CHAPTER SEVEN.
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 alittle uncertainty 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--atleast Jack and Peterkin did; I listened. Among other useful things,Jack, who was ever the most active and diligent, converted about threeinches of the hoop-iron into an excellent knife. First, he beat itquite flat with the axe; then he made a rude handle, and tied thehoop-iron to it with our piece of whip-cord, and ground it to an edge ona piece of sandstone. When it was finished he used it to shape a betterhandle, to which he fixed it with a strip of his cotton handkerchief--inwhich operation he had, as Peterkin pointed out, torn off one of LordNelson's noses. However, the whip-cord, thus set free, was used byPeterkin as a fishing-line. He merely tied a piece of oyster to the endof it. This the fish were allowed to swallow, and then they were pulledquickly ashore. But as the line was very short and we had no boat, thefish we caught 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 tobe humbugged with catching such contemptible things any longer. I wantyou to 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 meantimelet us try the tree."
This was agreed on; so we started off to a spot, not far distant, wherewe knew of a tree that would suit us which grew near the water's edge.As soon as we reached it Jack threw off his coat, and wielding the axewith his sturdy arms, hacked and hewed at it for a quarter of an hourwithout stopping. Then he paused, and while he sat down to rest Icontinued the work. Then Peterkin made a vigorous attack on it; so thatwhen Jack renewed his powerful blows, a few minutes' cutting brought itdown with a terrible 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 yardsfrom the thick end. This done, he cut three strong, short poles orlevers from the stout branches, with which to roll the log down thebeach into the sea; for, as it was nearly two feet thick at the largeend, we could not move it without such helps. With the levers, however,we rolled it slowly 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. Thiswas easy enough to do; but after seating ourselves astride the log, itwas with the utmost difficulty we kept it from rolling round andplunging us into the water. Not that we minded that much; but wepreferred, if possible, to fish in dry clothes. To be sure, ourtrousers were necessarily wet, as our legs were dangling in the water oneach side of the log; but as they could be easily dried, we did notcare. After half-an-hour's practice, we became expert enough to keepour balance pretty steadily. Then Peterkin laid down his paddle, andhaving baited his line with a whole oyster, dropped it into deep water.
"Now, then, Jack," said he, "be cautious; steer clear o' that seaweed.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'sneck, 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, whichhad well-nigh escaped in the midst of our struggles. It was littleworth having, however. But, as Peterkin remarked, it was better thanthe smouts he had been catching for the last two or three days; so welaid it on the log before us, and having re-baited the line, dropped itin again for another.
Now, while we were thus intent upon our sport, our attention wassuddenly attracted by a ripple on the sea, just a few yards away fromus. Peterkin shouted to us to paddle in that direction, as he thoughtit was a big fish and we might have a chance of catching it. But Jack,instead of complying, said, in a deep, earnest tone of voice, which Inever before heard him use, "Haul up your line, Peterkin; seize yourpaddle. 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 couldnot venture to pull them up without upsetting the log. Peterkininstantly hauled up the line, and grasping his paddle, exerted himselfto the utmost, while we also did our best to make for shore. But wewere a good way off, and the log being, as I have before said, veryheavy, moved but slowly through the water. We now saw the shark quitedistinctly swimming round and round us, its sharp fin every now and thenprotruding above the water. From its active and unsteady motions, Jackknew it was making up its mind to attack us; s
o he urged us vehementlyto paddle for our lives, while he himself set us the example. Suddenlyhe shouted, "Look out! there he comes!" and in a second we saw themonstrous fish dive close under us and turn half-over on his side. Butwe all made a great commotion with our paddles, which, no doubt,frightened it away for that time, as we saw it immediately aftercircling 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 supposingthat it would be satisfied. In a very few minutes it returned to us,and its quick 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 theshark. Don't glance behind you. Do nothing but balance the log."
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 paddleraised, his lips compressed, and his eyebrows bent over his eyes, whichglared savagely from beneath them down into the water.
I also saw the shark, to my horror, quite close under the log, in theact of darting towards Jack's foot. I could scarce suppress a cry onbeholding this. In another moment the shark rose. Jack drew his legsuddenly from the water and threw it over the log. The monster's snoutrubbed against the log as it passed, and revealed its hideous jaws, intowhich Jack instantly plunged the paddle and thrust it down its throat.So violent was this act that Jack rose to his feet in performing it; thelog was thereby rolled completely over, and we were once more plungedinto the water. 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.
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