Bevis: The Story of a Boy

by Richard Jefferies

day when they sailed into Fir-Tree Gulf and couldnot get out, but it would have taken them to the very end of the New Seahad they not considered it proper to coast round. This time they meantto sail straight up the centre and straight back.

  Volume Two, Chapter VIII.

  SAILING CONTINUED--VOYAGE TO THE UNKNOWN ISLAND.

  After breakfast they got afloat, and when away from the trees the boatbegan to sail fast, and every now and then the bubbles rushed from underthe bow. Mark sat on the ballast, or rather reclined, and Bevissteered. The anchor was upon the forecastle, as they called it, withtwenty-five feet of cable. Sailing by the bluff covered with furze, bythe oak where the council was held, past the muddy shore lined withweeds where the cattle came down to drink, past the hollow oak and thebattlefield, they saw the quarry and Fir-Tree Gulf, but did not enterit. As they reached the broader water the wind came fresher over thewide surface, and the boat careening a little hastened on. They werenow a long way from either shore in the centre of the widest part.

  "This is the best sail we've had," said Mark, putting his legs out asfar as he could, leaning his back against the seat and his head againstthe mast. "It's jolly."

  Bevis got off the stern-sheets and sat down on the bottom so that he toocould recline, he had nothing to do but just keep the tiller steady andwatch the mainsail, the wind set the course for them. They could feelthe breeze pulling at the sails, and the boat drawn along.

  "Is it rough?" said Mark.

  "Shall we take in a reef?" said Bevis.

  "No," said Mark. "Let's capsize."

  "Right," said Bevis. "It doesn't matter."

  "Not a bit. Isn't she slipping along?"

  "Gurgling and guggling."

  "Bubbling and smacking. That was spray."

  "There's a puff. How many knots are we going?"

  "Ten."

  "Pooh! twenty. No chance of a pirate catching us."

  "In these unknown seas," said Mark, "you can't tell what proas arewaiting behind the islands, nor how many Malays with creeses."

  "They're crooked the wrong way," said Bevis. "The most curious knives Iever saw."

  "Or junks," went on Mark. "Are these the Chinese Seas?"

  "Jingalls," said Bevis, "they shoot big bullets, almost cannon-balls, asbig as walnuts. I wish we had one in the forecastle."

  "We ought to have a cannon."

  "Of course we did."

  "As if we couldn't manage a cannon!"

  "As if!"

  "Or a double-barrel gun."

  "Or anything."

  "Anything."

  "People _are_ stupid."

  "Idiotic."

  "We must have a gun."

  "We must."

  They listened again to the gurgling and "guggling," the bubbles, andkiss, kiss of the wavelets.

  "We're a long way now," said Mark presently. "Can we see land?"

  "See land! We lost sight of land months ago. I should think not. Lookup there."

  Bevis was watching the top of the mast, tracing its line along the sky,where white filmy clouds were floating slowly. Mark opened his drowsyeyes and looked up too.

  "No land in sight," said he. "Nothing but sky and clouds," said Bevis."How far are we from shore?"

  "Six thousand miles."

  "It's the first time anybody has ever sailed out of sight of land in ourtime," said Mark. "It's very wonderful, and we shall be made a greatdeal of when we get home."

  "Yes, and put in prison afterwards. That's the proper way."

  "We shall bring home sandal-wood, and diamonds as big as--as apples--"

  "And see unknown creatures in the sea, and butterflies as huge asumbrellas--"

  "Catch fevers and get well again--"

  "We must make notes of the language, and coax the people to give us someof their ancient books."

  "O! I say," said Mark, "when you were on the Unknown Island did you seethe magician with long white robes, and the serpent a hundred feet longhe keeps in a cave under the bushes?"

  "No," said Bevis, "I forgot him." So he had. His imagination ran sorapidly, one thing took the place of the other as the particles of watertake each other's place in a running brook. "We shall find him, I daresay."

  "Let's land and see."

  "So we will."

  "Are you sure you're steering right?"

  "O! yes; it's nothing to do, you only have to keep the wind in thesails."

  "I wonder what bird that is?" said Mark, as a dove flew over. He knew adove well enough on land.

  "It's a sort of parrot, no doubt."

  "I wonder how deep it is here."

  "About a million fathoms."

  "No use trying to anchor."

  "Not the least."

  "It's very warm."

  "In these places ships get burnt by the sun sometimes."

  Another short silence. "Is it time to take a look-out, captain?"

  "Yes, I think so," said the captain. Mark crept up in the bow.

  "You're steering too much to the right--that way," he cried, holding outhis right arm. "Is that better?"

  "More over."

  "There."

  "Right."

  As the boat fell off a little from the wind obeying the tiller, Bevis,now the foresail was out of his line of sight could see the UnknownIsland. They were closer than they had thought.

  "Shall we land on Serendib?"

  "O! no--on your island," said Mark. "Steer as close to the cliff as youcan."

  Bevis did so, and the boat approached the low sandy cliff against whichthe waves had once beat with such fury. The wavelets now washedsideways past it with a gentle splashing, they were not large enough tomake the boat dance, and if they had liked they could have gone up andtouched it.

  "It looks very deep under it," said Mark, as Bevis steered into thechannel, keeping two or three yards from shore.

  "Ready," he said; "get ready to furl the mainsail."

  Mark partly unfastened the halyard, and held it in his hand. Almostdirectly they had passed the cliff they were in the lee of the islandwhich kept off the wind. The boat moved, carried on by its impetusthrough the still water, but the sails did not draw. In a minute Bevistold Mark to let the mainsail down, and as it dropped Mark hauled thesail in or the folds would have fallen in the water. At the same momentBevis altered the course, and ran her ashore some way below where he hadleaped off the punt, and where it was low and shelving. Mark was outthe instant she touched with the painter, and tugged her up on thestrand. Bevis came forward and let down the foresail, then he got out.

  "Captain," said Mark, "may I go round the island?"

  "Yes," said the captain, and Mark stepped in among the bushes toexplore. Bevis went a little way and sat down under a beech. The hullof the boat was hidden by the undergrowth, but he could see the slendermast and some of the rigging over the boughs. The sunshine touched thetop of the smooth mast, which seemed to shine above the green leaves.There was the vessel; his comrade was exploring the unknown depths ofthe wood; they were far from the old world and the known countries. Hesat and gloated over the voyage, till by-and-by he remembered thetacking.

  They could not do it, even yet they were only half mariners, and wereobliged to wait for a fair wind. If it changed while they were on theisland they would have to row back. He was no longer satisfied; he wentdown to the boat, stepped on board, and hoisted the sails. The treesand the island itself so kept off the wind that it was perfectly calm,and the sails did not even flutter. He stepped on shore, and went a fewyards where he could look back and get a good view of the vessel, tryingto think what it could be they did not do, or what it could be that waswrong.

  He looked at her all over, from the top of the mast to the tiller, andhe could not discover anything. Bevis walked up and down, he workedhimself quite into a fidget. He went into the wood a little way, halfinclined to go after Mark as he felt so restless. All at once he tookout his pocket-book and pencil and sat down on the ground just w
here hewas, and drew a sailing-boat such as he had seen. Then he went back tothe shore, and sketched their boat on the other leaf. His idea was tocompare the sailing-boats he had seen with theirs.

  When he had finished his outline drawing he saw directly that there wereseveral differences. The mast in the boat sketched from memory was muchhigher than the mast in the other. Both sails, too, were larger thanthose he had had made. The bowsprit projected farther, but the foresailwas not so much less in