The Coral Island, Robert Michael Ballantyne [inspirational novels .TXT] 📗
- Author: Robert Michael Ballantyne
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could get the oars out the gale carried them past the point and
away to leeward of the island. After we landed I saw them
endeavouring to pull towards us, but as they had only one pair of
oars out of the eight that belong to the boat, and as the wind was
blowing right in their teeth, they gradually lost ground. Then I
saw them put about and hoist some sort of sail, - a blanket, I
fancy, for it was too small for the boat, - and in half an hour
they were out of sight.”
“Poor fellows,” I murmured sorrowfully.
“But the more I think about it, I’ve better hope of them,”
continued Jack, in a more cheerful tone. “You see, Ralph, I’ve
read a great deal about these South Sea Islands, and I know that in
many places they are scattered about in thousands over the sea, so
they’re almost sure to fall in with one of them before long.”
“I’m sure I hope so,” said Peterkin, earnestly. “But what has
become of the wreck, Jack? I saw you clambering up the rocks there
while I was watching Ralph. Did you say she had gone to pieces?”
“No, she has not gone to pieces, but she has gone to the bottom,”
replied Jack. “As I said before, she struck on the tail of the
island and stove in her bow, but the next breaker swung her clear,
and she floated away to leeward. The poor fellows in the boat made
a hard struggle to reach her, but long before they came near her
she filled and went down. It was after she foundered that I saw
them trying to pull to the island.”
There wan a long silence after Jack ceased speaking, and I have no
doubt that each was revolving in his mind our extraordinary
position. For my part I cannot say that my reflections were very
agreeable. I knew that we were on an island, for Jack had said so,
but whether it was inhabited or not I did not know. If it should
be inhabited, I felt certain, from all I had heard of South Sea
Islanders, that we should be roasted alive and eaten. If it should
turn out to be uninhabited, I fancied that we should be starved to
death. “Oh!” thought I, “if the ship had only stuck on the rocks
we might have done pretty well, for we could have obtained
provisions from her, and tools to enable us to build a shelter, but
now - alas! alas! we are lost!” These last words I uttered aloud
in my distress.
“Lost! Ralph?” exclaimed Jack, while a smile overspread his hearty
countenance. “Saved, you should have said. Your cogitations seem
to have taken a wrong road, and led you to a wrong conclusion.”
“Do you know what conclusion I have come to?” said Peterkin. “I
have made up my mind that it’s capital, - first rate, - the best
thing that ever happened to us, and the most splendid prospect that
ever lay before three jolly young tars. We’ve got an island all to
ourselves. We’ll take possession in the name of the king; we’ll go
and enter the service of its black inhabitants. Of course we’ll
rise, naturally, to the top of affairs. White men always do in
savage countries. You shall be king, Jack; Ralph, prime minister,
and I shall be - “
“The court jester,” interrupted Jack.
“No,” retorted Peterkin, “I’ll have no title at all. I shall
merely accept a highly responsible situation under government, for
you see, Jack, I’m fond of having an enormous salary and nothing to
do.”
“But suppose there are no natives?”
“Then we’ll build a charming villa, and plant a lovely garden round
it, stuck all full of the most splendiferous tropical flowers, and
we’ll farm the land, plant, sow, reap, eat, sleep, and be merry.”
“But to be serious,” said Jack, assuming a grave expression of
countenance, which I observed always had the effect of checking
Peterkin’s disposition to make fun of everything, “we are really in
rather an uncomfortable position. If this is a desert island, we
shall have to live very much like the wild beasts, for we have not
a tool of any kind, not even a knife.”
“Yes, we have THAT,” said Peterkin, fumbling in his trousers
pocket, from which he drew forth a small penknife with only one
blade, and that was broken.
“Well, that’s better than nothing; but come,” said Jack, rising,
“we are wasting our time in TALKING instead of DOING. You seem
well enough to walk now, Ralph, let us see what we have got in our
pockets, and then let us climb some hill and ascertain what sort of
island we have been cast upon, for, whether good or bad, it seems
likely to be our home for some time to come.”
CHAPTER IV.
We examine into our personal property, and make a happy discovery -
Our island described - Jack proves himself to be learned and
sagacious above his fellows - Curious discoveries - Natural
lemonade!
WE now seated ourselves upon a rock and began to examine into our
personal property. When we reached the shore, after being wrecked,
my companions had taken off part of their clothes and spread them
out in the sun to dry, for, although the gale was raging fiercely,
there was not a single cloud in the bright sky. They had also
stripped off most part of my wet clothes and spread them also on
the rocks. Having resumed our garments, we now searched all our
pockets with the utmost care, and laid their contents out on a flat
stone before us; and, now that our minds were fully alive to our
condition, it was with no little anxiety that we turned our several
pockets inside out, in order that nothing might escape us. When
all was collected together we found that our worldly goods
consisted of the following articles:-
First, A small penknife with a single blade broken off about the
middle and very rusty, besides having two or three notches on its
edge. (Peterkin said of this, with his usual pleasantry, that it
would do for a saw as well as a knife, which was a great
advantage.) Second, An old German-silver pencil-case without any
lead in it. Third, A piece of whip-cord about six yards long.
Fourth, A sailmaker’s needle of a small size. Fifth, A ship’s
telescope, which I happened to have in my hand at the time the ship
struck, and which I had clung to firmly all the time I was in the
water. Indeed it was with difficulty that Jack got it out of my
grasp when I was lying insensible on the shore. I cannot
understand why I kept such a firm hold of this telescope. They say
that a drowning man will clutch at a straw. Perhaps it may have
been some such feeling in me, for I did not know that it was in my
hand at the time we were wrecked. However, we felt some pleasure
in having it with us now, although we did not see that it could be
of much use to us, as the glass at the small end was broken to
pieces. Our sixth article was a brass ring which Jack always wore
on his little finger. I never understood why he wore it, for Jack
was not vain of his appearance, and did not seem to care for
ornaments of any kind. Peterkin said “it was in memory of the girl
he left behind him!” But as he never spoke of this girl to either
of us, I am inclined to think that Peterkin was either jesting or
mistaken. In addition to these articles we had a little bit of
tinder, and the clothes on our backs. These last were as follows:-
Each of us had on a pair of stout canvass trousers, and a pair of
sailors’ thick shoes. Jack wore a red flannel shirt, a blue
jacket, and a red Kilmarnock bonnet or night-cap, besides a pair of
worsted socks, and a cotton pocket-handkerchief, with sixteen
portraits of Lord Nelson printed on it, and a union Jack in the
middle. Peterkin had on a striped flannel shirt, - which he wore
outside his trousers, and belted round his waist, after the manner
of a tunic, - and a round black straw hat. He had no jacket,
having thrown it off just before we were cast into the sea; but
this was not of much consequence, as the climate of the island
proved to be extremely mild; so much so, indeed, that Jack and I
often preferred to go about without our jackets. Peterkin had also
a pair of white cotton socks, and a blue handkerchief with white
spots all over it. My own costume consisted of a blue flannel
shirt, a blue jacket, a black cap, and a pair of worsted socks,
besides the shoes and canvass trousers already mentioned. This was
all we had, and besides these things we had nothing else; but, when
we thought of the danger from which we had escaped, and how much
worse off we might have been had the ship struck on the reef during
the night, we felt very thankful that we were possessed of so much,
although, I must confess, we sometimes wished that we had had a
little more.
While we were examining these things, and talking about them, Jack
suddenly started and exclaimed -
“The oar! we have forgotten the oar.”
“What good will that do us?” said Peterkin; “there’s wood enough on
the island to make a thousand oars.”
“Ay, lad,” replied Jack, “but there’s a bit of hoop iron at the end
of it, and that may be of much use to us.”
“Very true,” said I, “let us go fetch it;” and with that we all
three rose and hastened down to the beach. I still felt a little
weak from loss of blood, so that my companions soon began to leave
me behind; but Jack perceived this, and, with his usual considerate
good nature, turned back to help me. This was now the first time
that I had looked well about me since landing, as the spot where I
had been laid was covered with thick bushes which almost hid the
country from our view. As we now emerged from among these and
walked down the sandy beach together, I cast my eyes about, and,
truly, my heart glowed within me and my spirits rose at the
beautiful prospect which I beheld on every side. The gale had
suddenly died away, just as if it had blown furiously till it
dashed our ship upon the rocks, and had nothing more to do after
accomplishing that. The island on which we stood was hilly, and
covered almost everywhere with the most beautiful and richly
coloured trees, bushes, and shrubs, none of which I knew the names
of at that time, except, indeed, the cocoa-nut palms, which I
recognised at once from the many pictures that I had seen of them
before I left home. A sandy beach of dazzling whiteness lined this
bright green shore, and upon it there fell a gentle ripple of the
sea. This last astonished me much, for I recollected that at home
the sea used to fall in huge billows on the shore long after a
storm had subsided. But on casting my glance out to sea the cause
became apparent. About a mile distant from the shore I saw the
great billows of the ocean rolling like a green wall, and falling
with a long, loud roar, upon a low coral reef, where they were
dashed into
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