Masterman Ready; Or, The Wreck of the Pacific

by Frederick Marryat

  CHAPTER NINE.

  As soon as Ready had executed his intentions, and had fed the animals,he went to the cabin and called Mr Seagrave and William. With theirassistance the sheers were raised, and secured in their place; the boatwas then hooked on, but, as one person was required to bear it clear ofthe davits and taffrail, they could not hoist it in.

  "Master William, will you run down to Juno, and tell her to come on deckto assist us--we must all work now?"

  William soon returned with Juno, who was a strong girl; and, with herassistance, they succeeded in getting the boat in.

  The boat was turned over, and Ready commenced his work; while MrSeagrave, at his request, put the pitch-pot on the galley fire, allready for pitching the canvas when it was nailed on. It was not tilldinner-time that Ready, who had worked hard, could patch up the boat; hethen payed the canvas and the seams which he had caulked with pitch bothinside and out.

  "I think we shall do now, sir," said Ready; "we'll drag her to thegangway and launch her. It's fortunate for us that they did clear awaythe gunnel, as we shall have no trouble."

  A rope was made fast to the boat, to hold her to the ship: she was thenlaunched over the gunnel by the united exertions of Mr Seagrave andReady, and to their great satisfaction she appeared to leak very little.

  "Now, sir," said Ready, "what shall we do first--take some things onshore, or some of the children?"

  "What do you say, Ready?"

  "I think as the water is as smooth as glass, and we can land anywhere,you and I had better go first to reconnoitre,--it is not two hundredyards to the beach, and we shall lose but little time."

  "Very well, Ready, I will first run down and tell my wife."

  "And, in the meanwhile, I'll put the sail into the boat, and one or twoother things."

  Ready put the sail in, an axe, a musket, and some cord; then they bothgot into the boat and pulled on shore.

  When they landed, they found that they could see nothing of the interiorof the island, the cocoa-nut groves were so thick; but to their rightthey perceived, at about a quarter of a mile off, a small sandy cove,with brushwood growing in front of the cocoa-nut trees.

  "That," said Ready, pointing to it, "must be our location. Let us getinto the boat again and pull to it."

  In a few minutes they arrived at the cove; the water was shallow, and asclear as crystal. Beneath the boat's bottom they could see beautifulshells, and the fish darting about in every direction.

  The sand extended about forty yards from the water, and then commencedthe brushwood, which ran back about forty yards further, intermingledwith single cocoa-nut trees, until it joined the cocoa-nut grove. Theypulled the boat in and landed.

  "What a lovely spot this is!" exclaimed Mr Seagrave; "and perhapsmortal man has never yet visited it till now: those cocoa-nuts haveborne their fruit year after year, have died, and others have sprung upin their stead; and here has this spot remained, perhaps for centuries,all ready for man to live in, and to enjoy whenever he should come toit."

  "Providence is bountiful, Mr Seagrave," replied Ready, "and suppliesour wants when we least expect it. If you please we will walk a littleway into the wood: take the gun as a precaution, sir; not that thereappears to be much occasion for it--there is seldom anything wild onthese small islands, except a pig or two has been put on shore byconsiderate Christians."

  "Well, now that we are in the grove, Ready, what do you think?"

  "I was looking for a place to fix a tent up for the present, sir, and Ithink that on that little rise would be a very good place till we canlook about us and do better; but we have no time now, sir, for we haveplenty of trips to make before nightfall. If you please, we'll haul thesail and other articles on to the beach, and then return on board."

  As they were pulling the boat back, Ready said, "I've been thinkingabout what is best, Mr Seagrave. Would Mrs Seagrave mind your leavingher?--if not, I should say we should have Juno and William on shorefirst, as they can be of use."

  "I do not think that she will mind being left on board with William andthe children, provided that I return for her when she is to come onshore herself with the baby."

  "Well then, let William remain on board, if you please, sir. I'll landyou and Juno, Tommy, and the dogs, this time, for they will be aprotection in case of accidents. You and Juno can be doing somethingwhile I return by myself for the other articles we shall require."

  As soon as they arrived on board, Mr Seagrave went down to cheer hiswife with the account of what they had seen. While he was down below,Ready had cast off the lashings of the two spars which had formed thesheers, and dragging them forward, had launched them over the gunnel,with lines fast to them, ready for towing on shore. In a few minutesJuno and Tommy made their appearance on deck; Ready put some tools intothe boat, and a couple of shovels, which he brought up when he went forthe dogs, and once more they landed at the sandy cove. Tommy staredabout him a great deal, but did not speak, until he saw the shells lyingon the beach, when he screamed with delight, and began to pick them upas fast as he could; the dogs barked and galloped about, overjoyed atbeing once more on shore; and Juno smiled as she looked around her,saying to Ready, "What a nice place!"

  "Now, Mr Seagrave, I'll remain on shore with you a little. First,we'll load the musket in case of need, and then you can put it out ofthe way of Tommy, who fingers everything, I observe. We will take upthe sail between us. Juno, you can carry the tools; and then we cancome back again for the spars, and the rope, and the other things.Come, Tommy, you can carry a shovel at all events, and that will makeyou of some use."

  Having taken all these things to the little knoll which Ready hadpointed out before, they returned for the spars; and in two trips theyhad carried everything there, Tommy with the second shovel on hisshoulder, and very proud to be employed.

  "Here are two trees which will answer our purpose pretty well," saidReady, "as they are far enough apart: we must lash the spars up to them,and then throw the sail over, and bring it down to the ground at bothends; that will be a beginning, at all events; and I will bring somemore canvas on shore, to set up the other tent between these othertrees, and also to shut up the two ends of both of them; then we shallhave a shelter for Madam, and Juno, and the younger children, andanother for William, Tommy, and ourselves. Now, sir, I'll just help youto lash the spars, and then I'll leave you to finish while I go on boardagain."

  "But how can we reach so high, Ready?"

  "Why, sir, we can manage that by first lashing a spar as high as we canconveniently reach, and then standing on that while we lash the other inits proper place. I shall bring another spar on shore, that we may dothe same when we set up the other tent."

  Having by this plan succeeded in lashing the spar high enough, andthrowing the sail over the spar, Ready and Mr Seagrave spread it out,and found that it made a very good-sized tent.

  "Now, sir, I'll return on board; in the meantime, if you can cut pegsfrom the brush-wood to fasten the sail down to the ground, and then withthe shovel cover the bottom of it with sand to keep it down, it will beclose enough when it is all finished."

  "I shall do very well," replied Mr Seagrave; "Juno can help me to pullthe canvas out tight when I am ready."

  "Yes; and in the meantime, Juno, take a shovel, and level the inside ofthe tent nice and smooth, and throw out all those old cocoa-nut leaves,and look if you see any vermin lurking among them. Master Tommy, youmust not run away; and you must not touch the axes, they will cut you ifyou do. It may be as well to say, Mr Seagrave, that should anythinghappen, and you require my assistance, you had better fire off the gun,and I will come on shore to you immediately."