The Two Whalers Part 6

What if, while we were congratulating ourselves on being safe on sh.o.r.e, any misfortune should happen to those in whom we were so deeply interested? I felt that I would thankfully be on board the "Lady Alice"

to share the fate of my friends, or to aid, as far as human strength could go, in averting the danger to which they might be exposed. I knew, however, that my wishes were of no avail. I knelt down with Medley, and prayed with all earnestness that they might be protected; we then stretched ourselves on the sand near our men.

"Jack, it did not occur to me before that this island may be inhabited; if so, that our fire may attract the natives," said Medley, just as I was dropping off to sleep. "It ought to be put out, or we must keep watch. They might murder us before we could attempt to defend ourselves."

I agreed with him, but confessed that I could no longer keep my eyes open.

"I'll keep the first watch, and then I'll call up Pepper and Salt, and the latter shall call you. The others cannot be depended on," he said, though I could scarcely comprehend the meaning of his words.

It was nearly daylight when Salt at last awoke me. He would not have done so then, honest fellow, had not he been ordered. I asked him if he had heard or seen any natives.

"No, Ma.s.sa Jack, me tink none here; but better get to de boat and catch some fish for breakfast, and den if any savage come we ready to start,"

he answered.

I thought his advice good, and desired him, as soon as it was light, to go down to the boat and get the lines ready, so that we might shove off as soon as the other men awoke. I, in the meantime, directly the dawn broke, made my way to the summit of the hill, that I might survey the island, and, if possible, ascertain the position of the ships. I had fortunately brought a small but powerful telescope given me by Captain Bland. The fury of the hurricane was over, but the breakers still beat with violence against the barrier reef, and made it impossible for us to put to sea. In a short time the glorious sun, rising above the horizon amid the fast dispersing clouds, shed a bright light over sea and land, and enabled me to obtain a far-extending view.

The island on which we had taken refuge was much smaller than I had supposed, owing to the reef which extended along it; but across a narrow pa.s.sage was another of much greater extent and away to the north and north-west were several others, besides numerous reefs marked by the white ma.s.ses of foam flying over them. Several tiny wreaths of smoke which rose up amid the groves on the nearest island showed me that that, at all events, was inhabited, as, probably, were most of the others. As the mist of morning cleared away I could distinguish in the distance the huts of the natives, though, owing probably to the barren nature of the soil at the end nearest our island, none were built there. Again and again I swept the horizon in search of the ships; nowhere could I discern them. In what direction could they have been driven? I at last observed beyond a line of reefs what I took to be a group of cocoa-nut trees rising out of a low islet faintly traced against the blue sky like gossamer webs. Yes, there were trees, but among them, after keeping my gla.s.s steady for a minute or more, I made out the masts and yards of a ship. That she was either the "Eagle" or the "Lady Alice" I felt certain, but how she had escaped the reefs and been driven in where I saw her I could not conjecture. As her masts appeared upright I trusted that she was not on sh.o.r.e; but whether such were the case or not, she might find it difficult to escape from her position should the savage inhabitants of the neighbouring sh.o.r.es try to make her their prey, as they had succeeded in doing other vessels under similar circ.u.mstances.

What was even now going forward on board her, who could tell? Again I looked round in vain for the other ship, and then hastened down to join Medley. I found him setting off with the other men for the boat, he supposing that I had gone with Salt to look after her. He could not even conjecture which of the ships I had seen, but he agreed with me that we must put off to try and get on board her the moment we could venture out to sea. He would have gone back with me to the hill, but the men were crying out for food, and insisting on endeavouring to catch some fish. None of the trees near us bore cocoa-nuts, nor had any water been found, probably the reason that the island was uninhabited.

Medley served only a small portion of biscuit to each man, and warned them all to be very careful of the water, as we might be unable to obtain more till we reached the ship. Judging by the surf which still beat furiously on the reef there was small prospect of our doing that till the next day at soonest. Salt had got the lines and hooks ready, and some sh.e.l.l-fish for bait, so we at once pulled out as near the entrance of the lagoon as we could venture. We had not had our lines down long before we began to get bites, and in a short time we had hauled in as many fish as would give us an ample supply of food for the day, we returned to the sh.o.r.e to cook and eat our prey. We again lighted a fire at the mouth of our cave, hoping that the smoke would not be seen by the savages, but to prevent being surprised Medley sent Pepper to the other side of the island to give us due warning should he see any of them coming over.

After breakfast the rest of the men lay down to sleep, while Medley and I went to the top of the hill to ascertain by the state of the sea when there was a probability of our getting off, and to watch for the appearance of the other ship. We looked for her in vain. The ocean, however, was rapidly losing the quickness of its motion, though the huge waves were still slowly and lazily tumbling against each other as they rolled on till they reached the reef, where, with a roar of thunder, they broke into ma.s.ses of foam. The chief object of interest, the distant ship, remained motionless as before, her canvas closely furled.

Had a sail been loosed we should have seen it fluttering in the breeze.

"In a few hours at most we shall be able to pa.s.s through yonder channel," observed Medley, pointing to the entrance of the lagoon.

"Look, the sea scarcely even now breaks across it. If necessary, I would not hesitate to take out a boat in spite of the risk I might run; but we will not make the attempt for the present."

I agreed with him that it would be folly to do so, and we returned to the cave. We sat down in the shade. The heat was great, and neither of us having had much rest, we both fell as sound asleep as were our men stretched at their lengths a short distance from us. Hours may have pa.s.sed. I was aroused by Pepper shouting, "De savage come! de savage come! Quick, quick! rouse up, boys, get to de boat."

Salt was the first to start to his feet on hearing his companion's voice, and by kicks and pulls to awaken the rest. I grasped Medley by the arm and helped him up. The men in a panic were hurrying off, when he reminded them of the breaker of water and the remainder of the fish which had fortunately been cooked. They took the breaker and fish up between them, and set off, while we waited for Pepper. He had seen a large body of savages, flourishing their formidable spears and gesticulating wildly, come down to the sh.o.r.e and begin to swim across the channel, evidently, as he supposed, having discovered that strangers were on the island, though how they had done so it was difficult to guess, unless they had seen Medley and me on the top of the hill. That they had hostile intentions was pretty evident by the account Pepper gave us. Had we possessed fire-arms we might have defended our selves, but as it was we could secure our safety alone by flight.

We found the men hurriedly launching the boat. In their dread of the savages I am not sure that they would have waited for us had we been delayed. The boat was quickly in the water, and we all leaped on board.

Medley took the steering oar, and the men gave way. As I looked ahead I could see the green billows rolling in towards the opening, and still breaking with fearful force against the barrier reef on either side, but in the centre I observed a clear gla.s.s-like swell, over which I hoped we might find a safe pa.s.sage. Medley seemed not quite certain about the matter, and told the men to lay on their oars till he could perceive a favourable opportunity for dashing out. Just then a fearful yell sounded in our ears, and looking astern I saw the beach covered by a band of savages flourishing their spears and gesticulating to us to return and be killed. Some of the more active were springing along the rocks so as to get near enough to hurl their weapons at us.

The crew, without waiting for Medley's orders, bent to their oars, and though several spears fell into the water at no great distance off, we were soon beyond their reach. Without waiting to ascertain what the savages were about we steered for the centre of the pa.s.sage. A sea like a ma.s.s of liquid malachite came rolling in--we mounted to its summit, and then descending into the trough, were soon rising on another watery height. The crew pulled l.u.s.tily, and in a few minutes we were well outside the breakers, and able to turn the boat's head to the northward.

It had become a perfect calm, so that we had a long pull before us. At this the men grumbled, as they had expected to hoist the sail. Medley, however, reminded them that had there been wind the ship would probably have got under weigh, and we should have missed her. We pulled on along the coast of the larger island, but whether or not we were perceived by the people on sh.o.r.e we could not tell. The men at last complaining of fatigue, declared that they must stop and take some food and water. To this Medley could not object, eager as he and I were to get up to the ship.

While the men were eating the remainder of the fish and biscuit, we kept two of the oars going, and had just pa.s.sed a point forming one side of a bay when, looking towards the sh.o.r.e, we saw a fleet of large canoes, thirty or more, ranged along the sh.o.r.e, the people apparently hurrying on board. On examining them through my gla.s.s I perceived that they were all armed, and it at once occurred to me that they were starting on an expedition to attack the ship. Medley was of the same opinion.

"You see the savages in those boats," he exclaimed; "let us see what you can do. If they catch us we shall be in their try-pots before many hours have gone by, but if we can get on board the ship we can at all events have a fight for our lives."

The men needing no further incentive to exertion, cramming their food into their mouths, threw out their oars and away we flew over the now calm surface of the ocean. As I looked over the starboard quarter I saw that several of the canoes had shoved off from the beach and were coming after us. Had there been a breeze we should have had no chance of escaping them. In a short time the whole fleet was after us. The savages probably reckoned on our not knowing the shortest pa.s.sages through the reefs, but Medley and I kept a bright look-out, I making a good use of my telescope. Now we had the coral rocks rising close to us. Several times I could see the bottom as we dashed on. Occasionally we had to turn either to the east or west, but still we were rapidly nearing the ship. My chief fear was that other canoes might be waiting further to the north and dash out upon us.

While standing up I brought my gla.s.s to bear on the ship. How thankful I felt when I became certain that she was the "Lady Alice." She had at all events escaped any accident from the hurricane, and I had no doubt that we should beat off the savages should they venture to attack her.

Looking astern I saw to my satisfaction that we were greatly distancing the canoes, so that we should have time after getting on board to make preparations for their reception. At length we were discovered by our friends on board, for we saw several persons waving signals of welcome to us from the forecastle. Greatly to my relief also I saw that the ship was at anchor at some distance from the sh.o.r.e, while beyond her to the north-west the sea appeared free from reefs. Captain Bland shook my hand heartily.

"We had given you up for lost," he said; "we heard that you were away from your ship when the hurricane came on, and that there was no chance of your getting on board her."

"How could you hear that?" I asked, much surprised.

"From the second mate and his crew, whom we took on board. Very glad I was to have them, as they were of the greatest a.s.sistance during the gale, though I fear Captain Hake must have been hard put to it without them."

I interrupted my old friend by telling him of the approach of the canoes. He was not a man to disregard a warning. The boarding nettings were at once triced up, the small arms got from below, and the guns loaded. I inquired anxiously for Mary and her mother, who were not on deck.

"They suffered much during the hurricane, but are now on foot, and will be glad to see you," answered the captain.

I sprang below. I should have startled my friends not a little had not the steward told them that I had come on board, for they had heard of the supposed loss of our boat, though Mary told me with a smile, while a tear was in her eye, that as her dear father had been preserved, so she had not despaired of again seeing me. I felt very happy, for I was sure that we should beat off the savages. On my return on deck I found that they had not yet appeared. It was now getting dark. This made us suspect that they had intended to attempt surprising the ship at night, and very probably they would have succeeded had we not providentially seen them and thus been the means of putting our friends on their guard.

Captain Bland, always anxious to avoid bloodshed, ordered the guns to be fired at intervals, both to show the savages that we were on the alert and to attract the attention of the "Eagle" should she be in the neighbourhood. Though prepared we could not avoid being anxious, for if the natives were resolved on our destruction we should have a severe struggle before we could drive them off.

It had now become so dark that it would be difficult to see the canoes till they were close to us. All hands, therefore, remained on deck with our weapons in our hands to be ready at a moment's notice, but the hours went by, the savages had thought better of it we hoped, and dawn at length appeared. We looked out for the canoes, but they were nowhere to be seen, nor was the "Eagle." The calm continued, and as we had our two boats besides those of the "Lady Alice," Captain Bland resolved to tow her out to sea so as to get a good offing before another night. The anchor was hove up, and with six boats ahead we made good progress. We had got a couple of miles away from the anchorage, and were nearly free of the reefs when the look-out at the masthead shouted that he saw the canoes coming towards us.

"Keep to your oars, lads," cried Captain Bland; "we shall have a breeze presently, and shall then easily tackle them."

On came the canoes. It seemed too likely that they would reach us before the wished-for breeze had sprung up. The crews of the boats gave way l.u.s.tily. I had remained on board. As I looked astern I fancied that I could almost hear the shrieks and shouts of the savages as they approached. Suddenly I saw the dog-waves blowing out. I, with the rest on board, sprang aloft to loose sails, the boats were called alongside, and by the time they were hoisted up we were gliding rapidly through the water. Though several of the canoes, hoisting their sails, got near us, a few shot, which carried away the masts of two or three, made them give up the pursuit, and in a few hours we had run the island out of sight.

We cruised in the neighbourhood of the group for two weeks or more in search of the "Eagle," but at last despairing of falling in with her continued on for the j.a.pan whaling ground. Here being very successful, we got a full ship, and, to the joy of all on board, steered homewards by way of the Indian seas, calling, however, at several interesting places to obtain fresh provisions and water.

The white cliffs of old England were seen at length, and home was reached. Captain Bland, having made a successful voyage, declared that he would never more tempt the ocean or expose his wife and daughter to dangers such as those from which they had been so mercifully preserved.

The "Eagle" had not arrived, and nothing was heard of her for several years, when a report reached me that she had sought shelter in one of the harbours of the group, when part of the crew being on sh.o.r.e were set upon and ma.s.sacred, while those on board were overpowered and killed.

The ship then having been plundered was sunk with her cargo of oil, and was thus found by another whaler the following year through information given by one of the natives.

Thus ended the voyages of the two whalers, of which I have given of necessity but a hurried sketch. I left the whaling service, and sooner than I might have expected, obtained the command of a fine trader to China and the Eastern seas, having the happiness of being accompanied by my dear Mary, who had become my wife. My excellent friend Medley was equally successful, and both of us having retired from the sea, have settled near each other, and often spin to attentive young listeners the preceding yarn, and many others descriptive of our nautical career, though our boys and girls unanimously give the preference to the voyages of the Two Whalers.

THE END.