CHAPTER IX.
THE SITUATION.
The first thing to be done was to rest. Utterly exhausted, the ladsdragged themselves a few feet from the water and threw themselves downupon the sand, thinking of nothing and caring for nothing except to liestill. The squall had passed away as quickly as it had come, andalthough a stiff breeze was still blowing the afternoon sun beating downupon them warmed as well as dried them rapidly. Jack Farnsworth was thefirst to recover his wits.
"I say, fellows, this won't do," he said, raising himself to a sittingposture. "The day is waning and we've got to get back to our camp beforenight."
Ned and Charley tried to rise. Ned accomplished the feat, but poorCharley found it impossible.
"Why, boys," he said, sinking back upon the sand, "I'm all of a tremble;I don't know what's the matter."
"Reaction," said Ned.
"What's that?"
"Why, under all that excitement you kept your strength up by atremendous effort, and now you're paying the bill you owe your nerves."
"But I'm sure I didn't tremble when we were in danger."
"No, because you wouldn't give way then. Your will was master. Itordered your nerves to furnish strength enough to keep still, andcommanded your muscles to do what was necessary to get you safe ashore.They obeyed, and now your will is in their debt. It took more than wasdue, and your nerves and muscles have presented their bill. They arebullying your will in return for the bullying it gave them a littlewhile ago. That's the way my father explained it to me once when Itrembled after a big scare. Only lie still awhile and you'll come round.I was as weak as water five minutes ago, but I'm getting my strengthback again now."
"'As weak as water,'" said Jack Farnsworth meditatively. "I used tothink that a good comparison, but I've altered my opinion. Water is thestrongest thing I know."
"How is that?" asked Ned.
"Why, think how it picked the _Red Bird_ up and flung her down on thesand like an angry giant--but with ten thousand times a giant'sstrength! And it picks great ships up in the same way and dashes them topieces as I might do with an egg-shell or a China cup. Water is a giant,a demon of angry strength. I shall never think of it again as a thing ofweakness. It means infinite power to me now."
"Poor old _Red Bird_!" said Ned; "there are her bones!"
There indeed lay what was left of the boat, where it had been driftedupon the sands by the swell. The tide, which had now begun to run out,had left the wreck "high and dry," and instinctively the boys went tolook at it, Charley managing now to stagger forward slowly.
The wreck was a mass of timbers, ribs, and planking, looking like a boatthat has been crushed flat under some enormous weight.
"What kept her from going all to bits?" asked Charley.
"Her copper bolts," answered Ned. "You see, she was particularly wellbuilt. There wasn't a nail in her. From stem to stern all the fasteningswere of copper, and copper is so tough that no ordinary wrenching willbreak it. It bends instead. But if we had simply run upon a beach inthat sea, even copper bolts wouldn't have held the pieces together.Every wave would have lifted the wreck up and dashed it down on the sanduntil the planks and ribs were beaten into bits. As it is, the _RedBird_ struck only once. The next wave that came lifted her up andcarried her clear across the reef into deep water before it dropped her,and so she received only that one blow. Once inside the reef, shedrifted with the swell toward shore. She is an utter wreck though, andwill never sail again."
There was a melancholy tone in the boy's voice as he said this, for hehad sailed in this boat many and many a time, and had come to love heras if she had been a live thing.
"I'll tell you what, boys," said Jack; "we've got to start toward camp.It won't do to be caught out to-night without supper or fire. Weary andsoaked as we are, we shall be sick if we don't get something to eat anda fire to sleep by. Let's get a vine and tie the wreck here so that itcan't drift away with the next tide, and then be off at once. It'snearly sunset."
When the "bones" of the boat were well secured, the boys set out;Charley having recovered his strength somewhat, they walked at a goodpace along the shore, and reached camp just at dark. Building a largefire they soon had a hearty supper, with plenty of hot coffee, and whensupper was done, they gladly put themselves to bed, aching a good dealfrom exhaustion, but really unharmed by their adventure.
Jack was the first to wake the next morning, but he did not get upimmediately. He lay still, evidently thinking. After a while he arosequietly and, before dressing himself, made an examination of the storesof food on hand. Finally he roused his companions, and the three took adip into the water.
"Now," said Jack, when all were seated at breakfast, "I want you boys tohelp me think a little, and you, Ned, to answer some questions."
"All right," said Ned, "I'm thinking already."
"What are you thinking?" asked Charley.
"That these fish aren't as fresh as they might be; so I'm going fishingbefore dinner."
"What in?" asked Jack.
"That's a fact," said Ned and Charley in a breath. "We haven't a boatnow."
"No," said Jack. "We have no boat, and that's what I want to thinkabout. How far is it to Bluffton, Ned?"
"About twelve miles."
"Is that the nearest point on the mainland?"
"Yes."
"Then we've got to stay here till we can build a boat with such toolsand materials as we have, if we can do it at all," said Jack.
"We can't do it," said Ned, with a look of consternation on his face;"we lack nearly every thing. We haven't even the plank!"
"Now don't let's become demoralized," said Jack, who, ever since theaccident of the day before, had been the leading spirit of the party."We must keep our wits about us and lay our plans intelligently. Butfirst of all we must look the facts in the face. We are on a desertedisland twelve miles from the mainland, without a boat. We must stay hereuntil we can make arrangements of some kind for getting away, and thatwill be a good deal longer than we thought of staying when we came, forI don't suppose you meant it, Ned, when you told Maum Sally that we'd begone a month."
"No, I hadn't a thought of staying more than a few days, or a week atmost. We didn't bring enough provisions to last for more than a week."
"That is what I was coming to," said Jack. "I've been looking over ourstores this morning. We've got to face the fact that we haven't nearlyenough, and we must use what we have judiciously, taking great care toadd other things as we can. Unluckily we lost our best friend when thegun went down in the wreck of the _Red Bird_. We can't hunt, but mustdepend upon other sources of supply. I suppose, Ned, there's very littleto be done fishing from the shore?"
"Nothing at all, I imagine," replied Ned; "but I may possibly catch afew mullets with the cast net. You see mullets run up into little baysto feed, and we sometimes go after them with the net, especially atnight. Then I can catch shrimps and some few crabs, and I suppose weshall find an oyster bank somewhere."
"Yes," said Jack, "I suppose we can manage somehow to get enough food;the trouble will be to get variety enough. Shrimps and crabs and oystersand fish are good food, but one doesn't want to make them an exclusivediet. For health we must have variety."
"That is true," said Ned, "and our greatest trouble will be about bread.We haven't flour or rice or sweet potatoes enough to last more than afew days."
"No," said Jack, "and we have nothing to substitute for them. We musthave everything of the vegetable kind that we can get. Now what isthere? I don't know, and can't think of a thing."
"There are several things," said Ned, "such as they are."
"Well, we'll hunt for them. What are they?" asked Jack.
"There may possibly be wild sweet potatoes somewhere on the island,though that is doubtful. The soft parts of most roots are edible; thereare plenty of wild grapes in the woods, I suppose, and for a goodsubstantial vegetable, we can eat an occasional dish of algae."
"What's that?"
"'What are
they,' you should say; noun of the first declension,--alga,algae, algae, algam, etc.,--so algae is the nominative plural."
"Oh, stop the declension--we have enough of that at school--and tell uswhat algae are," said Charley.
"Sea-weeds. There are a great variety of them, and many kinds are eatenin different parts of the world. They are all harmless and more or lessnutritious. We can try the different sorts that come ashore here and usethe best that we can get."
"Shall we boil them?" asked Jack.
"I don't know. We'll try that and see, at any rate."
"All right. Now we must manage each day to get as much food, of one kindand another, as we eat; it won't do to run short and trust to thefuture. We must save our flour and bacon for special occasions and as areserve to fall back upon if at any time the supplies of other food failus. We must keep our coffee, too, for use in case of sickness, or a baddrenching in a cold rain. There may be times when we shall need itbadly, and so we must do without it now. I think we shall get on prettywell for several weeks, and by that time I hope we shall be ready toleave the island."
"How?"
"Well, I've a plan, but I'm not sure about it yet. I thought of ityesterday, just after we came ashore. You two see what you can do towardgetting some food, while I go off to inspect and lay my plans. When Icome back I'll tell you about them."
When Jack departed without telling his companions what he meant to do,Ned and Charley went up the shore with the cast net, and managed, withinan hour or two, to secure a good supply of shrimps, one or two mullets,and a few oysters, though they discovered no oyster bed, as they hadexpected to do. They hoped to accomplish this by a longer journey alongthe shore, to be made on some other day. Having enough fish and shrimpsfor immediate use, they wished now to see what could be done towardsecuring a supply of vegetable food. They discovered no palmetto trees,but gave their attention to the wild grapes, of which there were a goodmany in the woods.
It was well past mid-day when Ned and Charley, loaded with their spoilsof sea and land, returned to the camp. There they found Jack, sitting ona log meditating.
"Boys," he said, "the important thing is not to let any thing discourageus. We must keep a stiff upper lip, no matter what happens."
"Yes, certainly," said Charley, "but what's the special occasion of thislecture?"
"You are sure that no matter what happens, you'll not give up, or growscared, or get excited in any way?" asked Jack.
"Well, I must say--" began Charley.
"Hush, Charley," said Ned; "something's wrong. Let's hear what Jack hasto say."
"What is it, Jack? Tell us quick."
"Well, only that we're out of food."
"What do you mean?"
"Why, that some animal or other has robbed us while we were all awayfrom camp! Every thing's gone, even to the box of salt and the coffee.We haven't a thing to eat except what you've brought with you."