The Three Admirals Part 6

"I should think not, indeed," answered Desmond. "It would have been rather inconvenient if she had come, and we had not got the boat afloat.

However, we must manage to get a signal-staff set up to-morrow morning, in case she should appear, that they may know where we are, and send in to help us."

Tom agreed with Desmond, and they accordingly arranged to cut a flag-staff the first thing the next day, and manufacture a flag which might be seen from the ship. Descending the rock, they returned to their companions, who were still hard at work. Pat, however, had been sent back, to light the fire and prepare supper. The party continued digging in the sand until darkness at length compelled them to give over. They had no little difficulty in making their way back to the camp, until their eyes were gladdened by the sight of Pat's blazing fire.

"We must compliment you on your pork chops," exclaimed Billy, holding up the remains of one which he had been discussing with the help of his clasp knife. "I'll trouble you for another, as soon as it's done brown."

"You're welcome to it, sir; and, bedad, I'm mighty better pleased to be cooking his hams, than for him to have had his tusks through mine,"

answered Pat.

The supper was p.r.o.nounced excellent, though they had nothing but cold water from a neighbouring rivulet with which to wash it down. Tim suggested that a thimbleful of rum would be mighty pleasant.

Tom refused to serve out any of their limited supply, having determined to keep it in case of emergency. Although he did not express his fears to his companions, he could not help dreading that some accident might have happened to the _Dragon_. The night pa.s.sed quickly away. As soon as it was daylight Tom and Desmond ascended to their look-out place.

They were again doomed to disappointment. The sea had become perfectly calm, a light air occasionally only rippling the surface.

"It will take her a good many hours to get up to our island, even if she is now only just out of sight," observed Tom. "Still we must get a flag-staff set up, in case she should appear before we can launch the boat, and we shall be fortunate if we can do that before night." As soon as breakfast was over, Tom having told the men what was wanted, all hands went in search of a tree fit for the purpose. None, however, were discovered. At last it was agreed that a young cocoa-nut tree must be cut down. This was soon done by Jerry and Tim, while the rest recommenced their attempt to free the boat. All hands were required to get the flag-staff to the top of the rock and set it up. The three men offered their handkerchiefs, which with others belonging to the midshipmen formed a tolerably sized flag. As they had no halyards, it was fixed with rope yarns to the top of the staff, before it was set up.

A crevice was found in the rock, into which it was driven, and fixed on either side with large stones.

"That will show clearly enough where we are, and if they can count the number of handkerchiefs, they will know we are all right," observed Desmond.

"I trust that the ship will come," said Tom, though he could not throw much confidence into his tone. "Now, lads, we must go back and dig away at our boat. I should like to see her afloat to-night or early to-morrow morning."

In spite of the heat, they toiled on, not even returning to the camp for dinner; Pat instead being sent to bring provisions and water.

Notwithstanding their perseverance, the work was not finished when Tom set off alone to have another look out from Flag-staff Hill. He was soon seen coming back.

"Not a sign of her," he said; and taking up his spade he resumed his labours. A heap of sand still remained between the boat and the water, that had to be removed before she could be launched.

"We must get rollers under her, or it will be more than we can do to drag her into the water," observed Jerry, as he stamped his foot into the soft yielding sand under her keel.

"You are right," said Tom, "and we must make them the first thing in the morning."

The songs sung and yarns spun that evening were not so cheerful as they had been; indeed, all hands were so sleepy that they were glad to turn in as soon as supper was over. Tom hoped against hope, that the next morning the ship would appear, had no accident happened to her. Even without her machinery she would surely be able to beat up to the island by this time.

Tom was at the flag-staff as soon as the light enabled him to see his way up the hill. He waited, gazing anxiously at the horizon, while the ruddy glow which suffused itself over the sky, announced the rising of the sun. But no sail appeared. "She will not come at all," he exclaimed to himself; "she must have been driven on the rocks during that fearful night, and probably all hands have perished. Poor Archie, I wish he had come with us, and I am very, very sorry for all the rest."

Tom, however, well knew that he must not give way to his melancholy forebodings, and that, at all events, it was his duty to try and keep up the spirits of his companions. On returning to the tent he put on as unconcerned a countenance as possible, and sat down to breakfast as if he had nothing on his mind. The high flavour of the pork showed him that they must, in the first place, look out for another hog, and some means must be found for preserving it. Pat a.s.serted that the hams were still very good, and Tom suggested that they should be immediately smoked, until salt could be sc.r.a.ped from the rocks, or obtained by evaporation. "You see we have got plenty to do, and even if we spend a month here, we shall have no time to be idle," he observed.

Jerry and Tim, before they recommenced digging, cut with their axes a number of rollers, which were then placed under the boat's keel, when with renewed ardour all hands set to work to clear away the intervening sand. It took, however, much longer than they had expected, and another day was drawing to a close before they could attempt to begin launching her. She was moved, however, but a few feet cut of the hollow in which she had been imbedded, as there was no object to be gained that night by putting her in the water, although the bay was now so smooth that she might have floated in perfect safety.

Tom made his usual visit to Flag-staff Hill, and came back with the same report as on the previous evening.

"Before we launch our boat," he said, when he rejoined the party at breakfast, "we must dismantle our tent; and indeed it is not wise to wear out our sail by using it as a roof. We may want it, and we shall certainly require the oars. I therefore propose, should the ship not appear by noon, to build a hut in the place of the tent, and we shall then have shelter, should we require it, at night. We cannot tell what we may need. The hurricane season is not yet over, we may depend upon that. We came in for the first blow, and there may be several others before the weather becomes settled."

"What! Do you think the ship's not coming back for us?" asked Billy, in an anxious tone. "I should like to change my clothes, and I wish we had some tea and sugar, and some hard tack, and pepper, mustard, and all sorts of things."

"As to the ship's coming back, it's possible she may not," observed Tom.

"If she does not, we must manage to do without the things we should like to have, and make the best of those we have got."

"That's the right sort of philosophy," observed Jerry Bird, who knew that he might take a liberty which another man might not, and talk freely to his officers.

As soon as breakfast was over, the oars and gear of the boat were carried down to the beach, when, with the help of rollers, she was, all hands hauling together, after some labour, run into the water.

As Tom had feared might be the case, it was soon discovered that, either from the hot atmosphere or the pressure to which she had been subjected, she leaked considerably. The leaks, however, it was hoped, would partially fill up, though she would require some fresh caulking, and a coat of tar, or some subst.i.tute, if tar was not to be procured. The hour of noon approached, and, in spite of the heat, Tom and Desmond climbed to the flag-staff. They looked around the horizon, and then at each other.

"I am afraid she will not come at all," exclaimed Desmond.

"I feared as much from the first," answered Tom.

"Then what do you propose doing?" asked Desmond. "I don't wish to have to live on here month after month, or for what we can tell year after year, while our fellows are fighting the Chinese, and all the rest of the world, perhaps."

"No, nor do I," said Tom. "We must fit our boat as well as we can for sea, and try and make our way, either back to j.a.pan, or to the Ladrones, to which we were bound; but, as I said before, it won't do to put to sea until the hurricane season is over. Even in fine weather it will be a pretty long trip in an open boat; but people have gone as far, or much farther, and what others have done we can do."

"I am ready for anything you think best," answered Desmond, "and I am sure the rest will be, but we must try and fit the boat for a long voyage, and the sooner we set about it the better."

"It will be a difficult job to do that without tools," observed Tom.

"Faith, I forgot that," remarked Desmond. "Still, as you often say, 'Where there's a will there's a way.' As we shall want our sail, we must try and manufacture some thick matting instead of canvas, to fix over the bows to raise the gunwale a foot or two, to keep out the sea.

Then for provisions, we shall have to salt down as many hogs as we can kill, dry a stock of yams, and carry our water in cocoa-nut sh.e.l.ls."

"I am glad, Gerald, that you have thought about the matter; that's just what I was going to propose," said Tom.

"Of course," cried Gerald. "I have been thinking of that and a number of other things besides while I was digging in the sand, though I did not like to talk about them until the time came for action."

Thus the two midshipmen discussed their plans for the future. On their return to the camp, as the time fixed upon by Tom had pa.s.sed and the ship had not arrived, the tent was dismantled and Tom set the men to work to cut poles of sufficient length to serve for rafters and uprights. Their tent had answered so well that it was agreed that the hut should have a roof of the same shape. The walls were formed by closely interlacing the uprights with creepers, which also served to bind on the large panda.n.u.s leaves which they used for covering the roof.

The hut being nearly completed, Tom and Desmond set out, armed with their muskets, to try and kill a hog or some small game. Billy wanted to go, but Tom advised him to remain and a.s.sist in finishing the hut.

"If one of those fellows were to run at you, what could you do without a weapon of some sort?"

"But I'd take the boat-hook," said Billy.

"A wild bear would be afther laughing at it in your hands," observed Desmond.

Though they saw several hogs, which animals seemed to abound in the island, they were unable to get near enough to obtain a fair shot.

While in search of hogs, their object was also to explore the island.

They made their way across to the northern side. It consisted of deep indentations and high rocks, to the top of one of which they climbed; they could make out in the far distance another island to the north of them. Though they narrowly scanned the ocean in every direction, no sail was to be seen.

"I am determined not to give her up altogether," said Tom; "but still, if she has escaped shipwreck, I cannot account for the commander not coming to look for us. My only idea is that by some mistake or other he supposes we were lost, and that being driven a long way to the southward, he does not think it worth while to come so far out of his course."

On their way back they caught sight of a large number of good-sized birds perched thickly in a tree, apparently intending to roost there for the night. Having drawn their bullets, they loaded with small shot, and firing into the midst of the birds, they brought down a dozen, which proved to be a species of pigeon.

"We have got something for supper, at all events," cried Desmond as he ran to pick up the birds and to finish off a few which were still fluttering on the ground.

Their ill-success in hog-hunting made them determine the next day to go out fishing in the boat. It need not be said that either Tom or Desmond paid periodical visits to the flag-staff. So often had they been disappointed that they at last gave up all expectation of seeing the ship. Their fishing excursion, though not as successful as the first, had produced a good supply of fish, some of which they ate fresh and the rest they dried in the sun and smoked over a wood fire. They had, however, to keep baling nearly the whole of the time. This satisfied them that they must caulk the boat before they could venture out to sea in her. All hands were now busily employed in a variety of ways. Pat had woven some baskets with long gra.s.s, and Billy and Tim, each carrying one, went out in search of salt, of which they found a plentiful supply in the hollows of the rocks, close down to the sea.

Tom and Desmond searched in all directions for trees which might yield pitch or a gum of some description which would serve to pay over the outside of the boat, but they searched in vain.

"We must find some subst.i.tute for pitch, or we cannot accomplish our voyage, that's very certain," said Tom.

The boat was constantly kept wet; at last they tried sinking her for several hours together, but her planks would not swell sufficiently to stop the leaks. They were almost in despair.