CHAPTER SIX.
SETTLING DOWN AND EXPLORATION.
The first few days were devoted by the mutineers to conveying ashoreevery article that was likely to prove useful. Not only were chests,boxes, tools, bedding, culinary implements, etcetera, removed from thevessel, but the planks that formed the bulkheads, much of the cordage,and all the loose spars and removable iron-work were carried ashore. Inshort, the vessel was completely gutted.
When this was finished, a council was called to decide what should bedone with the _Bounty_ herself, for although Christian was theacknowledged leader of the party, he took no important step withoutconsulting his comrades.
"You see it is useless," he said, "to think of venturing again to sea inthe _Bounty_; we are too short-handed for that. Besides, we could notfind a more suitable island than this. I therefore propose that weshould burn the ship, to prevent her being seen by any chance vesselthat may pass this way. If she were observed, men might be tempted toland, and of course they would tell that we were here, and His Majestywould soon have a cruiser out in search of us. What say you?"
"I say wait a bit and consider," replied Young.
"Ditto," said Adams.
Some of the others thought with Christian. Quintal, in particular, whoseemed to live in a chronic state of objection to being hanged, wasstrong for destroying the vessel. Eventually, after a good deal ofdelay and much discussion, the good ship _Bounty_ finished her career bybeing burned to the water's edge in Bounty Bay. This occurred on the23rd January 1790. The lower part of the vessel, which would not burn,was towed out into deep water and sunk, so that not a vestige of herremained.
And now all was bustling activity. A spot some few hundred yardsfarther inland than that selected as their camping-ground on the day ofarrival, was fixed on as suitable for their permanent location. It wasbeautifully situated, and pleasantly sheltered by trees, through betweenthe stems of which the sea was visible. To this spot everything wasconveyed, and several of the most powerful of the men began to clear theground, and fell the trees with axes.
One morning, soon after landing, a party was organised to traverse theisland and investigate its character and resources. As they were notyet quite sure that it was uninhabited, this party was a strong one andwell armed. It consisted of Christian, Adams, Brown, Martin, and fourof the Otaheitans. Edward Young stayed at the encampment with theremaining men and the women.
"In which direction shall we go?" asked Christian, appealing to Brown.
The botanist hesitated, and glanced round him.
"If I might make so bold, sir," said Isaac Martin, "I would suggest thatwe go right up to the top o' the mountains. There's nothin' like abird's-eye view for fillin' the mind wi' right notions o' form, an'size, an' character."
Following this advice, they traversed the lower ground, which was foundvery prolific everywhere. Then they ascended the undulating slopes ofthe mountain-sides until they reached the rugged and bare rocks of thehigher ground.
On the way they found further and indisputable evidence of the islandhaving been inhabited at some previous and probably long past era.Among these evidences were spear-heads, and axes of stone, and severalwarlike weapons.
"Hallo! here's a circumstance," exclaimed Martin, stopping in front ofan object which lay on the ground.
On closer examination the "circumstance" turned out to be an image madeof a hard and coarse red stone.
"It is evidently an idol," said Christian; "and here are some smoothround stones, resembling those used by the Otaheitans in war."
Not far from the spot, and in other places as they advanced, theexploring party found heaps of stone chips, as well as more images andtools.
"I've been thinking," said Brown, turning for a moment to look down atthe sea, which now lay spread out far below them like a blue plain,"I've been thinking that the proof of people having been here long agolies not only in these stones, axes, spears, and images, but also in thefact that we find the cocoa-nut trees, bananas, plantains,breadfruit-trees, as well as yams and sweet potatoes, grow chiefly inthe sunny and sheltered parts of the island, and gathered together as ifthey had been planted there."
"Here's the best proof of all," exclaimed Martin, who had a tendency topoke about, with his long nose advanced, as if scenting out things.
They looked at the spot to which Martin pointed, and there saw a humanskeleton in the last stage of decay, with a large pearl shell under theskull. Not far-off more human bones were discovered.
"That's proof positive," said Brown. "Now, I wonder why these nativescame here, and why they went away."
"P'r'aps they didn't come, but was born'd here," suggested Martin; "an'mayhap they didn't go away at all, but died here."
"True, Martin," said Adams; "and that shell reminds me of what CaptainBligh once told me, that the natives o' the Gambier Islands, which mustlie to wind'ard o' this, have a custom of puttin' a shell under theheads of the dead in this fashion. Moreover, he told me that these sameGambier chaps, long ago, used to put the people they vanquished in waron rafts, and turn 'em adrift to sink or swim, or fetch what land theymight. No doubt some of these people got drifted here."
As he spoke the party emerged from a somewhat rugged pass, close to thehighest peak of the mountain-ranges. A few minutes' scramble broughtthem to the summit, whence they obtained a magnificent view of theentire circuit of the island.
We have said that the peak is just over a thousand feet high. From thiscommanding position the Pacific was seen with a boundless horizon allround. Not a speck of land visible save the rocky isle on which theystood. Not a sail to mark the vast expanse of water, which, from thatheight, seemed perfectly flat and smooth, though a steady breeze wasblowing, and the islet was fringed with a pure white ring of foam. Nota cloud even to break the monotony of the clear sky, and no sound todisturb the stillness of nature save the plaintive cries, mellowed bydistance, of the myriads of sea-fowl which sailed round the cliffs, ordipped into the water far below.
"Solitude profound," said Christian, in a low voice, breaking thesilence which had fallen on the party as they gazed slowly round them.
Just then a loud and hideous yell issued from, apparently; the bowels ofthe earth, and rudely put to flight the feeling of profound solitude.The cry, although very loud, had a strangely muffled sound, and wasrepeated as if by an echo.
The explorers looked in each other's faces inquiringly, and not withoutan expression of awe.
"Strange," said Adams; "an' it sounded very like some one in distress."
It was observed suddenly that Isaac Martin was absent.
"But the voice was not like his," said Brown.
The mysterious cry was repeated at the moment, and Christian ran quicklyin the direction whence it seemed to come. As they neared a rugged massof rocks which lay close to the peak on which they had been standing,the cry lost much of its mystery, and finally assumed the tones ofMartin's voice.
"Hallo! hi! murder! help! O my leg! Mr Christian, Adams, Brown, thisway. Help! ho! hi!"
What between the muffled sound and the echo, Martin created a noise thatwould have set his friends into fits of laughter if they had not beengreatly alarmed.
In a few seconds the party reached what seemed to be a dark hole, out ofwhich the poor man's left leg was seen protruding. Christian and Adamsgrasped it. Brown and one of the Otaheitans lent a hand, and Martin wasquickly dragged out of danger and set on his legs.
"I say, Martin," said Brown, anxiously, "sit down or you'll bu'st.Every drop o' blood in your body has gone to your head."
"No wonder," gasped Isaac, "if you'd bin hangin' by one fut half aslong, your blood would have blowed your head off altogether."
"There now, sit down a minute, and you'll be all right," said Christian."How did it happen?"
To this Martin replied that it was simple enough. He had fallen a fewyards behind, and, taking a wrong turn, had come on a hole, into whichhe looked. Seeing something like a lig
ht at the bottom of it, hestooped down to look further, slipped on the rocks, and went in headforemost, but was arrested by his foot catching between two rocks andgetting jammed.
In this position he would soon have perished had not his comrades cometo the rescue.
With some curiosity they now proceeded to examine the hole. It turnedout to be the entrance to a cave which opened towards the northern sideof the island, and from which a splendid sweep of the sea could be seen,while in the immediate neighbourhood, far down the precipices,innumerable sea-birds were seen like flakes of snow circling round thecliffs. A few of the inquisitive among these mounted to the giddyheight of the cave's seaward-mouth, and seemed to gaze in surprise atthe unwonted sight of man.
"A most suitable cavern for a hermit or a monk," said Brown.
"More fit for a monkey," said Martin.
"Not a bad place of refuge in case our retreat should be discovered,"observed Christian.
"H'm! the Mutineers' Retreat," muttered John Adams, in a slightly bittertone.
"A few resolute men," continued Christian, taking no notice of the lastremark, "could hold out here against a hundred--at least while theirammunition lasted."
He returned as he spoke to the cave's landward entrance, and clamberedout with some difficulty, followed by his companions. Proceeding withtheir investigations, they found that, while a large part of the islandwas covered with rich soil, bearing fruit-trees and shrubs in abundance,the remainder of it was mountainous, rugged, and barren. They alsoascertained that, although the place had been inhabited in times longpast, there seemed to be no inhabitants at that time to dispute theirtaking possession. Satisfied with the result of their investigations,they descended to their encampment on the table-land close to theheights above Bounty Bay.
On drawing near to the clearing they heard the sound of voices raised asif in anger.
"It's Quintal and McCoy," said Adams; "I know the sound o' theirill-natured voices."
Presently the two men could be seen through the trees. Quintal wassitting on a felled tree, looking fiercely at McCoy, who stood besidehim.
"I tell you the baccy is mine," said Quintal.
"It's nothin' o' the sort, it's mine," answered McCoy, snatching thecoveted weed out of the other's hand.
Quintal jumped up, hit McCoy on the forehead, and knocked him down.
McCoy instantly rose, hit Quintal on the nose, and tumbled him over thelog on which he had been sitting.
Not much the worse, Quintal sprang to his feet, and a furious set-towould have immediately followed if the arrival of Christian and hisparty had not prevented it. It was no easy matter to calm the ruffledspirits of the men who had treated each other so unceremoniously, andthere is no doubt the bad feeling would have been kept up about thetobacco in dispute if Christian had not intervened. McCoy reiteratedstoutly that the tobacco was his.
"You are wrong," said Christian, quietly; "it belongs to Quintal. Igave it to him this morning."
As there was no getting over this, McCoy returned the tobacco with a badgrace, and Christian was about to give the assembled party some goodadvice about not quarrelling, when the mother of little Sally appearedsuddenly, wringing her hands, and exclaiming in her native tongue, "Mychild is lost! my child is lost!"
As every one of the party, even the roughest, was fond of Sally, therewas an eager and anxious chorus of questioning.
"Where away did 'ee lose her?" asked McCoy; but the poor mother couldonly wring her hands and cry, "Lost! lost!"
"Has she gone over the cliffs?" asked Edward Young, who came up at themoment; but the woman would say nothing but "Lost! lost!" amid floods oftears.
Fortunately some of the other women, who had been away collectingcocoa-nuts, arrived just then, and somewhat relieved the men byprevailing on the mother to explain that, although she could not saypositively her child had fallen over the cliffs, or come by any othermishap, Sally had nevertheless disappeared early in the forenoon, andthat she had been searching for her ever since without success.
The process of interrogation was conducted chiefly by Isabella, _alias_Mainmast, the wife of Fletcher Christian, and Susannah, the wife ofEdward Young; and it was interesting to note how anxious were the nativemen, Talaloo, Timoa, Ohoo, Nehow, Tetaheite, and Menalee. They wereevidently as concerned about the safety of the child as were the whitemen.
"Now, lads," said Christian, after it was ascertained that the poorwoman could give no information whatever, "we must search at once, butwe must go about it according to a fixed plan. I remember once readingof a General having got lost in a great swamp one evening with hisstaff. It was near the sea, I think, and the tide was making. Hecollected his officers and bade them radiate out from him in alldirections, each one in a straight line, so as to make sure of at leastone of them finding the right road out of the danger. We will dolikewise."
Following out this plan, the entire party scattered themselves into thebush, each keeping in a straight line, searching as he went, andwidening the field of search as his distance from the centre increased.There was no time to lose, for the shades of night had already begun tofall.
Anxiously did the poor mother and one or two of the other women sit inthe clearing, listening for the expected shout which should indicatesuccess. For a long time no shout of any kind was heard, though therewas considerable noise when the searching party came upon the lairs ofmembers of the livestock that had taken up their quarters in the bush.
We will follow only the line of search which ended in success. It waspursued by Christian himself. At first he came on spots where domesticfowls had taken up their abode. Then, while tramping through a mass ofluxuriant ferns, he trod on the toes of a slumbering hog, whichimmediately set up a shriek comparable only to the brake of an ill-usedlocomotive. This uncalled-for disturbance roused and routed aconsiderable number of the same family which had taken refuge in thesame locality. After that he came on a bevy of cats, seated atrespectful distances from each other, in glaring and armed neutrality.His sudden and evidently unexpected appearance scattered these to thefour points of the compass.
Presently he came upon a pretty open spot of small size, which wassurrounded by shrubs and trees, through the leafy branches of which thesetting sun streamed in a thousand rays. One of these rays dazzled theeyes, and another kissed the lips of a Nanny-goat. It was Sally's pet,lying down and dozing. Beside it lay Sally herself, sound asleep, withher pretty little face resting on its side, and one of her little fathands holding on to a lock of its white hair.
With a loud shout Christian proclaimed his success to the Pitcairnworld, and, picking up the still slumbering child, carried her home intriumph to her mother.