for the space of a minute, we paused to survey the prospect,and I saw that the island was of a very strange shape, having a greathump of black rock at either end, and dipping down into a steep valleybetween them. In this valley there seemed to be a deal of a strangevegetation that had the appearance of mighty toadstools; and down nearerthe beach there was a thick grove of a kind of very tall reed, and thesewe discovered afterwards to be exceeding tough and light, havingsomething of the qualities of the bamboo.
Regarding the beach, it might have been most reasonably supposed that itwould be very thick with the driftweed; but this was not so, at least,not at that time; though a projecting horn of the black rock which ranout into the sea from the upper end of the island, was thick with it.
And now, the bo'sun having assured himself that there was no appearanceof any danger, we bent to our oars, and presently had the boat agroundupon the beach, and here, finding it convenient, we made our breakfast.During this meal, the bo'sun discussed with us the most proper thing todo, and it was decided to push the boat off from the shore, leaving Jobin her, whilst the remainder of us made some exploration of the island.
And so, having made an end of eating, we proceeded as we haddetermined, leaving Job in the boat, ready to scull ashore for us if wewere pursued by any savage creature, while the rest of us made our waytowards the nearer hump, from which, as it stood some hundred feetabove the sea, we hoped to get a very good idea of the remainder of theisland. First, however, the bo'sun handed out to us the two cutlassesand the cut-and-thrust (the other two cutlasses being in Josh's boat),and, taking one himself, he passed me the cut-and-thrust, and gave theother cutlass to the biggest of the men. Then he bade the others keeptheir sheath knives handy, and was proceeding to lead the way, when oneof them called out to us to wait a moment, and, with that, ran quicklyto the clump of reeds. Here, he took one with both his hands and bentupon it; but it would not break, so that he had to notch it about withhis knife, and thus, in a little, he had it clear. After this, he cutoff the upper part, which was too thin and lissome for his purpose, andthen thrust the handle of his knife into the end of the portion whichhe had retained, and in this wise he had a most serviceable lance orspear. For the reeds were very strong, and hollow after the fashion ofbamboo, and when he had bound some yarn about the end into which he hadthrust his knife, so as to prevent it splitting, it was a fit enoughweapon for any man.
Now the bo'sun, perceiving the happiness of the fellow's idea, bade therest make to themselves similar weapons, and whilst they were busy thus,he commended the man very warmly. And so, in a little, being now mostcomfortably armed, we made inland towards the nearer black hill, in verygood spirits. Presently, we were come to the rock which formed the hill,and found that it came up out of the sand with great abruptness, so thatwe could not climb it on the seaward side. At that, the bo'sun led usround a space towards that side where lay the valley, and here there wasunder-foot neither sand nor rock; but ground of strange and spongytexture, and then suddenly, rounding a jutting spur of the rock, we cameupon the first of the vegetation--an incredible mushroom; nay, I shouldsay toadstool; for it had no healthy look about it, and gave out a heavy,mouldy odor. And now we perceived that the valley was filled with them,all, that is, save a great circular patch where nothing appeared to begrowing; though we were not yet at a sufficient height to ascertain thereason of this.
Presently, we came to a place where the rock was split by a great fissurerunning up to the top, and showing many ledges and convenient shelvesupon which we might obtain hold and footing. And so we set-to aboutclimbing, helping one another so far as we had ability, until, in aboutthe space of some ten minutes, we reached the top, and from thence had avery fine view. We perceived now that there was a beach upon that side ofthe island which was opposed to the weed; though, unlike that upon whichwe had landed, it was greatly choked with weed which had drifted ashore.After that, I gave notice to see what space of water lay between theisland and the edge of the great weed-continent, and guessed it to be nomore than maybe some ninety yards, at which I fell to wishing that it hadbeen greater, for I was grown much in awe of the weed and the strangethings which I conceived it to contain.
Abruptly, the bo'sun clapped me upon the shoulder, and pointed to someobject that lay out in the weed at a distance of not much less than thehalf of a mile from where we stood. Now, at first, I could not conceivewhat manner of thing it was at which I stared, until the bo'sun,remarking my bewilderment, informed me that it was a vessel all coveredin, no doubt as a protection against the devil-fish and other strangecreatures in the weed. And now I began to trace the hull of her amid allthat hideous growth; but of her masts, I could discern nothing; and Idoubted not but that they had been carried away by some storm ere she wascaught by the weed; and then the thought came to me of the end of thosewho had built up that protection against the horrors which the weed-worldheld hidden amid its slime.
Presently, I turned my gaze once more upon the island, which was veryplain to see from where we stood. I conceived, now that I could see somuch of it, that its length would be near to half a mile, though itsbreadth was something under four hundred yards; thus it was very long inproportion to its width. In the middle part it had less breadth than atthe ends, being perhaps three hundred yards at its narrowest, and ahundred yards wider at its broadest.
Upon both sides of the island, as I have made already a mention, therewas a beach, though this extended no great distance along the shore, theremainder being composed of the black rock of which the hills wereformed. And now, having a closer regard to the beach upon the weed-sideof the island, I discovered amid the wrack that had been cast ashore, aportion of the lower mast and topmast of some great ship, with riggingattached; but the yards were all gone. This find, I pointed out to thebo'sun, remarking that it might prove of use for firing; but he smiled atme, telling me that the dried weed would make a very abundant fire, andthis without going to the labor of cutting the mast into suitable logs.
And now, he, in turn, called my attention to the place where the hugefungi had come to a stop in their growing, and I saw that in the centerof the valley there was a great circular opening in the earth, like tothe mouth of a prodigious pit, and it appeared to be filled to within afew feet of the mouth with water, over which spread a brown and horridscum. Now, as may be supposed, I stared with some intentness at this; forit had the look of having been made with labor, being very symmetrical,yet I could not conceive but that I was deluded by the distance, and thatit would have a rougher appearance when viewed from a nearer standpoint.
From contemplating this, I looked down upon the little bay in which ourboat floated. Job was sitting in the stern, sculling gently with thesteering oar and watching us. At that, I waved my hand to him infriendly fashion, and he waved back, and then, even as I looked, I sawsomething in the water under the boat--something dark colored that wasall of a-move. The boat appeared to be floating over it as over a massof sunk weed, and then I saw that, whatever it was, it was rising to thesurface. At
this a sudden horror came over me, and I clutched the bo'sunby the arm, and pointed, crying out that there was something under theboat. Now the bo'sun, so soon as he saw the thing, ran forward to thebrow of the hill and, placing his hands to his mouth after the fashionof a trumpet, sang out to the boy to bring the boat to the shore andmake fast the painter to a large piece of rock. At the bo'sun's hail,the lad called out "I, I," and, standing up, gave a sweep with his oarthat brought the boat's head round towards the beach. Fortunately forhim he was no more than some thirty yards from the shore at this time,else he had never come to it in this life; for the next moment themoving brown mass beneath the boat shot out a great tentacle and the oarwas torn out of Job's hands with such power as to throw him right overon to the starboard gunnel of the boat. The oar itself was drawn downout of sight, and for the minute the boat was left untouched. Now thebo'sun cried out to the boy to take another oar, and get ashore whilestill he had chance, and at that we all called out various things, oneadvising one thing, and another recommending some other; yet our advicewas vain, for the boy moved not, at which some cried out that he wasstunned. I looked now to where the brown thing had been, for the boathad moved a few fathoms from the spot, having got some way upon herbefore the oar was snatched, and thus I discovered that the monster haddisappeared, having, I conceived, sunk again into the depths from whichit had risen; yet it might re-appear at any moment, and in that case theboy would be taken before our eyes.
At this juncture, the bo'sun called to us to follow him, and led the wayto the great fissure up which we had climbed, and so, in a minute, wewere, each of us, scrambling down with what haste we could make towardsthe valley. And all the while as I dropped from ledge to ledge, I wasfull of torment to know whether the monster had returned.
The bo'sun was the first man to reach the bottom of the cleft, and he setoff immediately round the base of the rock to the beach, the rest of usfollowing him as we made safe our footing in the valley. I was the thirdman down; but, being light and fleet of foot, I passed the second man andcaught up with the bo'sun just as he came upon the sand. Here, I foundthat the boat was within some five fathoms of the beach, and I could seeJob still lying insensible; but of the monster there was no sign.
And so matters were, the boat nearly a dozen yards from the shore, andJob lying insensible in her; with, somewhere near under her keel (for allthat we knew) a great monster, and we helpless upon the beach.
Now I could not imagine how to save the lad, and indeed I fear he hadbeen left to destruction--for I had deemed it madness to try to reach theboat by swimming--but for the extraordinary bravery of the bo'sun, who,without hesitating, dashed into the water and swam boldly out to theboat, which, by the grace of God, he reached without mishap, and climbedin over the bows. Immediately, he took the painter and hove it to us,bidding us tail on to it and bring the boat to shore without delay, andby this method of gaining the beach he showed wisdom; for in this wise heescaped attracting the attention of the monster by unneedful stirring ofthe water, as he would surely have done had he made use of an oar.
Yet, despite his care, we had not finished with the creature; for, justas the boat grounded, I saw the lost steering oar shoot up half itslength out of the sea, and immediately there was a mighty splather in thewater astern, and the next instant the air seemed full of huge, whirlingarms. At that, the bo'sun gave one look behind, and, seeing the thingupon him, snatched the boy into his arms, and sprang over the bows on tothe sand. Now, at sight of the devil-fish, we had all made for the backof the beach at a run, none troubling even to retain the painter, andbecause of this, we were like to have lost the boat; for the greatcuttlefish had its arms all splayed about it, seeming to have a mind todrag it down into the deep water from whence it had risen, and it hadpossibly succeeded, but that the bo'sun brought us all to our senses;for, having laid Job out of harm's way, he was the first to seize thepainter, which lay trailed upon the sand, and, at that, we got back ourcourage and ran to assist him.
Now there happened to be convenient a great spike of rock, the same,indeed, to which the bo'sun had bidden Job tie the boat, and to this weran the painter, taking a couple of turns about it and two half-hitches,and now, unless the rope carried away, we had no reason to fear the lossof the boat; though there seemed to us to be a danger of the creature'scrushing it. Because of this, and because of a feeling of natural angeragainst the thing, the bo'sun took up from the sand one of the spearswhich had been cast down when we hauled the boat ashore. With this, hewent down so far as seemed safe, and prodded the creature in one of itstentacles--the weapon entering easily, at which I was surprised, for Ihad understood that these monsters were near to invulnerable in all partssave their eyes. At receiving this stab, the great fish appeared to feelno hurt for it showed no signs of pain, and, at that, the bo'sun wasfurther emboldened to go nearer, so that he might deliver a more deadlywound; yet scarce had he taken two steps before the hideous thing wasupon him, and, but for an agility wonderful in so great a man, he hadbeen destroyed. Yet, spite of so narrow an escape from death, he was notthe less determined to wound or destroy the creature, and, to this end,he dispatched some of us to the grove of reeds to get half a dozen of thestrongest, and when we returned with these, he bade two of the men lashtheir spears securely to them, and by this means they had now spears of alength of between thirty and forty feet. With these, it was possible toattack the devilfish without coming within reach of its tentacles. Andnow being ready, he took one of the spears, telling the biggest of themen to take the other. Then he directed him to aim for the right eye ofthe huge fish whilst he would attack the left.
Now since the creature had so nearly captured the bo'sun, it had ceasedto tug at the boat, and lay silent, with its tentacles spread all aboutit, and its great eyes appearing just over the stern, so that itpresented an appearance of watching our movements; though I doubt if itsaw us with any clearness; for it must have been dazed with thebrightness of the sunshine.
And now the bo'sun gave the signal to attack, at which he and the man randown upon the creature with their lances, as it were in rest. Thebo'sun's spear took the monster truly in its left eye; but the onewielded by the man was too bendable, and sagged so much that it struckthe stern-post of the boat, the knife blade snapping off short. Yet itmattered not; for the wound inflicted by the bo'sun's weapon was sofrightful, that the giant cuttlefish released the boat, and slid backinto deep water, churning it into foam, and gouting blood.
For some minutes we waited to make sure that the monster had indeed gone,and after that, we hastened to the boat, and drew her up so far as wewere able; after which we unloaded the heaviest of her contents, and sowere able to get her right clear of the water.
And for an hour afterwards the sea all about the little beach was stainedblack, and in places red.