Palm Tree Island

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER THE FOURTH

  OF THE MEANS WHEREBY WE CHEATED NEPTUNE AND CAME WITHIN THE GRIP OFVULCAN; AND OF THE INHUMANITY OF THE MARINERS

  We sat, or rather crouched, on the raft, and 'twas a mercy the sea wasnot now so tempestuous, for had it been, I am sure we should have hadno strength to battle with it. The rain had ceased, but a white mistlay over the water, and, dripping wet as I was, I shivered and my teethchattered and I felt desperately sick. All around us floated sundrybits of wreckage--planks and spars, a hencoop, some pots and pans andempty barrels, and near at hand a something that caused me a sharp pangat heart: it was Captain Corke's wig, and I thought of that goodseaman, and of Mr. Lummis too, both gone to their long account. For atime, as I contemplated the flotsam by which we were surrounded, I gavenever a thought to the unhappy posture of Billy and me; but all at onceit came upon me with a great shock that we were castaways on the wideocean, far away from land, clean out of the track of any likely vessel,and with no food, nor any means of procuring it, to be the sport ofwind and wave. I was even considering whether it were not better toplunge overboard at once, before the pangs of hunger and thirst gothold upon us, when Billy, who had raised himself upon his elbow,suddenly gave a shout and stretched his hand towards me. "Land! land!"he cried. I turned myself about, so quickly that I almost lost mybalance, and sure enough, through the mist I saw a long dark line,which on this waste of water could betoken nothing else but land, asBilly had said. And in that moment I blamed myself for my gloomythoughts and stark hopelessness, considering for the first time thatthe good hand of God had preserved us hitherto from the dreadful fateof the officers, and might have further mercies in store.

  [Sidenote: The Island]

  It was impossible to guess, because of the mist, how far the land wasfrom us, but with our hearts full of this reviving hope we took thoughtby what means we might propel our raft thither. We did not considerwhether it was a barren or a fruitful land, or what perils we mightencounter of wild beasts or wild men; all our mind was bent uponescaping from our present danger. The raft was composed of spars andstaves of the boat which had been shattered on the deck of the _LoveySusan_, lashed together with ropes. I felt in my pocket for a knifewherewith to cut one of the spars loose, designing to use it as an oar,but my pocket was empty save for one solitary button, which Iremembered having put there a day or two before when it started from mybreeches, intending to have it sewn on. I asked Billy if he had aknife, and he, feeling in his pockets, confessed them likewise to beempty, having left on the deck the knife we had used in making theraft; but when I told him what I had in mind, he at once fell topulling at one of the knots with his fingers, which being hard, as aseaman's always are, he contrived in a wonderfully short time to loosethe short spar, and began to thrust it into the water in the manner ofpaddling. To our great joy the raft moved, as I could tell by itspassing some of the floating articles of wreckage, which it did soclose to some that I might have seized them by stretching forth myhand, and I wished I had when I thought of it afterwards, for theywould have been of great use to us, and saved us a deal of labour, asyou shall see.

  We moved, I say, towards the shore, Billy keeping our course prettystraight by plying the spar now on the right side, now on the left.And then I perceived a shine upon the water, and, looking back, saw theblessed sun as a ruddy disk, but like the moon in size, glimmeringthrough the mist behind us. Billy hailed the sunrise with a cheerfulshout, which did my heart good to hear it, and cried to me that themist was lifting, and we should soon see the land clear. And so itwas, though when we did behold it, we did not much like the look of it.From the edge of the sea it rose to a considerable height, and it wasof a grey colour, or rather slate, and yet not quite that either, butapproaching to black. To the right the slope was covered withvegetation, and about half way-up there was what in the distance--forwe were, as I reckoned, near a mile from the shore--looked to be adense wood, as indeed it afterwards proved. Still further to the righta promontory of a reddish colour jutted out into the sea, and Iperceived that the water ran right through it by an archway, which Isuppose the sea had cut for itself, for I could not conceive it hadbeen made in any other way. This promontory also was green at the topwith plants and trees, and beyond it we could see a rock of the samered colour, which appeared to be of very great size, like to an immenseiceberg, but much broader than any I have seen. To the left of theblackish slope that I have before mentioned there were other patches ofgreen, and I was much exercised in my mind to know why the centreportion was thus barren when there was vegetation on either side.

  We could not yet see the top of the slope, for the mist still lay uponit; but as we drew nearer a pretty gentle gale sprang up, which withthe sunbeams drove the mist away, leaving only a small portion, whichhovered like a thick white cloud, or a nightcap, over the dark summit.While I was gazing at it, wondering why it stayed so constantly justthere, I was amazed to see a part of this cloud shoot up to aprodigious height, and while I was still in that amazement, we heard adull booming noise, like the discharge of a great gun far away. Atthis Billy ceased paddling and looked at me as one affrighted, andasked me very fearfully whether we had come to a country where theFrench were fighting with the native people. But I perceived now thatthe sea was in commotion around us, and it suddenly came into my mindthat this mountain we saw before us was a burning mountain, or volcano,like to what I had read of in my lesson books, though I had thoughtthat they sent forth fire and smoke and burning streams of lava. Andthen, remembering the great wave which had struck our vessel and causedthe panic among the seamen, I bethought me that it was maybe due to anearthquake, which affects as well the sea as the land. I told Billywhat I thought, and he was much relieved that we had not happened uponthe French, but said very gloomily that we should not be much betteroff on land below a burning mountain than on the sea, and for his parthe would sooner drown, that being, as 'twas said, an easy death, thanbe burned alive. However, I said that we had as yet seen no fire, andperhaps the furnace in the mountain was dying out, and we could at theleast put it to the test. In short, I persuaded him to take up hispaddle again, which he did, and so brought us a little nearer to theland.

  But we now perceived that the raft was taken in a current, which boreus to the right hand towards the promontory I have mentioned above, butobliquely, so that we were like to be carried past it without beingable to land. The wind was blowing against the current, and we hopedit might stay our course long enough for us to come at some haven; butthough we loosed another spar, which I used very diligently though withlittle dexterity, the current gained upon us, and I saw that we shouldnever do it. In that predicament it came into my mind that we mightuse our coats as a sail, and we instantly stripped them off and joinedthem together by the sleeves, and then we lashed them to the spar I hadbeen plying and held it upright, Billy drawing the loose end taut bytwo short lengths of rope which he fastened very quickly to theextremity of the raft. The sail made a very extraordinary appearance,as you may believe, but Billy laughed merrily when he saw it fill withthe wind, and so, he working his paddle, and me holding the mast--withno little difficulty, for the wind was blowing more strongly--we drewnearer and nearer to the land.

  And now, when we were, as I guessed, about two furlongs from the beach,I spied all of a sudden two boats lying close together near a smallspit of land. I might have noticed them before but for being so busywith the sail. Billy saw them too, and cried out that they were ourown boats, and was for steering instantly out to sea again, for hewould sooner have faced a tempest than Hoggett, or any other of the menwho had ill-used him. But even before I could answer him we were awareof a strange trembling of the raft beneath our feet, in no wise likethe wonted heaving of the sea, and while we were in the article ofwondering what it might be, the raft seemed to sink under us, as if agreat gap had opened beneath it and it was falling through empty air.I was in a terrible fright, and catched at my breath, but still keepingmy feet, and in a moment we
heard a strange rushing behind us, and,turning about, beheld a great wall of water bearing down upon us. Withone consent we flung ourselves on our faces, clutching at the ropesthat bound the raft together, and had barely got a grip of them whenthe mountainous wave crashed upon us, and we were completely engulfed.

  What happened to us then neither Billy nor I could ever perfectly tell,though we talked about it often; but I must suppose that the raft wasrolled over and over, with us a-clinging to it. I had scarce got alittle breath into me again, after a greater space of time even thanwhen I had been sucked under at the sinking of our vessel, when thereturn wave smote upon us, and we were hurled back, and while we werestill gasping after this, another green wall fell upon us fromseawards, though not so high as the first, and, its force being spent,we found ourselves, sore bruised and breathless, on the landward sideof a small group of rocks of about seven or eight feet high, and notabove thirty yards from the beach. We had been carried clean over it,and the raft, to which we had clung as by a miracle, was floating intwo or three feet of water. This we discovered afterwards, for we wereas near dead as any one could be, and, indeed, I wonder that we werenot killed outright, as we should have been beyond doubt but that theraft prevented us from being dashed upon the ground. We had hadbattering enough as it was, but coming to our senses, and very sickfrom the water we had swallowed, we sprang off the raft and hauled itashore, Billy crying out that his feet, which were bare, were cut topieces on the beach, which was very hard and jagged, though I escapedhurt, having my boots on.

  We were immediately aware of a deep rumbling from the hill above, andlifting our eyes, we beheld prodigious quantities of smoke or steam, wecould not tell which, belching from the top, and then a vast torrent ofwater pouring down towards us, with steam rising from it in clouds. Wewere near paralyzed with the sight, but recovered ourselves in time toskip back to the rocks over which we had been cast, and clambered tothe top of them with what haste we might, Billy's feet being all redwith blood from the sharpness of the beach. The torrent spread out asit flowed downwards, and, coming straight towards us, I was in a greatfear lest, even though we were perched up, we should not escape it, andwe were, indeed, on the point of casting ourselves into the sea. But Iwas thankful we did not do it, for the stream did not rise higher thanwithin three feet of our perch, but dashed up a great shower of spray,which was scalding hot. It also hurled our raft with great violenceagainst the rock beneath us, breaking off a good portion of it; but itdid not carry it out to sea, the rocks preventing it.

  Then, as we looked up towards the summit of the hill, we saw a numberof figures, very small in the distance, hasting pell-mell downwards.At first I thought they were savages, who had espied us, but within alittle I knew them for seamen of our crew. They ran at the edge of thetorrent, avoiding the clouds of steam, but this they could no longer dowhen they came to where the water had spread over the beach, and weheard them uttering very great yells of pain, as well from the scaldingwater as from the jagged edges of the ground, their feet being unshodsave for one or two of them. They skipped from point to point,endeavouring to find a safe way, and I recollected afterwards thestrange antics of Wabberley, who, being of a ponderous shape, was veryunfit for such feats of agility. The men gave no sign of having seenus, but bore away towards their right and our left towards a smalltract of sand which, being protected by the slope of the hill, had notbeen covered by the lava from the mountain top, for such I concluded tobe the constitution of the hard, blackish soil of which I have beforespoken.

  The seamen who came first to the beach disappeared from our sightbehind a number of rocks like to those upon which we sat, andimmediately afterwards we heard loud cries of alarm proceeding fromthat quarter. Those behind hasted on with even greater expedition thanbefore, and when they joined their comrades there arose a perfectchorus of execration, which puzzled us a good deal, until, glancingseaward beyond the rocks that hid the men from our sight, I descriedthe nose of a boat, and shortly afterwards made out that it was empty.Without doubt it was one of the two boats we had seen laid up on thebeach, and a wave had carried it out to sea, and it was this hadprovoked the cries we had heard. But I did not see the second boat,and wondered why the men did not put off in this to pursue the truantinstead of spending their breath in vain outcries. When some littlewhile had passed, and the boat was still drifting out, none pursuingit, I was taken with a great curiosity to see what the reason might be,and descended from my perch to creep towards them, taking care as Iwent to haul our raft to a safe place on the beach. As for Billy, herefused to budge, saying that he would not go a foot nearer to the men,because he was sure they would do him a mischief, a thing which I couldby no means believe, their minds being taken up with other matters.However, he would not come, so I left him there, and went on alone.

  It being my purpose to see without being seen--at least, until I knewwhat mind the men bore towards us--I went softly, and coming to therocks beyond which they were, I peeped round one of them with greatcaution. And then I understood both why they did not pursue the boatand why they had let out so lamentable an outcry. The second of thetwo boats had a great hole stove in her bottom, without doubt by thathuge wave which had well-nigh struck the breath out of us. The menwere at their wits' end what to do, for the other boat was driftingfurther and further from the shore, and was at this time, as Ireckoned, at least a hundred yards distant. One of them, as I looked,cried out that he would swim out to it; otherwise they were undone, forthey were in peril of being boiled or burnt alive; and he plunged intothe water and made a stroke or two. But immediately afterwards anotherof the men cried out that he saw the fin of a shark, at which the firstman--his name was Pumfrey, and he was the ship's carpenter--instantlyturned about and swam for the shore, splashing most vehemently with hisarms and legs and bellowing like a bull, as much to frighten away theshark as from fear.

  Seeing this their last hope of recovering the boat altogether dashedaway, the seamen did nothing but walk to and fro in great agitation ofmind, letting forth the most dreadful curses that ever I heard. As forMr. Bodger, whom I spied among them, he sat down on a rock, being atimorous creature, as I have before said, and setting his face in hishands, groaned and sighed in pitiful fashion, as did those that weresick and wounded among them. It came into my mind--what I had notthought of before--that Billy and me, being partners with them in theirunhappy situation, were no better able than they to leave this terribleplace, at least with any prospect of success, for I knew very well thatour raft would be a poor vessel for any voyage. And since it appearedto be our doom to live or die with them, I saw no benefit that couldarise from any attempt to hide our presence. Accordingly I walkedround the rock into their midst. It was Wabberley that spied me first,and when he saw me his jaw dropped and his face went green, as havingbeyond doubt believed me to be now at the bottom of the sea. Heuttered a strange cry, which the others hearing, they looked towardshim, and at the same instant beheld me, and after a sudden briefsilence came running at me, demanding with the greatest eagerness how Ihad come ashore. When I told them, on a raft, they shouted for joy,and Hoggett catching me roughly by the arm, cried to me to say wherethat same raft was, or he would dash my head against the rocks. Ianswered that there was no need of threats or violence, for the raftlay but a short distance away, and he might perhaps use it to overtakethe boat, and at the same time I pointed to the further rocks. Withoutmore ado he set off at a run, and spying Billy still sitting upon therock he asked whether we had the captain and Mr. Lummis also with us.But he did not wait for an answer, running very swiftly until he cameto the place where our raft lay, the other men following him in a crowd.

  When he saw what a poor shattered thing the raft was, he broke outagain into cursing, thinking that it would be useless for his purpose,as indeed it might have been, he being a very ponderous man. But thenbethinking himself he catched hold of Billy, and, Joshua Chick comingup, swore that Billy and he, being of no great weight, should go on theraf
t and pursue the boat, which, as we now perceived, had come into thecurrent that had nearly carried us past the further extremity of theshore. Billy cried out that he would not go, but Hoggett took him bythe middle, and when Chick had launched the raft, he threw the boyfairly on to it, bidding Chick fling him into the sea if he made anybones about it. And then, wrenching up two of the planks of the brokenboat to serve as paddles, he gave them to the boatswain and Billy, whothereupon began to ply them with the utmost vigour.

  We watched them as they went further and further from the shore, theseamen shouting with excitement, and even laying wagers one againstanother, though, being bereft of everything save their weapons and somefew articles that were in the boat, it seemed to me great folly. Andwhen after a long chase the boat was overhauled near the archway in thered rock of which I have spoken, they fell into a perfect ecstasy ofjoy, clapping each other on the back and shouting like frantic people.We saw Chick baling out the boat, Billy helping him, and as they were along while doing this, it was plain that she held a great quantity ofwater and would most likely have foundered in no long time. Whilstthey were at this work of baling, the raft floated away, and neglectingit they began to pull back to the beach. But they had not taken manystrokes before we saw them turn again, and the men around me burstforth into horrible execrations, supposing in the first moment (so baseof mind were they, as well as witless) that Chick was purposing to rowaway and desert them. But I told them that Billy had only rememberedthe raft, and so it proved, for they rowed after it, and having catchedit up, fastened it by a rope to the boat's stern and so headed againtowards the shore.

  While they were yet some distance off, the ground beneath our feettrembled and we heard a great rumbling, and the sea was mightilytroubled, whereupon the men fell into their panic again, fearing thatan earthquake would swallow them ere ever they got clear away. Theycried in great terror to Chick to haste, and while the boat was yetsome fathoms' length from the beach, Wabberley and two or three moredashed into the sea, and wading out, scrambled into the boat, with suchviolence that they were not very far short of overturning it. Whichseeing, all the rest of the seamen rushed to do likewise, Hoggett andsome others carrying all the articles that were in the broken boat, andthen I saw that the boat, being the smaller of the two, could notpossibly contain us all, and indeed the men saw that too, and there wassuch a fight to win places that I thought the boat would fill withwater and sink. As for me, I stood watching in a kind of amazement,now in the mind to rush towards the boat with the others and fight fora place, now deeming it better to wait until I saw to what issue thingscame.

  [Sidenote: Abandoned]

  All this time Mr. Bodger had remained by my side, no doubt expectingthat he as an officer would be given a place as of right. But nowthere came a mighty roar from the mountain; more terrible than any wehad yet heard, and I saw belching out of it not merely steam and water,but smoke of a lurid darkness, the sky above becoming perfectly blackwith a shower of ashes shot forth from the top, intermixed with fire.At this the fight about the boat waxed still more violent, and Mr.Bodger, darting from my side, sprang out into the sea. Then I sawHoggett fling Billy out of the boat, and three or four of the weakermen who had been beaten from it mounted on to the raft, upon which alsoMr. Bodger scrambled in his desperate haste. The men upon it, findingit likely to sink with the weight of them all, thrust him back againinto the water, and I heard him scream with terror when, striving toregain his place, and clinging desperately to the edge of the raft,they beat upon him with their fists and sought to loosen his hold. Hewas on the point of being cast off when Hoggett, in the boat, which nowstood some little way off, shouted "Take him aboard, you fools; we maywant him," and they did as he said, though grumbling, one of themsaying that Hoggett was safe himself, and had taken mighty great carenot to overload _his_ craft.

  And then, as Billy came out of the water towards me, and I saw both theboat and the raft moving away, and knew that we were to be left aloneon this dreadful shore, with the volcano vomiting forth fire--then, Isay, I was shaken out of the amazement which had held me, and beingperfectly frantic with terror, I rushed into the water, thinkingnothing of Billy or aught else than my own safety. With desperatestrokes I swam after the boat, shouting to the men to take me aboard.She was moving but slowly, being greatly overladen, and having the raftin tow, so that I was able to overtake the latter. But the men criedthat there was no room on it, and commanded me roughly to sheer off,and when I still clung to it, one lifted the plank that had been usedas a paddle, and aimed a furious blow at my head. The violence of hismovement causing the raft to sink towards one side, he failed of hisbrutal design, yet not wholly; for the plank as it descended grazed theside of my head, inflicting such a cut that I was well-nigh stunned,and was forced to loose my hold. I tried to set to swimming again, butmy strength was gone from me, and in my daze I might have gone to thebottom if Billy had not swum after me. With his help I was able toreach the shore, and when we stood up on the dry land and saw that theseamen had beyond doubt abandoned us, we flung ourselves down on ourfaces, in all the misery of wild despair.

  "ONE LIFTED THE PLANK ... AND AIMED A FURIOUS BLOW ATME."]