The Coral Island, Robert Michael Ballantyne [inspirational novels .TXT] 📗
- Author: Robert Michael Ballantyne
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I’ll try my hand at the arrows. The fact is, I’m quite tired of
throwing stones at the birds. I began the very day we landed, I
think, and have persevered up to the present time, but I’ve never
hit anything yet.”
“You forget,” said I, “you hit me one day on the shin.”
“Ah, true,” replied Peterkin, “and a precious shindy you kicked up
in consequence. But you were at least four yards away from the
impudent paroquet I aimed at; so you see what a horribly bad shot I
am.”
“But,” said I, “Jack, you cannot make three bows and arrows before
to-morrow, and would it not be a pity to waste time, now that we
have made up our minds to go on this expedition? Suppose that you
make one bow and arrow for yourself, and we can take our clubs?”
“That’s true, Ralph. The day is pretty far advanced, and I doubt
if I can make even one bow before dark. To be sure I might work by
fire-light, after the sun goes down.”
We had, up to this time, been in the habit of going to bed with the
sun, as we had no pressing call to work o’ nights; and, indeed, our
work during the day was usually hard enough, - what between
fishing, and improving our bower, and diving in the Water Garden,
and rambling in the woods; so that, when night came, we were
usually very glad to retire to our beds. But now that we had a
desire to work at night, we felt a wish for candles.
“Won’t a good blazing fire give you light enough?” inquired
Peterkin.
“Yes,” replied Jack, “quite enough; but then it will give us a
great deal more than enough of heat in this warm climate of ours.”
“True,” said Peterkin; “I forgot that. It would roast us.”
“Well, as you’re always doing that at any rate,” remarked Jack, “we
could scarcely call it a change. But the fact is, I’ve been
thinking over this subject before. There is a certain nut growing
in these islands which is called the candle-nut, because the
natives use it instead of candles, and I know all about it, and how
to prepare it for burning - “
“Then why don’t you do it?” interrupted Peterkin. “Why have you
kept us in the dark so long, you vile philosopher?”
“Because,” said Jack, “I have not seen the tree yet, and I’m not
sure that I should know either the tree or the nuts if I did see
them. You see, I forget the description.”
“Ah! that’s just the way with me,” said Peterkin with a deep sigh.
“I never could keep in my mind for half an hour the few
descriptions I ever attempted to remember. The very first voyage I
ever made was caused by my mistaking a description, or forgetting
it, which is the same thing. And a horrible voyage it was. I had
to fight with the captain the whole way out, and made the homeward
voyage by swimming!”
“Come, Peterkin,” said I, “you can’t get even ME to believe that.”
“Perhaps not, but it’s true, notwithstanding,” returned Peterkin,
pretending to be hurt at my doubting his word.
“Let us hear how it happened,” said Jack, while a good-natured
smile overspread his face.
“Well, you must know,” began Peterkin, “that the very day before I
went to sea, I was greatly taken up with a game at hockey, which I
was playing with my old school-fellows for the last time before
leaving them. You see I was young then, Ralph.” Peterkin gazed,
in an abstracted and melancholy manner, out to sea! “Well, in the
midst of the game, my uncle, who had taken all the bother and
trouble of getting me bound ‘prentice and rigged out, came and took
me aside, and told me that he was called suddenly away from home,
and would not be able to see me aboard, as he had intended.
‘However,’ said he, ‘the captain knows you are coming, so that’s
not of much consequence; but as you’ll have to find the ship
yourself, you must remember her name and description. D’ye hear,
boy?’ I certainly did hear, but I’m afraid I did not understand,
for my mind was so taken up with the game, which I saw my side was
losing, that I began to grow impatient, and the moment my uncle
finished his description of the ship, and bade me good-bye, I
bolted back to my game, with only a confused idea of three masts,
and a green painted tafferel, and a gilt figurehead of Hercules
with his club at the bow. Next day I was so much cast down with
everybody saying good-bye, and a lot o’ my female friends cryin’
horribly over me, that I did not start for the harbour, where the
ship was lying among a thousand others, till it was almost too
late. So I had to run the whole way. When I reached the pier,
there were so many masts, and so much confusion, that I felt quite
humblebumbled in my faculties. ‘Now,’ said I to myself, ‘Peterkin,
you’re in a fix.’ Then I fancied I saw a gilt figurehead and
three masts, belonging to a ship just about to start; so I darted
on board, but speedily jumped on shore again, when I found that two
of the masts belonged to another vessel, and the figurehead to a
third! At last I caught sight of what I made sure was it, - a fine
large vessel just casting off her moorings. The tafferel was
green. Three masts, - yes, that must be it, - and the gilt figurehead of Hercules. To be sure it had a three-pronged pitchfork in
its hand instead of a club; but that might be my uncle’s mistake;
or perhaps Hercules sometimes varied his weapons. ‘Cast off!’
roared a voice from the quarterdeck. ‘Hold on!’ cried I, rushing
frantically through the crowd. ‘Hold on! hold on!’ repeated some
of the bystanders, while the men at the ropes delayed for a minute.
This threw the captain into a frightful rage; for some of his
friends had come down to see him off, and having his orders
contradicted so flatly was too much for him. However, the delay
was sufficient. I took a race and a good leap; the ropes were cast
off; the steam-tug gave a puff, and we started. Suddenly the
captain was up to me: ‘Where did you come from, you scamp, and
what do you want here?’
“‘Please, sir,’ said I, touching my cap, ‘I’m you’re new ‘prentice
come aboard.’
“‘New ‘Prentice,’ said he, stamping, ‘I’ve got no new ‘prentice.
My boys are all aboard already. This is a trick, you young
blackguard. You’ve run away, you have;’ and the captain stamped
about the deck and swore dreadfully; for, you see, the thought of
having to stop the ship and lower a boat and lose half an hour, all
for the slake of sending a small boy ashore, seemed to make him
very angry. Besides, it was blowin’ fresh outside the harbour, so
that, to have let the steamer alongside to put me into it was no
easy job. Just as we were passing the pier-head, where several
boats were rowing into harbour, the captain came up to me, -
“‘You’ve run away, you blackguard,’ he said, giving me a box on the
ear.
“‘No I haven’t,’ said I, angrily; for the box was by no means a
light one.
“Hark’ee, boy, can you swim?’
“‘Yes,’ said I.
“‘Then do it,’ and, seizing me by my trousers and the nape of my
neck, he tossed me over the side into the sea. The fellows in the
boats at the end of the pier, backed their oars on seeing this; but
observing that I could swim, they allowed me to make the best of my
way to the pier-head. So, you see, Ralph, that I really did swim
my first homeward voyage.”
Jack laughed and patted Peterkin on the shoulder. “But tell us
about the candle-nut tree,” said I; “you were talking about it.”
“Very true,” said Jack, “but I fear I can remember little about it.
I believe the nut is about the size of a walnut; and I think that
the leaves are white, but I am not sure.”
“Eh! ha! hum!” exclaimed Peterkin, “I saw a tree answering to that
description this very day.”
“Did you?” cried Jack. “Is it far from this?”
“No, not half a mile.”
“Then lead me to it,” said Jack, seizing his axe.
In a few minutes we were all three pushing through the underwood of
the forest, headed by Peterkin.
We soon came to the tree in question, which, after Jack had closely
examined it, we concluded must be the candle-nut tree. Its leaves
were of a beautiful silvery white, and formed a fine contrast to
the dark-green foliage of the surrounding trees. We immediately
filled our pockets with the nuts, after which Jack said, -
“Now, Peterkin, climb that cocoa-nut tree and cut me one of the
long branches.”
This was soon done, but it cost some trouble, for the stem was very
high, and as Peterkin usually pulled nuts from the younger trees,
he was not much accustomed to climbing the high ones. The leaf or
branch was a very large one, and we were surprised at its size and
strength. Viewed from a little distance, the cocoa-nut tree seems
to be a tall, straight stem, without a single branch except at the
top, where there is a tuft of feathery-looking leaves, that seem to
wave like soft plumes in the wind. But when we saw one of these
leaves or branches at our feet, we found it to be a strong stalk,
about fifteen feet long, with a number of narrow, pointed leaflets
ranged alternately on each side. But what seemed to us the most
wonderful thing about it was a curious substance resembling cloth,
which was wrapped round the thick end of the stalk, where it had
been cut from the tree. Peterkin told us that he had the greatest
difficulty in separating the branch from the stem, on account of
this substance, as it was wrapped quite round the tree, and, he
observed, round all the other branches, thus forming a strong
support to the large leaves while exposed to high winds. When I
call this substance cloth I do not exaggerate. Indeed, with regard
to all the things I saw during my eventful career in the South
Seas, I have been exceedingly careful not to exaggerate, or in any
way to mislead or deceive my readers. This cloth, I say, was
remarkably like to coarse brown cotton cloth. It had a seam or
fibre down the centre of it, from which diverged other fibres,
about the size of a bristle. There were two layers of these
fibres, very long and tough, the one layer crossing the other
obliquely, and the whole was cemented together with a still finer
fibrous and adhesive substance. When we regarded it attentively,
we could with difficulty believe that it had not been woven by
human hands. This remarkable piece of cloth we stripped carefully
off, and found it to be above two feet long, by a foot broad, and
we carried it home with us as a great prize.
Jack now took one of the leaflets, and, cutting out the central
spine or stalk, hurried back with it to our camp. Having made a
small fire, he baked the nuts slightly, and then pealed off the
husks. After this he wished to bore a
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