CHAPTER TEN.
DANGERS, JOYS, TRIALS, AND MULTIPLICATION.
"I'm going to the cliffs to-day, Williams," said Young one morning."Will you come?"
Williams was busy at the forge under the pleasant shade of the greatbanyan-tree. Resting his hammer on the anvil, he looked up.
"No," he answered. "I can't go till I've finished this spade. It's thelast bit of iron we have left that'll serve for such a purpose."
"That's no reason why you should not let it lie till the afternoon orto-morrow."
"True, but I've got another reason for pushing through with it. IsaacMartin says the want of a spade keeps him idle, and you know it's a pityto encourage idleness in a lazy fellow."
"You are right. What is Martin about just now?"
"Working at the big water-tank. It suits him, a heavy quiet sort of jobwith the pick, requiring no energy or thought,--only a sleepy sort o'perseverance, of which long-legged Isaac has plenty."
"Come, now," returned Young, with a laugh. "I see you are gettingjealous of Martin's superior intellect. But where are Quintal andMcCoy?"
"Diggin' in their gardens, I suppose. Leastwise, I heerd Mr Christiansay to Mainmast he'd seen 'em go off in that direction. Mr Christianhimself has gone to his old outlook aloft on the mountains. If he don'tsee a sail at last it won't be for want o' keepin' a bright look-out."
The armourer smiled grimly as he thrust the edge of the half-formedspade into the fire, and began to blow his bellows.
"You've got them to work again," said Young, referring to the bellowswhich had belonged to the _Bounty_.
"Ay, patched 'em up after a fashion, though there's a good deal o'windage somewheres. If them rats git hold of 'em again, theblacksmith's occupation'll be gone. Here comes Bill Brown; p'r'aps _he_won't object to go bird-nestin' with 'ee."
The armourer drew the glowing metal from the fire as he spoke, and sentthe bright sparks flying up into the leaves of the banyan-tree while thebotanist approached.
"I'll go, with all my heart," said Brown, on being invited by Young toaccompany him. "We'd better take Nehow with us. He is the bestcliff-man among the natives."
"That's just what I thought of doing," said Young, "and--ah! here comessome one else who will be glad to go."
The midshipman's tone and manner changed suddenly as he held out bothhands by way of invitation to Sally, who came skipping forward, and rangleefully towards him.
Sally was no longer the nude cherub which had landed on the island. Shehad not only attained to maturer years, but was precocious both in bodyand mind,--had, as we have shown, become matronly in her ideas andactions, and was clothed in a short petticoat of native cloth, and alittle scarf of the same, her pretty little head being decorated with awreath of flowers culled and constructed by herself.
"No, I can't go," answered Sally to Young's invitation, with a solemnshake of her head.
"Why not?"
"'Cause I's got to look arter babby."
Up to this period Sally had shown a decided preference for theungrammatical language of the seamen, though she associated freely withYoung and Christian. Perhaps her particular fondness for John Adams mayhave had something to do with this.
"Which baby, Sall? You know your family is a pretty large one."
"Yes, there's a stunnin' lot of 'em--a'most too many for me; but I said_the_ babby."
"Oh, I suppose you mean Charlie Christian?"
"In coorse I means Challie," replied the child, with a smile thatdisplayed a dazzling set of teeth, the sparkle of which was onlyequalled by that of her eyes.
"Well, but you can bring Charlie along with you," said Young, "and I'llengage to carry him and you too if you get tired. There, run away; findhim, and fetch him quick."
Little Sall went off like the wind, and soon returned with theredoubtable Charles in her arms. It was all she could do to staggerunder the load; but Charlie Christian had not yet attained to facilityin walking. He was still in the nude stage of childhood, and hisfaithful nurse, being afraid lest he should get badly scratched ifdragged at a rapid pace through the bushes, had carried him.
Submitting, according to custom, in solemn and resigned surprise,Charlie was soon seated on the shoulders of our midshipman, who led theway to the cliffs. William Brown followed, leading Sally by the hand,for she refused to be carried, and Nehow brought up the rear.
The cliffs to which their steps were directed were not more than anhour's walk from the settlement at Bounty Bay, though, for Sally's sake,the time occupied in going was about half-an-hour longer. It was a wildspot which had been selected. The towering walls of rock were ruggedwith ledges, spurs, and indentations, where sea-birds in myriads gavelife to the scene, and awakened millions of echoes to their plaintivecries. There was a pleasant appearance of sociability about the birdswhich was powerfully attractive. Even Nehow, accustomed as he was tosuch scenes, appeared to be impressed. The middy and the botanist wereexcited. As for Sally, she was in ecstasies, and the baby seemed lostin the profoundest fit of wonder he had experienced since the day of hisbirth.
"Oh, Challie," exclaimed his nurse in a burst of laughter, "what a faceyou's got! Jis' like de fig'r'ead o' the _Bounty_." (Sall quotedhere!) "Ain't they bootiful birds?"
She effectually prevented reply, even if such had been intended, bysuddenly seizing her little charge round the neck and kissing his righteye passionately. Master Charlie cared nothing for that. He gazed pasther at the gulls with the unobliterated eye. When she kissed him on theleft cheek, he gazed past her at the gulls with the other eye. When shelet him go, he continued to gaze at the gulls with both eyes. He hadoften seen the same gulls at a distance, from the lower level of BountyBay, but he had never before stood on their own giddy cliffs, andwatched them from their own favourite bird's-eye-view point; for therewere thousands of them sloping, diving, and wheeling in the airy abyss,pictured against the dark blue sea below, as well as thousands morecircling upwards, floating and gyrating in the bright blue sky above.It seemed as if giant snowflakes were trembling in the air in alldirections. Some of the gulls came so near to those who watched themthat their black inquiring eyes became distinctly visible; others swepttowards them with rustling wings, as if intending to strike, and thenglanced sharply off, or upwards, with wild cries.
"Wouldn't it be fun to have wings?" asked Brown of Sally, as she stoodthere open-mouthed and eyed.
"Oh, _wouldn't_ it?"
"If I had wings," said Young, with a touch of sadness in his tone, "I'dsteer a straight course through the air for Old England."
"I didn't know you had such a strong desire to be hanged," said Brown.
"They'd never hang me," returned Young. "I'm innocent of the crime ofmutiny, and Captain Bligh knows it."
"Bligh would be but a broken reed to lean on," rejoined Brown, with ashrug of contempt. "If he liked you, he'd favour you; if he didn't,he'd go dead against you. I wouldn't trust myself in _his_ handswhether innocent or guilty. Depend upon it, Mr Young, FletcherChristian would have been an honour to the service if he had not beendriven all but mad by Bligh. I don't justify Mr Christian's act--itcannot be defended,--but I have great sympathy with him. The only manwho deserves to be hanged for the mutiny of the _Bounty_, in my opinion,is Mr Bligh himself; but men seldom get their due in this world, eitherone way or another."
"That's a powerfully radical sentiment," said Young, laughing; "it's tobe hoped that men will at all events get their due in the next world,and it is well for you that Pitcairn is a free republic. But come, wemust go to work if we would have a kettle of fresh eggs. I see a ledgewhich seems accessible, and where there must be plenty of eggs, to judgefrom the row the gulls are making round it. I'll try. See, now, thatyou don't get yourself into a fix that you can't get out of. You knowthat the heads of you landsmen are not so steady as those of seamen."
"I know that the heads of landsmen are not stuffed with such conceit asthe heads of you sailors," retorted Brown, as he
went off to gathereggs.
"Now, Sally, do you stop here and take care of Charlie," said Young,leading the little girl to a soft grassy mound, as far back from theedge of the cliff as possible. "Mind that you don't leave this spottill I return. I know I can trust you, and as for Charlie--"
"Oh, he never moves a'most, 'xcept w'en I lifts 'im. He's _so_ good!"interrupted Sally.
"Well, just keep a sharp eye on him, and we'll soon be back with lots ofeggs."
While Edward Young was thus cautioning the child, William Brown was busymaking his way down the cliffs to some promising ledges below, andNehow, the Otaheitan, clambered up the almost perpendicular face of thepart that rose above them. [See frontispiece.]
It was interesting to watch the movements of the three men. Each was,in his own way, venturesome, fearless, and more or less practised incliff climbing. The midshipman ascended the perpendicular face withsomething of a nautical swagger, but inasmuch as the ledges, crevices,and projections were neither so well adapted to the hands nor so sure asratlines and ropes, there was a wholesome degree of caution mingled withhis confidence. When the wished-for ledge was gained, he gave relief tohis feelings in a hearty British cheer that reverberated from cliff tocliff, causing the startled sea-gulls to drive the very echoes mad withtheir clangour.
The botanist, on the other hand, proceeded with the extreme care of aman who knew that a false step or uncertain grip might send him into theseething mass of foam and rocks below. But he did not hesitate orbetray want of courage in attempting any difficulty which he had made uphis mind to face.
The proceedings of Nehow, however, seemed little short of miraculous.He appeared to run up perpendicular places like a cat; to leap where theothers crept, to scramble where his companions did not dare to venture,and, loosely speaking, to hang on occasionally to nothing by the pointof his nose, his eyelids, or his finger-nails! We say that he appearedto do all this, but the gulls who watched and followed him in noisyindignation could have told you, if they had chosen, that his eye wasquick, that his feet and hands were sure, and that he never trusted footor hand for one moment on a doubtful projection or crevice.
For some time all went well. The three men soon returned, each with afew eggs which they laid on the grass in three little heaps, to bewatched and guarded by Sally, and to be stared at in grave surprise byCharlie. They carried their eggs in three round baskets without lids,and with handles which folded over on one side, so that the basketscould be fitted into each other when not in use, or slung round thenecks of the egg-collectors while they were climbing.
The last to return to the children was William Brown. He brought hisbasket nearly half full of fine eggs, and set it down beside the twoheaps already brought in.
"Ain't they lovely, Sall?" asked Brown, wiping the perspiration from hisbrow with the sleeve of his coat. That same coat, by the way, was verydisreputable--threadbare and worn,--being four years old on the lowestcalculation, and having seen much rough service, for Brown had anobjection to the tapa cloth, and said he would stick to the old coat aslong as it would stick to him. The truth is he felt it, with his worncanvas trousers and Guernsey shirt, to be in some sense a last link to"home," and he was loath to part with them.
"Lovely!" exclaimed Sally, "they's jus' bootiful." Nothing could exceed"bootiful" in Sally's mind--she had paid the eggs the highest possiblecompliment.
Charlie did them, at the same moment, the greatest possible damage, bysitting down in the basket, unintentionally, with an awful crash.
From the gaze of horror that he cast upwards, it was evident that he wasimpressed with a strong belief that he had done something wrong, thoughthe result did not seem to him unpleasant. The gaze of horror quicklychanged into one of alarm when he observed the shocked countenance ofSally, and he burst into uncontrollable tears.
"Poor thing," said Brown, lifting him out of the mess and setting him onhis legs. "Never mind, old man, I'll fetch you a better basketful soon.You clean him up, Sall, and I'll be back in a jiffy."
So saying, Brown took up his basket, emptied out the mess, wiped it witha bunch of grass, and descended the short slope to the cliff edge,laughing as he went.
Poor Sally's shocked expression had not yet passed off when Charlie cameto a sudden stop, shut his mouth tightly and opened his eyes, as thoughto say, "Well, how do you take it now?"
"Oh, Challie, but you _is_ bad to-day."
This was enough. The shades of darkest night settled down on Charlie'smiserable soul. Re-shutting his eyes and reopening his mouth, he pouredforth the woe of his inconsolable heart in prolonged and passionatehowling.
"No, no; O _don't_!" cried the repentant Sally, her arms round his neckand fondling him. "I didn't mean it. I'm _so_ sorry. It's me that'sbad--badder than you ever was."
But Charlie refused to be comforted. He flung himself on the grass inagony of spirit, to the alarm and grief of his poor nurse.
"Me's dood?" he cried, pausing suddenly, with a blaze of inquiry in hiswet visage.
"Yes, yes, good as gold--gooder, far gooder!"
Sally did not possess an enlightened conscience at that time. She wouldhave said anything to quiet him, but he would not be quieted.
"Me's dood--O _dood_! ah-o-ee-aw-ee!"
The noise was bad enough, but the way he flung himself about was worse.There was no occasion for Sally to clean him up. Rolling thus on thegreen turf made him as pure, if not bright, as a new pin; but it hadanother effect, which gave Sally a fright such as she had never up tothat time conceived of, and never afterwards forgot.
In his rollings Charlie came to the edge of the knoll where a thick butsoft bush concealed a ledge, or drop, of about two feet. Through thisbush he passed in a moment. Sally leaped up and sprang to the spot,just in time to see her charge rolling helplessly down the slope to whatappeared to be certain death.
There was but a short slope between the bush and the cliff. Rotundlittle Charlie "fetched way" as he advanced, despite one or two feebleclutches at the rocks.
If Sally had been a few years older she would have bounded after himlike a goat, but she had only reached that period of life which renderedpetrifaction possible. She stood ridged for a few moments with heart,head, and eyes apparently about to burst. At last her voice found ventin a shriek so awful that it made the heart of Young, high on the cliffsabove, stand still. It had quite the contrary effect on the legs ofBrown. That cautious man chanced to be climbing the cliff slowly with afresh basketful of eggs. Hearing the shriek, and knowing full well thatit meant imminent danger, he leaped up the last few steps of theprecipice with a degree of heedless agility that equalled that of Nehowhimself. He was just in time to see Charlie coming straight at him likea cannon shot. It was really an awful situation. To have received theshock while his footing was still precarious would have insured his owndestruction as well as that of the child. Feeling this, he made akangaroo-like bound over the edge of the cliff, and succeeded inplanting both feet and knees firmly on a grassy foundation, just intime. Letting go his burden, he spread out both arms. Charlie cameinto his bosom with extreme violence, but he remained firm, while thebasket of eggs went wildly downward to destruction.
Meanwhile, Sally stood there with clasped hands and glazed eyes, sendingup shriek after shriek, which sent successive stabs to the heart ofEdward Young, as he scurried and tumbled, rather than ran, down from theupper cliffs towards her.
In a few minutes he came in pale and panting. A minute later and Nehowran round a neighbouring point like a greyhound.
"All right?" gasped Young.
"All right," replied Brown.
"Wheeaow-ho!" exclaimed Nehow, expanding his cavernous mouth with a grinof satisfaction.
It is worthy of record that little Sally did not revisit theseparticular cliffs for several years after that exciting and eventfulday, and that she returned to the settlement with a beating and gratefulheart.
It must not be supposed that Charlie Christian remained for a
ny greatlength of time "the babby" of that infant colony. By no means. In ashort time after the event which we have just described, there came toPitcairn a little sister to Charlie. She was named Mary, despite theearnest suggestion of Isaac Martin, that as she was "born of aWednesday," she ought to be called by that name.
Of course Otaheitan Sally at once devoted herself to the newcomer, butshe did not on that account forsake her first love. No; her littlebrown heart remained true to Charlie, though she necessarily gave himless of her society than before.
Then Mrs Quintal gave her husband the additional burden, as he styledit, of a daughter, whom he named Sarah, for no other reason, that anyone could make out, than the fact that his wife did not like it, and hisfriend McCoy had advised him on no account to adopt it. Thus was littleMatthew Quintal also provided with a sister.
Shortly after that, John Adams became a moderately happy father, andcalled the child Dinah, because he had never had a female relation ofthat name; indeed, he had never possessed a relation of any kindwhatever that he knew of, having been a London street-boy, a mere waif,when he first became aware, so to speak, of his own existence.
About the same time that little Dinah was born, John Mills rushed oneday into the yam-field of Edward Young, where the midshipman was atwork, seized his hand, and exclaimed--"I wish you joy, sir, it's a_girl_!"
Not to be out-done in civility, Young carefully watched his opportunity,and, only four days later, rushed into the yam-garden of John Mills,where he was smoking, seized his hand, and exclaimed--"I congratulateyou, Mills, it's a _boy_!" So, Young called his daughter Folly, becausehe had an old aunt of that name who had been kind to him; and Millscalled his son John, after himself, who, he said, was the kindest friendhe ever had.
By this time poor Otaheitan Sally became overburdened with care. Itbecame evident that she could not manage to look after so large a familyof helpless infants, even though her services should only be requiredwhen the mothers were busy in the gardens. Mrs Isabella Christian,_alias_ Mainmast, was therefore relieved of part of her field duties,and set apart for infantry drill.
Thus the rising generation multiplied and grew apace; and merry innocentlaughter and gleeful childlike shouts began to resound among the cliffsand groves of the lonely refuge of the mutineers.
The Lonely Island: The Refuge of the Mutineers Page 10