The Phantom Ship

by Frederick Marryat

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

  We must for a time return to Philip, and follow his strange destiny. Afew hours after he had thrown the pilot into the sea they gained theshore, so long looked at with anxiety and suspense. The spars of theraft, jerked by the running swell undulated and rubbed against eachother, as they rose and fell to the waves breaking on the beach. Thebreeze was fresh, but the surf was trifling, and the landing was withoutdifficulty. The beach was shelving, of firm white sand, interspersedand strewed with various brilliant-coloured shells; and here and there,the bleached fragments and bones of some animal which had been forcedout of its element to die. The island was, like all the others, coveredwith a thick wood of cocoa-nut trees, whose tops waved to the breeze, orbowed to the blast, producing a shade and a freshness which would havebeen duly appreciated by any other party than the present, with theexception only of Krantz; for Philip thought of nothing but his lostwife, and the seamen thought of nothing but of their sudden wealth.Krantz supported Philip to the beach, and led him to the shade; butafter a minute he rose, and running down to the nearest point, lookedanxiously for the portion of the raft which held Amine, which was nowfar, far away. Krantz had followed, aware that, now the first paroxysmswere past, there was no fear of Philip's throwing away his life.

  "Gone, gone for ever!" exclaimed Philip, pressing his hands to the ballsof his eyes.

  "Not so, Philip, the same providence which has preserved us, willcertainly assist her. It is impossible that she can perish among somany islands many of which are inhabited; and a woman will be certain ofkind treatment."

  "If I could only think so," replied Philip.

  "A little reflection may induce you to think that it is rather anadvantage than otherwise, that she is thus separated--not from you, butfrom so many lawless companions whose united force we could not resist.Do you think that, after any lengthened sojourn on this island, thesepeople with us would permit you to remain in quiet possession of yourwife? No!--they would respect no laws; and Amine has, in my opinion,been miraculously preserved from shame and ill treatment, if not fromdeath."

  "They durst not, surely! Well, but Krantz, we must make a raft andfollow her; we must not remain here--I will seek her through the wideworld."

  "Be it so, if you wish, Philip, and I will follow your fortunes,"replied Krantz, glad to find that there was something, however wild theidea, for his mind to feed on. "But now let us return to the raft, seekthe refreshment we so much require, and after that we will consider whatmay be the best plan to pursue."

  To this, Philip, who was much exhausted, tacitly consented, and hefollowed Krantz to where the raft had been beached. The men had leftit, and were each of them sitting apart from one another under the shadeof his own chosen cocoa-nut tree. The articles which had been saved onthe raft had not been landed, and Krantz called upon them to come andcarry the things on shore--but no one would answer or obey. They eachsat watching their money, and afraid to leave it, lest they should bedispossessed of it by the others. Now that their lives were,comparatively speaking, safe, the demon of avarice had taken fullpossession of their souls; there they sat, exhausted, pining for water,longing for sleep, and yet they dared not move,--they were fixed as ifby the wand of the enchanter.

  "It is the cursed dollars which have turned their brains," observedKrantz to Philip; "let us try if we cannot manage to remove what we moststand in need of, and then we will search for water."

  Philip and Krantz collected the carpenter's tools, the best arms, andall the ammunition, as the possession of the latter would give them anadvantage in case of necessity; they then dragged on shore the sail andsome small spars, all of which they carried up to a clump of cocoa-nuttrees, about a hundred yards from the beach.

  In half an hour they had erected an humble tent, and put into it whatthey had brought with them, with the exception of the major part of theammunition, which, as soon as he was screened by the tent, Krantz buriedin a heap of dry sand behind it; he then, for their immediate wants, cutdown with an axe a small cocoa-nut tree in full bearing. It must be forthose who have suffered the agony of prolonged thirst, to know theextreme pleasure with which the milk of the nuts were one after theother poured down the parched throats of Krantz and Philip. The menwitnessed their enjoyment in silence, and with gloating eyes. Everytime that a fresh cocoa-nut was seized and its contents quaffed by theirofficers, more sharp and agonising was their own devouring thirst--stillcloser did their dry lips glue themselves together--yet they moved not,although they felt the tortures of the condemned.

  Evening closed in; Philip had thrown himself down on the spare sails,and had fallen asleep, when Krantz set off to explore the island uponwhich they had been thrown. It was small, not exceeding three miles inlength, and at no one part more than five hundred yards across. Waterthere was none, unless it were to be obtained by digging; fortunately,the young cocoa-nuts prevented the absolute necessity for it. On hisreturn, Krantz passed the men in their respective stations. Each wasawake, and raised himself on his elbow to ascertain if it were anassailant; but, perceiving Krantz, they again dropped down. Krantzpassed the raft--the water was now quite smooth, for the wind hadshifted off shore, and the spars which composed the raft hardly jostledeach other. He stepped upon it, and, as the moon was bright in theheavens he took the precaution of collecting all the arms which had beenleft, and throwing them as far as he could into the sea. He then walkedto the tent, where he found Philip still sleeping soundly, and in a fewminutes he was reposing by his side. And Philip's dreams were of Amine;he thought that he saw the hated Schriften rise again from the waters,and, climbing up to the raft, seat himself by her side. He thought thathe again heard his unearthly chuckle and his scornful laugh, as hisunwelcome words fell upon her distracted ears. He thought that she fledinto the sea to avoid Schriften, and that the waters appeared to rejecther--she floated on the surface. The storm rose, and once more hebeheld her in the sea-shell skimming over the waves. Again, she was ina furious surf on the beach, and her shell sank, and she was buried inthe waves: and then he saw her walking on shore without fear and withoutharm, for the water which spared no one, appeared to spare her. Philiptried to join her, but was prevented by some unknown power, and Aminewaved her hand and said, "We shall meet again, Philip; yes, once more onthis earth shall we meet again."

  The sun was high in the heavens and scorching in his heat, when Krantzfirst opened his eyes, and awakened Philip. The axe again procured forthem their morning's meal. Philip was silent; he was ruminating uponhis dreams, which had afforded him consolation. "We shall meet again!"thought he. "Yes, once more at least we shall meet again. Providence!I thank thee."

  Krantz then stepped out to ascertain the condition of the men. He foundthem faint, and so exhausted, that they could not possibly survive muchlonger, yet still watching over their darling treasure. It wasmelancholy to witness such perversion of intellect, and Krantz thoughtof a plan which might save their lives. He proposed to them eachseparately, that they should bury their money so deep, that it was notto be recovered without time: this would prevent any one from attackingthe treasure of the other, without its being perceived and the attemptfrustrated, and would enable them to obtain their necessary food andrefreshment without danger of being robbed.

  To this plan they acceded. Krantz brought out of the tent the onlyshovel in their possession, and they, one by one, buried their dollarsmany feet deep in the yielding sand. When they had all secured theirwealth, he brought them one of the axes, and the cocoa-nut trees fell,and they were restored to new life and vigour. Having satiatedthemselves, they then lay down upon the several spots under which theyhad buried their dollars, and were soon enjoying that repose which theyall so much needed.

  Philip and Krantz had now many serious consultations as to the meanswhich should be taken for quitting the island, and going in search ofAmine; for although Krantz thought the latter part of Philip's proposaluseless, he did not venture to say so. To quit this island
wasnecessary; and provided they gained one of those which were inhabited,it was all that they could expect. As for Amine, he considered that shewas dead before this, either having been washed off the raft, or thather body was lying on it exposed to the decomposing heat of a torridsun.

  To cheer Philip, he expressed himself otherwise; and whenever theytalked about leaving the island, it was not to save their own lives, butinvariably to search after Philip's lost wife. The plan which theyproposed and acted upon was, to construct a light raft, the centre to becomposed of three water-casks, sawed in half, in a row behind eachother, firmly fixed by cross pieces to two long spars on each side.This, under sail, would move quickly through the water, and bemanageable so as to enable them to steer a course. The outside sparshad been selected and hauled on shore, and the work was already inprogress; but they were left alone in their work, for the seamenappeared to have no idea at present of quitting the island. Restored byfood and repose, they were now not content with the money which theyhad--they were anxious for more. A portion of each party's wealth hadbeen dug up, and they now gambled all day with pebbles, which they hadcollected on the beach, and with which they had invented a game.Another evil had crept among them: they had cut steps in the largestcocoa-nut trees, and with the activity of seamen had mounted them, andby tapping the top of the trees, and fixing empty cocoa-nuts underneath,had obtained the liquor, which in its first fermentation is termedtoddy, and is afterwards distilled into arrack. But as toddy, it isquite sufficient to intoxicate; and every day the scenes of violence andintoxication, accompanied with oaths and execrations, became more andmore dreadful. The losers tore their hair, and rushed like madmen uponthose who had gained their dollars; but Krantz had fortunately throwntheir weapons into the sea, and those he had saved, as well as theammunition, he had secreted.

  Blows and bloodshed, therefore, were continual, but loss of life therewas none, as the contending parties were separated by the others, whowere anxious that the play should not be interrupted. Such had been thestate of affairs for now nearly a fortnight while the work of the rafthad slowly proceeded. Some of the men had lost their all, and had, bythe general consent of those who had won their wealth, been banished toa certain distance that they might not pilfer from them. These walkedgloomily round the island, or on the beach, seeking some instrument bywhich they might avenge themselves, and obtain repossession of theirmoney. Krantz and Philip had proposed to these men to join them andleave the island, but they had sullenly refused.

  The axe was now never parted with by Krantz. He cut down what cocoa-nuttrees they required for subsistence, and prevented the men from notchingmore trees to procure the means of inebriation. On the sixteenth dayall the money had passed into the hands of three men, who had been morefortunate than the rest. The losers were now by far the more numerousparty, and the consequence was, that the next morning these three menwere found lying strangled on the beach; the money had been re-divided,and the gambling had re-commenced with more vigour than ever.

  "How can this end?" exclaimed Philip to Krantz, as he looked upon theblackened countenances of the murdered men.

  "In the death of all," replied Krantz. "We cannot prevent it. It is ajudgment."

  The raft was now ready; the sand had been dug from beneath it, so as toallow the water to flow in and float it, and it was now made fast to astake and riding on the peaceful waters. A large store of cocoa-nuts,old and young, had been procured and put on board of her, and it was theintention of Philip and Krantz to have quitted the island the next day.

  Unfortunately, one of the men, when bathing, had perceived the armslying in the shallow water. He had dived down and procured a cutlass:others had followed his example, and all had armed themselves. Thisinduced Philip and Krantz to sleep on board of the raft and keep watch;and that night, as the play was going on, a heavy loss on one side endedin a general fray. The combat was furious for all were more or lessexcited by intoxication. The result was melancholy, for only three wereleft alive. Philip, with Krantz watched the issue; every man who fellwounded was put to the sword, and the three left, who had been fightingon the same side, rested panting on their weapons. After a pause two ofthem communicated with each other, and the result was an attack upon thethird man, who fell dead beneath their blows.

  "Merciful Father! are these thy creatures?" exclaimed Philip.

  "No," replied Krantz, "they worshipped the devil as Mammon. Do youimagine that those two, who could now divide more wealth than they couldwell spend if they return to their country--will consent to a division?Never--they must have all--yes, all!"

  Krantz had hardly expressed his opinion, when one of the men, takingadvantage of the other turning round a moment from him, passed his swordthrough his back. The man fell with a groan, and the sword was againpassed through his body.

  "Said I not so? But the treacherous villain shall not reap his reward,"continued Krantz, levelling the musket which he held in his hand, andshooting him dead.

  "You have done wrong, Krantz; you have saved him from the punishment hedeserved. Left alone on the island, without the means of obtaining hissubsistence, he must have perished miserably and by inches, with all hismoney round him; that would have been torture indeed!"

  "Perhaps I was wrong. If so, may Providence forgive me, I could nothelp it. Let us go ashore, for we are now on this island alone. Wemust collect the treasure and bury it, so that it may be recovered; and,at the same time, take a portion with us; for who knows but that we mayhave occasion for it. Tomorrow we had better remain here, for we shallhave enough to do in burying the bodies of these infatuated men, and thewealth which has caused their destruction."

  Philip agreed to the propriety of the suggestion; the next day theyburied the bodies where they lay; and the treasure was all collected ina deep trench, under a cocoa-nut tree, which they carefully marked withtheir axe. About five hundred pieces of gold were selected and taken onboard of the raft with the intention of secreting them about theirpersons, and resorting to them in case of need.

  The following morning they hoisted their sail and quitted the island.Need it be said in what direction they steered? As may be wellimagined, in that quarter where they had last seen the raft with theisolated Amine.