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The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean

by R. M. Ballantyne · English · Gutenberg #646 · 558,740 chars · public domain (US)

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Title: The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean

Author: R. M. Ballantyne


        
Release date: September 1, 1996 [eBook #646]
                Most recently updated: September 27, 2021

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/646

Credits: David Price


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CORAL ISLAND: A TALE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN ***

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The Coral Island:
A Tale of the Pacific Ocean


{A coral island: p0.jpg}

BY

ROBERT MICHAEL BALLANTYNE,
AUTHOR OF "HUDSON'S BAY; OR, EVERY-DAY LIFE IN THE WILDS OF NORTH
AMERICA;
"SNOW-FLAKES AND SUN-BEAMS; OR, THE YOUNG FUR-TRADERS;"
"UNGAVA: A TALE OF THE ESQUIMAUX," ETC., ETC.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY DALZIEL.

London:
THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW.
EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK.
1884.




Preface


I was a boy when I went through the wonderful adventures herein set down.
With the memory of my boyish feelings strong upon me, I present my book
specially to boys, in the earnest hope that they may derive valuable
information, much pleasure, great profit, and unbounded amusement from
its pages.

One word more. If there is any boy or man who loves to be melancholy and
morose, and who cannot enter with kindly sympathy into the regions of
fun, let me seriously advise him to shut my book and put it away. It is
not meant for him.

RALPH ROVER




CHAPTER I.


The beginning--My early life and character--I thirst for adventure in
foreign lands and go to sea.

Roving has always been, and still is, my ruling passion, the joy of my
heart, the very sunshine of my existence. In childhood, in boyhood, and
in man's estate, I have been a rover; not a mere rambler among the woody
glens and upon the hill-tops of my own native land, but an enthusiastic
rover throughout the length and breadth of the wide wide world.

It was a wild, black night of howling storm, the night in which I was
born on the foaming bosom of the broad Atlantic Ocean. My father was a
sea-captain; my grandfather was a sea-captain; my great-grandfather had
been a marine. Nobody could tell positively what occupation _his_ father
had followed; but my dear mother used to assert that he had been a
midshipman, whose grandfather, on the mother's side, had been an admiral
in the royal navy. At anyrate we knew that, as far back as our family
could be traced, it had been intimately connected with the great watery
waste. Indeed this was the case on both sides of the house; for my
mother always went to sea with my father on his long voyages, and so
spent the greater part of her life upon the water.

Thus it was, I suppose, that I came to inherit a roving disposition. Soon
after I was born, my father, being old, retired from a seafaring life,
purchased a small cottage in a fishing village on the west coast of
England, and settled down to spend the evening of his life on the shores
of that sea which had for so many years been his home. It was not long
after this that I began to show the roving spirit that dwelt within me.
For some time past my infant legs had been gaining strength, so that I
came to be dissatisfied with rubbing the skin off my chubby knees by
walking on them, and made many attempts to stand up and walk like a man;
all of which attempts, however, resulted in my sitting down violently and
in sudden surprise. One day I took advantage of my dear mother's absence
to make another effort; and, to my joy, I actually succeeded in reaching
the doorstep, over which I tumbled into a pool of muddy water that lay
before my father's cottage door. Ah, how vividly I remember the horror
of my poor mother when she found me sweltering in the mud amongst a group
of cackling ducks, and the tenderness with which she stripped off my
dripping clothes and washed my dirty little body! From this time forth
my rambles became more frequent, and, as I grew older, more distant,
until at last I had wandered far and near on the shore and in the woods
around our humble dwelling, and did not rest content until my father
bound me apprentice to a coasting vessel, and let me go to sea.

For some years I was happy in visiting the sea-ports, and in coasting
along the shores of my native land. My Christian name was Ralph, and my
comrades added to this the name of Rover, in consequence of the passion
which I always evinced for travelling. Rover was not my real name, but
as I never received any other I came at last to answer to it as naturally
as to my proper name; and, as it is not a bad one, I see no good reason
why I should not introduce myself to the reader as Ralph Rover. My
shipmates were kind, good-natured fellows, and they and I got on very
well together. They did, indeed, very frequently make game of and banter
me, but not unkindly; and I overheard them sometimes saying that Ralph
Rover was a "queer, old-fashioned fellow." This, I must confess,
surprised me much, and I pondered the saying long, but could come at no
satisfactory conclusion as to that wherein my old-fashionedness lay. It
is true I was a quiet lad, and seldom spoke except when spoken to.
Moreover, I never could understand the jokes of my companions even when
they were explained to me: which dulness in apprehension occasioned me
much grief; however, I tried to make up for it by smiling and looking
pleased when I observed that they were laughing at some witticism which I
had failed to detect. I was also very fond of inquiring into the nature
of things and their causes, and often fell into fits of abstraction while
thus engaged in my mind. But in all this I saw nothing that did not seem
to be exceedingly natural, and could by no means understand why my
comrades should call me "an old-fashioned fellow."

Now, while engaged in the coasting trade, I fell in with many seamen who
had travelled to almost every quarter of the globe; and I freely confess
that my heart glowed ardently within me as they recounted their wild
adventures in foreign lands,--the dreadful storms they had weathered, the
appalling dangers they had escaped, the wonderful creatures they had seen
both on the land and in the sea, and the interesting lands and strange
people they had visited. But of all the places of which they told me,
none captivated and charmed my imagination so much as the Coral Islands
of the Southern Seas. They told me of thousands of beautiful fertile
islands that had been formed by a small creature called the coral insect,
where summer reigned nearly all the year round,--where the trees were
laden with a constant harvest of luxuriant fruit,--where the climate was
almost perpetually delightful,--yet where, strange to say, men were wild,
bloodthirsty savages, excepting in those favoured isles to which the
gospel of our Saviour had been conveyed. These exciting accounts had so
great an effect upon my mind, that, when I reached the age of fifteen, I
resolved to make a voyage to the South Seas.

I had no little difficulty at first in prevailing on my dear parents to
let me go; but when I urged on my father that he would never have become
a great captain had he remained in the coasting trade, he saw the truth
of what I said, and gave his consent. My dear mother, seeing that my
father had made up his mind, no longer offered opposition to my wishes.
"But oh, Ralph," she said, on the day I bade her adieu, "come back soon
to us, my dear boy, for we are getting old now, Ralph, and may not have
many years to live."

I will not take up my reader's time with a minute account of all that
occurred before I took my final leave of my dear parents. Suffice it to
say, that my father placed me under the charge of an old mess-mate of his
own, a merchant captain, who was on the point of sailing to the South
Seas in his own ship, the Arrow. My mother gave me her blessing and a
small Bible; and her last request was, that I would never forget to read
a chapter every day, and say my prayers; which I promised, with tears in
my eyes, that I would certainly do.

Soon afterwards I went on board the Arrow, which was a fine large ship,
and set sail for the islands of the Pacific Ocean.




CHAPTER II.


The departure--The sea--My companions--Some account of the wonderful
sights we saw on the great deep--A dreadful storm and a frightful wreck.

It was a bright, beautiful, warm day when our ship spread her canvass to
the breeze, and sailed for the regions of the south. Oh, how my heart
bounded with delight as I listened to the merry chorus of the sailors,
while they hauled at the ropes and got in the anchor! The captain
shouted--the men ran to obey--the noble ship bent over to the breeze, and
the shore gradually faded from my view, while I stood looking on with a
kind of feeling that the whole was a delightful dream.

The first thing that struck me as being different from anything I had yet
seen during my short career on the sea, was the hoisting of the anchor on
deck, and lashing it firmly down with ropes, as if we had now bid adieu
to the land for ever, and would require its services no more.

"There, lass," cried a broad-shouldered jack-tar, giving the fluke of the
anchor a hearty slap with his hand after the housing was
completed--"there, lass, take a good nap now, for we shan't ask you to
kiss the mud again for many a long day to come!"

And so it was. That anchor did not "kiss the mud" for many long days
afterwards; and when at last it did, it was for the last time!

There were a number of boys in the ship, but two of them were my special
favourites. Jack Martin was a tall, strapping, broad-shouldered youth of
eighteen, with a handsome, good-humoured, firm face. He had had a good
education, was clever and hearty and lion-like in his actions, but mild
and quiet in disposition. Jack was a general favourite, and had a
peculiar fondness for me. My other companion was Peterkin Gay. He was
little, quick, funny, decidedly mischievous, and about fourteen years
old. But Peterkin's mischief was almost always harmless, else he could
not have been so much beloved as he was.

"Hallo! youngster," cried Jack Martin, giving me a slap on the shoulder,
the day I joined the ship, "come below and I'll show you your berth. You
and I are to be mess-mates, and I think we shall be good friends, for I
like the look o' you."

Jack was right. He and I and Peterkin afterwards became the best and
stanchest friends that ever tossed together on the stormy waves.

I shall say little about the first part of our voyage. We had the usual
amount of rough weather and calm; also we saw many strange fish rolling
in the sea, and I was greatly delighted one day by seeing a shoal of
flying fish dart out of the water and skim through the air about a foot
above the surface. They were pursued by dolphins, which feed on them,
and one flying-fish in its terror flew over the ship, struck on the
rigging, and fell upon the deck. Its wings were just fins elongated, and
we found that they could never fly far at a time, and never mounted into
the air like birds, but skimmed along the surface of the sea. Jack and I
had it for dinner, and found it remarkably good.

When we approached Cape Horn, at the southern extremity of America, the
weather became very cold and stormy, and the sailors began to tell
stories about the furious gales and the dangers of that terrible cape.

"Cape Horn," said one, "is the most horrible headland I ever doubled.
I've sailed round it twice already, and both times the ship was a'most
blow'd out o' the water."

"An' I've been round it once," said another, "an' that time the sails
were split, and the ropes frozen in the blocks, so that they wouldn't
work, and we wos all but lost."

"An' I've been round it five times," cried a third, "an' every time wos
wuss than another, the gales wos so tree-mendous!"

"And I've been round it no times at all," cried Peterkin, with an
impudent wink of his eye, "an' _that_ time I wos blow'd inside out!"

Nevertheless, we passed the dreaded cape without much rough weather, and,
in the course of a few weeks afterwards, were sailing gently, before a
warm tropical breeze, over the Pacific Ocean. Thus we proceeded on our
voyage, sometimes bounding merrily before a fair breeze, at other times
floating calmly on the glassy wave and fishing for the curious
inhabitants of the deep,--all of which, although the sailors thought
little of them, were strange, and interesting, and very wonderful to me.

At last we came among the Coral Islands of the Pacific, and I shall never
forget the delight with which I gazed,--when we chanced to pass one,--at
the pure, white, dazzling shores, and the verdant palm-trees, which
looked bright and beautiful in the sunshine. And often did we three long
to be landed on one, imagining that we should certainly find perfect
happiness there! Our wish was granted sooner than we expected.

One night, soon after we entered the tropics, an awful storm burst upon
our ship. The first squall of wind carried away two of our masts; and
left only the foremast standing. Even this, however, was more than
enough, for we did not dare to hoist a rag of sail on it. For five days
the tempest raged in all its fury. Everything was swept off the decks
except one small boat. The steersman was lashed to the wheel, lest he
should be washed away, and we all gave ourselves up for lost. The
captain said that he had no idea where we were, as we had been blown far
out of our course; and we feared much that we might get among the
dangerous coral reefs which are so numerous in the Pacific. At day-break
on the sixth morning of the gale we saw land ahead. It was an island
encircled by a reef of coral on which the waves broke in fury. There was
calm water within this reef, but we could only see one narrow opening
into it. For this opening we steered, but, ere we reached it, a
tremendous wave broke on our stern, tore the rudder completely off, and
left us at the mercy of the winds and waves.

"It's all over with us now, lads," said the captain to the men; "get the
boat ready to launch; we shall be on the rocks in less than half an
hour."

The men obeyed in gloomy silence, for they felt that there was little
hope of so small a boat living in such a sea.

"Come boys," said Jack Martin, in a grave tone, to me and Peterkin, as we
stood on the quarterdeck awaiting our fate;--"Come boys, we three shall
stick together. You see it is impossible that the little boat can reach
the shore, crowded with men. It will be sure to upset, so I mean rather
to trust myself to a large oar. I see through the telescope that the ship
will strike at the tail of the reef, where the waves break into the quiet
water inside; so, if we manage to cling to the oar till it is driven over
the breakers, we may perhaps gain the shore. What say you; will you join
me?"

We gladly agreed to follow Jack, for he inspired us with confidence,
although I could perceive, by the sad tone of his voice, that he had
little hope; and, indeed, when I looked at the white waves that lashed
the reef and boiled against the rocks as if in fury, I felt that there
was but a step between us and death. My heart sank within me; but at
that moment my thoughts turned to my beloved mother, and I remembered
those words, which were among the last that she said to me--"Ralph, my
dearest child, always remember in the hour of danger to look to your Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ. He alone is both able and willing to save your
body and your soul." So I felt much comforted when I thought thereon.

The ship was now very near the rocks. The men were ready with the boat,
and the captain beside them giving orders, when a tremendous wave came
towards us. We three ran towards the bow to lay hold of our oar, and had
barely reached it when the wave fell on the deck with a crash like
thunder. At the same moment the ship struck, the foremast broke off
close to the deck and went over the side, carrying the boat and men along
with it. Our oar got entangled with the wreck, and Jack seized an axe to
cut it free, but, owing to the motion of the ship, he missed the cordage
and struck the axe deep into the oar. Another wave, however, washed it
clear of the wreck. We all seized hold of it, and the next instant we
were struggling in the wild sea. The last thing I saw was the boat
whirling in the surf, and all the sailors tossed into the foaming waves.
Then I became insensible.

On recovering from my swoon, I found myself lying on a bank of soft
grass, under the shelter of an overhanging rock, with Peterkin on his
knees by my side, tenderly bathing my temples with water, and
endeavouring to stop the blood that flowed from a wound in my forehead.




CHAPTER III.


The Coral Island--Our first cogitations after landing, and the result of
them--We conclude that the island is uninhabited.

There is a strange and peculiar sensation experienced in recovering from
a state of insensibility, which is almost indescribable; a sort of
dreamy, confused consciousness; a half-waking half-sleeping condition,
accompanied with a feeling of weariness, which, however, is by no means
disagreeable. As I slowly recovered and heard the voice of Peterkin
inquiring whether I felt better, I thought that I must have overslept
myself, and should be sent to the mast-head for being lazy; but before I
could leap up in haste, the thought seemed to vanish suddenly away, and I
fancied that I must have been ill. Then a balmy breeze fanned my cheek,
and I thought of home, and the garden at the back of my father's cottage,
with its luxuriant flowers, and the sweet-scented honey-suckle that my
dear mother trained so carefully upon the trellised porch. But the
roaring of the surf put these delightful thoughts to flight, and I was
back again at sea, watching the dolphins and the flying-fish, and reefing
topsails off the wild and stormy Cape Horn. Gradually the roar of the
surf became louder and more distinct. I thought of being wrecked far far
away from my native land, and slowly opened my eyes to meet those of my
companion Jack, who, with a look of intense anxiety, was gazing into my
face.

"Speak to us, my dear Ralph," whispered Jack, tenderly, "are you better
now?"

I smiled and looked up, saying, "Better; why, what do you mean, Jack? I'm
quite well."

"Then what are you shamming for, and frightening us in this way?" said
Peterkin, smiling through his tears; for the poor boy had been really
under the impression that I was dying.

I now raised myself on my elbow, and putting my hand to my forehead,
found that it had been cut pretty severely, and that I had lost a good
deal of blood.

"Come, come, Ralph," said Jack, pressing me gently backward, "lie down,
my boy; you're not right yet. Wet your lips with this water, it's cool
and clear as crystal. I got it from a spring close at hand. There now,
don't say a word, hold your tongue," said he, seeing me about to speak.
"I'll tell you all about it, but you must not utter a syllable till you
have rested well."

"Oh! don't stop him from speaking, Jack," said Peterkin, who, now that
his fears for my safety were removed, busied himself in erecting a
shelter of broken branches in order to protect me from the wind; which,
however, was almost unnecessary, for the rock beside which I had been
laid completely broke the force of the gale. "Let him speak, Jack; it's
a comfort to hear that he's alive, after lying there stiff and white and
sulky for a whole hour, just like an Egyptian mummy. Never saw such a
fellow as you are, Ralph; always up to mischief. You've almost knocked
out all my teeth and more than half choked me, and now you go shamming
dead! It's very wicked of you, indeed it is."

While Peterkin ran on in this style, my faculties became quite clear
again, and I began to understand my position. "What do you mean by
saying I half choked you, Peterkin?" said I.

"What do I mean? Is English not your mother tongue, or do you want me to
repeat it in French, by way of making it clearer? Don't you remember--"

"I remember nothing," said I, interrupting him, "after we were thrown
into the sea."

{Slowly recovering: p24.jpg}

"Hush, Peterkin," said Jack, "you're exciting Ralph with your nonsense.
I'll explain it to you. You recollect that after the ship struck, we
three sprang over the bow into the sea; well, I noticed that the oar
struck your head and gave you that cut on the brow, which nearly stunned
you, so that you grasped Peterkin round the neck without knowing
apparently what you were about. In doing so you pushed the
telescope,--which you clung to as if it had been your life,--against
Peterkin's mouth--"

"Pushed it against his mouth!" interrupted Peterkin, "say crammed it down
his throat. Why, there's a distinct mark of the brass rim on the back of
my gullet at this moment!"

"Well, well, be that as it may," continued Jack, "you clung to him,
Ralph, till I feared you really would choke him; but I saw that he had a
good hold of the oar, so I exerted myself to the utmost to push you
towards the shore, which we luckily reached without much trouble, for the
water inside the reef is quite calm."

"But the captain and crew, what of them?" I inquired anxiously.

Jack shook his head.

"Are they lost?"

"No, they are not lost, I hope, but I fear there is not much chance of
their being saved. The ship struck at the very tail of the island on
which we are cast. When the boat was tossed into the sea it fortunately
did not upset, although it shipped a good deal of water, and all the men
managed to scramble into it; but before they could get the oars out the
gale carried them past the point and away to leeward of the island. After
we landed I saw them endeavouring to pull towards us, but as they had
only one pair of oars out of the eight that belong to the boat, and as
the wind was blowing right in their teeth, they gradually lost ground.
Then I saw them put about and hoist some sort of sail,--a blanket, I
fancy, for it was too small for the boat,--and in half an hour they were
out of sight."

"Poor fellows," I murmured sorrowfully.

"But the more I think about it, I've better hope of them," continued
Jack, in a more cheerful tone. "You see, Ralph, I've read a great deal
about these South Sea Islands, and I know that in many places they are
scattered about in thousands over the sea, so they're almost sure to fall
in with one of them before long."

"I'm sure I hope so," said Peterkin, earnestly. "But what has become of
the wreck, Jack? I saw you clambering up the rocks there while I was
watching Ralph. Did you say she had gone to pieces?"

"No, she has not gone to pieces, but she has gone to the bottom," replied
Jack. "As I said before, she struck on the tail of the island and stove
in her bow, but the next breaker swung her clear, and she floated away to
leeward. The poor fellows in the boat made a hard struggle to reach her,
but long before they came near her she filled and went down. It was
after she foundered that I saw them trying to pull to the island."

There was a long silence after Jack ceased speaking, and I have no doubt
that each was revolving in his mind our extraordinary position. For my
part I cannot say that my reflections were very agreeable. I knew that
we were on an island, for Jack had said so, but whether it was inhabited
or not I did not know. If it should be inhabited, I felt certain, from
all I had heard of South Sea Islanders, that we should be roasted alive
and eaten. If it should turn out to be uninhabited, I fancied that we
should be starved to death. "Oh!" thought I, "if the ship had only stuck
on the rocks we might have done pretty well, for we could have obtained
provisions from her, and tools to enable us to build a shelter, but
now--alas! alas! we are lost!" These last words I uttered aloud in my
distress.

"Lost! Ralph?" exclaimed Jack, while a smile overspread his hearty
countenance. "Saved, you should have said. Your cogitations seem to have
taken a wrong road, and led you to a wrong conclusion."

"Do you know what conclusion _I_ have come to?" said Peterkin. "I have
made up my mind that it's capital,--first rate,--the best thing that ever
happened to us, and the most splendid prospect that ever lay before three
jolly young tars. We've got an island all to ourselves. We'll take
possession in the name of the king; we'll go and enter the service of its
black inhabitants. Of course we'll rise, naturally, to the top of
affairs. White men always do in savage countries. You shall be king,
Jack; Ralph, prime minister, and I shall be--"

"The court jester," interrupted Jack.

"No," retorted Peterkin, "I'll have no title at all. I shall merely
accept a highly responsible situation under government, for you see,
Jack, I'm fond of having an enormous salary and nothing to do."

"But suppose there are no natives?"

"Then we'll build a charming villa, and plant a lovely garden round it,
stuck all full of the most splendiferous tropical flowers, and we'll farm
the land, plant, sow, reap, eat, sleep, and be merry."

"But to be serious," said Jack, assuming a grave expression of
countenance, which I observed always had the effect of checking
Peterkin's disposition to make fun of everything, "we are really in
rather an uncomfortable position. If this is a desert island, we shall
have to live very much like the wild beasts, for we have not a tool of
any kind, not even a knife."

"Yes, we have _that_," said Peterkin, fumbling in his trousers pocket,
from which he drew forth a small penknife with only one blade, and that
was broken.

"Well, that's better than nothing; but come," said Jack, rising, "we are
wasting our time in _talking_ instead of _doing_. You seem well enough
to walk now, Ralph, let us see what we have got in our pockets, and then
let us climb some hill and ascertain what sort of island we have been
cast upon, for, whether good or bad, it seems likely to be our home for
some time to come."




CHAPTER IV.


We examine into our personal property, and make a happy discovery--Our
island described--Jack proves himself to be learned and sagacious above
his fellows--Curious discoveries--Natural lemonade!

We now seated ourselves upon a rock and began to examine into our
personal property. When we reached the shore, after being wrecked, my
companions had taken off part of their clothes and spread them out in the
sun to dry, for, although the gale was raging fiercely, there was not a
single cloud in the bright sky. They had also stripped off most part of
my wet clothes and spread them also on the rocks. Having resumed our
garments, we now searched all our pockets with the utmost care, and laid
their contents out on a flat stone before us; and, now that our minds
were fully alive to our condition, it was with no little anxiety that we
turned our several pockets inside out, in order that nothing might escape
us. When all was collected together we found that our worldly goods
consisted of the following articles:--

First, A small penknife with a single blade broken off about the middle
and very rusty, besides having two or three notches on its edge.
(Peterkin said of this, with his usual pleasantry, that it would do for a
saw as well as a knife, which was a great advantage.) Second, An old
German-silver pencil-case without any lead in it. Third, A piece of whip-
cord about six yards long. Fourth, A sailmaker's needle of a small size.
Fifth, A ship's telescope, which I happened to have in my hand at the
time the ship struck, and which I had clung to firmly all the time I was
in the water. Indeed it was with difficulty that Jack got it out of my
grasp when I was lying insensible on the shore. I cannot understand why
I kept such a firm hold of this telescope. They say that a drowning man
will clutch at a straw. Perhaps it may have been some such feeling in
me, for I did not know that it was in my hand at the time we were
wrecked. However, we felt some pleasure in having it with us now,
although we did not see that it could be of much use to us, as the glass
at the small end was broken to pieces. Our sixth article was a brass
ring which Jack always wore on his little finger. I never understood why
he wore it, for Jack was not vain of his appearance, and did not seem to
care for ornaments of any kind. Peterkin said "it was in memory of the
girl he left behind him!" But as he never spoke of this girl to either
of us, I am inclined to think that Peterkin was either jesting or
mistaken. In addition to these articles we had a little bit of tinder,
and the clothes on our backs. These last were as follows:--

Each of us had on a pair of stout canvass trousers, and a pair of
sailors' thick shoes. Jack wore a red flannel shirt, a blue jacket, and
a red Kilmarnock bonnet or night-cap, besides a pair of worsted socks,
and a cotton pocket-handkerchief, with sixteen portraits of Lord Nelson
printed on it, and a union Jack in the middle. Peterkin had on a striped
flannel shirt,--which he wore outside his trousers, and belted round his
waist, after the manner of a tunic,--and a round black straw hat. He had
no jacket, having thrown it off just before we were cast into the sea;
but this was not of much consequence, as the climate of the island proved
to be extremely mild; so much so, indeed, that Jack and I often preferred
to go about without our jackets. Peterkin had also a pair of white
cotton socks, and a blue handkerchief with white spots all over it. My
own costume consisted of a blue flannel shirt, a blue jacket, a black
cap, and a pair of worsted socks, besides the shoes and canvass trousers
already mentioned. This was all we had, and besides these things we had
nothing else; but, when we thought of the danger from which we had
escaped, and how much worse off we might have been had the ship struck on
the reef during the night, we felt very thankful that we were possessed
of so much, although, I must confess, we sometimes wished that we had had
a little more.

While we were examining these things, and talking about them, Jack
suddenly started and exclaimed--

"The oar! we have forgotten the oar."

"What good will that do us?" said Peterkin; "there's wood enough on the
island to make a thousand oars."

"Ay, lad," replied Jack, "but there's a bit of hoop iron at the end of
it, and that may be of much use to us."

"Very true," said I, "let us go fetch it;" and with that we all three
rose and hastened down to the beach. I still felt a little weak from
loss of blood, so that my companions soon began to leave me behind; but
Jack perceived this, and, with his usual considerate good nature, turned
back to help me. This was now the first time that I had looked well
about me since landing, as the spot where I had been laid was covered
with thick bushes which almost hid the country from our view. As we now
emerged from among these and walked down the sandy beach together, I cast
my eyes about, and, truly, my heart glowed within me and my spirits rose
at the beautiful prospect which I beheld on every side. The gale had
suddenly died away, just as if it had blown furiously till it dashed our
ship upon the rocks, and had nothing more to do after accomplishing that.
The island on which we stood was hilly, and covered almost everywhere
with the most beautiful and richly coloured trees, bushes, and shrubs,
none of which I knew the names of at that time, except, indeed, the cocoa-
nut palms, which I recognised at once from the many pictures that I had
seen of them before I left home. A sandy beach of dazzling whiteness
lined this bright green shore, and upon it there fell a gentle ripple of
the sea. This last astonished me much, for I recollected that at home
the sea used to fall in huge billows on the shore long after a storm had
subsided. But on casting my glance out to sea the cause became apparent.
About a mile distant from the shore I saw the great billows of the ocean
rolling like a green wall, and falling with a long, loud roar, upon a low
coral reef, where they were dashed into white foam and flung up in clouds
of spray. This spray sometimes flew exceedingly high, and, every here
and there, a beautiful rainbow was formed for a moment among the falling
drops. We afterwards found that this coral reef extended quite round the
island, and formed a natural breakwater to it. Beyond this the sea rose
and tossed violently from the effects of the storm; but between the reef
and the shore it was as calm and as smooth as a pond.

My heart was filled with more delight than I can express at sight of so
many glorious objects, and my thoughts turned suddenly to the
contemplation of the Creator of them all. I mention this the more
gladly, because at that time, I am ashamed to say, I very seldom thought
of my Creator, although I was constantly surrounded by the most beautiful
and wonderful of His works. I observed from the expression of my
companion's countenance that he too derived much joy from the splendid
scenery, which was all the more agreeable to us after our long voyage on
the salt sea. There, the breeze was fresh and cold, but here it was
delightfully mild; and, when a puff blew off the land, it came laden with
the most exquisite perfume that can be imagined. While we thus gazed, we
were startled by a loud "Huzza!" from Peterkin, and, on looking towards
the edge of the sea, we saw him capering and jumping about like a monkey,
and ever and anon tugging with all his might at something that lay upon
the shore.

"What an odd fellow he is, to be sure," said Jack, taking me by the arm
and hurrying forward; "come, let us hasten to see what it is."

"Here it is, boys, hurrah! come along. Just what we want," cried
Peterkin, as we drew near, still tugging with all his power. "First
rate; just the very ticket!"

I need scarcely say to my readers that my companion Peterkin was in the
habit of using very remarkable and peculiar phrases. And I am free to
confess that I did not well understand the meaning of some of them,--such,
for instance, as "the very ticket;" but I think it my duty to recount
everything relating to my adventures with a strict regard to truthfulness
in as far as my memory serves me; so I write, as nearly as possible, the
exact words that my companions spoke. I often asked Peterkin to explain
what he meant by "ticket," but he always answered me by going into fits
of laughter. However, by observing the occasions on which he used it, I
came to understand that it meant to show that something was remarkably
good, or fortunate.

On coming up we found that Peterkin was vainly endeavouring to pull the
axe out of the oar, into which, it will be remembered, Jack struck it
while endeavouring to cut away the cordage among which it had become
entangled at the bow of the ship. Fortunately for us the axe had
remained fast in the oar, and even now, all Peterkin's strength could not
draw it out of the cut.

"Ah! that is capital indeed," cried Jack, at the same time giving the axe
a wrench that plucked it out of the tough wood. "How fortunate this is!
It will be of more value to us than a hundred knives, and the edge is
quite new and sharp."

"I'll answer for the toughness of the handle at any rate," cried
Peterkin; "my arms are nearly pulled out of the sockets. But see here,
our luck is great. There is iron on the blade." He pointed to a piece
of hoop iron, as he spoke, which had been nailed round the blade of the
oar to prevent it from splitting.

This also was a fortunate discovery. Jack went down on his knees, and
with the edge of the axe began carefully to force out the nails. But as
they were firmly fixed in, and the operation blunted our axe, we carried
the oar up with us to the place where we had left the rest of our things,
intending to burn the wood away from the iron at a more convenient time.

"Now, lads," said Jack, after we had laid it on the stone which contained
our little all, "I propose that we should go to the tail of the island,
where the ship struck, which is only a quarter of a mile off, and see if
anything else has been thrown ashore. I don't expect anything, but it is
well to see. When we get back here it will be time to have our supper
and prepare our beds."

"Agreed!" cried Peterkin and I together, as, indeed, we would have agreed
to any proposal that Jack made; for, besides his being older and much
stronger and taller than either of us, he was a very clever fellow, and I
think would have induced people much older than himself to choose him for
their leader, especially if they required to be led on a bold enterprise.

Now, as we hastened along the white beach, which shone so brightly in the
rays of the setting sun that our eyes were quite dazzled by its glare, it
suddenly came into Peterkin's head that we had nothing to eat except the
wild berries which grew in profusion at our feet.

"What shall we do, Jack?" said he, with a rueful look; "perhaps they may
be poisonous!"

"No fear," replied Jack, confidently; "I have observed that a few of them
are not unlike some of the berries that grow wild on our own native
hills. Besides, I saw one or two strange birds eating them just a few
minutes ago, and what won't kill the birds won't kill us. But look up
there, Peterkin," continued Jack, pointing to the branched head of a
cocoa-nut palm. "There are nuts for us in all stages."

"So there are!" cried Peterkin, who being of a very unobservant nature
had been too much taken up with other things to notice anything so high
above his head as the fruit of a palm tree. But, whatever faults my
young comrade had, he could not be blamed for want of activity or animal
spirits. Indeed, the nuts had scarcely been pointed out to him when he
bounded up the tall stem of the tree like a squirrel, and, in a few
minutes, returned with three nuts, each as large as a man's fist.

"You had better keep them till we return," said Jack. "Let us finish our
work before eating."

"So be it, captain, go ahead," cried Peterkin, thrusting the nuts into
his trousers pocket. "In fact I don't want to eat just now, but I would
give a good deal for a drink. Oh that I could find a spring! but I don't
see the smallest sign of one hereabouts. I say, Jack, how does it happen
that you seem to be up to everything? You have told us the names of half-
a-dozen trees already, and yet you say that you were never in the South
Seas before."

"I'm not up to _everything_, Peterkin, as you'll find out ere long,"
replied Jack, with a smile; "but I have been a great reader of books of
travel and adventure all my life, and that has put me up to a good many
things that you are, perhaps, not acquainted with."

"Oh, Jack, that's all humbug. If you begin to lay everything to the
credit of books, I'll quite lose my opinion of you," cried Peterkin, with
a look of contempt. "I've seen a lot o' fellows that were _always_
poring over books, and when they came to try to _do_ anything, they were
no better than baboons!"

"You are quite right," retorted Jack; "and I have seen a lot of fellows
who never looked into books at all, who knew nothing about anything
except the things they had actually seen, and very little they knew even
about these. Indeed, some were so ignorant that they did not know that
cocoa-nuts grew on cocoa-nut trees!"

I could not refrain from laughing at this rebuke, for there was much
truth in it, as to Peterkin's ignorance.

"Humph! maybe you're right," answered Peterkin; "but I would not give
_tuppence_ for a man of books, if he had nothing else in him."

"Neither would I," said Jack; "but that's no reason why you should run
books down, or think less of me for having read them. Suppose, now,
Peterkin, that you wanted to build a ship, and I were to give you a long
and particular account of the way to do it, would not that be very
useful?"

"No doubt of it," said Peterkin, laughing.

"And suppose I were to write the account in a letter instead of telling
you in words, would that be less useful?"

"Well--no, perhaps not."

"Well, suppose I were to print it, and send it to you in the form of a
book, would it not be as good and useful as ever?"

"Oh, bother! Jack, you're a philosopher, and that's worse than anything!"
cried Peterkin, with a look of pretended horror.

"Very well, Peterkin, we shall see," returned Jack, halting under the
shade of a cocoa-nut tree. "You said you were thirsty just a minute ago;
now, jump up that tree and bring down a nut,--not a ripe one, bring a
green, unripe one."

Peterkin looked surprised, but, seeing that Jack was in earnest, he
obeyed.

"Now, cut a hole in it with your penknife, and clap it to your mouth, old
fellow," said Jack.

Peterkin did as he was directed, and we both burst into uncontrollable
laughter at the changes that instantly passed over his expressive
countenance. No sooner had he put the nut to his mouth, and thrown back
his head in order to catch what came out of it, than his eyes opened to
twice their ordinary size with astonishment, while his throat moved
vigorously in the act of swallowing. Then a smile and look of intense
delight overspread his face, except, indeed, the mouth, which, being
firmly fixed to the hole in the nut, could not take part in the
expression; but he endeavoured to make up for this by winking at us
excessively with his right eye. At length he stopped, and, drawing a
long breath, exclaimed--

"Nectar! perfect nectar! I say, Jack, you're a Briton--the best fellow I
ever met in my life. Only taste that!" said he, turning to me and
holding the nut to my mouth. I immediately drank, and certainly I was
much surprised at the delightful liquid that flowed copiously down my
throat. It was extremely cool, and had a sweet taste, mingled with acid;
in fact, it was the likest thing to lemonade I ever tasted, and was most
grateful and refreshing. I handed the nut to Jack, who, after tasting
it, said, "Now, Peterkin, you unbeliever, I never saw or tasted a cocoa
nut in my life before, except those sold in shops at home; but I once
read that the green nuts contain that stuff, and you see it is true!"

"And pray," asked Peterkin, "what sort of 'stuff' does the ripe nut
contain?"

"A hollow kernel," answered Jack, "with a liquid like milk in it; but it
does not satisfy thirst so well as hunger. It is very wholesome food I
believe."

"Meat and drink on the same tree!" cried Peterkin; "washing in the sea,
lodging on the ground,--and all for nothing! My dear boys, we're set up
for life; it must be the ancient Paradise,--hurrah!" and Peterkin tossed
his straw hat in the air, and ran along the beach hallooing like a madman
with delight.

We afterwards found, however, that these lovely islands were very unlike
Paradise in many things. But more of this in its proper place.

We had now come to the point of rocks on which the ship had struck, but
did not find a single article, although we searched carefully among the
coral rocks, which at this place jutted out so far as nearly to join the
reef that encircled the island. Just as we were about to return,
however, we saw something black floating in a little cove that had
escaped our observation. Running forward, we drew it from the water, and
found it to be a long thick leather boot, such as fishermen at home wear;
and a few paces farther on we picked up its fellow. We at once
recognised these as having belonged to our captain, for he had worn them
during the whole of the storm, in order to guard his legs from the waves
and spray that constantly washed over our decks. My first thought on
seeing them was that our dear captain had been drowned; but Jack soon put
my mind more at rest on that point, by saying that if the captain had
been drowned with the boots on, he would certainly have been washed
ashore along with them, and that he had no doubt whatever he had kicked
them off while in the sea, that he might swim more easily.

Peterkin immediately put them on, but they were so large that, as Jack
said, they would have done for boots, trousers, and vest too. I also
tried them, but, although I was long enough in the legs for them, they
were much too large in the feet for me; so we handed them to Jack, who
was anxious to make me keep them, but as they fitted his large limbs and
feet as if they had been made for him, I would not hear of it, so he
consented at last to use them. I may remark, however, that Jack did not
use them often, as they were extremely heavy.

It was beginning to grow dark when we returned to our encampment; so we
put off our visit to the top of a hill till next day, and employed the
light that yet remained to us in cutting down a quantity of boughs and
the broad leaves of a tree, of which none of us knew the name. With
these we erected a sort of rustic bower, in which we meant to pass the
night. There was no absolute necessity for this, because the air of our
island was so genial and balmy that we could have slept quite well
without any shelter; but we were so little used to sleeping in the open
air, that we did not quite relish the idea of lying down without any
covering over us: besides, our bower would shelter us from the night dews
or rain, if any should happen to fall. Having strewed the floor with
leaves and dry grass, we bethought ourselves of supper.

But it now occurred to us, for the first time, that we had no means of
making a fire.

"Now, there's a fix!--what shall we do?" said Peterkin, while we both
turned our eyes to Jack, to whom we always looked in our difficulties.
Jack seemed not a little perplexed.

"There are flints enough, no doubt, on the beach," said he, "but they are
of no use at all without a steel. However, we must try." So saying, he
went to the beach, and soon returned with two flints. On one of these he
placed the tinder, and endeavoured to ignite it; but it was with great
difficulty that a very small spark was struck out of the flints, and the
tinder, being a bad, hard piece, would not catch. He then tried the bit
of hoop iron, which would not strike fire at all; and after that the back
of the axe, with no better success. During all these trials Peterkin sat
with his hands in his pockets, gazing with a most melancholy visage at
our comrade, his face growing longer and more miserable at each
successive failure.

"Oh dear!" he sighed, "I would not care a button for the cooking of our
victuals,--perhaps they don't need it,--but it's so dismal to eat one's
supper in the dark, and we have had such a capital day, that it's a pity
to finish off in this glum style. Oh, I have it!" he cried, starting up;
"the spy-glass,--the big glass at the end is a burning-glass!"

"You forget that we have no sun," said I.

Peterkin was silent. In his sudden recollection of the telescope he had
quite overlooked the absence of the sun.

"Ah, boys, I've got it now!" exclaimed Jack, rising and cutting a branch
from a neighbouring bush, which be stripped of its leaves. "I recollect
seeing this done once at home. Hand me the bit of whip-cord." With the
cord and branch Jack soon formed a bow. Then he cut a piece, about three
inches long, off the end of a dead branch, which he pointed at the two
ends. Round this he passed the cord of the bow, and placed one end
against his chest, which was protected from its point by a chip of wood;
the other point he placed against the bit of tinder, and then began to
saw vigorously with the bow, just as a blacksmith does with his drill
while boring a hole in a piece of iron. In a few seconds the tinder
began to smoke; in less than a minute it caught fire; and in less than a
quarter of an hour we were drinking our lemonade and eating cocoa nuts
round a fire that would have roasted an entire sheep, while the smoke,
flames, and sparks, flew up among the broad leaves of the overhanging
palm trees, and cast a warm glow upon our leafy bower.

That night the starry sky looked down through the gently rustling trees
upon our slumbers, and the distant roaring of the surf upon the coral
reef was our lullaby.




CHAPTER V.


Morning, and cogitations connected therewith--We luxuriate in the sea,
try our diving powers, and make enchanting excursions among the coral
groves at the bottom of the ocean--The wonders of the deep enlarged upon.

What a joyful thing it is to awaken, on a fresh glorious morning, and
find the rising sun staring into your face with dazzling brilliancy!--to
see the birds twittering in the bushes, and to hear the murmuring of a
rill, or the soft hissing ripples as they fall upon the sea-shore! At
any time and in any place such sights and sounds are most charming, but
more especially are they so when one awakens to them, for the first time,
in a novel and romantic situation, with the soft sweet air of a tropical
climate mingling with the fresh smell of the sea, and stirring the
strange leaves that flutter overhead and around one, or ruffling the
plumage of the stranger birds that fly inquiringly around, as if to
demand what business we have to intrude uninvited on their domains. When
I awoke on the morning after the shipwreck, I found myself in this most
delightful condition; and, as I lay on my back upon my bed of leaves,
gazing up through the branches of the cocoa-nut trees into the clear blue
sky, and watched the few fleecy clouds that passed slowly across it, my
heart expanded more and more with an exulting gladness, the like of which
I had never felt before. While I meditated, my thoughts again turned to
the great and kind Creator of this beautiful world, as they had done on
the previous day, when I first beheld the sea and the coral reef, with
the mighty waves dashing over it into the calm waters of the lagoon.

While thus meditating, I naturally bethought me of my Bible, for I had
faithfully kept the promise, which I gave at parting to my beloved
mother, that I would read it every morning; and it was with a feeling of
dismay that I remembered I had left it in the ship. I was much troubled
about this. However, I consoled myself with reflecting that I could keep
the second part of my promise to her, namely, that I should never omit to
say my prayers. So I rose quietly, lest I should disturb my companions,
who were still asleep, and stepped aside into the bushes for this
purpose.

On my return I found them still slumbering, so I again lay down to think
over our situation. Just at that moment I was attracted by the sight of
a very small parrot, which Jack afterwards told me was called a paroquet.
It was seated on a twig that overhung Peterkin's head, and I was speedily
lost in admiration of its bright green plumage, which was mingled with
other gay colours. While I looked I observed that the bird turned its
head slowly from side to side and looked downwards, first with the one
eye, and then with the other. On glancing downwards I observed that
Peterkin's mouth was wide open, and that this remarkable bird was looking
into it. Peterkin used to say that I had not an atom of fun in my
composition, and that I never could understand a joke. In regard to the
latter, perhaps he was right; yet I think that, when they were explained
to me, I understood jokes as well as most people: but in regard to the
former he must certainly have been wrong, for this bird seemed to me to
be extremely funny; and I could not help thinking that, if it should
happen to faint, or slip its foot, and fall off the twig into Peterkin's
mouth, he would perhaps think it funny too! Suddenly the paroquet bent
down its head and uttered a loud scream in his face. This awoke him,
and, with a cry of surprise, he started up, while the foolish bird flew
precipitately away.

"Oh you monster!" cried Peterkin, shaking his fist at the bird. Then he
yawned and rubbed his eyes, and asked what o'clock it was.

I smiled at this question, and answered that, as our watches were at the
bottom of the sea, I could not tell, but it was a little past sunrise.

Peterkin now began to remember where we were. As he looked up into the
bright sky, and snuffed the scented air, his eyes glistened with delight,
and he uttered a faint "hurrah!" and yawned again. Then he gazed slowly
round, till, observing the calm sea through an opening in the bushes, he
started suddenly up as if he had received an electric shock, uttered a
vehement shout, flung off his garments, and, rushing over the white
sands, plunged into the water. The cry awoke Jack, who rose on his elbow
with a look of grave surprise; but this was followed by a quiet smile of
intelligence on seeing Peterkin in the water. With an energy that he
only gave way to in moments of excitement, Jack bounded to his feet,
threw off his clothes, shook back his hair, and with a lion-like spring,
dashed over the sands and plunged into the sea with such force as quite
to envelop Peterkin in a shower of spray. Jack was a remarkably good
swimmer and diver, so that after his plunge we saw no sign of him for
nearly a minute; after which he suddenly emerged, with a cry of joy, a
good many yards out from the shore. My spirits were so much raised by
seeing all this that I, too, hastily threw off my garments and
endeavoured to imitate Jack's vigorous bound; but I was so awkward that
my foot caught on a stump, and I fell to the ground; then I slipped on a
stone while running over the mud, and nearly fell again, much to the
amusement of Peterkin, who laughed heartily, and called me a "slow
coach," while Jack cried out, "Come along, Ralph, and I'll help you."
However, when I got into the water I managed very well, for I was really
a good swimmer, and diver too. I could not, indeed, equal Jack, who was
superior to any Englishman I ever saw, but I infinitely surpassed
Peterkin, who could only swim a little, and could not dive at all.

While Peterkin enjoyed himself in the shallow water and in running along
the beach, Jack and I swam out into the deep water, and occasionally
dived for stones. I shall never forget my surprise and delight on first
beholding the bottom of the sea. As I have before stated, the water
within the reef was as calm as a pond; and, as there was no wind, it was
quite clear, from the surface to the bottom, so that we could see down
easily even at a depth of twenty or thirty yards. When Jack and I dived
in shallower water, we expected to have found sand and stones, instead of
which we found ourselves in what appeared really to be an enchanted
garden. The whole of the bottom of the lagoon, as we called the calm
water within the reef, was covered with coral of every shape, size, and
hue. Some portions were formed like large mushrooms; others appeared
like the brain of a man, having stalks or necks attached to them; but the
most common kind was a species of branching coral, and some portions were
of a lovely pale pink colour, others pure white. Among this there grew
large quantities of sea-weed of the richest hues imaginable, and of the
most graceful forms; while innumerable fishes--blue, red, yellow, green,
and striped--sported in and out amongst the flower-beds of this submarine
garden, and did not appear to be at all afraid of our approaching them.

On darting to the surface for breath, after our first dive, Jack and I
rose close to each other.

"Did you ever in your life, Ralph, see anything so lovely?" said Jack, as
he flung the spray from his hair.

"Never," I replied. "It appears to me like fairy realms. I can scarcely
believe that we are not dreaming."

"Dreaming!" cried Jack, "do you know, Ralph, I'm half tempted to think
that we really are dreaming. But if so, I am resolved to make the most
of it, and dream another dive; so here goes,--down again, my boy!"

We took the second dive together, and kept beside each other while under
water; and I was greatly surprised to find that we could keep down much
longer than I ever recollect having done in our own seas at home. I
believe that this was owing to the heat of the water, which was so warm
that we afterwards found we could remain in it for two and three hours at
a time without feeling any unpleasant effects such as we used to
experience in the sea at home. When Jack reached the bottom, he grasped
the coral stems, and crept along on his hands and knees, peeping under
the sea-weed and among the rocks. I observed him also pick up one or two
large oysters, and retain them in his grasp, as if he meant to take them
up with him, so I also gathered a few. Suddenly he made a grasp at a
fish with blue and yellow stripes on its back, and actually touched its
tail, but did not catch it. At this he turned towards me and attempted
to smile; but no sooner had he done so than he sprang like an arrow to
the surface, where, on following him, I found him gasping and coughing,
and spitting water from his mouth. In a few minutes he recovered, and we
both turned to swim ashore.

"I declare, Ralph," said he, "that I actually tried to laugh under
water."

"So I saw," I replied; "and I observed that you very nearly caught that
fish by the tail. It would have done capitally for breakfast if you
had."

"Breakfast enough here," said he, holding up the oysters, as we landed
and ran up the beach. "Hallo! Peterkin, here you are, boy. Split open
these fellows while Ralph and I put on our clothes. They'll agree with
the cocoa nuts excellently, I have no doubt."

Peterkin, who was already dressed, took the oysters, and opened them with
the edge of our axe, exclaiming, "Now, that _is_ capital. There's
nothing I'm so fond of."

"Ah! that's lucky," remarked Jack. "I'll be able to keep you in good
order now, Master Peterkin. You know you can't dive any better than a
cat. So, sir, whenever you behave ill, you shall have no oysters for
breakfast."

"I'm very glad that our prospect of breakfast is so good," said I, "for
I'm very hungry."

"Here, then, stop your mouth with that, Ralph," said Peterkin, holding a
large oyster to my lips. I opened my mouth and swallowed it in silence,
and really it was remarkably good.

We now set ourselves earnestly about our preparations for spending the
day. We had no difficulty with the fire this morning, as our burning-
glass was an admirable one; and while we roasted a few oysters and ate
our cocoa nuts, we held a long, animated conversation about our plans for
the future. What those plans were, and how we carried them into effect,
the reader shall see hereafter.




CHAPTER VI.


An excursion into the interior, in which we make many valuable and
interesting discoveries--We get a dreadful fright--The bread-fruit
tree--Wonderful peculiarity of some of the fruit trees--Signs of former
inhabitants.

Our first care, after breakfast, was to place the few articles we
possessed in the crevice of a rock at the farther end of a small cave
which we discovered near our encampment. This cave, we hoped, might be
useful to us afterwards as a store-house. Then we cut two large clubs
off a species of very hard tree which grew near at hand. One of these
was given to Peterkin, the other to me, and Jack armed himself with the
axe. We took these precautions because we purposed to make an excursion
to the top of the mountains of the interior, in order to obtain a better
view of our island. Of course we knew not what dangers might befall us
by the way, so thought it best to be prepared.

Having completed our arrangements and carefully extinguished our fire, we
sallied forth and walked a short distance along the sea-beach, till we
came to the entrance of a valley, through which flowed the rivulet before
mentioned. Here we turned our backs on the sea and struck into the
interior.

The prospect that burst upon our view on entering the valley was truly
splendid. On either side of us there was a gentle rise in the land,
which thus formed two ridges about a mile apart on each side of the
valley. These ridges,--which, as well as the low grounds between them,
were covered with trees and shrubs of the most luxuriant kind--continued
to recede inland for about two miles, when they joined the foot of a
small mountain. This hill rose rather abruptly from the head of the
valley, and was likewise entirely covered even to the top with trees,
except on one particular spot near the left shoulder, where was a bare
and rocky place of a broken and savage character. Beyond this hill we
could not see, and we therefore directed our course up the banks of the
rivulet towards the foot of it, intending to climb to the top, should
that be possible, as, indeed, we had no doubt it was.

Jack, being the wisest and boldest among us, took the lead, carrying the
axe on his shoulder. Peterkin, with his enormous club, came second, as
he said he should like to be in a position to defend me if any danger
should threaten. I brought up the rear, but, having been more taken up
with the wonderful and curious things I saw at starting than with
thoughts of possible danger, I had very foolishly left my club behind me.
Although, as I have said the trees and bushes were very luxuriant, they
were not so thickly crowded together as to hinder our progress among
them. We were able to wind in and out, and to follow the banks of the
stream quite easily, although, it is true, the height and thickness of
the foliage prevented us from seeing far ahead. But sometimes a jutting-
out rock on the hill sides afforded us a position whence we could enjoy
the romantic view and mark our progress towards the foot of the hill. I
was particularly struck, during the walk, with the richness of the
undergrowth in most places, and recognised many berries and plants that
resembled those of my native land, especially a tall, elegantly-formed
fern, which emitted an agreeable perfume. There were several kinds of
flowers, too, but I did not see so many of these as I should have
expected in such a climate. We also saw a great variety of small birds
of bright plumage, and many paroquets similar to the one that awoke
Peterkin so rudely in the morning.

Thus we advanced to the foot of the hill without encountering anything to
alarm us, except, indeed, once, when we were passing close under a part
of the hill which was hidden from our view by the broad leaves of the
banana trees, which grew in great luxuriance in that part. Jack was just
preparing to force his way through this thicket, when we were startled
and arrested by a strange pattering or rumbling sound, which appeared to
us quite different from any of the sounds we had heard during the
previous part of our walk.

"Hallo!" cried Peterkin, stopping short and grasping his club with both
hands, "what's that?"

Neither of us replied; but Jack seized his axe in his right hand, while
with the other he pushed aside the broad leaves and endeavoured to peer
amongst them.

"I can see nothing," he said, after a short pause.

"I think it--"

Again the rumbling sound came, louder than before, and we all sprang back
and stood on the defensive. For myself, having forgotten my club, and
not having taken the precaution to cut another, I buttoned my jacket,
doubled my fists, and threw myself into a boxing attitude. I must say,
however, that I felt somewhat uneasy; and my companions afterwards
confessed that their thoughts at this moment had been instantly filled
with all they had ever heard or read of wild beasts and savages,
torturings at the stake, roastings alive, and such like horrible things.
Suddenly the pattering noise increased with tenfold violence. It was
followed by a fearful crash among the bushes, which was rapidly repeated,
as if some gigantic animal were bounding towards us. In another moment
an enormous rock came crashing through the shrubbery, followed by a cloud
of dust and small stones, flew close past the spot where we stood,
carrying bushes and young trees along with it.

"Pooh! is that all?" exclaimed Peterkin, wiping the perspiration off his
forehead. "Why, I thought it was all the wild men and beasts in the
South Sea Islands galloping on in one grand charge to sweep us off the
face of the earth, instead of a mere stone tumbling down the mountain
side."

"Nevertheless," remarked Jack, "if that same stone had hit any of us, it
would have rendered the charge you speak of quite unnecessary, Peterkin."

This was true, and I felt very thankful for our escape. On examining the
spot more narrowly, we found that it lay close to the foot of a very
rugged precipice, from which stones of various sizes were always tumbling
at intervals. Indeed, the numerous fragments lying scattered all around
might have suggested the cause of the sound, had we not been too suddenly
alarmed to think of anything.

We now resumed our journey, resolving that, in our future excursions into
the interior, we would be careful to avoid this dangerous precipice.

Soon afterwards we arrived at the foot of the hill and prepared to ascend
it. Here Jack made a discovery which caused us all very great joy. This
was a tree of a remarkably beautiful appearance, which Jack confidently
declared to be the celebrated bread-fruit tree.

"Is it celebrated?" inquired Peterkin, with a look of great simplicity.

"It is," replied Jack

"That's odd, now," rejoined Peterkin; "never heard of it before."

"Then it's not so celebrated as I thought it was," returned Jack, quietly
squeezing Peterkin's hat over his eyes; "but listen, you ignorant boobie!
and hear of it now."

Peterkin re-adjusted his hat, and was soon listening with as much
interest as myself, while Jack told us that this tree is one of the most
valuable in the islands of the south; that it bears two, sometimes three,
crops of fruit in the year; that the fruit is very like wheaten bread in
appearance, and that it constitutes the principal food of many of the
islanders.

"So," said Peterkin, "we seem to have everything ready prepared to our
hands in this wonderful island,--lemonade ready bottled in nuts, and loaf-
bread growing on the trees!"

Peterkin, as usual, was jesting; nevertheless, it is a curious fact that
he spoke almost the literal truth. "Moreover," continued Jack, "the
bread-fruit tree affords a capital gum, which serves the natives for
pitching their canoes; the bark of the young branches is made by them
into cloth; and of the wood, which is durable and of a good colour, they
build their houses. So you see, lads, that we have no lack of material
here to make us comfortable, if we are only clever enough to use it."

"But are you sure that that's it?" asked Peterkin.

"Quite sure," replied Jack; "for I was particularly interested in the
account I once read of it, and I remember the description well. I am
sorry, however, that I have forgotten the descriptions of many other
trees which I am sure we have seen to-day, if we could but recognise
them. So you see, Peterkin, I'm not up to everything yet."

"Never mind, Jack," said Peterkin, with a grave, patronizing expression
of countenance, patting his tall companion on the shoulder,--"never mind,
Jack; you know a good deal for your age. You're a clever boy, sir,--a
promising young man; and if you only go on as you have begun, sir, you
will--"

The end of this speech was suddenly cut short by Jack tripping up
Peterkin's heels and tumbling him into a mass of thick shrubs, where,
finding himself comfortable, he lay still basking in the sunshine, while
Jack and I examined the bread-tree.

We were much struck with the deep, rich green colour of its broad leaves,
which were twelve or eighteen inches long, deeply indented, and of a
glossy smoothness, like the laurel. The fruit, with which it was loaded,
was nearly round, and appeared to be about six inches in diameter, with a
rough rind, marked with lozenge-shaped divisions. It was of various
colours, from light pea-green to brown and rich yellow. Jack said that
the yellow was the ripe fruit. We afterwards found that most of the
fruit-trees on the island were evergreens, and that we might, when we
wished, pluck the blossom and the ripe fruit from the same tree. Such a
wonderful difference from the trees of our own country surprised us not a
little. The bark of the tree was rough and light-coloured; the trunk was
about two feet in diameter, and it appeared to be twenty feet high, being
quite destitute of branches up to that height, where it branched off into
a beautiful and umbrageous head. We noticed that the fruit hung in
clusters of twos and threes on the branches; but as we were anxious to
get to the top of the hill, we refrained from attempting to pluck any at
that time.

Our hearts were now very much cheered by our good fortune, and it was
with light and active steps that we clambered up the steep sides of the
hill. On reaching the summit, a new, and if possible a grander, prospect
met our gaze. We found that this was not the highest part of the island,
but that another hill lay beyond, with a wide valley between it and the
one on which we stood. This valley, like the first, was also full of
rich trees, some dark and some light green, some heavy and thick in
foliage, and others light, feathery, and graceful, while the beautiful
blossoms on many of them threw a sort of rainbow tint over all, and gave
to the valley the appearance of a garden of flowers. Among these we
recognised many of the bread-fruit trees, laden with yellow fruit, and
also a great many cocoa-nut palms. After gazing our fill we pushed down
the hill side, crossed the valley, and soon began to ascend the second
mountain. It was clothed with trees nearly to the top, but the summit
was bare, and in some places broken.

While on our way up we came to an object which filled us with much
interest. This was the stump of a tree that had evidently been cut down
with an axe! So, then, we were not the first who had viewed this
beautiful isle. The hand of man had been at work there before us. It
now began to recur to us again that perhaps the island was inhabited,
although we had not seen any traces of man until now; but a second glance
at the stump convinced us that we had not more reason to think so now
than formerly; for the surface of the wood was quite decayed, and partly
covered with fungus and green matter, so that it must have been cut many
years ago.

"Perhaps," said Peterkin, "some ship or other has touched here long ago
for wood, and only taken one tree."

We did not think this likely, however, because, in such circumstances,
the crew of a ship would cut wood of small size, and near the shore,
whereas this was a large tree and stood near the top of the mountain. In
fact it was the highest large tree on the mountain, all above it being
wood of very recent growth.

"I can't understand it," said Jack, scratching the surface of the stump
with his axe. "I can only suppose that the savages have been here and
cut it for some purpose known only to themselves. But, hallo! what have
we here?"

As he spoke, Jack began carefully to scrape away the moss and fungus from
the stump, and soon laid bare three distinct traces of marks, as if some
inscription or initials had been cut thereon. But although the traces
were distinct, beyond all doubt, the exact form of the letters could not
be made out. Jack thought they looked like J. S. but we could not be
certain. They had apparently been carelessly cut, and long exposure to
the weather had so broken them up that we could not make out what they
were. We were exceedingly perplexed at this discovery, and stayed a long
time at the place conjecturing what these marks could have been, but
without avail; so, as the day was advancing, we left it and quickly
reached the top of the mountain.

We found this to be the highest point of the island, and from it we saw
our kingdom lying, as it were, like a map around us. As I have always
thought it impossible to get a thing properly into one's understanding
without comprehending it, I shall beg the reader's patience for a little
while I describe our island, thus, shortly:--

It consisted of two mountains; the one we guessed at 500 feet; the other,
on which we stood, at 1000. Between these lay a rich, beautiful valley,
as already said. This valley crossed the island from one end to the
other, being high in the middle and sloping on each side towards the sea.
The large mountain sloped, on the side farthest from where we had been
wrecked, gradually towards the sea; but although, when viewed at a
glance, it had thus a regular sloping appearance, a more careful
observation showed that it was broken up into a multitude of very small
vales, or rather dells and glens, intermingled with little rugged spots
and small but abrupt precipices here and there, with rivulets tumbling
over their edges and wandering down the slopes in little white streams,
sometimes glistening among the broad leaves of the bread-fruit and cocoa-
nut trees, or hid altogether beneath the rich underwood. At the base of
this mountain lay a narrow bright green plain or meadow, which terminated
abruptly at the shore. On the other side of the island, whence we had
come, stood the smaller hill, at the foot of which diverged three
valleys; one being that which we had ascended, with a smaller vale on
each side of it, and separated from it by the two ridges before
mentioned. In these smaller valleys there were no streams, but they were
clothed with the same luxuriant vegetation.

The diameter of the island seemed to be about ten miles, and, as it was
almost circular in form, its circumference must have been thirty
miles;--perhaps a little more, if allowance be made for the numerous bays
and indentations of the shore. The entire island was belted by a beach
of pure white sand, on which laved the gentle ripples of the lagoon. We
now also observed that the coral reef completely encircled the island;
but it varied its distance from it here and there, in some places being a
mile from the beach, in others, a few hundred yards, but the average
distance was half a mile. The reef lay very low, and the spray of the
surf broke quite over it in many places. This surf never ceased its
roar, for, however calm the weather might be, there is always a gentle
swaying motion in the great Pacific, which, although scarce noticeable
out at sea, reaches the shore at last in a huge billow. The water within
the lagoon, as before said, was perfectly still. There were three narrow
openings in the reef; one opposite each end of the valley which I have
described as crossing the island; the other opposite our own valley,
which we afterwards named the Valley of the Wreck. At each of these
openings the reef rose into two small green islets, covered with bushes
and having one or two cocoa-nut palms on each. These islets were very
singular, and appeared as if planted expressly for the purpose of marking
the channel into the lagoon. Our captain was making for one of these
openings the day we were wrecked, and would have reached it too, I doubt
not, had not the rudder been torn away. Within the lagoon were several
pretty, low coral islands, just opposite our encampment; and, immediately
beyond these, out at sea, lay about a dozen other islands, at various
distances, from half a mile to ten miles; all of them, as far as we could
discern, smaller than ours and apparently uninhabited. They seemed to be
low coral islands, raised but little above the sea, yet covered with
cocoa-nut trees.

All this we noted, and a great deal more, while we sat on the top of the
mountain. After we had satisfied ourselves we prepared to return; but
here again we discovered traces of the presence of man. These were a
pole or staff and one or two pieces of wood which had been squared with
an axe. All of these were, however, very much decayed, and they had
evidently not been touched for many years.

Full of these discoveries we returned to our encampment. On the way we
fell in with the traces of some four-footed animal, but whether old or of
recent date none of us were able to guess. This also tended to raise our
hopes of obtaining some animal food on the island, so we reached home in
good spirits, quite prepared for supper, and highly satisfied with our
excursion.

After much discussion, in which Peterkin took the lead, we came to the
conclusion that the island was uninhabited, and went to bed.




CHAPTER VII.


Jack's ingenuity--We get into difficulties about fishing, and get out of
them by a method which gives us a cold bath--Horrible encounter with a
shark.

For several days after the excursion related in the last chapter we did
not wander far from our encampment, but gave ourselves up to forming
plans for the future and making our present abode comfortable.

There were various causes that induced this state of comparative
inaction. In the first place, although everything around us was so
delightful, and we could without difficulty obtain all that we required
for our bodily comfort, we did not quite like the idea of settling down
here for the rest of our lives, far away from our friends and our native
land. To set energetically about preparations for a permanent residence
seemed so like making up our minds to saying adieu to home and friends
for ever, that we tacitly shrank from it and put off our preparations,
for one reason and another, as long as we could. Then there was a little
uncertainty still as to there being natives on the island, and we
entertained a kind of faint hope that a ship might come and take us off.
But as day after day passed, and neither savages nor ships appeared, we
gave up all hope of an early deliverance and set diligently to work at
our homestead.

During this time, however, we had not been altogether idle. We made
several experiments in cooking the cocoa-nut, most of which did not
improve it. Then we removed our goods, and took up our abode in the
cave, but found the change so bad that we returned gladly to the bower.
Besides this we bathed very frequently, and talked a great deal; at least
Jack and Peterkin did,--I listened. Among other useful things, Jack, who
was ever the most active and diligent, converted about three inches of
the hoop-iron into an excellent knife. First he beat it quite flat with
the axe. Then he made a rude handle, and tied the hoop-iron to it with
our piece of whip-cord, and ground it to an edge on a piece of
sand-stone. When it was finished he used it to shape a better handle, to
which he fixed it with a strip of his cotton handkerchief;--in which
operation he had, as Peterkin pointed out, torn off one of Lord Nelson's
noses. However, the whip-cord, thus set free, was used by Peterkin as a
fishing line. He merely tied a piece of oyster to the end of it. This
the fish were allowed to swallow, and then they were pulled quickly
ashore. But as the line was very short and we had no boat, the fish we
caught were exceedingly small.

One day Peterkin came up from the beach, where he had been angling, and
said in a very cross tone, "I'll tell you what, Jack, I'm not going to be
humbugged with catching such contemptible things any longer. I want you
to swim out with me on your back, and let me fish in deep water!"

"Dear me, Peterkin," replied Jack, "I had no idea you were taking the
thing so much to heart, else I would have got you out of that difficulty
long ago. Let me see,"--and Jack looked down at a piece of timber on
which he had been labouring, with a peculiar gaze of abstraction, which
he always assumed when trying to invent or discover anything.

"What say you to building a boat?" he inquired, looking up hastily.

"Take far too long," was the reply; "can't be bothered waiting. I want
to begin at once!"

Again Jack considered. "I have it!" he cried. "We'll fell a large tree
and launch the trunk of it in the water, so that when you want to fish
you've nothing to do but to swim out to it."

"Would not a small raft do better?" said I.

"Much better; but we have no ropes to bind it together with. Perhaps we
may find something hereafter that will do as well, but, in the meantime,
let us try the tree."

This was agreed on, so we started off to a spot not far distant, where we
knew of a tree that would suit us, which grew near the water's edge. As
soon as we reached it Jack threw off his coat, and, wielding the axe with
his sturdy arms, hacked and hewed at it for a quarter of an hour without
stopping. Then he paused, and, while he sat down to rest, I continued
the work. Then Peterkin made a vigorous attack on it, so that when Jack
renewed his powerful blows, a few minutes cutting brought it down with a
terrible crash.

"Hurrah! now for it," cried Jack; "let us off with its head."

So saying he began to cut through the stem again, at about six yards from
the thick end. This done, he cut three strong, short poles or levers
from the stout branches, with which to roll the log down the beach into
the sea; for, as it was nearly two feet thick at the large end, we could
not move it without such helps. With the levers, however, we rolled it
slowly into the sea.

Having been thus successful in launching our vessel, we next shaped the
levers into rude oars or paddles, and then attempted to embark. This was
easy enough to do; but, after seating ourselves astride the log, it was
with the utmost difficulty we kept it from rolling round and plunging us
into the water. Not that we minded that much; but we preferred, if
possible, to fish in dry clothes. To be sure, our trousers were
necessarily wet, as our legs were dangling in the water on each side of
the log; but, as they could be easily dried, we did not care. After half
an hour's practice, we became expert enough to keep our balance pretty
steadily. Then Peterkin laid down his paddle, and having baited his line
with a whole oyster, dropt it into deep water.

"Now, then, Jack," said he, "be cautious; steer clear o' that sea-weed.
There; that's it; gently, now, gently. I see a fellow at least a foot
long down there, coming to--ha! that's it! Oh! bother, he's off."

"Did he bite?" said Jack, urging the log onwards a little with his
paddle.

"Bite? ay! He took it into his mouth, but the moment I began to haul he
opened his jaws and let it out again."

"Let him swallow it next time," said Jack, laughing at the melancholy
expression of Peterkin's visage.

"There he's again," cried Peterkin, his eyes flashing with excitement.
"Look out! Now then! No! Yes! No! Why, the brute _won't_ swallow
it!"

"Try to haul him up by the mouth, then," cried Jack. "Do it gently."

A heavy sigh and a look of blank despair showed that poor Peterkin had
tried and failed again.

"Never mind, lad," said Jack, in a voice of sympathy; "we'll move on, and
offer it to some other fish." So saying, Jack plied his paddle; but
scarcely had he moved from the spot, when a fish with an enormous head
and a little body darted from under a rock and swallowed the bait at
once.

"Got him this time,--that's a fact!" cried Peterkin, hauling in the line.
"He's swallowed the bait right down to his tail, I declare. Oh what a
thumper!"

As the fish came struggling to the surface, we leaned forward to see it,
and overbalanced the log. Peterkin threw his arms round the fish's neck;
and, in another instant, we were all floundering in the water!

A shout of laughter burst from us as we rose to the surface like three
drowned rats, and seized hold of the log. We soon recovered our
position, and sat more warily, while Peterkin secured the fish, which had
well-nigh escaped in the midst of our struggles. It was little worth
having, however; but, as Peterkin remarked, it was better than the smouts
he had been catching for the last two or three days; so we laid it on the
log before us, and having re-baited the line, dropt it in again for
another.

Now, while we were thus intent upon our sport, our attention was suddenly
attracted by a ripple on the sea, just a few yards away from us. Peterkin
shouted to us to paddle in that direction, as he thought it was a big
fish, and we might have a chance of catching it. But Jack, instead of
complying, said, in a deep, earnest tone of voice, which I never before
heard him use,--

"Haul up your line, Peterkin; seize your paddle; quick,--it's a shark!"

The horror with which we heard this may well be imagined, for it must be
remembered that our legs were hanging down in the water, and we could not
venture to pull them up without upsetting the log. Peterkin instantly
hauled up the line; and, grasping his paddle, exerted himself to the
utmost, while we also did our best to make for shore. But we were a good
way off, and the log being, as I have before said, very heavy, moved but
slowly through the water. We now saw the shark quite distinctly swimming
round and round us, its sharp fin every now and then protruding above the
water. From its active and unsteady motions, Jack knew it was making up
its mind to attack us, so he urged us vehemently to paddle for our lives,
while he himself set us the example. Suddenly he shouted "Look
out!--there he comes!" and in a second we saw the monstrous fish dive
close under us, and turn half over on his side. But we all made a great
commotion with our paddles, which no doubt frightened it away for that
time, as we saw it immediately after circling round us as before.

"Throw the fish to him," cried Jack, in a quick, suppressed voice; "we'll
make the shore in time yet if we can keep him off for a few minutes."

Peterkin stopped one instant to obey the command, and then plied his
paddle again with all his might. No sooner had the fish fallen on the
water than we observed the shark to sink. In another second we saw its
white breast rising; for sharks always turn over on their sides when
about to seize their prey, their mouths being not at the point of their
heads like those of other fish, but, as it were, under their chins. In
another moment his snout rose above the water,--his wide jaws, armed with
a terrific double row of teeth, appeared. The dead fish was engulfed,
and the shark sank out of sight. But Jack was mistaken in supposing that
it would be satisfied. In a very few minutes it returned to us, and its
quick motions led us to fear that it would attack us at once.

"Stop paddling," cried Jack suddenly. "I see it coming up behind us.
Now, obey my orders quickly. Our lives may depend on it Ralph. Peterkin,
do your best to _balance the log_. Don't look out for the shark. Don't
glance behind you. Do nothing but balance the log."

{A dreadful adventure: p77.jpg}

Peterkin and I instantly did as we were ordered, being only too glad to
do anything that afforded us a chance or a hope of escape, for we had
implicit confidence in Jack's courage and wisdom. For a few seconds,
that seemed long minutes to my mind, we sat thus silently; but I could
not resist glancing backward, despite the orders to the contrary. On
doing so, I saw Jack sitting rigid like a statue, with his paddle raised,
his lips compressed, and his eye-brows bent over his eyes, which glared
savagely from beneath them down into the water. I also saw the shark, to
my horror, quite close under the log, in the act of darting towards
Jack's foot. I could scarce suppress a cry on beholding this. In
another moment the shark rose. Jack drew his leg suddenly from the
water, and threw it over the log. The monster's snout rubbed against the
log as it passed, and revealed its hideous jaws, into which Jack
instantly plunged the paddle, and thrust it down its throat. So violent
was the act that Jack rose to his feet in performing it; the log was
thereby rolled completely over, and we were once more plunged into the
water. We all rose, spluttering and gasping, in a moment.

"Now then, strike out for shore," cried Jack. "Here, Peterkin, catch
hold of my collar, and kick out with a will."

Peterkin did as he was desired, and Jack struck out with such force that
he cut through the water like a boat; while I, being free from all
encumbrance, succeeded in keeping up with him. As we had by this time
drawn pretty near to the shore, a few minutes more sufficed to carry us
into shallow water; and, finally, we landed in safety, though very much
exhausted, and not a little frightened by our terrible adventure.




CHAPTER VIII.


The beauties of the bottom of the sea tempt Peterkin to dive--How he did
it--More difficulties overcome--The water garden--Curious creatures of
the sea--The tank--Candles missed very much, and the candle-nut tree
discovered--Wonderful account of Peterkin's first voyage--Cloth found
growing on a tree--A plan projected, and arms prepared for offence and
defence--A dreadful cry.

Our encounter with the shark was the first great danger that had befallen
us since landing on this island, and we felt very seriously affected by
it, especially when we considered that we had so often unwittingly
incurred the same danger before while bathing. We were now forced to
take to fishing again in the shallow water, until we should succeed in
constructing a raft. What troubled us most, however, was, that we were
compelled to forego our morning swimming excursions. We did, indeed,
continue to enjoy our bathe in the shallow water, but Jack and I found
that one great source of our enjoyment was gone, when we could no longer
dive down among the beautiful coral groves at the bottom of the lagoon.
We had come to be so fond of this exercise, and to take such an interest
in watching the formations of coral and the gambols of the many beautiful
fish amongst the forests of red and green sea-weeds, that we had become
quite familiar with the appearance of the fish and the localities that
they chiefly haunted. We had also become expert divers. But we made it
a rule never to stay long under water at a time. Jack told me that to do
so often was bad for the lungs, and, instead of affording us enjoyment,
would ere long do us a serious injury. So we never stayed at the bottom
as long as we might have done, but came up frequently to the top for
fresh air, and dived down again immediately. Sometimes, when Jack
happened to be in a humorous frame, he would seat himself at the bottom
of the sea on one of the brain corals, as if he were seated on a large
paddock-stool, and then make faces at me, in order, if possible, to make
me laugh under water. At first, when he took me unawares, he nearly
succeeded, and I had to shoot to the surface in order to laugh; but
afterwards I became aware of his intentions, and, being naturally of a
grave disposition, I had no difficulty in restraining myself. I used
often to wonder how poor Peterkin would have liked to be with us; and he
sometimes expressed much regret at being unable to join us. I used to do
my best to gratify him, poor fellow, by relating all the wonders that we
saw; but this, instead of satisfying, seemed only to whet his curiosity
the more, so one day we prevailed on him to try to go down with us. But,
although a brave boy in every other way, Peterkin was very nervous in the
water, and it was with difficulty we got him to consent to be taken down,
for he could never have managed to push himself down to the bottom
without assistance. But no sooner had we pulled him down a yard or so
into the deep clear water, than he began to struggle and kick violently,
so we were forced to let him go, when he rose out of the water like a
cork, gave a loud gasp and a frightful roar, and struck out for the land
with the utmost possible haste.

Now, all this pleasure we were to forego, and when we thought thereon,
Jack and I felt very much depressed in our spirits. I could see, also,
that Peterkin grieved and sympathized with us, for, when talking about
this matter, he refrained from jesting and bantering us upon it.

As, however, a man's difficulties usually set him upon devising methods
to overcome them, whereby he often discovers better things than those he
may have lost, so this our difficulty induced us to think of searching
for a large pool among the rocks, where the water should be deep enough
for diving yet so surrounded by rocks as to prevent sharks from getting
at us. And such a pool we afterwards found, which proved to be very much
better than our most sanguine hopes anticipated. It was situated not
more than ten minutes' walk from our camp, and was in the form of a small
deep bay or basin, the entrance to which, besides being narrow, was so
shallow that no fish so large as a shark could get in, at least not
unless he should be a remarkably thin one.

Inside of this basin, which we called our Water Garden, the coral
formations were much more wonderful, and the sea-weed plants far more
lovely and vividly coloured, than in the lagoon itself. And the water
was so clear and still, that, although very deep, you could see the
minutest object at the bottom. Besides this, there was a ledge of rock
which overhung the basin at its deepest part, from which we could dive
pleasantly and whereon Peterkin could sit and see not only all the
wonders I had described to him, but also see Jack and me creeping amongst
the marine shrubbery at the bottom, like, as--he expressed it,--"two
great white sea-monsters." During these excursions of ours to the bottom
of the sea, we began to get an insight into the manners and customs of
its inhabitants, and to make discoveries of wonderful things, the like of
which we never before conceived. Among other things, we were deeply
interested with the operations of the little coral insect which, I was
informed by Jack, is supposed to have entirely constructed many of the
numerous islands in Pacific Ocean. And, certainly, when we considered
the great reef which these insects had formed round the island on which
we were cast, and observed their ceaseless activity in building their
myriad cells, it did at first seem as if this might be true; but then,
again, when I looked at the mountains of the island, and reflected that
there were thousands of such, many of them much higher, in the South
Seas, I doubted that there must be some mistake here. But more of this
hereafter.

I also became much taken up with the manners and appearance of the
anemones, and star-fish, and crabs, and sea-urchins, and such-like
creatures; and was not content with watching those I saw during my dives
in the Water Garden, but I must needs scoop out a hole in the coral rock
close to it, which I filled with salt water, and stocked with sundry
specimens of anemones and shell-fish, in order to watch more closely how
they were in the habit of passing their time. Our burning-glass also now
became a great treasure to me, as it enabled me to magnify, and so to
perceive more clearly the forms and actions of these curious creatures of
the deep.

Having now got ourselves into a very comfortable condition, we began to
talk of a project which we had long had in contemplation,--namely, to
travel entirely round the island; in order, first, to ascertain whether
it contained any other productions which might be useful to us; and,
second, to see whether there might be any place more convenient and
suitable for our permanent residence than that on which we were now
encamped. Not that we were in any degree dissatisfied with it; on the
contrary, we entertained quite a home-feeling to our bower and its
neighbourhood; but if a better place did exist, there was no reason why
we should not make use of it. At any rate, it would be well to know of
its existence.

We had much earnest talk over this matter. But Jack proposed that,
before undertaking such an excursion, we should supply ourselves with
good defensive arms, for, as we intended not only to go round all the
shore, but to ascend most of the valleys, before returning home, we
should be likely to meet in with, he would not say dangers, but, at
least, with everything that existed on the island, whatever that might
be.

"Besides," said Jack, "it won't do for us to live on cocoa-nuts and
oysters always. No doubt they are very excellent in their way, but I
think a little animal food, now and then, would be agreeable as well as
good for us; and as there are many small birds among the trees, some of
which are probably very good to eat, I think it would be a capital plan
to make bows and arrows, with which we could easily knock them over."

"First rate!" cried Peterkin. "You will make the bows, Jack, and I'll
try my hand at the arrows. The fact is, I'm quite tired of throwing
stones at the birds. I began the very day we landed, I think, and have
persevered up to the present time, but I've never hit anything yet."

"You forget," said I, "you hit me one day on the shin."

"Ah, true," replied Peterkin, "and a precious shindy you kicked up in
consequence. But you were at least four yards away from the impudent
paroquet I aimed at; so you see what a horribly bad shot I am."

"But," said I, "Jack, you cannot make three bows and arrows before to-
morrow, and would it not be a pity to waste time, now that we have made
up our minds to go on this expedition? Suppose that you make one bow and
arrow for yourself, and we can take our clubs?"

"That's true, Ralph. The day is pretty far advanced, and I doubt if I
can make even one bow before dark. To be sure I might work by
fire-light, after the sun goes down."

We had, up to this time, been in the habit of going to bed with the sun,
as we had no pressing call to work o' nights; and, indeed, our work
during the day was usually hard enough,--what between fishing, and
improving our bower, and diving in the Water Garden, and rambling in the
woods; so that, when night came, we were usually very glad to retire to
our beds. But now that we had a desire to work at night, we felt a wish
for candles.

"Won't a good blazing fire give you light enough?" inquired Peterkin.

"Yes," replied Jack, "quite enough; but then it will give us a great deal
more than enough of heat in this warm climate of ours."

"True," said Peterkin; "I forgot that. It would roast us."

"Well, as you're always doing that at any rate," remarked Jack, "we could
scarcely call it a change. But the fact is, I've been thinking over this
subject before. There is a certain nut growing in these islands which is
called the candle-nut, because the natives use it instead of candles, and
I know all about it, and how to prepare it for burning--"

"Then why don't you do it?" interrupted Peterkin. "Why have you kept us
in the dark so long, you vile philosopher?"

"Because," said Jack, "I have not seen the tree yet, and I'm not sure
that I should know either the tree or the nuts if I did see them. You
see, I forget the description."

"Ah! that's just the way with me," said Peterkin with a deep sigh. "I
never could keep in my mind for half an hour the few descriptions I ever
attempted to remember. The very first voyage I ever made was caused by
my mistaking a description, or forgetting it, which is the same thing.
And a horrible voyage it was. I had to fight with the captain the whole
way out, and made the homeward voyage by swimming!"

"Come, Peterkin," said I, "you can't get even _me_ to believe that."

"Perhaps not, but it's true, notwithstanding," returned Peterkin,
pretending to be hurt at my doubting his word.

"Let us hear how it happened," said Jack, while a good-natured smile
overspread his face.

"Well, you must know," began Peterkin, "that the very day before I went
to sea, I was greatly taken up with a game at hockey, which I was playing
with my old school-fellows for the last time before leaving them. You
see I was young then, Ralph." Peterkin gazed, in an abstracted and
melancholy manner, out to sea! "Well, in the midst of the game, my
uncle, who had taken all the bother and trouble of getting me bound
'prentice and rigged out, came and took me aside, and told me that he was
called suddenly away from home, and would not be able to see me aboard,
as he had intended. 'However,' said he, 'the captain knows you are
coming, so that's not of much consequence; but as you'll have to find the
ship yourself, you must remember her name and description. D'ye hear,
boy?' I certainly did hear, but I'm afraid I did not understand, for my
mind was so taken up with the game, which I saw my side was losing, that
I began to grow impatient, and the moment my uncle finished his
description of the ship, and bade me good-bye, I bolted back to my game,
with only a confused idea of three masts, and a green painted tafferel,
and a gilt figure-head of Hercules with his club at the bow. Next day I
was so much cast down with everybody saying good-bye, and a lot o' my
female friends cryin' horribly over me, that I did not start for the
harbour, where the ship was lying among a thousand others, till it was
almost too late. So I had to run the whole way. When I reached the
pier, there were so many masts, and so much confusion, that I felt quite
humblebumbled in my faculties. 'Now,' said I to myself, 'Peterkin,
you're in a fix.' Then I fancied I saw a gilt figure-head and three
masts, belonging to a ship just about to start; so I darted on board, but
speedily jumped on shore again, when I found that two of the masts
belonged to another vessel, and the figurehead to a third! At last I
caught sight of what I made sure was it,--a fine large vessel just
casting off her moorings. The tafferel was green. Three masts,--yes,
that must be it,--and the gilt figure-head of Hercules. To be sure it
had a three-pronged pitchfork in its hand instead of a club; but that
might be my uncle's mistake; or perhaps Hercules sometimes varied his
weapons. 'Cast off!' roared a voice from the quarter-deck. 'Hold on!'
cried I, rushing frantically through the crowd. 'Hold on! hold on!'
repeated some of the bystanders, while the men at the ropes delayed for a
minute. This threw the captain into a frightful rage; for some of his
friends had come down to see him off, and having his orders contradicted
so flatly was too much for him. However, the delay was sufficient. I
took a race and a good leap; the ropes were cast off; the steam-tug gave
a puff, and we started. Suddenly the captain was up to me: 'Where did
you come from, you scamp, and what do you want here?'

"'Please, sir,' said I, touching my cap, 'I'm you're new 'prentice come
aboard.'

"'New 'Prentice,' said he, stamping, 'I've got no new 'prentice. My boys
are all aboard already. This is a trick, you young blackguard. You've
run away, you have;' and the captain stamped about the deck and swore
dreadfully; for, you see, the thought of having to stop the ship and
lower a boat and lose half an hour, all for the slake of sending a small
boy ashore, seemed to make him very angry. Besides, it was blowin' fresh
outside the harbour, so that, to have let the steamer alongside to put me
into it was no easy job. Just as we were passing the pier-head, where
several boats were rowing into harbour, the captain came up to me,--

"'You've run away, you blackguard,' he said, giving me a box on the ear.

"'No I haven't,' said I, angrily; for the box was by no means a light
one.

"Hark'ee, boy, can you swim?'

"'Yes,' said I.

"'Then do it,' and, seizing me by my trousers and the nape of my neck, he
tossed me over the side into the sea. The fellows in the boats at the
end of the pier, backed their oars on seeing this; but observing that I
could swim, they allowed me to make the best of my way to the pier-head.
So, you see, Ralph, that I really did swim my first homeward voyage."

Jack laughed and patted Peterkin on the shoulder. "But tell us about the
candle-nut tree," said I; "you were talking about it."

"Very true," said Jack, "but I fear I can remember little about it. I
believe the nut is about the size of a walnut; and I think that the
leaves are white, but I am not sure."

"Eh! ha! hum!" exclaimed Peterkin, "I saw a tree answering to that
description this very day."

"Did you?" cried Jack. "Is it far from this?"

"No, not half a mile."

"Then lead me to it," said Jack, seizing his axe.

In a few minutes we were all three pushing through the underwood of the
forest, headed by Peterkin.

We soon came to the tree in question, which, after Jack had closely
examined it, we concluded must be the candle-nut tree. Its leaves were
of a beautiful silvery white, and formed a fine contrast to the
dark-green foliage of the surrounding trees. We immediately filled our
pockets with the nuts, after which Jack said,--

"Now, Peterkin, climb that cocoa-nut tree and cut me one of the long
branches."

This was soon done, but it cost some trouble, for the stem was very high,
and as Peterkin usually pulled nuts from the younger trees, he was not
much accustomed to climbing the high ones. The leaf or branch was a very
large one, and we were surprised at its size and strength. Viewed from a
little distance, the cocoa-nut tree seems to be a tall, straight stem,
without a single branch except at the top, where there is a tuft of
feathery-looking leaves, that seem to wave like soft plumes in the wind.
But when we saw one of these leaves or branches at our feet, we found it
to be a strong stalk, about fifteen feet long, with a number of narrow,
pointed leaflets ranged alternately on each side. But what seemed to us
the most wonderful thing about it was a curious substance resembling
cloth, which was wrapped round the thick end of the stalk, where it had
been cut from the tree. Peterkin told us that he had the greatest
difficulty in separating the branch from the stem, on account of this
substance, as it was wrapped quite round the tree, and, he observed,
round all the other branches, thus forming a strong support to the large
leaves while exposed to high winds. When I call this substance cloth I
do not exaggerate. Indeed, with regard to all the things I saw during my
eventful career in the South Seas, I have been exceedingly careful not to
exaggerate, or in any way to mislead or deceive my readers. This cloth,
I say, was remarkably like to coarse brown cotton cloth. It had a seam
or fibre down the centre of it, from which diverged other fibres, about
the size of a bristle. There were two layers of these fibres, very long
and tough, the one layer crossing the other obliquely, and the whole was
cemented together with a still finer fibrous and adhesive substance. When
we regarded it attentively, we could with difficulty believe that it had
not been woven by human hands. This remarkable piece of cloth we
stripped carefully off, and found it to be above two feet long, by a foot
broad, and we carried it home with us as a great prize.

Jack now took one of the leaflets, and, cutting out the central spine or
stalk, hurried back with it to our camp. Having made a small fire, he
baked the nuts slightly, and then pealed off the husks. After this he
wished to bore a hole in them, which, not having anything better at hand
at the time, he did with the point of our useless pencil-case. Then he
strung them on the cocoa-nut spine, and on putting a light to the topmost
nut, we found to our joy that it burned with a clear, beautiful flame;
upon seeing which, Peterkin sprang up and danced round the fire for at
least five minutes in the excess of his satisfaction.

"Now lads," said Jack, extinguishing our candle, the sun will set in an
hour, so we have no time to lose. "I shall go and cut a young tree to
make my bow out of, and you had better each of you go and select good
strong sticks for clubs, and we'll set to work at them after dark."

So saying he shouldered his axe and went off, followed by Peterkin, while
I took up the piece of newly discovered cloth, and fell to examining its
structure. So engrossed was I in this that I was still sitting in the
same attitude and occupation when my companions returned.

"I told you so!" cried Peterkin, with a loud laugh. "Oh, Ralph, you're
incorrigible. See, there's a club for you. I was sure, when we left you
looking at that bit of stuff, that we would find you poring over it when
we came back, so I just cut a club for you as well as for myself."

"Thank you, Peterkin," said I. "It was kind of you to do that, instead
of scolding me for a lazy fellow, as I confess I deserve."

"Oh! as to that," returned Peterkin, "I'll blow you up yet, if you wish
it--only it would be of no use if I did, for you're a perfect mule!"

As it was now getting dark we lighted our candle, and placing it in a
holder made of two crossing branches, inside of our bower, we seated
ourselves on our leafy beds and began to work.

"I intend to appropriate the bow for my own use," said Jack, chipping the
piece of wood he had brought with his axe. "I used to be a pretty fair
shot once. But what's that you're doing?" he added, looking at Peterkin,
who had drawn the end of a long pole into the tent, and was endeavouring
to fit a small piece of the hoop-iron to the end of it.

"I'm going to enlist into the Lancers," answered Peterkin. "You see,
Jack, I find the club rather an unwieldy instrument for my delicately-
formed muscles, and I flatter myself I shall do more execution with a
spear."

"Well, if length constitutes power," said Jack, "you'll certainly be
invincible."

The pole which Peterkin had cut was full twelve feet long, being a very
strong but light and tough young tree, which merely required thinning at
the butt to be a serviceable weapon.

"That's a very good idea," said I.

"Which--this?" inquired Peterkin, pointing to the spear.

"Yes;" I replied.

"Humph!" said he; "you'd find it a pretty tough and matter-of-fact idea,
if you had it stuck through your gizzard, old boy!"

"I mean the idea of making it is a good one," said I, laughing. "And,
now I think of it, I'll change my plan, too. I don't think much of a
club, so I'll make me a sling out of this piece of cloth. I used to be
very fond of slinging, ever since I read of David slaying Goliath the
Philistine, and I was once thought to be expert at it."

So I set to work to manufacture a sling. For a long time we all worked
very busily without speaking. At length Peterkin looked up: "I say,
Jack, I'm sorry to say I must apply to you for another strip of your
handkerchief, to tie on this rascally head with. It's pretty well torn
at any rate, so you won't miss it."

Jack proceeded to comply with this request when Peterkin suddenly laid
his hand on his arm and arrested him.

"Hist, man," said he, "be tender; you should never be needlessly cruel if
you can help it. Do try to shave past Lord Nelson's mouth without
tearing it, if possible! Thanks. There are plenty more handkerchiefs on
the cocoa-nut trees."

Poor Peterkin! with what pleasant feelings I recall and record his jests
and humorous sayings now!

While we were thus engaged, we were startled by a distant but most
strange and horrible cry. It seemed to come from the sea, but was so far
away that we could not clearly distinguish its precise direction. Rushing
out of our bower, we hastened down to the beach and stayed to listen.
Again it came quite loud and distinct on the night air,--a prolonged,
hideous cry, something like the braying of an ass. The moon had risen,
and we could see the islands in and beyond the lagoon quite plainly, but
there was no object visible to account for such a cry. A strong gust of
wind was blowing from the point whence the sound came, but this died away
while we were gazing out to sea.

"What can it be?" said Peterkin, in a low whisper, while we all
involuntarily crept closer to each other.

"Do you know," said Jack, "I have heard that mysterious sound twice
before, but never so loud as to-night. Indeed it was so faint that I
thought I must have merely fancied it, so, as I did not wish to alarm
you, I said nothing about it."

We listened for a long time for the sound again, but as it did not come,
we returned to the bower and resumed our work.

"Very strange," said Peterkin, quite gravely. "Do you believe in ghosts,
Ralph?"

"No," I answered, "I do not. Nevertheless I must confess that strange,
unaccountable sounds, such as we have just heard, make me feel a little
uneasy."

"What say you to it, Jack?"

"I neither believe in ghosts nor feel uneasy," he replied. "I never saw
a ghost myself, and I never met with any one who had; and I have
generally found that strange and unaccountable things have almost always
been accounted for, and found to be quite simple, on close examination. I
certainly can't imagine what _that_ sound is; but I'm quite sure I shall
find out before long,--and if it's a ghost I'll--"

"Eat it," cried Peterkin.

"Yes, I'll eat it! Now, then, my bow and two arrows are finished; so if
you're ready we had better turn in."

By this time Peterkin had thinned down his spear and tied an iron point
very cleverly to the end of it; I had formed a sling, the lines of which
were composed of thin strips of the cocoa-nut cloth, plaited; and Jack
had made a stout bow, nearly five feet long, with two arrows, feathered
with two or three large plumes which some bird had dropt. They had no
barbs, but Jack said that if arrows were well feathered, they did not
require iron points, but would fly quite well if merely sharpened at the
point; which I did not know before.

"A feathered arrow without a barb," said he, "is a good weapon, but a
barbed arrow without feathers is utterly useless."

The string of the bow was formed of our piece of whip-cord, part of
which, as he did not like to cut it, was rolled round the bow.

Although thus prepared for a start on the morrow, we thought it wise to
exercise ourselves a little in the use of our weapons before starting, so
we spent the whole of the next day in practising. And it was well we did
so, for we found that our arms were very imperfect, and that we were far
from perfect in the use of them. First, Jack found that the bow was much
too strong, and he had to thin it. Also the spear was much too heavy,
and so had to be reduced in thickness, although nothing would induce
Peterkin to have it shortened. My sling answered very well, but I had
fallen so much out of practice that my first stone knocked off Peterkin's
hat, and narrowly missed making a second Goliath of him. However, after
having spent the whole day in diligent practice, we began to find some of
our former expertness returning--at least Jack and I did. As for
Peterkin, being naturally a neat-handed boy, he soon handled his spear
well, and could run full tilt at a cocoa nut, and hit it with great
precision once out of every five times.

But I feel satisfied that we owed much of our rapid success to the
unflagging energy of Jack, who insisted that, since we had made him
Captain, we should obey him; and he kept us at work from morning till
night, perseveringly, at the same thing. Peterkin wished very much to
run about and stick his spear into everything he passed; but Jack put up
a cocoa nut, and would not let him leave off running at that for a
moment, except when he wanted to rest. We laughed at Jack for this, but
we were both convinced that it did us much good.

That night we examined and repaired our arms ere we lay down to rest,
although we were much fatigued, in order that we might be in readiness to
set out on our expedition at daylight on the following morning.




CHAPTER IX.


Prepare for a journey round the island--Sagacious reflections--Mysterious
appearances and startling occurrences.

Scarcely had the sun shot its first ray across the bosom of the broad
Pacific, when Jack sprang to his feet, and, hallooing in Peterkin's ear
to awaken him, ran down the beach to take his customary dip in the sea.
We did not, as was our wont, bathe that morning in our Water Garden, but,
in order to save time, refreshed ourselves in the shallow water just
opposite the bower. Our breakfast was also despatched without loss of
time, and in less than an hour afterwards all our preparations for the
journey were completed.

In addition to his ordinary dress, Jack tied a belt of cocoa-nut cloth
round his waist, into which he thrust the axe. I was also advised to put
on a belt and carry a short cudgel or bludgeon in it; for, as Jack truly
remarked, the sling would be of little use if we should chance to come to
close quarters with any wild animal. As for Peterkin, notwithstanding
that he carried such a long, and I must add, frightful-looking spear over
his shoulder, we could not prevail on him to leave his club behind;
"for," said he, "a spear at close quarters is not worth a button." I
must say that it seemed to me that the club was, to use his own style of
language, not worth a button-hole; for it was all knotted over at the
head, something like the club which I remember to have observed in
picture-books of Jack the Giant Killer, besides being so heavy that he
required to grasp it with both hands in order to wield it at all.
However, he took it with him, and, in this manner we set out upon our
travels.

We did not consider it necessary to carry any food with us, as we knew
that wherever we went we should be certain to fall in with cocoa-nut
trees; having which, we were amply supplied, as Peterkin said, with meat
and drink and pocket-handkerchiefs! I took the precaution, however, to
put the burning-glass into my pocket, lest we should want fire.

The morning was exceeding lovely. It was one of that very still and
peaceful sort which made the few noises that we heard seem to be _quiet_
noises. I know no other way of expressing this idea. Noises which so
far from interrupting the universal tranquillity of earth, sea, and
sky--rather tended to reveal to us how quiet the world around us really
was. Such sounds as I refer to were, the peculiarly melancholy--yet, it
seemed to me, cheerful--plaint of sea-birds floating on the glassy water,
or sailing in the sky, also the subdued twittering of little birds among
the bushes, the faint ripples on the beach, and the solemn boom of the
surf upon the distant coral reef. We felt very glad in our hearts as we
walked along the sands side by side. For my part, I felt so deeply
overjoyed, that I was surprised at my own sensations, and fell into a
reverie upon the causes of happiness. I came to the conclusion that a
state of profound peace and repose, both in regard to outward objects and
within the soul, is the happiest condition in which man can be placed;
for, although I had many a time been most joyful and happy when engaged
in bustling, energetic, active pursuits or amusements, I never found that
such joy or satisfaction was so deep or so pleasant to reflect upon as
that which I now experienced. And I was the more confirmed in this
opinion when I observed, and, indeed, was told by himself, that
Peterkin's happiness was also very great; yet he did not express this by
dancing, as was his wont, nor did he give so much as a single shout, but
walked quietly between us with his eye sparkling, and a joyful smile upon
his countenance. My reader must not suppose that I thought all this in
the clear and methodical manner in which I have set it down here. These
thoughts did, indeed, pass through my mind, but they did so in a very
confused and indefinite manner, for I was young at that time, and not
much given to deep reflections. Neither did I consider that the peace
whereof I write is not to be found in this world--at least in its
perfection, although I have since learned that by religion a man may
attain to a very great degree of it.

I have said that Peterkin walked along the sands between us. We had two
ways of walking together about our island. When we travelled through the
woods, we always did so in single file, as by this method we advanced
with greater facility, the one treading in the other's footsteps. In
such cases Jack always took the lead, Peterkin followed, and I brought up
the rear. But when we travelled along the sands, which extended almost
in an unbroken line of glistening white round the island, we marched
abreast, as we found this method more sociable, and every way more
pleasant. Jack, being the tallest, walked next the sea, and Peterkin
marched between us, as by this arrangement either of us could talk to him
or he to us, while if Jack and I happened to wish to converse together,
we could conveniently do so over Peterkin's head. Peterkin used to say,
in reference to this arrangement, that had he been as tall as either of
us, our order of march might have been the same, for, as Jack often used
to scold him for letting everything we said to him pass in at one ear and
out at the other, his head could of course form no interruption to our
discourse.

We were now fairly started. Half a mile's walk conveyed us round a bend
in the land which shut out our bower from view, and for some time we
advanced at a brisk pace without speaking, though our eyes were not idle,
but noted everything, in the woods, on the shore, or in the sea, that was
interesting. After passing the ridge of land that formed one side of our
valley--the Valley of the Wreck--we beheld another small vale lying
before us in all the luxuriant loveliness of tropical vegetation. We
had, indeed, seen it before from the mountain-top, but we had no idea
that it would turn out to be so much more lovely when we were close to
it. We were about to commence the exploration of this valley, when
Peterkin stopped us, and directed our attention to a very remarkable
appearance in advance along the shore.

"What's yon, think you?" said he, levelling his spear, as if he expected
an immediate attack from the object in question, though it was full half
a mile distant.

As he spoke, there appeared a white column above the rocks, as if of
steam or spray. It rose upwards to a height of several feet, and then
disappeared. Had this been near the sea, we would not have been so
greatly surprised, as it might in that case have been the surf, for at
this part of the coast the coral reef approached so near to the island
that in some parts it almost joined it. There was therefore no lagoon
between, and the heavy surf of the ocean beat almost up to the rocks. But
this white column appeared about fifty yards inland. The rocks at the
place were rugged, and they stretched across the sandy beach into the
sea. Scarce had we ceased expressing our surprise at this sight, when
another column flew upwards for a few seconds, not far from the spot
where the first had been seen, and disappeared; and so, at long irregular
intervals, these strange sights recurred. We were now quite sure that
the columns were watery or composed of spray, but what caused them we
could not guess, so we determined to go and see.

In a few minutes we gained the spot, which was very rugged and
precipitous, and, moreover, quite damp with the falling of the spray. We
had much ado to pass over dry-shod. The ground also was full of holes
here and there. Now, while we stood anxiously waiting for the
re-appearance of these water-spouts, we heard a low, rumbling sound near
us, which quickly increased to a gargling and hissing noise, and a moment
afterwards a thick spout of water burst upwards from a hole in the rock,
and spouted into the air with much violence, and so close to where Jack
and I were standing that it nearly touched us. We sprang to one side,
but not before a cloud of spray descended, and drenched us both to the
skin.

Peterkin, who was standing farther off, escaped with a few drops, and
burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter on beholding our miserable
plight.

"Mind your eye!" he shouted eagerly, "there goes another!" The words
were scarcely out of his mouth when there came up a spout from another
hole, which served us exactly in the same manner as before.

Peterkin now shrieked with laughter; but his merriment was abruptly put a
stop to by the gurgling noise occurring close to where he stood.

"Where'll it spout this time, I wonder?" he said, looking about with some
anxiety, and preparing to run. Suddenly there came a loud hiss or snort;
a fierce spout of water burst up between Peterkin's legs, blew him off
his feet, enveloped him in its spray, and hurled him to the ground. He
fell with so much violence that we feared he must have broken some of his
bones, and ran anxiously to his assistance; but fortunately he had fallen
on a clump of tangled herbage, in which he lay sprawling in a most
deplorable condition.

It was now our turn to laugh; but as we were not yet quite sure that he
was unhurt, and as we knew not when or where the next spout might arise,
we assisted him hastily to jump up and hurry from the spot.

I may here add, that although I am quite certain that the spout of water
was very strong, and that it blew Peterkin completely off his legs, I am
not quite certain of the exact height to which it lifted him, being
somewhat startled by the event, and blinded partially by the spray, so
that my power of observation was somewhat impaired for the moment.

"What's to be done now?" inquired Peterkin ruefully.

"Make a fire, lad, and dry ourselves," replied Jack.

"And here is material ready to our hand," said I, picking up a dried
branch of a tree, as we hurried up to the woods.

In about an hour after this mishap our clothes were again dried. While
they were hanging up before the fire, we walked down to the beach, and
soon observed that these curious spouts took place immediately after the
fall of a huge wave, never before it; and, moreover, that the spouts did
not take place excepting when the billow was an extremely large one. From
this we concluded that there must be a subterraneous channel in the rock
into which the water was driven by the larger waves, and finding no way
of escape except through these small holes, was thus forced up violently
through them. At any rate, we could not conceive any other reason for
these strange water-spouts, and as this seemed a very simple and probable
one, we forthwith adopted it.

"I say, Ralph, what's that in the water? is it a shark?" said Jack, just
as we were about to quit the place.

I immediately ran to the overhanging ledge of rock, from which he was
looking down into the sea, and bent over it. There I saw a very faint
pale object of a greenish colour, which seemed to move slightly while I
looked at it.

"It's like a fish of some sort," said I.

"Hallo, Peterkin!" cried Jack, "fetch your spear; here's work for it."

But when we tried to reach the object, the spear proved to be too short.

"There, now," said Peterkin with a sneer, "you were always telling me it
was too long."

Jack now drove the spear forcibly towards the object, and let go his
hold; but, although it seemed to be well aimed, he must have missed, for
the handle soon rose again; and when the spear was drawn up, there was
the pale green object in exactly the same spot, slowly moving its tail.

"Very odd," said Jack.

But although it was undoubtedly very odd, and, although Jack and all of
us plunged the spear at it repeatedly, we could neither hit it nor drive
it away, so we were compelled to continue our journey without discovering
what it was. I was very much perplexed at this strange appearance in the
water, and could not get it out of my mind for a long time afterwards.
However, I quieted myself by resolving that I would pay a visit to it
again at some more convenient season.




CHAPTER X.


Make discovery of many excellent roots and fruits--The resources of the
Coral Island gradually unfolded--The banian-tree--Another tree which is
supported by natural planks--Water-fowl found--A very remarkable
discovery, and a very peculiar murder--We luxuriate on the fat of the
land.

Our examination of the little valley proved to be altogether most
satisfactory. We found in it not only similar trees to those we had
already seen in our own valley, but also one or two others of a different
species. We had also the satisfaction of discovering a peculiar
vegetable, which Jack concluded must certainly be that of which he had
read as being very common among the South Sea islanders, and which was
named _taro_. Also we found a large supply of yams, and another root
like a potato in appearance. As these were all quite new to us, we
regarded our lot as a most fortunate one, in being thus cast on an island
which was so prolific and so well stored with all the necessaries of
life. Long afterwards we found out that this island of ours was no
better in these respects than thousands of other islands in those seas.
Indeed, many of them were much richer and more productive; but that did
not render us the less grateful for our present good fortune. We each
put one of these roots in our pocket, intending to use them for our
supper; of which more hereafter. We also saw many beautiful birds here,
and traces of some four-footed animal again. Meanwhile the sun began to
descend, so we returned to the shore, and pushed on round the spouting
rocks into the next valley. This was that valley of which I have spoken
as running across the entire island. It was by far the largest and most
beautiful that we had yet looked upon. Here were trees of every shape
and size and hue which it is possible to conceive of, many of which we
had not seen in the other valleys; for, the stream in this valley being
larger, and the mould much richer than in the Valley of the Wreck, it was
clothed with a more luxuriant growth of trees and plants. Some trees
were dark glossy green, others of a rich and warm hue, contrasting well
with those of a pale light green, which were everywhere abundant. Among
these we recognised the broad dark heads of the bread-fruit, with its
golden fruit; the pure, silvery foliage of the candle-nut, and several
species which bore a strong resemblance to the pine; while here and
there, in groups and in single trees, rose the tall forms of the cocoa-
nut palms, spreading abroad, and waving their graceful plumes high above
all the rest, as if they were a superior race of stately giants keeping
guard over these luxuriant forests. Oh! it was a most enchanting scene,
and I thanked God for having created such delightful spots for the use of
man.

Now, while we were gazing around us in silent admiration, Jack uttered an
exclamation of surprise, and, pointing to an object a little to one side
of us, said,--

"That's a banian-tree."

"And what's a banian-tree?" inquired Peterkin, as we walked towards it.

"A very curious one, as you shall see presently," replied Jack. "It is
called the _aoa_ here, if I recollect rightly, and has a wonderful
peculiarity about it. What an enormous one it is, to be sure."

"_It_!" repeated Peterkin; "why, there are dozens of banians here! What
do you mean by talking bad grammar? Is your philosophy deserting you,
Jack?"

"There is but one tree here of this kind," returned Jack, "as you will
perceive if you will examine it." And, sure enough, we did find that
what we had supposed was a forest of trees was in reality only one. Its
bark was of a light colour, and had a shining appearance, the leaves
being lance-shaped, small, and of a beautiful pea-green. But the
wonderful thing about it was, that the branches, which grew out from the
stem horizontally, sent down long shoots or fibres to the ground, which,
taking root, had themselves become trees, and were covered with bark like
the tree itself. Many of these fibres had descended from the branches at
various distances, and thus supported them on natural pillars, some of
which were so large and strong, that it was not easy at first to
distinguish the offspring from the parent stem. The fibres were of all
sizes and in all states of advancement, from the pillars we have just
mentioned to small cords which hung down and were about to take root, and
thin brown threads still far from the ground, which swayed about with
every motion of wind. In short, it seemed to us that, if there were only
space afforded to it, this single tree would at length cover the whole
island.

Shortly after this we came upon another remarkable tree, which, as its
peculiar formation afterwards proved extremely useful to us, merits
description. It was a splendid chestnut, but its proper name Jack did
not know. However, there were quantities of fine nuts upon it, some of
which we put in our pockets. But its stem was the wonderful part of it.
It rose to about twelve feet without a branch, and was not of great
thickness; on the contrary, it was remarkably slender for the size of the
tree; but, to make up for this, there were four or five wonderful
projections in this stem, which I cannot better describe than by asking
the reader to suppose that five planks of two inches thick and three feet
broad had been placed round the trunk of the tree, with their _edges_
closely fixed to it, from the ground up to the branches, and that these
planks had been covered over with the bark of the tree and incorporated
with it. In short, they were just natural buttresses, without which the
stem could not have supported its heavy and umbrageous top. We found
these chestnuts to be very numerous. They grew chiefly on the banks of
the stream, and were of all sizes.

While we were examining a small tree of this kind, Jack chipped a piece
off a buttress with his axe, and found the wood to be firm and easily
cut. He then struck the axe into it with all his force, and very soon
split it off close to the tree, first, however, having cut it across
transversely above and below. By this means he satisfied himself that we
could now obtain short planks, as it were all ready sawn, of any size and
thickness that we desired; which was a very great discovery indeed,
perhaps the most important we had yet made.

We now wended our way back to the coast, intending to encamp near the
beach, as we found that the mosquitoes were troublesome in the forest. On
our way we could not help admiring the birds which flew and chirped
around us. Among them we observed a pretty kind of paroquet, with a
green body, a blue head, and a red breast; also a few beautiful
turtledoves, and several flocks of wood-pigeons. The hues of many of
these birds were extremely vivid,--bright green, blue, and scarlet, being
the prevailing tints. We made several attempts throughout the day to
bring down one of these, both with the bow and the sling,--not for mere
sport, but to ascertain whether they were good for food. But we
invariably missed, although once or twice we were very near hitting. As
evening drew on, however, a flock of pigeons flew past. I slung a stone
into the midst of them at a venture, and had the good fortune to kill
one. We were startled, soon after, by a loud whistling noise above our
heads; and on looking up, saw a flock of wild ducks making for the coast.
We watched these, and, observing where they alighted, followed them up
until we came upon a most lovely blue lake, not more than two hundred
yards long, imbosomed in verdant trees. Its placid surface, which
reflected every leaf and stem, as if in a mirror, was covered with
various species of wild ducks, feeding among the sedges and broad-leaved
water-plants which floated on it, while numerous birds like water-hens
ran to and fro most busily on its margin. These all with one accord flew
tumultuously away the instant we made our appearance. While walking
along the margin we observed fish in the water, but of what sort we could
not tell.

Now, as we neared the shore, Jack and I said we would go a little out of
our way to see if we could procure one of those ducks; so, directing
Peterkin to go straight to the shore and kindle a fire, we separated,
promising to rejoin him speedily. But we did not find the ducks,
although we made a diligent search for half an hour. We were about to
retrace our steps, when we were arrested by one of the strangest sights
that we had yet beheld.

Just in front of us, at the distance of about ten yards, grew a superb
tree, which certainly was the largest we had yet seen on the island. Its
trunk was at least five feet in diameter, with a smooth gray bark; above
this the spreading branches were clothed with light green leaves, amid
which were clusters of bright yellow fruit, so numerous as to weigh down
the boughs with their great weight. This fruit seemed to be of the plum
species, of an oblong form, and a good deal larger than the magnum bonum
plum. The ground at the foot of this tree was thickly strewn with the
fallen fruit, in the midst of which lay sleeping, in every possible
attitude, at least twenty hogs of all ages and sizes, apparently quite
surfeited with a recent banquet.

Jack and I could scarce restrain our laughter as we gazed at these
coarse, fat, ill-looking animals, while they lay groaning and snoring
heavily amid the remains of their supper.

"Now, Ralph," said Jack, in a low whisper, "put a stone in your sling,--a
good big one,--and let fly at that fat fellow with his back toward you.
I'll try to put an arrow into yon little pig."

"Don't you think we had better put them up first?" I whispered; "it seems
cruel to kill them while asleep."

"If I wanted _sport_, Ralph, I would certainly set them up; but as we
only want _pork_, we'll let them lie. Besides, we're not sure of killing
them; so, fire away."

Thus admonished, I slung my stone with so good aim that it went bang
against the hog's flank as if against the head of a drum; but it had no
other effect than that of causing the animal to start to its feet, with a
frightful yell of surprise, and scamper away. At the same instant Jack's
bow twanged, and the arrow pinned the little pig to the ground by the
ear.

"I've missed, after all," cried Jack, darting forward with uplifted axe,
while the little pig uttered a loud squeal, tore the arrow from the
ground, and ran away with it, along with the whole drove, into the bushes
and disappeared, though we heard them screaming long afterwards in the
distance.

"That's very provoking, now," said Jack, rubbing the point of his nose.

"Very," I replied, stroking my chin.

"Well, we must make haste and rejoin Peterkin," said Jack. "It's getting
late." And, without further remark, we threaded our way quickly through
the woods towards the shore.

When we reached it, we found wood laid out, the fire lighted and
beginning to kindle up, with other signs of preparation for our
encampment, but Peterkin was nowhere to be found. We wondered very much
at this; but Jack suggested that he might have gone to fetch water; so he
gave a shout to let him know that we had arrived, and sat down upon a
rock, while I threw off my jacket and seized the axe, intending to split
up one or two billets of wood. But I had scarce moved from the spot
when, in the distance, we heard a most appalling shriek, which was
followed up by a chorus of yells from the hogs, and a loud "hurrah!"

"I do believe," said I, "that Peterkin has met with the hogs."

"When Greek meets Greek," said Jack, soliloquizing, "then comes the tug
of--"

"Hurrah!" shouted Peterkin in the distance.

We turned hastily towards the direction whence the sound came, and soon
descried Peterkin walking along the beach towards us with a little pig
transfixed on the end of his long spear!

"Well done, my boy!" exclaimed Jack, slapping him on the shoulder when he
came up, "you're the best shot amongst us."

"Look here Jack!" cried Peterkin, as he disengaged the animal from his
spear. "Do you recognise that hole?" said he, pointing to the pig's ear;
"and are you familiar with this arrow, eh?"

"Well, I declare!" said Jack.

"Of course you do," interrupted Peterkin; "but, pray, restrain your
declarations at this time, and let's have supper, for I'm uncommonly
hungry, I can tell you; and it's no joke to charge a whole herd of swine
with their great-grandmother bristling like a giant porcupine at the head
of them!"

We now set about preparing supper; and, truly, a good display of viands
we made, when all was laid out on a flat rock in the light of the blazing
fire. There was, first of all, the little pig; then there was the taro-
root, and the yam, and the potato, and six plums; and, lastly, the wood-
pigeon. To these Peterkin added a bit of sugar-cane, which he had cut
from a little patch of that plant which he had found not long after
separating from us; "and," said he, "the patch was somewhat in a square
form, which convinces me it must have been planted by man."

"Very likely," replied Jack. "From all we have seen, I'm inclined to
think that some of the savages must have dwelt here long ago."

We found no small difficulty in making up our minds how we were to cook
the pig. None of us had ever cut up one before, and we did not know
exactly how to begin; besides, we had nothing but the axe to do it with,
our knife having been forgotten. At last Jack started up and said,--

"Don't let us waste more time talking about it, boys. Hold it up,
Peterkin. There, lay the hind leg on this block of wood, so;" and he cut
it off, with a large portion of the haunch, at a single blow of the axe.
"Now the other,--that's it." And having thus cut off the two hind legs,
he made several deep gashes in them, thrust a sharp-pointed stick through
each, and stuck them up before the blaze to roast. The wood-pigeon was
then split open, quite flat, washed clean in salt water, and treated in a
similar manner. While these were cooking, we scraped a hole in the sand
and ashes under the fire, into which we put our vegetables, and covered
them up.

The taro-root was of an oval shape, about ten inches long and four or
five thick. It was of a mottled-gray colour, and had a thick rind. We
found it somewhat like an Irish potato, and exceedingly good. The yam
was roundish, and had a rough brown skin. It was very sweet and well-
flavoured. The potato, we were surprised to find, was quite sweet and
exceedingly palatable, as also were the plums; and, indeed, the pork and
pigeon too, when we came to taste them. Altogether this was decidedly
the most luxurious supper we had enjoyed for many a day; and Jack said it
was out-of-sight better than we ever got on board ship; and Peterkin said
he feared that if we should remain long on the island he would infallibly
become a glutton or an epicure: whereat Jack remarked that he need not
fear that, for he was _both_ already! And so, having eaten our fill, not
forgetting to finish off with a plum, we laid ourselves comfortably down
to sleep upon a couch of branches under the overhanging ledge of a coral
rock.




CHAPTER XI.


Effects of over-eating, and reflections thereon--Humble advice regarding
cold water--The "horrible cry" accounted for--The curious birds called
penguins--Peculiarity of the cocoa nut palm--Questions on the formation
of coral islands--Mysterious footsteps--Strange discoveries and sad
sights.

When we awoke on the following morning, we found that the sun was already
a good way above the horizon, so I came to the conclusion that a heavy
supper is not conducive to early rising. Nevertheless, we felt
remarkably strong and well, and much disposed to have our breakfast.
First, however, we had our customary morning bathe, which refreshed us
greatly.

I have often wondered very much in after years that the inhabitants of my
own dear land did not make more frequent use of this most charming
element, water. I mean in the way of cold bathing. Of course, I have
perceived that it is not convenient for them to go into the sea or the
rivers in winter, as we used to do on the Coral Island; but then, I knew
from experience that a large washing-tub and a sponge do form a most
pleasant substitute. The feelings of freshness, of cleanliness, of
vigour, and extreme hilarity, that always followed my bathes in the sea,
and even, when in England, my ablutions in the wash-tub, were so
delightful, that I would sooner have gone without my breakfast than
without my bathe in cold water. My readers will forgive me for asking
whether they are in the habit of bathing thus every morning; and if they
answer "No," they will pardon me for recommending them to begin at once.
Of late years, since retiring from the stirring life of adventure which I
have led so long in foreign climes, I have heard of a system called the
cold-water-cure. Now, I do not know much about that system, so I do not
mean to uphold it, neither do I intend to run it down. Perhaps, in
reference to it, I may just hint that there may be too much of a good
thing. I know not; but of this I am quite certain, that there may also
be too little of a good thing; and the great delight I have had in cold
bathing during the course of my adventurous career inclines me to think
that it is better to risk taking too much than to content one's self with
too little. Such is my opinion, derived from much experience; but I put
it before my readers with the utmost diffidence and with profound
modesty, knowing that it may possibly jar with their feelings of
confidence in their own ability to know and judge as to what is best and
fittest in reference to their own affairs. But, to return from this
digression, for which I humbly crave forgiveness.

We had not advanced on our journey much above a mile or so, and were just
beginning to feel the pleasant glow that usually accompanies vigorous
exercise, when, on turning a point that revealed to us a new and
beautiful cluster of islands, we were suddenly arrested by the appalling
cry which had so alarmed us a few nights before. But this time we were
by no means so much alarmed as on the previous occasion, because, whereas
at that time it was night, now it was day; and I have always found,
though I am unable to account for it, that daylight banishes many of the
fears that are apt to assail us in the dark.

On hearing the sound, Peterkin instantly threw forward his spear.

"Now, what can it be?" said he, looking round at Jack. "I tell you what
it is, if we are to go on being pulled up in a constant state of horror
and astonishment, as we have been for the last week, the sooner we're out
o' this island the better, notwithstanding the yams and lemonade, and
pork and plums!"

Peterkin's remark was followed by a repetition of the cry, louder than
before.

"It comes from one of these islands," said Jack.

"It must be the ghost of a jackass, then," said Peterkin, "for I never
heard anything so like."

We all turned our eyes towards the cluster of islands, where, on the
largest, we observed curious objects moving on the shore.

"Soldiers they are,--that's flat!" cried Peterkin, gazing at them in the
utmost amazement.

And, in truth, Peterkin's remark seemed to me to be correct; for, at the
distance from which we saw them, they appeared to be an army of soldiers.
There they stood, rank and file, in lines and in squares, marching and
countermarching, with blue coats and white trousers. While we were
looking at them, the dreadful cry came again over the water, and Peterkin
suggested that it must be a regiment sent out to massacre the natives in
cold blood. At this remark Jack laughed and said,--

"Why, Peterkin, they are penguins!"

"Penguins?" repeated Peterkin.

"Ay, penguins, Peterkin, penguins,--nothing more or less than big sea-
birds, as you shall see one of these days, when we pay them a visit in
our boat, which I mean to set about building the moment we return to our
bower."

"So, then, our dreadful yelling ghosts and our murdering army of
soldiers," remarked Peterkin, "have dwindled down to penguins,--big sea-
birds! Very good. Then I propose that we continue our journey as fast
as possible, lest our island should be converted into a dream before we
get completely round it."

Now, as we continued on our way, I pondered much over this new discovery,
and the singular appearance of these birds, of which Jack could only give
us a very slight and vague account; and I began to long to commence to
our boat, in order that we might go and inspect them more narrowly. But
by degrees these thoughts left me, and I began to be much taken up again
with the interesting peculiarities of the country which we were passing
through.

The second night we passed in a manner somewhat similar to the first, at
about two-thirds of the way round the island, as we calculated, and we
hoped to sleep on the night following at our bower. I will not here note
so particularly all that we said and saw during the course of this second
day, as we did not make any further discoveries of great importance. The
shore along which we travelled, and the various parts of the woods
through which we passed, were similar to those which have been already
treated of. There were one or two observations that we made, however,
and these were as follows:--

We saw that, while many of the large fruit-bearing trees grew only in the
valleys, and some of them only near the banks of the streams, where the
soil was peculiarly rich, the cocoa-nut palm grew in every place
whatsoever,--not only on the hill sides, but also on the sea shore, and
even, as has been already stated, on the coral reef itself, where the
soil, if we may use the name, was nothing better than loose sand mingled
with broken shells and coral rock. So near to the sea, too, did this
useful tree grow, that in many places its roots were washed by the spray
from the breakers. Yet we found the trees growing thus on the sands to
be quite as luxuriant as those growing in the valleys, and the fruit as
good and refreshing also. Besides this, I noticed that, on the summit of
the high mountain, which we once more ascended at a different point from
our first ascent, were found abundance of shells and broken coral
formations, which Jack and I agreed proved either that this island must
have once been under the sea, or that the sea must once have been above
the island. In other words, that as shells and coral could not possibly
climb to the mountain top, they must have been washed upon it while the
mountain top was on a level with the sea. We pondered this very much;
and we put to ourselves the question, "What raised the island to its
present height above the sea?" But to this we could by no means give to
ourselves a satisfactory reply. Jack thought it might have been blown up
by a volcano; and Peterkin said he thought it must have jumped up of its
own accord! We also noticed, what had escaped us before, that the solid
rocks of which the island was formed were quite different from the live
coral rocks on the shore, where the wonderful little insects were
continually working. They seemed, indeed, to be of the same material,--a
substance like limestone; but, while the coral rocks were quite full of
minute cells in which the insects lived, the other rocks inland were hard
and solid, without the appearance of cells at all. Our thoughts and
conversations on this subject were sometimes so profound that Peterkin
said we should certainly get drowned in them at last, even although we
were such good divers! Nevertheless we did not allow his pleasantry on
this and similar points to deter us from making our notes and
observations as we went along.

We found several more droves of hogs in the woods, but abstained from
killing any of them, having more than sufficient for our present
necessities. We saw also many of their foot-prints in this
neighbourhood. Among these we also observed the footprints of a smaller
animal, which we examined with much care, but could form no certain
opinion as to them. Peterkin thought they were those of a little dog,
but Jack and I thought differently. We became very curious on this
matter, the more so that we observed these foot-prints to lie scattered
about in one locality, as if the animal which had made them was wandering
round about in a very irregular manner, and without any object in view.
Early in the forenoon of our third day we observed these footprints to be
much more numerous than ever, and in one particular spot they diverged
off into the woods in a regular beaten track, which was, however, so
closely beset with bushes, that we pushed through it with difficulty. We
had now become so anxious to find out what animal this was, and where it
went to, that we determined to follow the track, and, if possible, clear
up the mystery. Peterkin said, in a bantering tone, that he was sure it
would be cleared up as usual in some frightfully simple way, and prove to
be no mystery at all!

The beaten track seemed much too large to have been formed by the animal
itself, and we concluded that some larger animal had made it, and that
the smaller one made use of it. But everywhere the creeping plants and
tangled bushes crossed our path, so that we forced our way along with
some difficulty. Suddenly, as we came upon an open space, we heard a
faint cry, and observed a black animal standing in the track before us.

"A wild-cat!" cried Jack, fitting an arrow to his bow, and discharging it
so hastily that he missed the animal, and hit the earth about half a foot
to one side of it. To our surprise the wild-cat did not fly, but walked
slowly towards the arrow, and snuffed at it.

"That's the most comical wild-cat I ever saw!" cried Jack.

"It's a tame wild-cat, I think," said Peterkin, levelling his spear to
make a charge.

"Stop!" cried I, laying my hand on his shoulder; "I do believe the poor
beast is blind. See, it strikes against the branches as it walks along.
It must be a very old one;" and I hastened towards it.

"Only think," said Peterkin, with a suppressed laugh, "of a superannuated
wild-cat!"

We now found that the poor cat was not only blind, or nearly so, but
extremely deaf, as it did not hear our footsteps until we were quite
close behind it. Then it sprang round, and, putting up its back and
tail, while the black hair stood all on end, uttered a hoarse mew and a
fuff.

"Poor thing," said Peterkin, gently extending his hand, and endeavouring
to pat the cat's head. "Poor pussy; chee, chee, chee; puss, puss, puss;
cheetie pussy!"

No sooner did the cat hear these sounds than all signs of anger fled,
and, advancing eagerly to Peterkin, it allowed itself to be stroked, and
rubbed itself against his legs, purring loudly all the time, and showing
every symptom of the most extreme delight.

"It's no more a wild cat than I am!" cried Peterkin, taking it in his
arms. "It's quite tame. Poor pussy, cheetie pussy!"

We now crowded around Peterkin, and were not a little surprised, and, to
say truth, a good deal affected, by the sight of the poor animal's
excessive joy. It rubbed its head against Peterkin's cheek, licked his
chin, and thrust its head almost violently into his neck, while it purred
more loudly than I ever heard a cat purr before, and appeared to be so
much overpowered by its feelings, that it occasionally mewed and purred
almost in the same breath. Such demonstrations of joy and affection led
us at once to conclude that this poor cat must have known man before, and
we conjectured that it had been left either accidentally or by design on
the island many years ago, and was now evincing its extreme joy at
meeting once more with human beings. While we were fondling the cat and
talking about it, Jack glanced round the open space in the midst of which
we stood.

"Hallo!" exclaimed he; "this looks something like a clearing. The axe
has been at work here. Just look at these tree-stumps."

We now turned to examine these, and, without doubt, we found trees that
had been cut down here and there, also stumps and broken branches; all of
which, however, were completely covered over with moss, and bore evidence
of having been in this condition for some years. No human foot-prints
were to be seen, either on the track or among the bushes; but those of
the cat were found everywhere. We now determined to follow up the track
as far as it went, and Peterkin put the cat down; but it seemed to be so
weak, and mewed so very pitifully, that he took it up again and carried
it in his arms, where, in a few minutes, it fell sound asleep.

About ten yards farther on, the felled trees became more numerous, and
the track, diverging to the right, followed for a short space the banks
of a stream. Suddenly we came to a spot where once must have been a rude
bridge, the stones of which were scattered in the stream, and those on
each bank entirely covered over with moss. In silent surprise and
expectancy we continued to advance, and, a few yards farther on, beheld,
under the shelter of some bread-fruit trees, a small hut or cottage. I
cannot hope to convey to my readers a very correct idea of the feelings
that affected us on witnessing this unexpected sight. We stood for a
long time in silent wonder, for there was a deep and most melancholy
stillness about the place that quite overpowered us; and when we did at
length speak, it was in subdued whispers, as if we were surrounded by
some awful or supernatural influence. Even Peterkin's voice, usually so
quick and lively on all occasions, was hushed now; for there was a
dreariness about this silent, lonely, uninhabited cottage,--so strange in
its appearance, so far away from the usual dwellings of man, so old,
decayed, and deserted in its aspect,--that fell upon our spirits like a
thick cloud, and blotted out as with a pall the cheerful sunshine that
had filled us since the commencement of our tour round the island.

The hut or cottage was rude and simple in its construction. It was not
more than twelve feet long by ten feet broad, and about seven or eight
feet high. It had one window, or rather a small frame in which a window
might, perhaps, once have been, but which was now empty. The door was
exceedingly low, and formed of rough boards, and the roof was covered
with broad cocoa-nut and plantain leaves. But every part of it was in a
state of the utmost decay. Moss and green matter grew in spots all over
it. The woodwork was quite perforated with holes; the roof had nearly
fallen in, and appeared to be prevented from doing so altogether by the
thick matting of creeping-plants and the interlaced branches which years
of neglect had allowed to cover it almost entirely; while the thick,
luxuriant branches of the bread-fruit and other trees spread above it,
and flung a deep, sombre shadow over the spot, as if to guard it from the
heat and the light of day. We conversed long and in whispers about this
strange habitation ere we ventured to approach it; and when at length we
did so it was, at least on my part, with feelings of awe.

At first Jack endeavoured to peep in at the window, but from the deep
shadow of the trees already mentioned, and the gloom within, he could not
clearly discern objects; so we lifted the latch and pushed open the door.
We observed that the latch was made of iron, and almost eaten away with
rust. In the like condition were also the hinges, which creaked as the
door swung back. On entering, we stood still and gazed around us, while
we were much impressed with the dreary stillness of the room. But what
we saw there surprised and shocked us not a little. There was no
furniture in the apartment save a little wooden stool and an iron pot,
the latter almost eaten through with rust. In the corner farthest from
the door was a low bedstead, on which lay two skeletons, imbedded in a
little heap of dry dust. With beating hearts we went forward to examine
them. One was the skeleton of a man, the other that of a dog, which was
extended close beside that of the man, with its head resting on his bosom

Now we were very much concerned about this discovery, and could scarce
refrain from tears on beholding these sad remains. After some time, we
began to talk about what we had seen, and to examine in and around the
hut, in order to discover some clue to the name or history of this poor
man, who had thus died in solitude, with none to mourn his loss save his
cat and his faithful dog. But we found nothing,--neither a book nor a
scrap of paper. We found, however, the decayed remnants of what appeared
to have been clothing, and an old axe. But none of these things bore
marks of any kind; and, indeed, they were so much decayed as to convince
us that they had lain in the condition in which we found them for many
years.

This discovery now accounted to us for the tree stump at the top of the
mountain with the initials cut on it; also for the patch of sugar-cane
and other traces of man which we had met with in the course of our
rambles over the island. And we were much saddened by the reflection
that the lot of this poor wanderer might possibly be our own, after many
years' residence on the island, unless we should be rescued by the visit
of some vessel or the arrival of natives. Having no clue whatever to
account for the presence of this poor human being in such a lonely spot,
we fell to conjecturing what could have brought him there. I was
inclined to think that he must have been a shipwrecked sailor, whose
vessel had been lost here, and all the crew been drowned except himself
and his dog and cat. But Jack thought it more likely that he had run
away from his vessel, and had taken the dog and cat to keep him company.
We were also much occupied in our minds with the wonderful difference
between the cat and the dog. For here we saw that while the one
perished, like a loving friend, by its master's side, with its head
resting on his bosom, the other had sought to sustain itself by prowling
abroad in the forest, and had lived in solitude to a good old age.
However, we did not conclude from this that the cat was destitute of
affection, for we could not forget its emotions on first meeting with us;
but we saw from this, that the dog had a great deal more of generous love
in its nature than the cat, because it not only found it impossible to
live after the death of its master, but it must needs, when it came to
die, crawl to his side and rest its head upon his lifeless breast.

While we were thinking on these things, and examining into everything
about the room, we were attracted by an exclamation from Peterkin.

"I say, Jack," said he, "here is something that will be of use to us."

"What is it?" said Jack, hastening across the room.

"An old pistol," replied Peterkin, holding up the weapon, which he had
just pulled from under a heap of broken wood and rubbish that lay in a
corner.

"That, indeed, might have been useful," said Jack, examining it, "if we
had any powder; but I suspect the bow and the sling will prove more
serviceable."

"True, I forgot that," said Peterkin; "but we may as well take it with
us, for the flint will serve to strike fire with when the sun does not
shine."

{A saddening discovery: p136.jpg}

After having spent more than an hour at this place without discovering
anything of further interest, Peterkin took up the old cat, which had
lain very contentedly asleep on the stool whereon he had placed it, and
we prepared to take our departure. In leaving the hut, Jack stumbled
heavily against the door-post, which was so much decayed as to break
across, and the whole fabric of the hut seemed ready to tumble about our
ears. This put into our heads that we might as well pull it down, and so
form a mound over the skeleton. Jack, therefore, with his axe, cut down
the other door-post, which, when it was done, brought the whole hut in
ruins to the ground, and thus formed a grave to the bones of the poor
recluse and his dog. Then we left the spot, having brought away the iron
pot, the pistol, and the old axe, as they might be of much use to us
hereafter.

During the rest of this day we pursued our journey, and examined the
other end of the large valley, which we found to be so much alike to the
parts already described, that I shall not recount the particulars of what
we saw in this place. I may, however, remark, that we did not quite
recover our former cheerful spirits until we arrived at our bower, which
we did late in the evening, and found everything just in the same
condition as we had left it three days before.




CHAPTER XII.


Something wrong with the tank--Jack's wisdom and Peterkin's
impertinence--Wonderful behaviour of a crab--Good wishes for those who
dwell far from the sea--Jack commences to build a little boat.

Rest is sweet as well for the body as for the mind. During my long
experience, amid the vicissitudes of a chequered life, I have found that
periods of profound rest at certain intervals, in addition to the
ordinary hours of repose, are necessary to the wellbeing of man. And the
nature as well as the period of this rest varies, according to the
different temperaments of individuals, and the peculiar circumstances in
which they may chance to be placed. To those who work with their minds,
bodily labour is rest. To those who labour with the body, deep sleep is
rest. To the downcast, the weary, and the sorrowful, joy and peace are
rest. Nay, further, I think that to the gay, the frivolous, the
reckless, when sated with pleasures that cannot last, even sorrow proves
to be rest of a kind, although, perchance, it were better that I should
call it relief than rest. There is, indeed, but one class of men to whom
rest is denied. There is no rest to the wicked. At this I do but hint,
however, as I treat not of that rest which is spiritual, but, more
particularly, of that which applies to the mind and to the body.

Of this rest we stood much in need on our return home, and we found it
exceedingly sweet, when we indulged in it, after completing the journey
just related. It had not, indeed, been a very long journey, nevertheless
we had pursued it so diligently that our frames were not a little
prostrated. Our minds were also very much exhausted in consequence of
the many surprises, frequent alarms, and much profound thought, to which
they had been subjected; so that when we lay down on the night of our
return under the shelter of the bower, we fell immediately into very deep
repose. I can state this with much certainty, for Jack afterwards
admitted the fact, and Peterkin, although he stoutly denied it, I heard
snoring loudly at least two minutes after lying down. In this condition
we remained all night and the whole of the following day without awaking
once, or so much as moving our positions. When we did awake it was near
sunset, and we were all in such a state of lassitude that we merely rose
to swallow a mouthful of food. As Peterkin remarked, in the midst of a
yawn, we took breakfast at tea-time, and then went to bed again, where we
lay till the following forenoon.

After this we arose very greatly refreshed, but much alarmed lest we had
lost count of a day. I say we were much alarmed on this head, for we had
carefully kept count of the days since we were cast upon our island, in
order that we might remember the Sabbath-day, which day we had hitherto
with one accord kept as a day of rest, and refrained from all work
whatsoever. However, on considering the subject, we all three
entertained the same opinion as to how long we had slept, and so our
minds were put at ease.

We now hastened to our Water Garden to enjoy a bathe, and to see how did
the animals which I had placed in the tank. We found the garden more
charming, pelucid, and inviting than ever, and Jack and I plunged into
its depth, and gambolled among its radiant coral groves; while Peterkin
wallowed at the surface, and tried occasionally to kick us as we passed
below. Having dressed, I then hastened to the tank; but what was my
surprise and grief to find nearly all the animals dead, and the water in
a putrid condition! I was greatly distressed at this, and wondered what
could be the cause of it.

"Why, you precious humbug," said Peterkin, coming up to me, "how could
you expect it to be otherwise? When fishes are accustomed to live in the
Pacific Ocean, how can you expect them to exist in a hole like that?"

"Indeed, Peterkin," I replied, "there seems to be truth in what you say.
Nevertheless, now I think of it, there must be some error in your
reasoning; for, if I put in but a few very small animals, they will bear
the same proportion to this pond that the millions of fish bear to the
ocean."

"I say, Jack," cried Peterkin, waving his hand, "come here, like a good
fellow. Ralph is actually talking philosophy. Do come to our
assistance, for he's out o' sight beyond me already!"

"What's the matter?" inquired Jack, coming up, while he endeavoured to
scrub his long hair dry with a towel of cocoa-nut cloth.

I repeated my thoughts to Jack, who, I was happy to find, quite agreed
with me. "Your best plan," he said, "will be to put very few animals at
first into your tank, and add more as you find it will bear them. And
look here," he added, pointing to the sides of the tank, which, for the
space of two inches above the water-level, were incrusted with salt, "you
must carry your philosophy a little farther, Ralph. That water has
evaporated so much that it is too salt for anything to live in. You will
require to add _fresh_ water now and then, in order to keep it at the
same degree of saltness as the sea."

"Very true, Jack, that never struck me before," said I.

"And, now I think of it," continued Jack, "it seems to me that the surest
way of arranging your tank so as to get it to keep pure and in good
condition, will be to imitate the ocean in it. In fact make it a
miniature Pacific. I don't see how you can hope to succeed unless you do
that."

"Most true," said I, pondering what my companion said. "But I fear that
that will be very difficult."

"Not at all," cried Jack, rolling his towel up into a ball, and throwing
it into the face of Peterkin, who had been grinning and winking at him
during the last five minutes. "Not at all. Look here. There is water
of a certain saltness in the sea; well, fill your tank with sea water,
and keep it at that saltness by marking the height at which the water
stands on the sides. When it evaporates a little, pour in _fresh_ water
from the brook till it comes up to the mark, and then it will be right,
for the salt does not evaporate with the water. Then, there's lots of
sea-weed in the sea;--well, go and get one or two bits of sea-weed, and
put them into your tank. Of course the weed must be alive, and growing
to little stones; or you can chip a bit off the rocks with the weed
sticking to it. Then, if you like, you can throw a little sand and
gravel into your tank, and the thing's complete."

"Nay, not quite," said Peterkin, who had been gravely attentive to this
off-hand advice, "not quite; you must first make three little men to dive
in it before it can be said to be perfect, and that would be rather
difficult, I fear, for two of them would require to be philosophers. But
hallo! what's this? I say, Ralph, look here. There's one o' your crabs
up to something uncommon. It's performing the most remarkable operation
for a crab I ever saw,--taking off its coat, I do believe, before going
to bed!"

We hastily stooped over the tank, and certainly were not a little amused
at the conduct of one of the crabs which still survived it companions. It
was one of the common small crabs, like to those that are found running
about everywhere on the coasts of England. While we gazed at it, we
observed its back to split away from the lower part of its body, and out
of the gap thus formed came a soft lump which moved and writhed
unceasingly. This lump continued to increase in size until it appeared
like a bunch of crab's legs: and, indeed, such it proved in a very few
minutes to be; for the points of the toes were at length extricated from
this hole in its back, the legs spread out, the body followed, and the
crab walked away quite entire, even to the points of its nipper-claws,
leaving a perfectly entire shell behind it, so that, when we looked, it
seemed as though there were two complete crabs instead of one!

"Well!" exclaimed Peterkin, drawing a long breath, "I've _heard_ of a man
jumping out of his skin and sitting down in his skeleton in order to cool
himself, but I never expected to _see_ a crab do it!"

We were, in truth, much amazed at this spectacle, and the more so when we
observed that the new crab was larger than the crab that it came out of.
It was also quite soft, but by next morning its skin had hardened into a
good shell. We came thus to know that crabs grow in this way, and not by
the growing of their shells, as we had always thought before we saw this
wonderful operation.

Now I considered well the advice which Jack had given me about preparing
my tank, and the more I thought of it, the more I came to regard it as
very sound and worthy of being acted on. So I forthwith put his plan in
execution, and found it to answer excellently well, indeed much beyond my
expectation; for I found that after a little experience had taught me the
proper proportion of sea-weed and animals to put into a certain amount of
water, the tank needed no farther attendance; and, moreover, I did not
require ever afterwards to renew or change the sea-water, but only to add
a very little fresh water from the brook, now and then, as the other
evaporated. I therefore concluded that if I had been suddenly conveyed,
along with my tank, into some region where there was no salt sea at all,
my little sea and my sea-fish would have continued to thrive and to
prosper notwithstanding. This made me greatly to desire that those
people in the world who live far inland might know of my wonderful tank,
and, by having materials like to those of which it was made conveyed to
them, thus be enabled to watch the habits of those most mysterious
animals that reside in the sea, and examine with their own eyes the
wonders of the great deep.

For many days after this, while Peterkin and Jack were busily employed in
building a little boat out of the curious natural planks of the chestnut
tree, I spent much of my time in examining with the burning-glass the
marvellous operations that were constantly going on in my tank. Here I
saw those anemones which cling, like little red, yellow, and green blobs
of jelly, to the rocks, put forth, as it were, a multitude of arms and
wait till little fish or other small animalcules unwarily touched them,
when they would instantly seize them, fold arm after arm around their
victims, and so engulf them in their stomachs. Here I saw the ceaseless
working of those little coral insects whose efforts have encrusted the
islands of the Pacific with vast rocks, and surrounded them with enormous
reefs. And I observed that many of these insects, though extremely
minute, were very beautiful, coming out of their holes in a circle of
fine threads, and having the form of a shuttle-cock. Here I saw curious
little barnacles opening a hole in their backs and constantly putting out
a thin feathery hand, with which, I doubt not, they dragged their food
into their mouths. Here, also, I saw those crabs which have shells only
on the front of their bodies, but no shell whatever on their remarkably
tender tails, so that, in order to find a protection to them, they thrust
them into the empty shells of wilks, or some such fish, and when they
grow too big for one, change into another. But, most curious of all, I
saw an animal which had the wonderful power, when it became ill, of
casting its stomach and its teeth away from it, and getting an entirely
new set in the course of a few months! All this I saw, and a great deal
more, by means of my tank and my burning-glass, but I refrain from
setting down more particulars here, as I have still much to tell of the
adventures that befell us while we remained on this island.




CHAPTER XIII.


Notable discovery at the spouting cliffs--The mysterious green monster
explained--We are thrown into unutterable terror by the idea that Jack is
drowned--The Diamond Cave.

"Come, Jack," cried Peterkin, one morning about three weeks after our
return from our long excursion, "let's be jolly to-day, and do something
vigorous. I'm quite tired of hammering and hammering, hewing and
screwing, cutting and butting, at that little boat of ours, that seems as
hard to build as Noah's ark; let us go on an excursion to the mountain
top, or have a hunt after the wild ducks, or make a dash at the pigs. I'm
quite flat--flat as bad ginger-beer--flat as a pancake; in fact, I want
something to rouse me, to toss me up, as it were. Eh! what do you say to
it?"

"Well," answered Jack, throwing down the axe with which he was just about
to proceed towards the boat, "if that's what you want, I would recommend
you to make an excursion to the water-spouts; the last one we had to do
with tossed you up a considerable height, perhaps the next will send you
higher, who knows, if you're at all reasonable or moderate in your
expectations!"

"Jack, my dear boy," said Peterkin, gravely, "you are really becoming too
fond of jesting. It's a thing I don't at all approve of, and if you
don't give it up, I fear that, for our mutual good, we shall have to
part."

"Well, then, Peterkin," replied Jack, with a smile, "what would you
have?"

"Have?" said Peterkin, "I would _have_ nothing. I didn't say I wanted to
_have_; I said that I wanted to _do_."

"By the by," said I, interrupting their conversation, "I am reminded by
this that we have not yet discovered the nature of yon curious appearance
that we saw near the water-spouts, on our journey round the island.
Perhaps it would be well to go for that purpose."

"Humph!" ejaculated Peterkin, "I know the nature of it well enough."

"What was it?" said I.

"It was of a _mysterious_ nature to be sure!" said he, with a wave of his
hand, while he rose from the log on which he had been sitting, and
buckled on his belt, into which he thrust his enormous club.

"Well then, let us away to the water-spouts," cried Jack, going up to the
bower for his bow and arrows; "and bring your spear, Peterkin. It may be
useful."

We now, having made up our minds to examine into this matter, sallied
forth eagerly in the direction of the water-spout rocks, which, as I have
before mentioned, were not far from our present place of abode. On
arriving there we hastened down to the edge of the rocks, and gazed over
into the sea, where we observed the pale-green object still distinctly
visible, moving its tail slowly to and fro in the water.

"Most remarkable!" said Jack.

"Exceedingly curious," said I.

"Beats everything!" said Peterkin.

"Now, Jack," he added, "you made such a poor figure in your last attempt
to stick that object, that I would advise you to let me try it. If it
has got a heart at all, I'll engage to send my spear right through the
core of it; if it hasn't got a heart, I'll send it through the spot where
its heart ought to be."

"Fire away, then, my boy," replied Jack with a laugh.

Peterkin immediately took the spear, poised it for a second or two above
his head, then darted it like an arrow into the sea. Down it went
straight into the centre of the green object, passed quite through it,
and came up immediately afterwards, pure and unsullied, while the
mysterious tail moved quietly as before!

"Now," said Peterkin, gravely, "that brute is a heartless monster; I'll
have nothing more to do with it."

"I'm pretty sure now," said Jack, "that it is merely a phosphoric light;
but I must say I'm puzzled at its staying always in that exact spot."

I also was much puzzled, and inclined to think with Jack that it must be
phosphoric light; of which luminous appearance we had seen much while on
our voyage to these seas. "But," said I, "there is nothing to hinder us
from diving down to it, now that we are sure it is not a shark."

"True," returned Jack, stripping off his clothes; "I'll go down, Ralph,
as I'm better at diving than you are. Now then, Peterkin, out o' the
road!" Jack stepped forward, joined his hands above his head, bent over
the rocks, and plunged into the sea. For a second or two the spray
caused by his dive hid him from view, then the water became still, and we
saw him swimming far down in the midst of the green object. Suddenly he
sank below it, and vanished altogether from our sight! We gazed
anxiously down at the spot where he had disappeared, for nearly a minute,
expecting every moment to see him rise again for breath; but fully a
minute passed, and still he did not reappear. Two minutes passed! and
then a flood of alarm rushed in upon my soul, when I considered that
during all my acquaintance with him, Jack had never stayed underwater
more than a minute at a time; indeed seldom so long.

"Oh, Peterkin!" I said, in a voice that trembled with increasing anxiety,
"something has happened. It is more than three minutes now!" But
Peterkin did not answer and I observed that he was gazing down into the
water with a look of intense fear mingled with anxiety, while his face
was overspread with a deadly paleness. Suddenly he sprang to his feet
and rushed about in a frantic state, wringing his hands, and exclaiming,
"Oh, Jack, Jack! he is gone! It must have been a shark, and he is gone
for ever!"

For the next five minutes I know not what I did. The intensity of my
feelings almost bereft me of my senses. But I was recalled to myself by
Peterkin seizing me by the shoulder and staring wildly into my face,
while he exclaimed, "Ralph! Ralph! perhaps he has only fainted. Dive for
him, Ralph!"

It seemed strange that this did not occur to me sooner. In a moment I
rushed to the edge of the rocks, and, without waiting to throw off my
garments, was on the point to spring into the waves, when I observed
something black rising up through the green object. In another moment
Jack's head rose to the surface, and he gave a wild shout, flinging back
the spray from his locks, as was his wont after a dive. Now we were
almost as much amazed at seeing him reappear, well and strong, as we had
been at first at his non-appearance; for, to the best of our judgment, he
had been nearly ten minutes under water, perhaps longer, and it required
no exertion of our reason to convince us that this was utterly impossible
for mortal man to do and retain his strength and faculties. It was
therefore with a feeling akin to superstitious awe that I held down my
hand and assisted him to clamber up the steep rocks. But no such feeling
affected Peterkin. No sooner did Jack gain the rocks and seat himself on
one, panting for breath, than he threw his arms round his neck, and burst
into a flood of tears. "Oh, Jack, Jack!" said he, "where were you? What
kept you so long?"

After a few moments Peterkin became composed enough to sit still and
listen to Jack's explanation, although he could not restrain himself from
attempting to wink every two minutes at me, in order to express his joy
at Jack's safety. I say he attempted to wink, but I am bound to add that
he did not succeed, for his eyes were so much swollen with weeping, that
his frequent attempts only resulted in a series of violent and altogether
idiotical contortions of the face, that were very far from expressing
what he intended. However, I knew what the poor fellow meant by it, so I
smiled to him in return, and endeavoured to make believe that he was
winking.

"Now, lads," said Jack, when we were composed enough to listen to him,
"yon green object is not a shark; it is a stream of light issuing from a
cave in the rocks. Just after I made my dive, I observed that this light
came from the side of the rock above which we are now sitting; so I
struck out for it, and saw an opening into some place or other that
appeared to be luminous within. For one instant I paused to think
whether I ought to venture. Then I made up my mind, and dashed into it.
For you see, Peterkin, although I take some time to tell this, it
happened in the space of a few seconds, so that I knew I had wind enough
in me to serve to bring me out o' the hole and up to the surface again.
Well, I was just on the point of turning,--for I began to feel a little
uncomfortable in such a place,--when it seemed to me as if there was a
faint light right above me. I darted upwards, and found my head out of
water. This relieved me greatly, for I now felt that I could take in air
enough to enable me to return the way I came. Then it all at once
occurred to me that I might not be able to find the way out again; but,
on glancing downwards, my mind was put quite at rest by seeing the green
light below me streaming into the cave, just like the light that we had
seen streaming out of it, only what I now saw was much brighter.

"At first I could scarcely see anything as I gazed around me, it was so
dark; but gradually my eyes became accustomed to it, and I found that I
was in a huge cave, part of the walls of which I observed on each side of
me. The ceiling just above me was also visible, and I fancied that I
could perceive beautiful glittering objects there, but the farther end of
the cave was shrouded in darkness. While I was looking around me in
great wonder, it came into my head that you two would think I was
drowned; so I plunged down through the passage again in a great hurry,
rose to the surface, and--here I am!"

When Jack concluded his recital of what he had seen in this remarkable
cave, I could not rest satisfied till I had dived down to see it; which I
did, but found it so dark, as Jack had said, that I could scarcely see
anything. When I returned, we had a long conversation about it, during
which I observed that Peterkin had a most lugubrious expression on his
countenance.

"What's the matter, Peterkin?" said I.

"The matter?" he replied. "It's all very well for you two to be talking
away like mermaids about the wonders of this cave, but you know I must be
content to hear about it, while you are enjoying yourselves down there
like mad dolphins. It's really too bad."

"I'm very sorry for you, Peterkin, indeed I am," said Jack, "but we
cannot help you. If you would only learn to dive--"

"Learn to fly, you might as well say!" retorted Peterkin, in a very sulky
tone.

"If you would only consent to keep still," said I, "we would take you
down with us in ten seconds."

"Hum!" returned Peterkin; "suppose a salamander was to propose to you
'only to keep still,' and he would carry you through a blazing fire in a
few seconds, what would you say?"

We both laughed and shook our heads, for it was evident that nothing was
to be made of Peterkin in the water. But we could not rest satisfied
till we had seen more of this cave; so, after further consultation, Jack
and I determined to try if we could take down a torch with us, and set
fire to it in the cavern. This we found to be an undertaking of no small
difficulty; but we accomplished it at last by the following means:--First,
we made a torch of a very inflammable nature out of the bark of a certain
tree, which we cut into strips, and, after twisting, cemented together
with a kind of resin or gum, which we also obtained from another tree;
neither of which trees, however, was known by name to Jack. This, when
prepared, we wrapped up in a great number of plies of cocoa-nut cloth, so
that we were confident it could not get wet during the short time it
should be under water. Then we took a small piece of the tinder, which
we had carefully treasured up lest we should require it, as before said,
when the sun should fail us; also, we rolled up some dry grass and a few
chips, which, with a little bow and drill, like those described before,
we made into another bundle, and wrapped it up in cocoa-nut cloth. When
all was ready we laid aside our garments, with the exception of our
trousers, which, as we did not know what rough scraping against the rocks
we might be subjected to, we kept on.

Then we advanced to the edge of the rocks, Jack carrying one bundle, with
the torch; I the other, with the things for producing fire.

"Now don't weary for us, Peterkin, should we be gone some time," said
Jack; "we'll be sure to return in half-an-hour at the very latest,
however interesting the cave should be, that we may relieve your mind."

"Farewell!" said Peterkin, coming up to us with a look of deep but
pretended solemnity, while he shook hands and kissed each of us on the
cheek. "Farewell! and while you are gone I shall repose my weary limbs
under the shelter of this bush, and meditate on the changefulness of all
things earthly, with special reference to the forsaken condition of a
poor ship-wrecked sailor boy!" So saying, Peterkin waved his hand,
turned from us, and cast himself upon the ground with a look of
melancholy resignation, which was so well feigned, that I would have
thought it genuine had he not accompanied it with a gentle wink. We both
laughed, and, springing from the rocks together, plunged head first into
the sea.

We gained the interior of the submarine cave without difficulty, and, on
emerging from the waves, supported ourselves for some time by treading-
water, while we held the two bundles above our heads. This we did in
order to let our eyes become accustomed to the obscurity. Then, when we
could see sufficiently, we swam to a shelving rock, and landed in safety.
Having wrung the water from our trousers, and dried ourselves as well as
we could under the circumstances, we proceeded to ignite the torch. This
we accomplished without difficulty in a few minutes; and no sooner did it
flare up than we were struck dumb with the wonderful objects that were
revealed to our gaze. The roof of the cavern just above us seemed to be
about ten feet high, but grew higher as it receded into the distance,
until it was lost in darkness. It seemed to be made of coral, and was
supported by massive columns of the same material. Immense icicles (as
they appeared to us) hung from it in various places. These, however,
were formed, not of ice, but of a species of limestone, which seemed to
flow in a liquid form towards the point of each, where it became solid. A
good many drops fell, however, to the rock below, and these formed little
cones, which rose to meet the points above. Some of them had already
met, and thus we saw how the pillars were formed, which at first seemed
to us as if they had been placed there by some human architect to support
the roof. As we advanced farther in, we saw that the floor was composed
of the same material as the pillars; and it presented the curious
appearance of ripples, such as are formed on water when gently ruffled by
the wind. There were several openings on either hand in the walls, that
seemed to lead into other caverns; but these we did not explore at this
time. We also observed that the ceiling was curiously marked in many
places, as if it were the fret-work of a noble cathedral; and the walls,
as well as the roof, sparkled in the light of our torch, and threw back
gleams and flashes, as if they were covered with precious stones.
Although we proceeded far into this cavern, we did not come to the end of
it; and we were obliged to return more speedily than we would otherwise
have done, as our torch was nearly expended. We did not observe any
openings in the roof, or any indications of places whereby light might
enter; but near the entrance to the cavern stood an immense mass of pure
white coral rock, which caught and threw back the little light that found
an entrance through the cave's mouth, and thus produced, we conjectured,
the pale-green object which had first attracted our attention. We
concluded, also, that the reflecting power of this rock was that which
gave forth the dim light that faintly illumined the first part of the
cave.

Before diving through the passage again we extinguished the small piece
of our torch that remained, and left it in a dry spot; conceiving that we
might possibly stand in need of it, if at any future time we should
chance to wet our torch while diving into the cavern. As we stood for a
few minutes after it was out, waiting till our eyes became accustomed to
the gloom, we could not help remarking the deep, intense stillness and
the unutterable gloom of all around us; and, as I thought of the
stupendous dome above, and the countless gems that had sparkled in the
torch-light a few minutes before, it came into my mind to consider how
strange it is that God should make such wonderful and exquisitely beautiful
works never to be seen at all, except, indeed, by chance visitors such as
ourselves.

I afterwards found that there were many such caverns among the islands of
the South Seas, some of them larger and more beautiful than the one I
have just described.

"Now, Ralph, are you ready?" said Jack, in a low voice, that seemed to
echo up into the dome above.

"Quite ready."

"Come along, then," said he; and, plunging off the ledge of the rock into
the water, we dived through the narrow entrance. In a few seconds we
were panting on the rocks above, and receiving the congratulations of our
friend Peterkin.




CHAPTER XIV.


Strange peculiarity of the tides--Also of the twilight--Peterkin's
remarkable conduct in embracing a little pig and killing a big sow--Sage
remarks on jesting--Also on love.

It was quite a relief to us to breathe the pure air and to enjoy the glad
sunshine after our long ramble in the Diamond Cave, as we named it; for,
although we did not stay more than half an hour away, it seemed to us
much longer. While we were dressing, and during our walk home, we did
our best to satisfy the curiosity of poor Peterkin, who seemed to regret,
with lively sincerity, his inability to dive.

There was no help for it, however, so we condoled with him as we best
could. Had there been any great rise or fall in the tide of these seas,
we might perhaps have found it possible to take him down with us at low
water; but as the tide never rose or fell more than eighteen inches or
two feet, this was impossible.

This peculiarity of the tide--its slight rise and fall--had not attracted
our observation till some time after our residence on the island. Neither
had we observed another curious circumstance until we had been some time
there. This was the fact, that the tide rose and fell with constant
regularity, instead of being affected by the changes of the moon as in
our own country, and as it is in most other parts of the world,--at least
in all those parts with which I am acquainted. Every day and every
night, at twelve o'clock precisely, the tide is at the full; and at six
o'clock every morning and evening it is ebb. I can speak with much
confidence on this singular circumstance, as we took particular note of
it, and never found it to alter. Of course, I must admit, we had to
guess the hour of twelve midnight, and I think we could do this pretty
correctly; but in regard to twelve noon we are quite positive, because we
easily found the highest point that the sun reached in the sky by placing
ourselves at a certain spot whence we observed the sharp summit of a
cliff resting against the sky, just where the sun passed.

Jack and I were surprised that we had not noticed this the first few days
of our residence here, and could only account for it by our being so much
taken up with the more obvious wonders of our novel situation. I have
since learned, however, that this want of observation is a sad and very
common infirmity of human nature, there being hundreds of persons before
whose eyes the most wonderful things are passing every day, who
nevertheless are totally ignorant of them. I therefore have to record my
sympathy with such persons, and to recommend to them a course of conduct
which I have now for a long time myself adopted,--namely, the habit of
forcing my attention upon _all_ things that go on around me, and of
taking some degree of interest in them, whether I feel it naturally or
not. I suggest this the more earnestly, though humbly, because I have
very frequently come to know that my indifference to a thing has
generally been caused by my ignorance in regard to it.

We had much serious conversation on this subject of the tides; and Jack
told us, in his own quiet, philosophical way, that these tides did great
good to the world in many ways, particularly in the way of cleansing the
shores of the land, and carrying off the filth that was constantly poured
into the sea there-from; which, Peterkin suggested, was remarkably _tidy_
of it to do. Poor Peterkin could never let slip an opportunity to joke,
however inopportune it might be: which at first we found rather a
disagreeable propensity, as it often interrupted the flow of very
agreeable conversation; and, indeed, I cannot too strongly record my
disapprobation of this tendency in general: but we became so used to it
at last that we found it no interruption whatever; indeed, strange to
say, we came to feel that it was a necessary part of our enjoyment (such
is the force of habit), and found the sudden outbursts of mirth,
resulting from his humorous disposition, quite natural and refreshing to
us in the midst of our more serious conversations. But I must not
misrepresent Peterkin. We often found, to our surprise, that he knew
many things which we did not; and I also observed that those things which
he learned from experience were never forgotten. From all these things I
came at length to understand that things very opposite and dissimilar in
themselves, when united, do make an agreeable whole; as, for example, we
three on this our island, although most unlike in many things, when
united, made a trio so harmonious that I question if there ever met
before such an agreeable triumvirate. There was, indeed, no note of
discord whatever in the symphony we played together on that sweet Coral
Island; and I am now persuaded that this was owing to our having been all
tuned to the same key, namely, that of _love_! Yes, we loved one another
with much fervency while we lived on that island; and, for the matter of
that, we love each other still.

And while I am on this subject, or rather the subject that just preceded
it--namely, the tides--I may here remark on another curious natural
phenomenon. We found that there was little or no twilight in this
island. We had a distinct remembrance of the charming long twilight at
home, which some people think the most delightful part of the day, though
for my part I have always preferred sunrise; and when we first landed, we
used to sit down on some rocky point or eminence, at the close of our
day's work, to enjoy the evening breeze; but no sooner had the sun sunk
below the horizon than all became suddenly dark. This rendered it
necessary that we should watch the sun when we happened to be out
hunting, for to be suddenly left in the dark while in the woods was very
perplexing, as, although the stars shone with great beauty and
brilliancy, they could not pierce through the thick umbrageous boughs
that interlaced above our heads.

But, to return: After having told all we could to Peterkin about the
Diamond Cave under Spouting Cliff, as we named the locality, we were
wending our way rapidly homewards, when a grunt and a squeal were borne
down by the land breeze to our ears.

"That's the ticket!" was Peterkin's remarkable exclamation, as he started
convulsively, and levelled his spear.

"Hist!" cried Jack; "these are your friends, Peterkin. They must have
come over expressly to pay you a friendly visit, for it is the first time
we have seen them on this side the island."

"Come along!" cried Peterkin, hurrying towards the wood, while Jack and I
followed, smiling at his impatience.

Another grunt and half a dozen squeals, much louder than before, came
down the valley. At this time we were just opposite the small vale which
lay between the Valley of the Wreck and Spouting Cliff.

"I say, Peterkin," cried Jack, in a hoarse whisper.

"Well, what is't?"

"Stay a bit, man. These grunters are just up there on the hill side. If
you go and stand with Ralph in the lee of yon cliff, I'll cut round
behind and drive them through the gorge, so that you'll have a better
chance of picking out a good one. Now, mind you pitch into a fat young
pig, Peterkin," added Jack, as he sprang into the bushes.

"Won't I, just!" said Peterkin, licking his lips, as we took our station
beside the cliff. "I feel quite a tender affection for young pigs in my
heart. Perhaps it would be more correct to say in my s--."

"There they come!" cried I, as a terrific yell from Jack sent the whole
herd screaming down the hill. Now, Peterkin, being unable to hol

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