CHAPTER VII.
The Results of the Expedition.--The Long Vacation.--Removed from theLanding-place.--Birds and their Nests.--Fishing.--Tapping a Cask ofPotatoes.--Tent-making.--The Shell Spades.--Digging a Tank.--A GrandAttempt at Boat-building.
"Get all into marching order, Meggie," said Hugh. "We have found out abetter site for a settlement than our present encampment, and Gerald andI mean to build a shealing."
"And not a mangrove or a mosquito to be seen near it," added Gerald;"nothing but a ship at anchor."
"A ship!" exclaimed Margaret, in astonishment. "What does the wild boymean, Arthur?"
"You will only see the remains of a ship, Meggie," answered Arthur; "andthough you may think the scene of a shipwreck a melancholy spot toselect, yet it seems a convenient, sheltered cove, and a desirableretreat for a short time, till we arrange our plans for the future."
When they arrived at the encampment, and the adventures of the day hadbeen told, Jack heard with especial interest the account of the wreckedvessel; and as he examined the rusty axe, he planned great undertakingswith the aid of his new tool; while Jenny looked with much satisfactionon the ducks, which she declared were "more Christian meat than themslimy, fat turtles;" and Ruth, smoothing the beautiful plumage with herhands, and thinking, with foreboding dread, of the fate of herfavorites, said--
"Bonnie things! what a sham' to kill 'em."
"And see what papa and I have found," said Margaret, producing a baskethalf-filled with the eggs of the turtle, while Jenny served up to themsome roasted in the ashes, which the hungry ramblers thought delicious.
Then a consultation was held on the project of removal. Margaret shrunkfrom any risk of meeting with the savage islanders; but Arthurconsidered they should be safer from any encounter with them in thesecluded nook they had discovered, which was guarded by coral reefs,dangerous even to such light canoes as these people usually had, andhidden by the jutting promontories, than they should be to remain intheir present exposed encampment, or even in the more fertile regions ofthe interior.
Mr. Mayburn had some shadowy fancies of civilizing and converting thewhole horde at once; but Arthur argued that the time was not favorablefor the undertaking, and that they must try to establish themselves in amore independent position before they indulged any hopes of reclaiming alarge body of heathens.
"Besides, papa," added he, "we must look forward to some plan of leavingthis dull and desolate island, and we may have an opportunity ofsignalling some passing sail if we establish ourselves on the beach."
"Ye'll not see mony ships amang yon reefs," said Wilkins, "barringthey're drove there in a gale, and then, as ye've seen, there's poorchance of they're getting off again."
"But we might build a boat with the remains of the wreck," suggestedJack.
"There's some sense in that," answered the man; "but when ye've gottenyour boat fettled up, what port would ye be making for?"
"I am pledged to go to India, Wilkins," said Mr. Mayburn.
"Pledged to a fiddlestick," replied he, with contempt. "Think ye now yecan sail to Indy in a crazy bit boat like what we chaps can puttogether. Ye'll have to make right across for t' mainland; and mind whatI tell ye: I'se stick to ye, and work for ye, and fight for ye, butye're not to be 'liv'ring me up at Sydney yonder to be shackled anddrove like a nigger slave."
"I fear, Wilkins," answered Arthur, "there is little probability of ourreaching Sydney; but we are all too grateful for the services of afaithful adherent, to think of returning evil for them; and you may besatisfied we shall continue to protect you to the utmost of our power.And, my dear father, you must no longer distress yourself with the ideaof fulfilling your appointment in India. We shall be reported lost inthe _Golden Fairy_, and the mission will be filled up. You must resignyourself to accept any safe refuge that is accessible, and wait forhappier circumstances."
"In the mean time, papa," said Margaret, "God will surely provide uswith work. And till we have more extended opportunities our own heartsrequire our labor. We must not neglect our duty at home."
"I thank you, my child," answered he, "for reminding me of my wastedhours. It is indeed full time that I should resume the active duties ofmy profession. I have a weighty responsibility. Do you not think that Ishould begin at once, by recalling my boys to their daily studies?"
O'Brien looked piteously at Hugh, who laughed at his mournfulcountenance, and Margaret replied,
"The boys are not idle, papa. They are studying in the great book ofNature. Every hour shows to them some new wonder of creation, and raisestheir thoughts to the mighty Creator. Every sight and sound develops anew idea; and all you are called on to do, papa, is to watch and towater."
"That is all I am fit to do," answered he. "I want the energy andfirmness that you possess--a blessed boon from God. The deep sorrow thatever haunts me is, that my life has been spent in vain purposes, neveraccomplished."
"My dear, conscientious father," said Margaret, "be comforted; I trustthe hour may yet come when you will have a field for your pious labors:till then, have no remorse in following your simple and blamelessamusements. I have no merit in my duties of attending, governing, andlecturing these wild boys. I love the office; I was certainly not bornfor any sphere more elevated. But you, papa, whose sole enjoyment is tosit in an easy-chair before a table laden with books and a cabinetfilled with eggs and wings, were wrenched violently from your naturewhen you were doomed to pass days in forcing these unwilling boys tolearn the rules of syntax, or the crabbed mysteries of Euclid. We areshaken from our proprieties here; you cannot teach Latin or work outproblems without books; so you must take your ease, and consider thisthe long vacation."
"You are the girl for knowing a few things, Meggie!" said O'Brien,admiringly. "Be sure, sir, Hugh and I will work to any amount to helpyou in your ornithology and oology, if you will spare us the philologya bit. There's no running about with a conjugation in one's mouth."
"And as Arthur has demonstrated his problem on the best position for theencampment," said Hugh, "I conclude we had better move at once. Nooccasion to send forward notice about well-aired beds."
"And no occasion, Hugh Harebrain," said Arthur, "to be overtaken bydarkness on our journey. Let us be deliberate. Jenny must roast theducks for our breakfast in the morning, Jack must collect his valuablework-tools, Ruth must again imprison those luckless chickens, and thenwe must all have a night's rest. It will be time enough to set out inthe morning, and we must take care to start before the sun blazes out inall its fervor."
All obeyed orders; and, with the first ray of light, the whole camp wasalive. It was very important this time that nothing should be leftbehind. Peter had relieved them from the charge of biscuit and water,which he had carried off with the tool-chest and gun; but there wasstill a little tea and sugar, which was carefully preserved. Thesail-cloth was rolled up; even the oars used for tent-poles were taken;and, after morning prayers, they set out slowly along the beach, andthrough the mazy, ascending woods, till they reached the table-land ofthe rocky isle. They crossed it this time at the head of the lake whichthey had discovered the preceding day, and found this part of the islandstill more fertile and lovely than any they had yet seen. Mr. Mayburnwas in ecstasy; he stopped continually to point out some new andbeautiful grass, some bright nameless flower, or some strange tree;while the notes, harsh, musical, or merry, of thousands of birds, filledhim with amazement and delight.
"From this moment, my boys," said he, "I release you from the severestudies which, Margaret truly observes, are unfitted to ourcircumstances and the relaxing climate. I merely require from you toobtain me specimens--single specimens only--of the eggs and nests ofthese birds; and, if it were not cruel, I should long to possess some ofthese rare creatures in all their beauty."
"I fear, papa," observed Margaret, "that you have no means of preservingbirds; therefore it would be useless to take them."
"You are right, Margaret," he answered. "I will be content with a nestand an egg of ea
ch species."
"Would you mind about having the nest and egg of that fellow, sir?"asked O'Brien, pointing to a majestic black swan sailing on the lake.
"_Rara avis!_" exclaimed he; then added, with a sigh, "no, no, Gerald,we have no means. The animal is weighty, therefore the nest must belarge, and not of a portable nature. I relinquish the preciouspossession. But let us linger on the borders of the lake, to examine itswild charms. Would that I had saved my botanical library, that I mighthave made out the species of these broad flags and thick bamboos!"
"These round reeds will make capital arrows," said Hugh, cutting down abundle of them; "and I doubt not but some of them would be elasticenough for the bows. We may surely, with all our learning, succeedbetter in making them than untaught savages. Then we may bring down ourbirds noiselessly, and defy the thievish tricks of Black Peter."
"But first, Hugh," said O'Brien, "we must have a trial with some ofthese big fellows in the lake," pointing to some large perch-shapedfish.
Jack sharpened some of the reeds to a point, and the boys were soonplunging about in the clear bright lake, pursuing and striking the fish;and after fifty vain attempts, they succeeded at length in spearing two,which, though young, were of large size, and Arthur concluded they mustbe the river cod (_Grystes Peelii_), so much praised by Australiantravellers. Then, regardless of wet garments, which the hot sun soondried, the boys triumphantly proceeded on with their spoil. Jack, in themean time, had struck off from the edge of the lake a cluster offresh-water mussels of various sizes, and emptied them, to serve forspoons and drinking-cups.
Thence they moved forward, anxious now to seek some shelter from theincreasing heat of the day, and gladly entered the wood, from which,with some difficulties in the descent, they reached the wreck-encumberedbay. All were at once attracted to the side of the vessel; Jack,especially, examined it with intense interest, considering its futureservice to him. Margaret and her father were moved to tears, as theycontemplated the shattered fabric, and thought on the brave but probablyunprepared men who might have been hurried into eternity before thefinal catastrophe.
While Hugh and Gerald climbed the sides to explore the interior of thewreck, Arthur observed that some of the timbers had been carried away bythe tide even since the previous day, and he consulted with Jack aboutthe possibility of breaking up and endeavoring to save such parts asmight be useful to themselves; and in order to lose no time theygrasped a loosened plank, to draw it away beyond the reach of the tide.No sooner had they removed it, than a large cask rolled from theopening, which they concluded led into the hold. The cask broke openwith the fall, and a number of potatoes ran out. Every hand was quicklysummoned to collect and save the valuable contents; the cask was rightedand carefully removed up the beach, and it was great amusement to theboys to pursue the straggling potatoes, and save them from being sweptaway by the next tide.
"I say, O'Brien, my boy, I wonder your Irish nose did not scent the_pratees_ yesterday," said Hugh.
"Now isn't it luck, Arty," said Gerald. "Will we plant some? and then weshall never want as long as we stay here."
Margaret looked alarmed at the plan of planting potatoes for futureprovision; but Arthur replied, he hoped they should be able to leave theisland before the potatoes were exhausted; nevertheless, he approved ofthe provident project of Gerald, and promised to seek a favorable spotto plant some, for the benefit of future visitors to this unproductiveisland.
"But do not be afraid, nurse," added he, "to boil us a large _shell_ ofpotatoes to-day; we have abundance; and in our scarcity of bread, wecould not have found a more valuable prize."
Ruth had been in the wood to seek for a convenient place for a hencoop,and now rushed out with torn garments, exclaiming,--"Oh! Miss Marget,come and see what a bonnie beck there is."
A _beck_, or stream of water, was, indeed, a valuable discovery; and,conducted by Ruth, Arthur and Jack forced their way through entangledroots and brushwood, till they reached a narrow rivulet of clear water,probably flowing from the lake by some unseen channel beneath the grassyregion they had crossed; and after trickling down the rocks, it againdisappeared in the sand and shingles of the beach.
"This is but a slender supply, Jack," said Arthur; "I fear it might failus in a drought."
"We must dig a tank, Mr. Arthur," he answered; "that is, if we can raisea spade."
Jack considered for a few minutes. He was not to be checked by apparentdifficulties in his undertakings. "What do you think, Mr. Arthur, of oneof those big oyster or mussel shells? I could tie one to a stick withsome of these stringy fibres of creeping plants; or, better far, there'sa tree up above, that seems to have a bark you might ravel out intostrings; and there's another tree, with a stiff, regular sort of gum, asgood as glue, oozing out of it. Now, with all these, I'll be bound tomake a spade or two that will turn up this light soil fast enough."
"Then the sooner we set about it the better, Jack," answered Arthur. "Wecannot do better than remain in this spot, if we meet with nodisturbance, until we can make some canoe or raft to take us off; and itis absolutely necessary to secure a supply of water. Let us go andchoose our shells."
But when they returned to the beach, they found Mr. Mayburn so muchovercome by the scorching heat of the sun, that their first care was toget up a tent or shelter of some kind for him. They selected a deepniche in the cliff, where the rocks formed a complete angle, and havingprocured from the wreck some suitable spars, they fixed them in thecrevices of the rocks, to form the rafters of the roof, which theycovered with the long grass which grew above the cliffs. The sail wasthrown over the front, as a curtain, and they were thus provided with ashady and convenient apartment.
At low tide, Hugh and Gerald amused themselves with searching for nestsin the extremity of the promontory, and finding an opening, they hadpenetrated into a spacious cave, the mouth of which would be covered athigh-water; but as it shelved upwards to a considerable distance in therocks, the back part was safe and dry.
"Just think, Hugh, my boy," said O'Brien, "what a fortress this would befor us if we were invaded. One man could defend the entrance with thegun, even at low-water; and how we should defy the rogues when the tidewas up."
"But it would be horribly dismal, Gerald," answered Hugh. "We couldnever bear to live in it long; and, you know, we need no sleeping-roomsor houses to cover us in this fine climate; so we will leave ituninhabited, at least in peaceful times. But we will show it to Arthur,and ask him if it would not make a good storehouse."
Arthur congratulated the boys on their discovery, and the timid fatherwas highly gratified at the thoughts of such a secure retreat; after hehad satisfactorily ascertained that it could always be accessible atlow-water, and never dangerous at the highest tide; and Margaretproposed that the cookery should be accomplished within the cave, thatthe smoke might not attract the observation of the dreaded natives. SoJenny established her kitchen here, and prepared an excellent dinner offish, and potatoes boiled in the shells of the turtle, while Margaretkept watch for the returning tide, though Jenny said, "It's all littleuse, Miss Marget; it has to be, I feel. Ruth's sartain to be catched andfastened up in this eerie place."
Jack made a careful inspection of the remains of the vessel, and fromthe stern cabin, which was still uninjured, he drew out, with the helpof the boys, a rough bench and a table,--useful acquisitions; and stillbetter, a good-sized empty cask, which had contained brandy, and was nowconveniently employed as a water-cask. Then, after a long survey of thestate of the timbers, Jack announced that, with the help of Wilkins'sstrong arm, and Arthur's judgment and perseverance, he would undertaketo build a sort of boat.
Wilkins shrugged up his shoulders at the prospect of hard work under aburning sun, and said, "Why, one had as lief be working in irons downyonder; where one was safe of full rations, and bacca, and rum into t'bargain."
"And ruin to body and soul, you may add, unhappy man," said Mr. Mayburn."Be not discontented that the mercy of God has rescued you from evil,and ca
st you among true friends, who ask you to do no more than they dothemselves; to fare simply, and to work. You were not placed in thisworld to live like the beasts, who eat, and drink, and perish for ever.Your life is here but the beginning of eternity; the hour of death isclose at hand to all, when those who have done evil shall receive theirpunishment, and those who have listened to God shall find a blessed homein a new and glorious world."
Wilkins never replied to any of Mr. Mayburn's _preachings_, as he calledthese admonitions; but he scoffed less than formerly, and Margaretobserved that his manners were somewhat softened; and she daily prayedto God that they might be permitted to aid in reclaiming, at least, onesinful soul.
The next day Jack succeeded in binding two large shells to stouthandles, and fixing them with gum; then, while he left them to harden,he set to work to clean the rusty axe with sand and stones, and atlength rendered it serviceable. He was thus enabled to break up thewreck, and to select such timber as would be useful for his projectedundertaking; he extracted all the large nails that were uninjured, andafter many days' labor, had accumulated materials to begin his greatwork.
But the first employment of the youths was to be digging the well; theywent every morning to the lake to procure fish, birds, or eggs, for theprovision of the day, and then returned to assist in digging, the spadesbeing now available, as the gum had become as hard as the shell. Afterthey had sunk the tank sufficiently deep, they lined it with flatstones; and saw with great satisfaction, that they need never be withouta supply of fresh water, if they remained at this cove.
Some time passed, and they saw no more traces of visitors to the island,and they ventured to ramble to some distance along the beach, bringingin occasionally a turtle, or a basket of turtles' eggs, to vary theirdiet. They also used daily a small quantity of potatoes, but they wereeconomical with these valuable roots, of which they hoped to raise acrop in the island, and, should they ever reach it, on the main land aswell.
After the tank was completed, Jack selected a spot conveniently nearhigh-water mark, and seriously set about boat-building. He had carefullyexamined the boats during their voyages, and while in the _Amoor_ hemade many inquiries of the obliging ship-carpenter; but though bold andsanguine in all his enterprises, he did sometimes feel that he hadundertaken a stupendous task.
The planks that would best have suited his purpose were more or lessinjured by the sea; he had no means of forming iron bolts or screws, yetthe indefatigable youth persevered; but the month of August, the earlyspring of that climate, was advanced before the boat assumed a form ofpromise. It was then caulked with matted cordage found in the vessel,and with gum, of which they had abundance. Now, though rough and clumsy,Jack declared it "looked like work;" and after two pair of oars had beenmade with little difficulty, to the great delight of the young workmen,a day was fixed for launching the boat.