CHAPTER SIX
A SPECIMEN OF NAUTICAL ORATORY--CRITICISMS OF THE SAILORS--THE STARBOARDWATCH ARE GIVEN A HOLIDAY--THE ESCAPE TO THE MOUNTAINS
EARLY the next morning the starboard watch were mustered upon thequarter-deck, and our worthy captain, standing in the cabin gangway,harangued us as follows:--
'Now, men, as we are just off a six months' cruise, and have got throughmost all our work in port here, I suppose you want to go ashore. Well, Imean to give your watch liberty today, so you may get ready as soon allyou please, and go; but understand this, I am going to give you libertybecause I suppose you would growl like so many old quarter gunners if Ididn't; at the same time, if you'll take my advice, every mother's sonof you will stay aboard and keep out of the way of the bloody cannibalsaltogether. Ten to one, men, if you go ashore, you will get into someinfernal row, and that will be the end of you; for if those tattooedscoundrels get you a little ways back into their valleys, they'll nabyou--that you may be certain of. Plenty of white men have gone ashorehere and never been seen any more. There was the old Dido, she put inhere about two years ago, and sent one watch off on liberty; they neverwere heard of again for a week--the natives swore they didn't know wherethey were--and only three of them ever got back to the ship again, andone with his face damaged for life, for the cursed heathens tattooed abroad patch clean across his figure-head. But it will be no use talkingto you, for go you will, that I see plainly; so all I have to say is,that you need not blame me if the islanders make a meal of you. You maystand some chance of escaping them though, if you keep close about theFrench encampment,--and are back to the ship again before sunset. Keepthat much in your mind, if you forget all the rest I've been saying toyou. There, go forward: bear a hand and rig yourselves, and stand by fora call. At two bells the boat will be manned to take you off, and theLord have mercy on you!'
Various were the emotions depicted upon the countenances of thestarboard watch whilst listening to this address; but on its conclusionthere was a general move towards the forecastle, and we soon wereall busily engaged in getting ready for the holiday so auspiciouslyannounced by the skipper. During these preparations his harangue wascommented upon in no very measured terms; and one of the party, afterdenouncing him as a lying old son of a seacook who begrudged a fellow afew hours' liberty, exclaimed with an oath, 'But you don't bounce me outof my liberty, old chap, for all your yarns; for I would go ashore ifevery pebble on the beach was a live coal, and every stick a gridiron,and the cannibals stood ready to broil me on landing.'
The spirit of this sentiment was responded to by all hands, and weresolved that in spite of the captain's croakings we would make aglorious day of it.
But Toby and I had our own game to play, and we availed ourselves ofthe confusion which always reigns among a ship's company preparatory togoing ashore, to confer together and complete our arrangements. As ourobject was to effect as rapid a flight as possible to the mountains, wedetermined not to encumber ourselves with any superfluous apparel; andaccordingly, while the rest were rigging themselves out with some ideaof making a display, we were content to put on new stout duck trousers,serviceable pumps, and heavy Havre-frocks, which with a Payta hatcompleted our equipment.
When our shipmates wondered at this, Toby exclaimed in his odd grave waythat the rest might do, as they liked, but that he for one preservedhis go-ashore traps for the Spanish main, where the tie of a sailor'sneckerchief might make some difference; but as for a parcel ofunbreeched heathen, he wouldn't go to the bottom of his chest for anyof them, and was half disposed to appear among them in buff himself. Themen laughed at what they thought was one of his strange conceits, and sowe escaped suspicion.
It may appear singular that we should have been thus on our guard withour own shipmates; but there were some among us who, had they possessedthe least inkling of our project, would, for a paltry hope of reward,have immediately communicated it to the captain.
As soon as two bells were struck, the word was passed for theliberty-men to get into the boat. I lingered behind in the forecastle amoment to take a parting glance at its familiar features, and just asI was about to ascend to the deck my eye happened to light on thebread-barge and beef-kid, which contained the remnants of our last hastymeal. Although I had never before thought of providing anything in theway of food for our expedition, as I fully relied upon the fruits of theisland to sustain us wherever we might wander, yet I could not resistthe inclination I felt to provide luncheon from the relics before me.Accordingly I took a double handful of those small, broken, flinty bitsof biscuit which generally go by the name of 'midshipmen's nuts', andthrust them into the bosom of my frock in which same simple receptacle Ihad previously stowed away several pounds of tobacco and a few yards ofcotton cloth--articles with which I intended to purchase the good-willof the natives, as soon as we should appear among them after thedeparture of our vessel.
This last addition to my stock caused a considerable protuberance infront, which I abated in a measure by shaking the bits of bread aroundmy waist, and distributing the plugs of tobacco among the folds of thegarment.
Hardly had I completed these arrangements when my name was sung out by adozen voices, and I sprung upon the deck, where I found all the party inthe boat, and impatient to shove off. I dropped over the side and seatedmyself with the rest of the watch in the stern sheets, while the poorlarboarders shipped their oars, and commenced pulling us ashore.
This happened to be the rainy season at the islands, and the heavenshad nearly the whole morning betokened one of those heavy showers whichduring this period so frequently occur. The large drops fell bubblinginto the water shortly after our leaving the ship, and by the time wehad affected a landing it poured down in torrents. We fled for shelterunder cover of an immense canoe-house which stood hard by the beach, andwaited for the first fury of the storm to pass.
It continued, however, without cessation; and the monotonous beating ofthe rain over head began to exert a drowsy influence upon the men, who,throwing themselves here and there upon the large war-canoes, afterchatting awhile, all fell asleep.
This was the opportunity we desired, and Toby and I availed ourselvesof it at once by stealing out of the canoe-house and plunging into thedepths of an extensive grove that was in its rear. After ten minutes'rapid progress we gained an open space from which we could just descrythe ridge we intended to mount looming dimly through the mists of thetropical shower, and distant from us, as we estimated, something morethan a mile. Our direct course towards it lay through a rather populouspart of the bay; but desirous as we were of evading the natives andsecuring an unmolested retreat to the mountains, we determined, bytaking a circuit through some extensive thickets, to avoid theirvicinity altogether.
The heavy rain that still continued to fall without intermissionfavoured our enterprise, as it drove the islanders into their houses,and prevented any casual meeting with them. Our heavy frocks soon becamecompletely saturated with water, and by their weight, and that ofthe articles we had concealed beneath them, not a little impeded ourprogress. But it was no time to pause when at any moment we might besurprised by a body of the savages, and forced at the very outset torelinquish our undertaking.
Since leaving the canoe-house we had scarcely exchanged a singlesyllable with one another; but when we entered a second narrow openingin the wood, and again caught sight of the ridge before us, I took Tobyby the arm, and pointing along its sloping outline to the lofty heightsat its extremity, said in a low tone, 'Now, Toby, not a word, nor aglance backward, till we stand on the summit of yonder mountain--so nomore lingering but let us shove ahead while we can, and in a few hours'time we may laugh aloud. You are the lightest and the nimblest, so leadon, and I will follow.'
'All right, brother,' said Toby, 'quick's our play; only lets keep closetogether, that's all;' and so saying with a bound like a young roe, hecleared a brook which ran across our path, and rushed forward with aquick step.
When we arrived within a short distance of th
e ridge, we were stopped bya mass of tall yellow reeds, growing together as thickly as they couldstand, and as tough and stubborn as so many rods of steel; and weperceived, to our chagrin, that they extended midway up the elevation weproposed to ascend.
For a moment we gazed about us in quest of a more practicable route; itwas, however, at once apparent that there was no resource but to piercethis thicket of canes at all hazards. We now reversed our order ofmarch, I, being the heaviest, taking the lead, with a view of breaking apath through the obstruction, while Toby fell into the rear.
Two or three times I endeavoured to insinuate myself between the canes,and by dint of coaxing and bending them to make some progress; but abull-frog might as well have tried to work a passage through the teethof a comb, and I gave up the attempt in despair.
Half wild with meeting an obstacle we had so little anticipated, I threwmyself desperately against it, crushing to the ground the canes withwhich I came in contact, and, rising to my feet again, repeated theaction with like effect. Twenty minutes of this violent exercise almostexhausted me, but it carried us some way into the thicket; when Toby,who had been reaping the benefit of my labours by following close at myheels, proposed to become pioneer in turn, and accordingly passed aheadwith a view of affording me a respite from my exertions. As howeverwith his slight frame he made but bad work of it, I was soon obliged toresume my old place again. On we toiled, the perspiration starting fromour bodies in floods, our limbs torn and lacerated with the splinteredfragments of the broken canes, until we had proceeded perhaps as faras the middle of the brake, when suddenly it ceased raining, and theatmosphere around us became close and sultry beyond expression. Theelasticity of the reeds quickly recovering from the temporary pressureof our bodies, caused them to spring back to their original position;so that they closed in upon us as we advanced, and prevented thecirculation of little air which might otherwise have reached us.Besides this, their great height completely shut us out from the view ofsurrounding objects, and we were not certain but that we might have beengoing all the time in a wrong direction.
Fatigued with my long-continued efforts, and panting for breath, I feltmyself completely incapacitated for any further exertion. I rolled upthe sleeve of my frock, and squeezed the moisture it contained intomy parched mouth. But the few drops I managed to obtain gave me littlerelief, and I sank down for a moment with a sort of dogged apathy, fromwhich I was aroused by Toby, who had devised a plan to free us from thenet in which we had become entangled.
He was laying about him lustily with his sheath-knive, lopping the canesright and left, like a reaper, and soon made quite a clearing around us.This sight reanimated me; and seizing my own knife, I hacked and hewedaway without mercy. But alas! the farther we advanced the thicker andtaller, and apparently the more interminable, the reeds became.
I began to think we were fairly snared, and had almost made up my mindthat without a pair of wings we should never be able to escape from thetoils; when all at once I discerned a peep of daylight through the caneson my right, and, communicating the joyful tidings to Toby, we both fellto with fresh spirit, and speedily opening the passage towards it wefound ourselves clear of perplexities, and in the near vicinity of theridge. After resting for a few moments we began the ascent, and aftera little vigorous climbing found ourselves close to its summit. Insteadhowever of walking along its ridge, where we should have been in fullview of the natives in the vales beneath, and at a point where theycould easily intercept us were they so inclined, we cautiously advancedon one side, crawling on our hands and knees, and screened fromobservation by the grass through which we glided, much in the fashion ofa couple of serpents. After an hour employed in this unpleasant kindof locomotion, we started to our feet again and pursued our way boldlyalong the crest of the ridge.
This salient spur of the lofty elevations that encompassed the bay rosewith a sharp angle from the valleys at its base, and presented, with theexception of a few steep acclivities, the appearance of a vast inclinedplane, sweeping down towards the sea from the heights in the distance.We had ascended it near the place of its termination and at its lowestpoint, and now saw our route to the mountains distinctly defined alongits narrow crest, which was covered with a soft carpet of verdure, andwas in many parts only a few feet wide.
Elated with the success which had so far attended our enterprise, andinvigorated by the refreshing atmosphere we now inhaled, Toby and I inhigh spirits were making our way rapidly along the ridge, when suddenlyfrom the valleys below which lay on either side of us we heard thedistant shouts of the natives, who had just descried us, and to whom ourfigures, brought in bold relief against the sky, were plainly revealed.
Glancing our eyes into these valleys, we perceived their savageinhabitants hurrying to and fro, seemingly under the influence of somesudden alarm, and appearing to the eye scarcely bigger than so manypigmies; while their white thatched dwellings, dwarfed by the distance,looked like baby-houses. As we looked down upon the islanders from ourlofty elevation, we experienced a sense of security; feeling confidentthat, should they undertake a pursuit, it would, from the start wenow had, prove entirely fruitless, unless they followed us into themountains, where we knew they cared not to venture.
However, we thought it as well to make the most of our time; andaccordingly, where the ground would admit of it, we ran swiftly alongthe summit of the ridge, until we were brought to a stand by a steepcliff, which at first seemed to interpose an effectual barrier to ourfarther advance. By dint of much hard scrambling however, and at somerisk to our necks, we at last surmounted it, and continued our fightwith unabated celerity.
We had left the beach early in the morning, and after an uninterrupted,though at times difficult and dangerous ascent, during which we hadnever once turned our faces to the sea, we found ourselves, aboutthree hours before sunset, standing on the top of what seemed to be thehighest land on the island, an immense overhanging cliff composed ofbasaltic rocks, hung round with parasitical plants. We must have beenmore than three thousand feet above the level of the sea, and thescenery viewed from this height was magnificent.
The lonely bay of Nukuheva, dotted here and there with the black hullsof the vessels composing the French squadron, lay reposing at the baseof a circular range of elevations, whose verdant sides, perforated withdeep glens or diversified with smiling valleys, formed altogether theloveliest view I ever beheld, and were I to live a hundred years, Ishall never forget the feeling of admiration which I then experienced.
Typee: A Romance of the South Seas Page 8