The Coral Island

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

  SAGACIOUS AND MORAL REMARKS IN REGARD TO LIFE--A SAIL!--AN UNEXPECTEDSALUTE--THE END OF THE BLACK CAT--A TERRIBLE DIVE--AN INCAUTIOUSPROCEEDING AND A FRIGHTFUL CATASTROPHE.

  Life is a strange compound. Peterkin used to say of it that it beat adruggist's shop all to sticks; for whereas the first is a compound ofgood and bad, the other is a horrible compound of all that is utterlydetestable. And indeed the more I consider it, the more I am struckwith the strange mixture of good and evil that exists, not only in thematerial earth, but in our own natures. In our own Coral Island we hadexperienced every variety of good that a bountiful Creator could heap onus. Yet on the night of the storm we had seen how almost, in our case--and altogether, no doubt, in the case of others less fortunate--all thisgood might be swept away for ever. We had seen the rich fruit-treeswaving in the soft air, the tender herbs shooting upwards under thebenign influence of the bright sun; and the next day we had seen thesegood and beautiful trees and plants uprooted by the hurricane, crushedand hurled to the ground in destructive devastation. We had lived formany months in a clime, for the most part, so beautiful that we hadoften wondered whether Adam and Eve had found Eden more sweet; and wehad seen the quiet solitudes of our paradise suddenly broken in upon byferocious savages, and the white sands stained with blood and strewedwith lifeless forms, yet among these cannibals we had seen many symptomsof a kindly nature. I pondered these things much, and while Iconsidered them there recurred to my memory those words which I had readin my Bible: "The works of God are wonderful, and His ways past findingout."

  After these poor savages had left us we used to hold long and frequentconversations about them, and I noticed that Peterkin's manner was nowmuch altered. He did not, indeed, jest less heartily than before, buthe did so less frequently; and often there was a tone of deepseriousness in his manner, if not in his words, which made him seem toJack and me as if he had grown two years older within a few days. Butindeed I was not surprised at this when I reflected on the awfulrealities which we had witnessed so lately. We could by no means shakeoff a tendency to gloom for several weeks afterwards; but as time woreaway, our usual good spirits returned somewhat, and we began to think ofthe visit of the savages with feelings akin to those with which werecall a terrible dream.

  One day we were all enjoying ourselves in the Water Garden preparatoryto going on a fishing excursion, for Peterkin had kept us in suchconstant supply of hogs that we had become quite tired of pork anddesired a change. Peterkin was sunning himself on the ledge of rock,while we were creeping among the rocks below. Happening to look up, Iobserved Peterkin cutting the most extraordinary capers and makingviolent gesticulations for us to come up; so I gave Jack a push and roseimmediately.

  "A sail! a sail--Ralph, look--Jack, away on the horizon there, just overthe entrance to the lagoon!" cried Peterkin as we scrambled up therocks.

  "So it is--and a schooner, too!" said Jack as he proceeded hastily todress.

  Our hearts were thrown into a terrible flutter by this discovery, for ifit should touch at our island, we had no doubt the captain would behappy to give us a passage to some of the civilised islands, where wecould find a ship sailing for England or some other part of Europe.Home, with all its associations, rushed in upon my heart like a flood;and much though I loved the Coral Island and the bower which had nowbeen our home so long, I felt that I could have quitted all at thatmoment without a sigh. With joyful anticipations we hastened to thehighest point of rock near our dwelling and awaited the arrival of thevessel, for we now perceived that she was making straight for the islandunder a steady breeze.

  In less than an hour she was close to the reef, where she rounded-to andbacked her topsails in order to survey the coast. Seeing this, andfearing that they might not perceive us, we all three waved pieces ofcocoa-nut cloth in the air, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing thembeginning to lower a boat and bustle about the decks as if they meant toland. Suddenly a flag was run up to the peak, a little cloud of whitesmoke rose from the schooner's side, and before we could guess theirintentions, a cannon-shot came crashing through the bushes, carried awayseveral cocoa-nut trees in its passage, and burst in atoms against thecliff a few yards below the spot on which we stood.

  With feelings of terror we now observed that the flag at the schooner'speak was black, with a Death's-head and cross-bones upon it. As wegazed at each other in blank amazement, the word "pirate" escaped ourlips simultaneously.

  "What is to be done?" cried Peterkin as we observed a boat shoot fromthe vessel's side and make for the entrance of the reef. "If they takeus off the island, it will either be to throw us overboard for sport orto make pirates of us."

  I did not reply, but looked at Jack, as being our only resource in thisemergency. He stood with folded arms, and his eyes fixed with a grave,anxious expression on the ground. "There is but one hope," said he,turning with a sad expression of countenance to Peterkin. "Perhaps,after all, we may not have to resort to it. If these villains areanxious to take us, they will soon overrun the whole island. But come,follow me."

  Stopping abruptly in his speech, Jack bounded into the woods, and led usby a circuitous route to Spouting Cliff. Here he halted, and advancingcautiously to the rocks, glanced over their edge. We were soon by hisside, and saw the boat, which was crowded with armed men, just touchingthe shore. In an instant the crew landed, formed line, and rushed up toour bower.

  In a few seconds we saw them hurrying back to the boat, one of themswinging the poor cat round his head by the tail. On reaching thewater's edge he tossed it far into the sea, and joined his companions,who appeared to be holding a hasty council.

  "You see what we may expect," said Jack bitterly. "The man who willwantonly kill a poor brute for sport will think little of murdering afellow-creature. Now, boys, we have but one chance left--the DiamondCave."

  "The Diamond Cave!" cried Peterkin. "Then my chance is a poor one, forI could not dive into it if all the pirates on the Pacific were at myheels."

  "Nay, but," said I, "we will take you down, Peterkin, if you will onlytrust us."

  As I spoke, we observed the pirates scatter over the beach, and radiate,as if from a centre, towards the woods and along shore.

  "Now, Peterkin," said Jack in a solemn tone, "you must make up your mindto do it, or we must make up our minds to die in your company."

  "Oh Jack, my dear friend!" cried Peterkin, turning pale, "leave me; Idon't believe they'll think it worth while to kill me. Go, you andRalph, and dive into the cave."

  "That will not I," answered Jack quietly, while he picked up a stoutcudgel from the ground.--"So now, Ralph, we must prepare to meet thesefellows. Their motto is `No quarter.' If we can manage to floor thosecoming in this direction, we may escape into the woods for a while."

  "There are five of them," said I; "we have no chance."

  "Come, then!" cried Peterkin, starting up and grasping Jack convulsivelyby the arm; "let us dive. I will go."

  Those who are not naturally expert in the water know well the feelingsof horror that overwhelm them, when in it, at the bare idea of beingheld down even for a few seconds--that spasmodic, involuntary recoilfrom compulsory immersion which has no connection whatever withcowardice; and they will understand the amount of resolution that itrequired in Peterkin to allow himself to be dragged down to a depth often feet, and then, through a narrow tunnel, into an almost pitch-darkcavern. But there was no alternative. The pirates had already caughtsight of us, and were now within a short distance of the rocks.

  Jack and I seized Peterkin by the arms.

  "Now, keep quite still--no struggling," said Jack, "or we are lost!"

  Peterkin made no reply; but the stern gravity of his marble features,and the tension of his muscles, satisfied us that he had fully made uphis mind to go through with it. Just as the pirates gained the foot ofthe rocks, which hid us for a moment from their view, we bent over thesea and plunged down together, head foremost.
Peterkin behaved like ahero. He floated passively between us like a log of wood, and we passedthe tunnel and rose into the cave in a shorter space of time than I hadever done it before.

  Peterkin drew a long, deep breath on reaching the surface, and in a fewseconds we were all standing on the ledge of rock in safety. Jack nowsearched for the tinder and torch which always lay in the cave. He soonfound them, and lighting the torch, revealed to Peterkin's wonderinggaze the marvels of the place. But we were too wet to waste much timein looking about us. Our first care was to take off our clothes andwring them as dry as we could. This done, we proceeded to examine intothe state of our larder, for, as Jack truly remarked, there was noknowing how long the pirates might remain on the island.

  "Perhaps," said Peterkin, "they may take it into their heads to stophere altogether, and so we shall be buried alive in this place."

  "Don't you think, Peterkin, that it's the nearest thing to being drownedalive that you ever felt?" said Jack with a smile. "But I have no fearof that. These villains never stay long on shore. The sea is theirhome, so you may depend upon it that they won't stay more than a day ortwo at the furthest."

  We now began to make arrangements for spending the night in the cavern.At various periods Jack and I had conveyed cocoa-nuts and other fruits,besides rolls of cocoa-nut cloth, to this submarine cave, partly foramusement, and partly from a feeling that we might possibly be drivenone day to take shelter here from the savages. Little did we imaginethat the first savages who would drive us into it would be whitesavages--perhaps our own countrymen! We found the cocoa-nuts in goodcondition, and the cooked yams; but the bread-fruits were spoiled. Wealso found the cloth where we had left it, and on opening it out, thereproved to be sufficient to make a bed--which was important, as the rockwas damp. Having collected it all together, we spread out our bed,placed our torch in the midst of us, and ate our supper. It was indeeda strange chamber to feast in; and we could not help remarking on thecold, ghastly appearance of the walls, and the black water at our sidewith the thick darkness beyond, and the sullen sound of the drops thatfell at long intervals from the roof of the cavern into the still water,and the strong contrast between all this and our bed and supper, which,with our faces, were lit up with the deep-red flame of the torch.

  We sat long over our meal, talking together in subdued voices, for wedid not like the dismal echoes that rang through the vault above when wehappened to raise them. At last the faint light that came through theopening died away, warning us that it was night and time for rest. Wetherefore put out our torch and lay down to sleep.

  On awaking, it was some time ere we could collect our faculties so as toremember where we were, and we were in much uncertainty as to whether itwas early or late. We saw by the faint light that it was day, but couldnot guess at the hour; so Jack proposed that he should dive out andreconnoitre.

  "No, Jack," said I; "do you rest here. You've had enough to do duringthe last few days. Rest yourself now, and take care of Peterkin, whileI go out to see what the pirates are about. I'll be very careful not toexpose myself, and I'll bring you word again in a short time."

  "Very well, Ralph," answered Jack; "please yourself. But don't be long.And if you'll take my advice, you'll go in your clothes; for I wouldlike to have some fresh cocoa-nuts, and climbing trees without clothesis uncomfortable--to say the least of it."

  "The pirates will be sure to keep a sharp lookout," said Peterkin; "so,pray, be careful."

  "No fear," said I. "Good-bye."

  "Good-bye," answered my comrades.

  And while the words were yet sounding in my ears, I plunged into thewater, and in a few seconds found myself in the open air. On rising, Iwas careful to come up gently and to breathe softly, while I kept closein beside the rocks; but as I observed no one near me, I crept slowlyout and ascended the cliff, a step at a time, till I obtained a fullview of the shore. No pirates were to be seen--even their boat wasgone; but as it was possible they might have hidden themselves, I didnot venture too boldly forward. Then it occurred to me to look out tosea, when, to my surprise, I saw the pirate schooner sailing away almosthull down on the horizon! On seeing this I uttered a shout of joy.Then my first impulse was to dive back to tell my companions the goodnews; but I checked myself, and ran to the top of the cliff in order tomake sure that the vessel I saw was indeed the pirate schooner. Ilooked long and anxiously at her, and giving vent to a deep sigh ofrelief, said aloud, "Yes, there she goes; the villains have been balkedof their prey this time at least!"

  "Not so sure of that!" said a deep voice at my side, while at the samemoment a heavy hand grasped my shoulder and held it as if in a vice.