The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER XV.

  Boat-building extraordinary--Peterkin tries his hand at cookery and failsmost signally--The boat finished--Curious conversation with the cat, andother matters.

  For many days after this Jack applied himself with unremitting assiduityto the construction of our boat, which at length began to look somewhatlike one. But those only who have had the thing to do can entertain aright idea of the difficulty involved in such an undertaking, with noother implements than an axe, a bit of hoop-iron, a sail-needle, and abroken pen-knife. But Jack did it. He was of, that disposition which_will_ not be conquered. When he believed himself to be acting rightly,he overcame all obstacles. I have seen Jack, when doubtful whether whathe was about to do were right or wrong, as timid and vacillating as alittle girl,--and I honour him for it!

  As this boat was a curiosity in its way, a few words here relative to themanner of its construction may not be amiss.

  I have already mentioned the chestnut tree with its wonderful buttressesor planks. This tree, then, furnished us with the chief part of ourmaterial. First of all Jack sought out a limb of a tree of such a formand size as, while it should form the keel a bend at either end shouldform the stem and stern posts. Such a piece, however, was not easy toobtain, but at last he procured it, by rooting up a small tree which hada branch growing at the proper angle about ten feet up its stem, with twostrong roots growing in such a form as enabled him to make a flat-sternedboat. This placed, he procured three branching roots of suitable size,which he fitted to the keel at equal distances, thus forming three strongribs. Now, the squaring and shaping of these, and the cutting of thegrooves in the keel, was an easy enough matter, as it was all work forthe axe, in the use of which Jack was become wonderfully expert; but itwas quite a different affair when he came to nailing the ribs to thekeel, for we had no instrument capable of boring a large hole, and nonails to fasten them with. We were, indeed, much perplexed here; butJack at length devised an instrument that served very well. He took theremainder of our hoop-iron and beat it into the form of a pipe orcylinder, about as thick as a man's finger. This he did by means of ouraxe and the old rusty axe we had found at the house of the poor man atthe other side of the island. This, when made red hot, bored slowlythough the timbers; and, the better to retain the heat, Jack shut up oneend of it and filled it with sand. True, the work was very slowly done,but it mattered not--we had little else to do. Two holes were bored ineach timber, about an inch and a half apart, and also down into the keel,but not quite through. Into these were placed stout pegs made of a treecalled iron-wood; and, when they were hammered well home, the timberswere as firmly fixed as if they had been nailed with iron. The gunwales,which were very stout, were fixed in a similar manner. But, besides thewooden nails, they were firmly lashed to the stem and stern posts andribs by means of a species of cordage which we had contrived to make outof the fibrous husk of the cocoa nut. This husk was very tough, and whena number of the threads were joined together they formed excellentcordage. At first we tied the different lengths together, but this wassuch a clumsy and awkward complication of knots, that we contrived, bycareful interlacing of the ends together before twisting, to make goodcordage of any size or length we chose. Of course it cost us much timeand infinite labour, but Jack kept up our spirits when we grew weary, andso all that we required was at last constructed.

  Planks were now cut off the chestnut trees of about an inch thick. Thesewere dressed with the axe,--but clumsily, for an axe is ill adapted forsuch work. Five of these planks on each side were sufficient, and weformed the boat in a very rounded, barrel-like shape, in order to have aslittle twisting of the planks as possible; for, although we could easilybend them, we could not easily twist them. Having no nails to rivet theplanks with, we threw aside the ordinary fashion of boat building andadopted one of our own. The planks were therefore placed on each other'sedges, and sewed together with the tough cordage already mentioned. Theywere also thus sewed to the stem, the stern, and the keel. Each stitchor tie was six inches apart, and was formed thus: Three holes were boredin the upper plank and three in the lower,--the holes being above eachother, that is, in a vertical line. Through these holes the cord waspassed, and, when tied, formed a powerful stitch of three ply. Besidesthis, we placed between the edges of the planks, layers of cocoa-nutfibre, which, as it swelled when wetted, would, we hoped, make our littlevessel water-tight. But in order further to secure this end, wecollected a large quantity of pitch from the bread-fruit tree, withwhich, when boiled in our old iron pot, we payed the whole of the insideof the boat, and, while it was yet hot, placed large pieces of cocoa-nutcloth on it, and then gave it another coat above that. Thus the interiorwas covered with a tough water-tight material; while the exterior, beinguncovered, and so exposed to the swelling action of the water, was wehoped, likely to keep the boat quite dry. I may add that our hopes werenot disappointed.

  While Jack was thus engaged, Peterkin and I sometimes assisted him, but,as our assistance was not much required, we more frequently wenta-hunting on the extensive mud-flats at the entrance of the long valleywhich lay nearest to our bower. Here we found large flocks of ducks ofvarious kinds, some of them bearing so much resemblance to the wild ducksof our own country that I think they must have been the same. On theseoccasions we took the bow and the sling, with both of which we were oftensuccessful, though I must confess I was the least so. Our suppers werethus pleasantly varied, and sometimes we had such a profusion spread outbefore us that we frequently knew not with which of the dainties tobegin.

  I must also add, that the poor old cat which we had brought home hadalways a liberal share of our good things, and so well was it lookedafter, especially by Peterkin, that it recovered much of its formerstrength, and seemed to improve in sight as well as hearing.

  {Leaving for the "mud-flats": p175.jpg}

  The large flat stone, or rock of coral, which stood just in front of theentrance to our bower, was our table. On this rock we had spread out thefew articles we possessed the day we were shipwrecked; and on the samerock, during many a day afterwards, we spread out the bountiful supplywith which we had been blessed on our Coral Island. Sometimes we satdown at this table to a feast consisting of hot rolls,--as Peterkincalled the newly baked bread fruit,--a roast pig, roast duck, boiled androasted yams, cocoa nuts, taro, and sweet potatoes; which we followed upwith a dessert of plums, apples, and plantains,--the last being a large-sized and delightful fruit, which grew on a large shrub or tree not morethan twelve feet high, with light-green leaves of enormous length andbreadth. These luxurious feasts were usually washed down with cocoa-nutlemonade.

  Occasionally Peterkin tried to devise some new dish,--"a conglomerate,"as he used to say; but these generally turned out such atrociouscompounds that he was ultimately induced to give up his attempts inextreme disgust. Not forgetting, however, to point out to Jack that hisfailure was a direct contradiction to the proverb which he, Jack, wasconstantly thrusting down his throat, namely, that "where there's a willthere's a way." For he had a great will to become a cook, but could byno means find a way to accomplish that end.

  One day, while Peterkin and I were seated beside our table on whichdinner was spread, Jack came up from the beach, and, flinging down hisaxe, exclaimed,--

  "There, lads, the boat's finished at last! so we've nothing to do now butshape two pair of oars, and then we may put to sea as soon as we like."

  This piece of news threw us into a state of great joy; for although wewere aware that the boat had been gradually getting near its completion,it had taken so long that we did not expect it to be quite ready for atleast two or three weeks. But Jack had wrought hard and said nothing, inorder to surprise us.

  "My dear fellow," cried Peterkin, "you're a perfect trump. But why didyou not tell us it was so nearly ready? won't we have a jolly sail to-morrow? eh?"

  "Don't talk so much, Peterkin," said Jack; "and, pray, hand me a bit ofthat pig."

  "Certainly
, my dear," cried Peterkin, seizing the axe; "what part willyou have? a leg, or a wing, or a piece of the breast; which?"

  "A hind leg, if you please," answered Jack; "and, pray, be so good as toinclude the tail."

  "With all my heart," said Peterkin, exchanging the axe for his hoop-ironknife, with which he cut off the desired portion. "I'm only too glad, mydear boy, to see that your appetite is so wholesale; and there's nochance whatever of its dwindling down into re-tail again, at least in sofar as this pig is concerned. Ralph, lad, why don't you laugh?--eh?" headded turning suddenly to me with a severe look of inquiry.

  "Laugh?" said I; "what at, Peterkin? why should I laugh?"

  Both Jack and Peterkin answered this inquiry by themselves laughing soimmoderately that I was induced to believe I had missed noticing somegood joke, so I begged that it might be explained to me; but as this onlyproduced repeated roars of laughter, I smiled and helped myself toanother slice of plantain.

  "Well, but," continued Peterkin, "I was talking of a sail to-morrow.Can't we have one, Jack?"

  "No," replied Jack, "we can't have a sail, but I hope we shall have arow, as I intend to work hard at the oars this afternoon, and, if wecan't get them finished by sunset we'll light our candle-nuts, and turnthem out of hands before we turn into bed."

  "Very good," said Peterkin, tossing a lump of pork to the cat, whoreceived it with a mew of satisfaction. "I'll help you, if I can."

  "Afterwards," continued Jack, "we will make a sail out of the cocoa-nutcloth, and rig up a mast, and then we shall be able to sail to some ofthe other islands, and visit our old friends the penguins."

  The prospect of being so soon in a position to extend our observations tothe other islands, and enjoy a sail over the beautiful sea, afforded usmuch delight, and, after dinner, we set about making the oars in goodearnest. Jack went into the woods and blocked them roughly out with theaxe, and I smoothed them down with the knife, while Peterkin remained inthe bower, spinning, or, rather, twisting some strong thick cordage withwhich to fasten them to the boat.

  We worked hard and rapidly, so that, when the sun went down, Jack and Ireturned to the bower with four stout oars, which required little to bedone to them save a slight degree of polishing with the knife. As wedrew near we were suddenly arrested by the sound of a voice! We were nota little surprised at this--indeed I may almost say alarmed--for,although Peterkin was undoubtedly fond of talking, we had never, up tothis time, found him talking to himself. We listened intently, and stillheard the sound of a voice as if in conversation. Jack motioned me to besilent, and, advancing to the bower on tip-toe, we peeped in.

  The sight that met our gaze was certainly not a little amusing. On thetop of a log which we sometimes used as a table, sat the black cat, witha very demure expression on its countenance; and in front of it, sittingon the ground, with his legs extended on either side of the log, wasPeterkin. At the moment we saw him he was gazing intently into the cat'sface, with his nose about four inches from it,--his hands being thrustinto his breeches pockets.

  "Cat," said Peterkin, turning his head a little on one side, "I loveyou!"

  There was a pause, as if Peterkin awaited a reply to this affectionatedeclaration but the cat said nothing.

  "Do you hear me?" cried Peterkin, sharply. "I love you--I do. Don't youlove me?"

  To this touching appeal the cat said "Mew," faintly.

  "Ah! that's right. You're a jolly old rascal. Why did you not speak atonce? eh?" and Peterkin put forward his mouth and kissed the cat on thenose!

  "Yes," continued Peterkin, after a pause, "I love you. D'you think I'dsay so if I didn't, you black villain? I love you because I've got totake care of you, and to look after you, and to think about you, and tosee that you don't die--"

  "Mew, me-a-w!" said the cat.

  "Very good," continued Peterkin, "quite true, I have no doubt; but you'veno right to interrupt me, sir. Hold your tongue till I have donespeaking. Moreover, cat, I love you because you came to me the firsttime you ever saw me, and didn't seem to be afraid, and appeared to befond of me, though you didn't know that I wasn't going to kill you. Now,that was brave, that was bold, and very jolly, old boy, and I love youfor it--I do!"

  Again there was a pause of a few minutes, during which the cat lookedplacid, and Peterkin dropped his eyes upon its toes as if incontemplation. Suddenly he looked up.

  "Well, cat, what are you thinking about now? won't speak? eh? Now, tellme; don't you think it's a monstrous shame that these two scoundrels,Jack and Ralph, should keep us waiting for our supper so long?"

  Here the cat arose, put up its back and stretched itself; yawnedslightly, and licked the point of Peterkin's nose!

  "Just so, old boy, you're a clever fellow,--I really do believe the bruteunderstands me!" said Peterkin, while a broad grin overspread his face,as he drew back and surveyed the cat.

  At this point Jack burst into a loud fit of laughter. The cat uttered anangry fuff and fled, while Peterkin sprang up and exclaimed,--

  "Bad luck to you, Jack! you've nearly made the heart jump out of my body,you have."

  "Perhaps I have," replied Jack, laughing, as we entered the bower, "but,as I don't intend to keep you or the cat any longer from your supper, Ihope that you'll both forgive me."

  Peterkin endeavoured to turn this affair off with a laugh, but I observedthat he blushed very deeply at the time we discovered ourselves, and hedid not seem to relish any allusion to the subject afterwards; so werefrained from remarking on it ever after,--though it tickled us not alittle at the time.

  After supper we retired to rest and to dream of wonderful adventures inour little boat, and distant voyages upon the sea.