CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
THE EFFECT OF A CANNON-SHOT--A HAPPY REUNION OF A SOMEWHAT MOISTNATURE--RETROSPECT AND EXPLANATIONS--AN AWFUL DIVE--NEW PLANS--THE LASTOF THE CORAL ISLAND.
I almost fell upon the deck with the tumult of mingled emotions thatfilled my heart as I gazed ardently towards my beautiful island. It wasstill many miles away, but sufficiently near to enable me to tracedistinctly the well-remembered outlines of the two mountains. My firstimpulse was to utter an exclamation of gratitude for being carried to myformer happy home in safety; my second, to jump up, clap my hands,shout, and run up and down the deck, with no other object in view thanthat of giving vent to my excited feelings. Then I went below for thetelescope, and spent nearly ten minutes of the utmost impatience invainly trying to get a focus, and in rubbing the skin nearly off myeyes, before I discovered that having taken off the large glass toexamine the phosphoric water with, I had omitted to put it on again.
After that I looked up impatiently at the sails, which I now regrettedhaving lowered so hastily, and for a moment thought of hoisting the maintopsail again; but recollecting that it would take me full half-a-day toaccomplish, and that, at the present rate of sailing, two hours wouldbring me to the island, I immediately dismissed the idea.
The remainder of the time I spent in making feverish preparations forarriving and seeing my dear comrades. I remembered that they were notin the habit of rising before six, and as it was now only three, I hopedto arrive before they were awake. Moreover, I set about making ready tolet go the anchor, resolving in my own mind that as I knew the depth ofwater in the passage of the reef and within the lagoon, I would run theschooner in and bring up opposite the bower. Fortunately the anchor washanging at the cat-head, otherwise I should never have been able to useit. Now I had only to cut the tackling, and it would drop of its ownweight. After searching among the flags, I found the terrible blackone, which I ran up to the peak. While I was doing this a thoughtstruck me. I went to the powder-magazine, brought up a blank cartridge,and loaded the big brass gun, which, it will be remembered, was unhousedwhen we set sail; and as I had no means of housing it, there it hadstood, bristling alike at fair weather and foul all the voyage. I tookcare to grease its mouth well, and before leaving the fore part of theship, thrust the poker into the fire.
All was now ready. A steady five-knot breeze was blowing, so that I wasnow not more than quarter of a mile from the reef. I was soon at theentrance; and as the schooner glided quickly through, I glancedaffectionately at the huge breaker as if it had been the same one I hadseen there when I bade adieu, as I feared for ever, to the island. Oncoming opposite the Water Garden, I put the helm hard down. Theschooner came round with a rapid, graceful bend, and lost way justopposite the bower. Running forward, I let go the anchor, caught up thered-hot poker, applied it to the brass gun, and saluted the mountainswith a _bang_ such as had only once before broke their slumberingechoes!
Effective although it was, however, it was scarcely equal to the bangwith which, instantly after, Peterkin bounded from the bower, in scantycostume, his eyeballs starting from his head with surprise and terror.One gaze he gave, one yell, and then fled into the bushes like a wildcat. The next moment Jack went through exactly the same performance,the only difference being that his movements were less like those ofJack-in-the-box, though not less vigorous and rapid than those ofPeterkin.
"Hallo!" I shouted, almost mad with joy. "What ho! Peterkin! Jack!hallo! it's _me_!"
My shout was just in time to arrest them. They halted and turned round,and the instant I repeated the cry I saw that they recognised my voiceby both of them running at full speed towards the beach. I could nolonger contain myself. Throwing off my jacket, I jumped overboard atthe same moment that Jack bounded into the sea. In other moment we metin deep water, clasped each other round the neck, and sank, as a matterof course, to the bottom! We were well-nigh choked, and instantlystruggled to the surface, where Peterkin was spluttering about like awounded duck, laughing and crying by turns, and choking himself withsalt water!
It would be impossible to convey to my reader, by description, anadequate conception of the scene that followed my landing on the beach,as we stood embracing each other indiscriminately in our drippinggarments, and giving utterance to incoherent rhapsodies, mingled withwild shouts. It can be more easily imagined than described; so I willdraw a curtain over this part of my history, and carry the readerforward over an interval of three days.
During the greater part of that period Peterkin did nothing but roastpigs, taro, and bread-fruit, and ply me with plantains, plums, potatoes,and cocoa-nuts, while I related to him and Jack the terrible andwonderful adventures I had gone through since we last met. After I hadfinished the account, they made me go all over it again; and when I hadconcluded the second recital I had to go over it again, while theycommented upon it piecemeal. They were much affected by what I toldthem of the probable fate of Avatea, and Peterkin could by no meansbrook the idea of the poor girl being converted into a _long pig_! Asfor Jack, he clenched his teeth, and shook his fist towards the sea,saying at the same time that he was sorry he had not broken Tararo'shead, and he only hoped that one day he should be able to plant hisknuckles on the bridge of that chief's nose! After they had `pumped medry,' as Peterkin said, I begged to be informed of what had happened tothem during my long absence, and particularly as to how they got out ofthe Diamond Cave.
"Well, you must know," began Jack, "after you had dived out of the cave,on the day you were taken away from us, we waited very patiently forhalf-an-hour, not expecting you to return before the end of that time.Then we began to upbraid you for staying so long when you knew we wouldbe anxious; but when an hour passed we became alarmed, and I resolved atall hazards to dive out and see what had become of you, although I feltfor poor Peterkin, because, as he truly said, `If you never come back,I'm shut up here for life.' However, I promised not to run any risk,and he let me go--which, to say truth, I thought very courageous ofhim!"
"I should just think it was," interrupted Peterkin, looking at Jack overthe edge of a monstrous potato which he happened to be devouring at thetime.
"Well," continued Jack, "you may guess my consternation when you did notanswer to my halloo. At first I imagined that the pirates must havekilled you, and left you in the bush or thrown you into the sea; then itoccurred to me that this would have served no end of theirs, so I cameto the conclusion that they must have carried you away with them. Asthis thought struck me, I observed the pirate schooner standing away tothe nor'ard, almost hull down on the horizon, and I sat down on therocks to watch her as she slowly sank from my sight. And I tell you,Ralph, my boy, that I shed more tears that time at losing you than Ihave done, I verily believe, all my life before--"
"Pardon me, Jack, for interrupting," said Peterkin; "surely you must bemistaken in that. You've often told me that when you were a baby youused to howl and roar from morning to--"
"Hold your tongue, Peterkin!" cried Jack.--"Well, after the schooner haddisappeared, I dived back into the cave, much to Peterkin's relief, andtold him what I had seen. We sat down and had a long talk over thismatter, and then we agreed to make a regular, systematic search throughthe woods, so as to make sure at least that you had not been killed.But now we thought of the difficulty of getting out of the cave withoutyour help. Peterkin became dreadfully nervous when he thought of this;and I must confess I felt some alarm, for, of course, I could not hopealone to take him out so quickly as we two together had brought him in.And he himself vowed that if we had been a moment longer with him thattime, he would have had to take a breath of salt water. However, therewas no help for it, and I endeavoured to calm his fears as well as Icould; `for,' said I, `you can't live here, Peterkin,' to which hereplied, `Of course not, Jack; I can only die here, and as that's not atall desirable, you had better propose something.' So I suggested thathe should take a good, long breath, and trust himself to me.
"`Might we not ma
ke a large bag of cocoa-nut cloth, into which I couldshove my head, and tie it tight round my neck?' he asked with a haggardsmile. `It might let me get one breath under water!'
"`No use,' said I; `it would fill in a moment and suffocate you. I seenothing for it, Peterkin, if you really can't keep your breath so long,but to let me knock you down, and carry you out while in a state ofinsensibility.'
"But Peterkin didn't relish this idea. He seemed to fear that I wouldnot be able to measure the exact force of the blow, and might, on theone hand, hit him so softly as to render a second or third blownecessary, which would be very uncomfortable; or, on the other hand,give him such a smash as would entirely spoil his figurehead, or mayhapknock the life out of him altogether! At last I got him persuaded totry to hold his breath, and commit himself to me; so he agreed, and downwe went. But I had not got half-way through when he began to struggleand kick like a wild bull, burst from my grasp, and hit against the roofof the tunnel. I was therefore obliged to force him violently back intothe cave again, where he, rose panting to the surface. In short, he hadlost his presence of mind, and--"
"Nothing of the sort!" cried Peterkin indignantly; "I only lost my wind,and if I had not had presence of mind enough to kick as I did, I shouldhave bu'st in your arms!"
"Well, well, so be it," resumed Jack with a smile.--"But the upshot ofit was that we had to hold another consultation on the point; and Ireally believe that had it not been for a happy thought of mine, weshould have been consulting there yet."
"I wish we had!" again interrupted Peterkin with a sigh.--"I'm sure,Ralph, if I had thought that you were coming back again I wouldwillingly have awaited your return for months rather than have enduredthe mental agony which I went through.--But proceed."
"The thought was this," continued Jack--"that I should tie Peterkin'shands and feet with cords, and then lash him firmly to a stout poleabout five feet long, in order to render him quite powerless and keephim straight and stiff. You should have seen his face of horror, Ralph,when I suggested this! But he came to see that it was his only chance,and told me to set about it as fast as I could; `for,' said he, `this isno jokin', Jack, _I_ can tell you, and the sooner it's done the better.'I soon procured the cordage and a suitable pole, with which I returnedto the cave, and lashed him as stiff and straight as an Egyptian mummy;and, to say truth, he was no bad representation of what an English mummywould be, if there were such things, for he was as white as a dead man.
"`Now,' said Peterkin in a tremulous voice, `swim with me as near to theedge of the hole as you can before you dive; then let me take a longbreath; and as I sha'n't be able to speak after I've taken it, you'llwatch my face, and the moment you see me wink--dive! And oh,' he addedearnestly, `pray don't be long!'
"I promised to pay the strictest attention to his wishes, and swam withhim to the outlet of the cave. Here I paused. `Now, then,' said I,`pull away at the wind, lad.'
"Peterkin drew in a breath so long that I could not help thinking of thefrog in the fable, that wanted to swell itself as big as the ox. Then Ilooked into his face earnestly. Slap went the lid of his right eye;down went my head, and up went my heels. We shot through the passagelike an arrow, and rose to the surface of the open sea before you couldcount twenty.
"Peterkin had taken in such an awful load of wind that, on reaching thefree air, he let it out with a yell loud enough to have been heard amile off; and then the change in his feelings was so sudden and greatthat he did not wait till we landed, but began, tied up as he was, toshout and sing for joy as I supported him with my left arm to the shore.However, in the middle of a laugh that a hyena might have envied, I lethim accidentally slip, which extinguished him in a moment.
"After this happy deliverance, we immediately began our search for yourdead body, Ralph; and you have no idea how low our hearts sank as we setoff; day after day, to examine the valleys and mountain-sides with theutmost care. In about three weeks we completed the survey of the wholeisland, and had at least the satisfaction of knowing that you had notbeen killed. But it occurred to us that you might have been thrown intothe sea; so we examined the sands and the lagoon carefully, andafterwards went all round the outer reef. One day, while we were uponthe reef, Peterkin espied a small, dark object lying among the rocks,which seemed to be quite different from the surrounding stones. Wehastened towards the spot, and found it to be a small keg. On knockingout the head we discovered that it was gunpowder."
"It was I who sent you that, Jack," said I with a smile.
"Fork out!" cried Peterkin energetically, starting to his feet andextending his open hand to Jack. "Down with the money, sir, else I'llhave you shut up for life in a debtor's prison the moment we return toEngland!"
"I'll give you an I.O.U. in the meantime," returned Jack, laughing, "sosit down and be quiet.--The fact is, Ralph, when we discovered this kegof powder Peterkin immediately took me a bet of a thousand pounds thatyou had something to do with it, and I took him a bet of ten thousandthat you had not."
"Peterkin was right, then," said I, explaining how the thing hadoccurred.
"Well, we found it very useful," continued Jack, "although some of ithad got a little damp; and we furbished up the old pistol, with whichPeterkin is a crack shot now. But to continue. We did not find anyother vestige of you on the reef, and finally gave up all hope of everseeing you again. After this the island became a dreary place to us,and we began to long for a ship to heave in sight and take us off. Butnow that you're back again, my dear fellow, it looks as bright andcheerful as it used to do, and I love it as much as ever.
"And now," continued Jack, "I have a great desire to visit some of theother islands of the South Seas. Here we have a first-rate schooner atour disposal, so I don't see what should hinder us."
"Just the very thing I was going to propose!" cried Peterkin. "I votefor starting at once."
"Well, then," said Jack, "it seems to me that we could not do betterthan shape our course for the island on which Avatea lives, andendeavour to persuade Tararo to let her marry the black fellow to whomshe is engaged instead of making a `long pig' of her. If he has a sparkof gratitude in him, he'll do it. Besides, having become champions forthis girl once before, it behoves us, as true knights, not to rest untilwe set her free; at least, all the heroes in all the story-books I haveever read would count it foul disgrace to leave such a work unfinished."
"I'm sure I don't know or care what your knights in story-books woulddo," said Peterkin; "but I'm certain that it would be capital fun, soI'm your man whenever you want me."
This plan of Jack's was quite in accordance with his romantic, impulsivenature; and having made up his mind to save this black girl, he couldnot rest until the thing was commenced.
"But there may be great danger in this attempt," he said at the end of along consultation on the subject. "Will you, lads, go with me in spiteof this?"
"Go with you!" we repeated in the same breath.
"Can you doubt it?" said I.
"For a moment?" added Peterkin.
I need scarcely say that having made up our minds to go on thisenterprise, we lost no time in making preparations to quit the island;and as the schooner was well laden with stores of every kind for a longcruise, we had little to do except to add to our abundant supply aquantity of cocoa-nuts, bread-fruit, taro, yams, plums, and potatoes,chiefly with the view of carrying the fragrance of our dear island alongwith us as long as we could.
When all was ready, we paid a farewell visit to the different familiarspots where most of our time had been spent. We ascended themountain-top, and gazed for the last time at the rich green foliage inthe valleys, the white sandy beach, the placid lagoon, and the barriercoral reef with its crested breakers. Then we descended to SpoutingCliff, and looked down at the pale-green monster which we had made suchfruitless efforts to spear in days gone by. From this we hurried to theWater Garden, and took a last dive into its clear waters and a lastgambol amongst its coral groves. I hurried out before m
y companions,and dressed in haste, in order to have a long examination of my tank,which Peterkin, in the fulness of his heart, had tended with the utmostcare, as being a vivid remembrancer of me rather than out of love fornatural history. It was in superb condition: the water as clear andpellucid as crystal; the red and green seaweed of the most brillianthues; the red, purple, yellow, green, and striped anemones fullyexpanded, and stretching out their arms as if to welcome and embracetheir former master; the starfish, zoophytes, sea-pens, and otherinnumerable marine insects, looking fresh and beautiful; and the crabs,as Peterkin said, looking as wide-awake, impertinent, rampant, andpugnacious as ever. It was, indeed, so lovely and so interesting that Iwould scarcely allow myself to be torn away from it.
Last of all, we returned to the bower and collected the few articles wepossessed--such as the axe, the pencil-case, the broken telescope, thepenknife, the hook made from the brass ring, and the sail-needle, withwhich we had landed on the island; also the long boots and the pistol,besides several curious articles of costume which we had manufacturedfrom time to time.
These we conveyed on board in our little boat, after having carved ournames on a chip of iron-wood, thus:
JACK MARTIN RALPH ROVER PETERKIN GAY
This we fixed up inside of the bower. The boat was then hoisted onboard and the anchor weighed, which latter operation cost us greatlabour and much time, as the anchor was so heavy that we could not moveit without the aid of my complex machinery of blocks and pulleys. Asteady breeze was blowing off-shore when we set sail, at a little beforesunset. It swept us quickly past the reef and out to sea. The shoregrew rapidly more indistinct as the shades of evening fell, while ourclipper bark bounded lightly over the waves. Slowly the mountain-topsank on the horizon until it became a mere speck. In another moment thesun and the Coral Island sank together into the broad bosom of thePacific.