Boy Tar

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER SEVEN.

  SEARCH FOR A SEA-URCHIN.

  I soon touched with my hands the interesting piece of wood, and felt asproud at that moment as if it had been the North Pole itself, and I itsdiscoverer. I was not a little surprised at its dimensions, and howmuch the distance had hitherto deceived me. Viewed from the shore, itlooked no bigger than the shaft of a hoe or a hay-fork, and the knob atthe top about equal to a fair-sized turnip. No wonder I was a bitastonished to find the staff as thick, and thicker, than my thigh, andthe top full larger than my whole body! In fact, it was neither morenor less than a barrel or cask of nine gallons. It was set upon end,the top of the staff being wedged into a hole in the bottom, thusholding it firmly. It was painted white, though this I knew before, foroften had I viewed it glistening under the sun, while the shaft belowwas a dark colour. It may have been black at one time, and had growndiscoloured by the weather and the spray of the stormy water, that oftenlashed all around it, even up to the barrel at the top.

  Its height, too, I had miscalculated as much as its thickness. From theland it appeared no taller than an ordinary man; but looking up to itfrom the shoal, it towered above me like the mast of a sloop. It couldnot have been less than twelve feet--yes, twelve it was at the veryleast.

  I was equally surprised at the extent of ground that I found abovewater. I had long fancied that my islet was only a pole or so in size,but I now perceived it was a hundred times that--an acre, or very near.Most of the surface was covered with loose rocks, or "boulders," fromthe size of small pebbles to pieces as big as a man's body, and therewere other rocks still larger, but these I perceived were not loose, buthalf buried, and fast as rocks could be. They were only the projectingends of great masses that formed the strength of the reef. All, bothlarge ones and small ones, were coated over with a black, slimysubstance, and here and there great beds of seaweed, of different kinds,among which I recognised some sorts that were usually cast up on ourbeach, and passed by the name of "sea-wreck." With these I had alreadyformed a most intimate acquaintance, for more than one hard day's workhad I done in helping to spread them over my uncle's land, where theywere used as manure for potatoes.

  After having satisfied myself with a survey of the tall signal-staff,and guessed at the dimensions of the barrel at the top, I turned awayfrom it, and commenced wandering over the reef. This I did to see if Icould find some curious shell or other object that would be worthcarrying back with me--something to keep as a memento of this great andhitherto pleasant excursion.

  It was not such an easy matter getting about; more difficult than I hadimagined. I have said the stones were coated over with a slimysubstance, and this made them slippery too. Had they been well soaped,they could not have been smoother to the tread; and before I hadproceeded very far, I got a tolerably ugly fall, and several severescrambles.

  I hesitated as to whether I should go farther in that direction, whichwas to the opposite side from where I had left the boat; but there was asort of peninsula jutting out from the main part of the reef; and nearthe end of this I saw what I fancied to be a collection of rare shells,and I was now desirous of possessing some. With this view, then, I kepton.

  I had already observed several sorts of shells among the sand that laybetween the boulders, some with fish in them, and others opened andbleached. None of these kinds were new to me, for I had seen them allmany a time before--even in the potato-field, where they turned up amongthe wreck. They were only blue mussels, and a sort the farm peoplecalled "razors," and "whelks," and common "cockle-shells." I saw nooysters, and I regretted this, for I had grown hungry and could haveeaten a dozen or two; but it was not the ground for these. Plenty oflittle crabs and lobsters there were, but these I did not fancy to eatunless I could have boiled them, and that of course was not possibleunder the circumstances.

  On my way to the front of the peninsula, I looked for "sea-urchin," butnone fell in my way. I had often wished to get a good specimen of thiscurious shell, but without success. Some of them turned up now and thenupon the beach near our village, but they were not allowed to lie long.As they made a pretty ornament for the mantel-shelf, and were rare uponour coast, it was natural they should be prized above the common kinds,and such was in reality the case. This reef being remote, and beingseldom visited by any of the boatmen, I was in hopes I should find someupon it, and I was determined to look narrowly for one. With this viewI sauntered slowly along, examining every crevice among the rocks, andevery water hole that lay within eyeshot of my path.

  I had great hopes that I should find something rare upon the peninsula.The glittering forms that had first induced me to turn my steps in thatdirection, seemed to gleam still brighter as I drew near. For all that,I did not particularly hasten. I had no fear that the shells would walkoff into the water. These were houses whose tenants had long sincedeserted them, and I knew they would keep their place till I got up; so,under this impression, I continued to go deliberately, searching as Iwent. I found nothing to my mind until I had reached the peninsula; butthen indeed a beautiful object came under my eyes. It was of a dark redcolour, round as an orange, and far bigger; but I need not describe whatI saw, since every one of you must have seen and admired the shell ofthe sea-urchin.

  It was not long before I held it in my hand, and admiring its finecurving outlines, and the curious protuberances that covered them. Itwas one of the handsomest I had ever seen, and I congratulated myselfupon the pretty _souvenir_ it would make of my trip.

  For some minutes I kept looking at it, turning it over and over, andpeeping into its empty inside--into the smooth white chamber that itstenant had long since evacuated. Yes, some minutes passed before Itired of this manipulation; but at length I remembered the other shellsI had noticed, and strode forward to gather them.

  Sure enough they were strangers, and fair strangers too. They were ofthree or four sorts, all new to me; and on this account I filled mypockets with them, and after that both my hands, and then turned roundwith the intention of going back to the boat.

  Gracious heaven! what did I see? A sight that caused me to drop myshells, sea-urchin and all, as if they had been pieces of red-hot iron.I dropped them at my feet, and was nigh to falling on top of them, sogreatly was I astonished at what I saw. What was it? _My boat! myboat! Where was my boat_?