by Oliver Optic
The sun went down below the horizon with the suddenness general in theSouthern Ocean. Once more darkness was upon them. With the return ofnight came a sense of forlornness and desolation of spirit. They fellsilent, each brooding on the sad fate which had overtaken their uncleand them. The night was cold; enveloped in their wraps and macintoshesthey huddled together for warmth, letting the boat drift at the mercyof the sea. Their broken sleep on the previous night, and theirexertions and anxieties during the day, had told upon them, and aftersome hours the two younger girls fell asleep. Elizabeth dared notsurrender herself to slumber. Who could tell what might happen? Asthe eldest, she felt a motherly responsibility for the others, thoughshe had to confess to herself how utterly helpless she was if dangercame. She sat with her elbows on her knees, thinking, brooding.Everything had happened so suddenly that she was only just beginning torealize the immensity of the disaster. A cockle-shell of a boat, thatwould capsize if the sea were the least bit rough; the wide ocean allaround; three girls, healthy enough, but not inured to hardship; thepossibility of drifting for days or weeks, never touching land orcoming within the track of a ship; food dwindling day by day; thehorrors of thirst: these dreadful images flashed in turn uponElizabeth's mental vision and made her shudder.
"Why didn't we stay with Uncle?" she thought; and then the remembranceof the dear old man, and their happy days on board, and her convictionthat the vessel had gone down before the raft could be made, smoteElizabeth's heart with grief, and for the first time the tears rolleddown her cheeks, unchecked.
She wept till her head ached, and she felt dazed. At last, utterlyworn out, she dozed into an uneasy and fitful sleep, still supportingher head on her hands. She woke every few minutes, blamed herself fornot keeping a better watch, then slumbered again. She was startledinto wakefulness by the rays of the early morning sun. Lifting herselfstiffly, and carefully, so as not to disturb the two girls at her feet,she looked around, and was alarmed as she caught sight of a ring ofwhite within a few hundred yards of the starboard side of the boat. Atthe first glance she recognized the foam of breakers dashing over areef.
"Girls!" she cried, "wake up! Quick!" She released herself from them,seized the sculls, and pulled energetically away from the threateneddanger. Tommy threw off her macintosh and stood up in the boat.
"Land!" she cried. "Look, Mary, beyond the breakers there. Woods!Oh! I could scream for joy."
"Look out for a landing-place," said Elizabeth, as she rowed slowlyparallel with the reef.
"What if there are savages?" murmured Mary.
"Oh, we'll soothe their savage breasts," cried Tommy confidently. "Idon't care if there are so long as my feet are on dry land again. Canyou see the raft?"
There was no sign of a raft; nothing was in sight but the foam-sweptreef, the cliffs, and the dark background of woods behind.
A pull of half-a-mile brought the dinghy clear of the breakers, and thegirls saw the sea dashing up the face of the high weather-worn cliffs.There appeared to be no beach, no possible landing-place. Mary, thebookworm of the family, began to fear that the land was only one ofthose precipitous crags of which she had read, inaccessible from thesea. But in a few minutes they discerned to their joy a gap in thecliffs, and a sandy cove that promised an easy landing-place.
To this Elizabeth turned the dinghy's head. A shark glided by as theyneared the shore, but was almost unnoticed in their excitement. Tommygave a cheer as the boat grated on the sand. In a moment she was out;her sisters followed more deliberately; then the three together,exerting all their strength, dragged the boat toilsomely up the beach.
"THE THREE TOGETHER DRAGGED THE BOAT UP THE BEACH."]
CHAPTER VI
THE ISLAND BEAUTIFUL
Hot and panting from their exertions, the girls threw themselves downon the sand, and for a time remembered nothing but their escape fromwhat had seemed certain death. But presently Tommy sprang up, and,shading her eyes against the sun's fierce glare, looked long andanxiously seaward. An irregular white line marked the reef, but beyondthat the ocean stretched out into the distance, without a spot upon itsglistening surface. Her sisters joined her, and, with their armsclasped about each other, they searched the horizon for the raft andUncle Ben. None of them spoke: each was afraid to utter her forebodingthought.
Then they turned and gazed at the green woodland that rose almost fromthe brink of the sea. It was a perfect day, and the land to which theyhad come might well be a paradise of the South Seas such as they hadread about. But they were too anxious to be aware of its beauties.Mary caught Elizabeth by the arm.
"Are there people?" she said in a whisper.
"Savages, perhaps cannibals?" said Tommy, with a shiver.
They stood holding each other, afraid to stir. Elizabeth for a momenthad a wild notion of dragging the boat down again, and putting to seain the hope of meeting Uncle Ben; dread of the unknown had possessionof her. But she recognized that so to act would be foolish, andcrushing down her fears, she said quietly--
"I think we had better look about a little; perhaps Uncle has alreadylanded."
Hope springs up easily in young minds.
"Of course," said Tommy valiantly. "Who's afraid! I--no, you gofirst, Bess, as you're the biggest. I know; you take an oar, and Maryanother, and I'll take the boat-hook."
Thus armed, after making the boat secure, they took their way up thestrand, through a gap in the wooded cliffs that seemed to have beencarved out in some past time by a stream. They walked slowly andtimidly, as if half expecting to find a savage lurking behind everybush or tree. But as they went on, and found no wild islanders tomolest them, they began to be more aware of the beauty of theirsurroundings. On either hand there was a riot of splendid vegetation.Strange plants and trees, some bearing brilliant flowers, otherstempting fruits, grew in magnificent profusion, and birds gorgeous incolour flitted from tree to tree.
Here were feathery palms, there a cluster of small trees like hazels;all about, the ground was carpeted with masses of convolvulus andcreeping plants innumerable, and the air was heavy with mingled scents.
"What a lovely place!" said Mary.
"Not to us," said Tommy. "We might as well be in a desert. Oh, what'sthat? I saw something move."
She pointed to the right hand, and for a moment the girls held theirbreath. Then they laughed, but very nervously; the something wasnothing but a little animal, of what kind they knew not, that scuttledaway into the woodland.
They went on again, becoming less timid the farther they advanced, forthere was no sight or sound to alarm them. They began to talk morefreely, but always in low tones.
"I suppose it _is_ an island," said Tommy.
"It must be," replied Mary. "There is no other land until you get toAustralia, and that's thousands of miles away."
"Then what shall we do if we don't find Uncle?"
The question recalled to them all that had happened, and again theyfelt the bitterness of misery and despair.
"We must keep up our spirits," said Elizabeth, trying to speakcheerfully. "At any rate we shan't starve if these fruits are good toeat."
"I don't see any breadfruit," said Mary.
"Well, it looks as if we are to be Crusoes," said Tommy, "only Crusoewas alone. Goodness! I couldn't bear to be alone. I should go mad.Do you think Uncle will find us, Bess?"
"I hope and trust he will, dear. We are safe; why shouldn't he be?Don't let's look on the black side of things. Shall we go back to theboat and eat some of the food we brought? It won't keep like thefruits. Then we had better rest; I'm sure you are worn out; we canlook round again presently, when the sun isn't so hot."
They returned to the boat, and made a meal of some biscuit and coldbacon, carving the bacon somewhat clumsily with their jackknives,remembering how their uncle had laughed at them for buying such manlikeimplements.
"I'm terribly thirsty," said Tommy. "I wonder if the water in thestream there is good to dri
nk!"
She pointed to a brook that meandered down to the shore from amid thewoodland above, purling musically, and flashing like silver in thesunlight.
"There's not much fear of that," said Mary. "I'll get some while youcut me another slice of bacon."
The water was delightfully fresh and cool, proving that there was aspring somewhere in the interior.
Having made a heartier meal than any of them expected to make, they laydown under the shade of a large tree, and talked until they fell asleepfrom sheer fatigue. The air was much cooler when they awoke. AtMary's suggestion they climbed to the highest point of the cliffs, fromwhich they could command a wide prospect over the sea. When theyreached the summit, they scanned the surface, now as smooth as a lake,for signs of boat or raft; but nothing was in sight, except far awayseveral dusky spots which Mary at once declared must be other islands.
"Very likely we drifted past them in the night," said Elizabeth. "Lookat that mass of floating seaweed just beyond the reef; you see there isquite a strong current."
"If we went as fast as that in the dinghy, we must have come miles fromwhere the wreck happened," said Tommy. "And Uncle won't know; he'llnever find us."
At this the shadow of their misfortune once more descended on them, andthey turned away from each other to hide their distress. Then Tommyswung round and cried--
"I won't be a baby! Bess, if you see any sign of waterworks again,smack me. What's the good of crying? Let's go exploring; that'll helpto keep off the blues."
But in spite of their brave attempts, they veered between hopefulnessand despondency all the rest of the day. They roamed here and there,not really going very far, for they still felt safer within easydistance of their boat. More than once they returned to the cliff tosearch the horizon longingly for any sign of ship or boat, but alwaysin vain.
In the course of their wandering they came upon some trees bearingfruit about which they had no doubt.
"Bananas!" cried Tommy, with excitement. "How jolly! and look at theclusters on the ground. We've only to pick them up."
Several clusters had fallen from the trees, and lay ripening where theyfell. The girls ate some of the fruit, taking note of the position ofthe trees, so that they might come to them again.
Then they strolled on, keeping close to the shore, and stopping everyfew minutes to gaze yearningly over the sea for the raft they longed tobehold. Turning their backs on this disappointing horizon, they lettheir eyes range over the island, their minds confused betweenadmiration and wondering awe. The ground rose in a succession ofirregular terraces, covered with vegetation in every imaginable shadeof green. In the distance the prospect terminated in a ridge, abovewhich hovered a light mass of opalescent cloud. What forms of lifewere stirring amid that dark woodland? What lay beyond that curtain ofrose pink and pearl? The girls were awed by the mystery of things, asif subject to an enchanter's spell.
"What's the time?" asked Tommy, presently, bringing them back to thecommonplace. Both Mary and Elizabeth had watches pinned upon theirdresses, but on looking at them they found that each told a differenthour, and both had stopped.
"I forgot to wind mine up," said Elizabeth.
"So did I," said Mary.
"It must be getting late," said Tommy. "Look at the sun."
It was clear from its position that night was at hand. And then Tommyasked a question that brought back all their uneasiness.
"Where are we to sleep?"
"I have thought of that all day," said Elizabeth.
"Then it's clear you are the statesman of the family," said Tommy. "Icouldn't have thought about it all day without telling you, and youhaven't said a word. It didn't occur to me until a moment ago."
"There are no wild beasts in the South Sea Islands--at least, I'venever heard of any," said Mary.
"That's one comfort," said Tommy, "and we've seen no savages oranything else to alarm us. Now if we were boys--scouts or something,used to campaigning in the open--we shouldn't care a pin, but I feeldreadfully shaky. What are we to do?"
"We must face it," said Elizabeth quietly. "I think myself we hadbetter stay in the boat."
"How awful! think of last night," said Tommy dolefully.
"Perhaps there would be a storm and we should be upset, or blown out tosea," said Mary.
"Oh, I didn't mean to launch the boat," said Elizabeth. "That would betoo risky. We'll leave it on the beach."
"It's only a bit better than being in the open," said Mary. "I know,why not make a fire to scare off intruders? I've read about that beingdone."
"That's quite brilliant," said Tommy. "And it will be a beacon too;perhaps Uncle will see it. Let's go back at once and get ready forsupper and bed."
Elizabeth was glad of any activity that would keep them from thinkingof their troubles. They returned to the beach. First they collected anumber of stones, which they piled up to make a rough fire-place. Thenthey gathered a large quantity of twigs and dry grass from the edge ofthe forest, and finding several small trees which had been uprooted bystorms, they lugged these down to their fire-place. Then theself-lighter which Tommy had received from her uncle came in handy, andby the time it was dark they had a bright pleasant fire that was verycheering.
They ate more of their biscuit and bacon, with plum cake for sweets andbananas as dessert; then, having heaped some fuel on the fire, theycrept into the boat and arranged themselves as comfortably as possible.
Tommy was soon asleep, but the elder girls lay awake for a long time,clasping each other, and talking in murmurs so as not to disturb theirsister.
"Mary dear," said Elizabeth, "we must look at the worst side and faceit for Tommy's sake, you know."
"Yes, I know. She's not really very strong, is she? Though she hassuch spirit."
"No, she'll be all right so long as she doesn't get wretched, so wewon't say a word to depress her. We ought to be thankful that we aresafe so far. I'm afraid to think of what has happened to Uncle; butsupposing--supposing he is--lost, we shall have to do as well as we canuntil we are seen from a passing ship."
"Suppose we never are!"
"We won't suppose that. Think of the many castaways who have beenpicked up in time. By the look of it we shall find food here, and Irather fancy the island must be uninhabited, or we should have seensome signs of people."
"We haven't been all over it yet."
"No, of course we can't be sure. If we do come across people we musttry and make friends with them. Aren't there some islands called theFriendly Islands because the people were quite decent?"
"Yes. Some of the islanders in these parts are gentle and peaceable.But I'm dreadfully afraid of savages."
"So am I, but we won't think of them. What a lovely night it is! Sostill and peaceful! and we're just three insignificant dots in all thisgreat beautiful universe."
They mused in silence, and by and by fell asleep. Dawn found them verycramped and stiff. The fire was out, and as they shivered in the coolmorning air they felt something of the previous day's despondency. ButElizabeth, with determined cheerfulness, called to her sisters that itwas breakfast-time. They made themselves some coffee, using theextract sparingly to eke it out as long as possible, and after bathingtheir faces in the water at the brook, ate their simple breakfast andthen made their way to the top of the cliff to search the ocean oncemore for a sign of help.
The sea was even calmer than it had been yesterday, and as the mistrolled off its surface they were able to scan countless miles of space.
There were the same dark distant shapes, purple in the early sunlight,and they felt a wondering curiosity about them; but there was no sailor funnel that betokened a ship. First one and then another discovereda speck on the skyline, and they debated whether it was or was not aboat; but after gazing until their eyes were tired they came to theconclusion that there was no immediate hope of rescue.
"We ought to raise a flag of distress," said Mary, "which might be seenif a shi
p comes near; but we haven't anything big enough."
"Oh, yes, we have!" said Tommy. "If we tie our silk scarves togetherthey will make a fine flag."
"But we haven't a flagstaff," said Elizabeth.
"There's a lovely one," said Mary, pointing to a tall slender tree thatstood a little apart from the nearest clump of woodland, like asentinel thrown out seaward. "Can you climb that, Tommy?"
"Rather! Father didn't like my climbing, but if I hadn't where shouldwe be now?"
Elizabeth knotted the three scarves together. Then Tommy ran to thetree and climbed nimbly almost to the top, the others watching herbreathlessly. Soon the flag of red and white was fluttering in thelight morning breeze.
"It'll be torn to shreds by the first storm," said Tommy when shedescended. "Let's hope it will be seen before a storm comes."
They spent the day much as they had spent the first one on the island;sitting on the beach, now and again visiting the cliff to take anotherlook across the sea, gathering bananas from the little plantation andwandering for a short distance along the shore.