The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER VII.

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

  For several days after the excursion related in the last chapter we didnot wander far from our encampment, but gave ourselves up to formingplans for the future and making our present abode comfortable.

  There were various causes that induced this state of comparativeinaction. In the first place, although everything around us was sodelightful, and we could without difficulty obtain all that we requiredfor our bodily comfort, we did not quite like the idea of settling downhere for the rest of our lives, far away from our friends and our nativeland. To set energetically about preparations for a permanent residenceseemed so like making up our minds to saying adieu to home and friendsfor 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 littleuncertainty still as to there being natives on the island, and weentertained 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, wegave up all hope of an early deliverance and set diligently to work atour homestead.

  During this time, however, we had not been altogether idle. We madeseveral experiments in cooking the cocoa-nut, most of which did notimprove it. Then we removed our goods, and took up our abode in thecave, 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 leastJack and Peterkin did,--I listened. Among other useful things, Jack, whowas ever the most active and diligent, converted about three inches ofthe hoop-iron into an excellent knife. First he beat it quite flat withthe axe. Then he made a rude handle, and tied the hoop-iron to it withour piece of whip-cord, and ground it to an edge on a piece ofsand-stone. When it was finished he used it to shape a better handle, towhich he fixed it with a strip of his cotton handkerchief;--in whichoperation he had, as Peterkin pointed out, torn off one of Lord Nelson'snoses. However, the whip-cord, thus set free, was used by Peterkin as afishing line. He merely tied a piece of oyster to the end of it. Thisthe fish were allowed to swallow, and then they were pulled quicklyashore. But as the line was very short and we had no boat, the fish wecaught were exceedingly small.

  One day Peterkin came up from the beach, where he had been angling, andsaid in a very cross tone, "I'll tell you what, Jack, I'm not going to behumbugged with catching such contemptible things any longer. I want youto 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 thething so much to heart, else I would have got you out of that difficultylong ago. Let me see,"--and Jack looked down at a piece of timber onwhich he had been labouring, with a peculiar gaze of abstraction, whichhe 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 wantto begin at once!"

  Again Jack considered. "I have it!" he cried. "We'll fell a large treeand launch the trunk of it in the water, so that when you want to fishyou'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 wemay 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 weknew of a tree that would suit us, which grew near the water's edge. Assoon as we reached it Jack threw off his coat, and, wielding the axe withhis sturdy arms, hacked and hewed at it for a quarter of an hour withoutstopping. Then he paused, and, while he sat down to rest, I continuedthe work. Then Peterkin made a vigorous attack on it, so that when Jackrenewed his powerful blows, a few minutes cutting brought it down with aterrible 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 fromthe thick end. This done, he cut three strong, short poles or leversfrom the stout branches, with which to roll the log down the beach intothe sea; for, as it was nearly two feet thick at the large end, we couldnot move it without such helps. With the levers, however, we rolled itslowly into the sea.

  Having been thus successful in launching our vessel, we next shaped thelevers into rude oars or paddles, and then attempted to embark. This waseasy enough to do; but, after seating ourselves astride the log, it waswith the utmost difficulty we kept it from rolling round and plunging usinto the water. Not that we minded that much; but we preferred, ifpossible, to fish in dry clothes. To be sure, our trousers werenecessarily wet, as our legs were dangling in the water on each side ofthe log; but, as they could be easily dried, we did not care. After halfan hour's practice, we became expert enough to keep our balance prettysteadily. Then Peterkin laid down his paddle, and having baited his linewith 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 footlong 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 hispaddle.

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

  "Let him swallow it next time," said Jack, laughing at the melancholyexpression 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_ swallowit!"

  "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 hadtried and failed again.

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

  "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 athumper!"

  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 threedrowned rats, and seized hold of the log. We soon recovered ourposition, and sat more warily, while Peterkin secured the fish, which hadwell-nigh escaped in the midst of our struggles. It was little worthhaving, however; but, as Peterkin remarked, it was better than the smoutshe had been catching for the last two or three days; so we laid it on thelog before us, and having re-baited the line, dropt it in again foranother.

  Now, while we were thus intent upon our sport, our attention was suddenlyattracted by a ripple on the sea, just a few yards away from us. Peterkinshouted to us to paddle in that direction, as he thought it was a bigfish, and we might have a chance of catching it. But Jack, instead ofcomplying, said, in a deep, earnest tone of voice, which I never beforeheard 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 beremembered that our legs were hanging down in the water, and we could notventure to pull them up without upsetting the log. Peterkin instantlyhauled up the line; and, grasping his paddle, exerted himself to theutmost, while we also did our best to make for shore. But we were a goodway off, and the log being, as I have before said, very heavy, moved butslowly through the water. We now saw the shark quite distinctly swimminground and round us, its sharp fin every now and then protruding above thewater. From its active and unsteady motions, Jack knew it was m
aking upits mind to attack us, so he urged us vehemently to paddle for our lives,while he himself set us the example. Suddenly he shouted "Lookout!--there he comes!" and in a second we saw the monstrous fish diveclose under us, and turn half over on his side. But we all made a greatcommotion with our paddles, which no doubt frightened it away for thattime, as we saw it immediately after circling round us as before.

  "Throw the fish to him," cried Jack, in a quick, suppressed voice; "we'llmake 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 hispaddle again with all his might. No sooner had the fish fallen on thewater than we observed the shark to sink. In another second we saw itswhite breast rising; for sharks always turn over on their sides whenabout to seize their prey, their mouths being not at the point of theirheads like those of other fish, but, as it were, under their chins. Inanother moment his snout rose above the water,--his wide jaws, armed witha terrific double row of teeth, appeared. The dead fish was engulfed,and the shark sank out of sight. But Jack was mistaken in supposing thatit would be satisfied. In a very few minutes it returned to us, and itsquick 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'tglance 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 todo anything that afforded us a chance or a hope of escape, for we hadimplicit confidence in Jack's courage and wisdom. For a few seconds,that seemed long minutes to my mind, we sat thus silently; but I couldnot resist glancing backward, despite the orders to the contrary. Ondoing 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 glaredsavagely from beneath them down into the water. I also saw the shark, tomy horror, quite close under the log, in the act of darting towardsJack's foot. I could scarce suppress a cry on beholding this. Inanother moment the shark rose. Jack drew his leg suddenly from thewater, and threw it over the log. The monster's snout rubbed against thelog as it passed, and revealed its hideous jaws, into which Jackinstantly plunged the paddle, and thrust it down its throat. So violentwas the act that Jack rose to his feet in performing it; the log wasthereby rolled completely over, and we were once more plunged into thewater. We all rose, spluttering and gasping, in a moment.

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

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