•J>'X'£ /*- sail — We tax our ingenuity to form fish-hooks — Some of the fisb we saw — And a monstrous whale — Wonderful shower of little fish —Water-spouts, . . 147 CHAPTER XVII. A monster wave and its consequences — The boat lost and found — Peterkin's terrible accident — Supplies of food for a voyage in the boat — We visit Penguin Island, and are amazed beyond measure — Account of the penguins, 156 CHAPTER XVIII. An awful storm and its consequences — Narrow escape — A rock proves a sure foundation — A fearful night and a bright morn- ing — Deliverance from danger, 170 CHAPTER XIX. Shoemaking — The even tenor of our way suddenly interrupted — An unexpected visit and an appalling battle — We all become warriors, and Jack proves himself to be a hero, . . .177 CHAPTER XX. Intercourse with the savages — Cannibalism prevented — The slain are buried and the survivors depart, leaving us again alone on our Coral Island, 189 CHAPTER XXI. SagacioiTS and moral remarks in regard to life — A sail ! — An unexpected salute — The end of the black cat — A terrible dive — an incautious proceeding and a frightful catastrophe, . . 196 CHAPTER XXII. I fall into the hands of pirates — How they treated me, and what I said to them — The result of the whole ending iu a melancholy separation and in a most unexpected gift, . . 205 CHAPTER XXIII. Bloody Bill — Dark surmises — A strange sail, and a strange crew, and a still stranger cargo — New reasons for favoring mission- aries — A murderous massacre, and thoughts thereon, . . 216 CHAPTER XXIV. Bloody Bill is communicative and sagacious — Unpleasant pro- spects — Retrospective meditations interrupted by volcanic agency — The pirates negotiate with a Eeejee chief — Various etceteras that are calculated to surprise and horrify, . . 227 CHAPTER XXV. The sandal-wood party — Native children's games, somewhat viii CONTENTS. Page surprising — Desperate amusements suddenly and fatally brought to a close — An old friend recognized — News — Ro- mata's mad conduct, 242 CHAPTER XXVL Mischief brewing — My blood is made to ran cold — Evil consul- tations and wicked resolves — Bloody Bill attempts to do good and fails — The attack — Wholsale murder — The flight — The escape, 253 CHAPTER XXVII. Reflections — The wounded man — The squall — True consolation — Death, 264 CHAPTER XXVIH. Alone on the deep — Necessity the mother of invention — A valu- able book discovered — Natural phenomenon — A bright day in my history, 274 CHAPTER XXIX. The effect of a cannon-shot — A happy reunion of a somewhat moist nature — Retrospects and explanations — An awful dive — New plans — The last of the Coral Island, .... 279 CHAPTER XXX. The voyage — The island, and consultation in which danger is scouted as a thing unworthy of consideration — Rats and cats — The native teacher — Awful revelations — Wonderful effects of Christianity, 2j1 CHAPTER XXXI. A strange and bloody battle — The lion bearded in his den — Frightful scenes of cruelty, and fears for the future, . . . 308 CHAPTER XXXII. An unexpected discovery, and a bold, reckless defiance, with its consequences — Plans of escape, and heroic resolves, . . 317 CHAPTER XXXm. The flight — The pursuit — Despair and its results — The lion bearded in his den again — Awful danger threatened and won- derfully averted — A terrific storm, 325 CHAPTER XXXIV. Imprisonment — Sinking hopes — Unexpected freedom to more than one, and in more senses than one, 337 CHAPTER XXXV. Conclusion, 344 THE COEAL ISLAND CHAPTER I. THE BEGINNING — MY EARLY LIFE AND CHARACTER — I T TTTRS T FOB ABVENTURE IN FOREIGN LANDS AND GO TO SLA. 1T> OVING has always been, and still is, my ruling -1A> passion, the joy of my heart, the very sunshine of my existence. In childhood, in boyhood, and in man's estate, I have been a rover ; not a mere rambler among the woody glens and upon the hill-tops of my own native land, but an enthusiastic rover throughout the length and breadth of the wide wide world. It was a wild, black night of howling storm, the night in which I was born on the foaming bosom of the broad Atlantic Ocean. My father was a sea-captain; my grandfather was a sea-captain; my great-grandfather had been a marine. Nobody could tell positively what occupation his father had followed ; but my dear mother used to assert that he had been a midshipman, whose grandfather on the mother's side had been an admiral in the royal navy. At any rate we knew that, as far back 10 THE CORAL ISLAND. as our family could be traced, it had been intimately con- nected with the great watery waste. Indeed this was the case on both sides of the house ; for my mother always went to sea with my father on his long voyages, and so spent the greater part of her life upon the water. Thus it was, I suppose, that I came to inherit a roving disposition. Soon after I was born, my father, being old, retired from a seafaring life, purchased a small cottage in a fishing village on the west coast of England, and set- tled down to spend the evening of his life on the shores of that sea which had for so many years been his home. It was not long after this that I began to show the rov- ing spirit that dwelt within me. For some time past my infant legs had been gaining strength, so that I came to be dissatisfied with rubbing the skin off my chubby knees by walking on them, and made many attempts to stand up and walk like a man ; all of which attempts, however, resulted in my sitting down violently and in sudden surprise. One day I took advantage of my dear mother's absence to make another effort ; and, to my joy, I actually succeeded in reaching the door-step, over which I tumbled into a pool of muddy water that lay before my father's cottage door. Ah, how vividly I re- member the horror of my poor mother when she found me sweltering in the mud amongst a group of cackling ducks, and the tenderness with which she stripped off my dripping clothes and washed my dirty little body ! From this time forth my rambles became more frequent, and, as I grew older, more distant, until at last I had wan- dered far and near on the shore and in the woods around our humble dwelling, and did not rest content until my father bound me apprentice to a coasting vessel, and let me go to sea. THE CORAL ISLAND. 11 For some years I was happy in visiting the seaports, and in coasting along the shores of my native land. My Christian name was Ralph, and my comrades added to this the name of Rover, in consequence of the passion which I always evinced for travelling. Rover was not my real name, but as I never received any other I came at last to answer to it as naturally as to my proper name ; and, as it is not a bad one, I see no good reason why I should not introduce myself to the reader as Ralph Rover. My shipmates were kind, good-natured fellows, and they and I got on very well together. They did, in- deed, very frequently make game of and banter me, but not unkindly; and I overheard them sometimes saying that Ralph Rover Was a " queer, old-fashioned fellow." This. I must confess, surprised me much, and I pondered the saying long, but could come at no satisfactory conclu- sion as to that wherein my old-fashionedness lay. It is true I was a quiet lad, and seldom spoke except when spoken to. Moreover, I never could understand the jokes of my companions even when they were explained to me ; which dulness in apprehension occasioned me much grief; however, I tried to make up for it by smil- ing and looking pleased when I observed that they were laughing at some witticism which I had failed to detect, I was also very fond of inquiring into the nature of things, and their causes, and often fell into fits of abstraction while thus engaged in my mind. But in all this I saw nothing that did not seem to be exceedingly natural, and could by no means understand why my comrades should call me " an old-fashioned fellow." Now, while engaged in the coasting trade, I fell in with many seamen who had travelled to almost every quarter of the globe ; and I freely confess that my heart glowed 12 THE COKAL ISLAND. ardently within me as they recounted their wild advent- ures in foreign lands, — the dreadful storms they had weathered, the appalling dangers they had escaped, the wonderful creatures they had seen both on the land and in the sea, and the interesting lands and strange people . they had visited. But of all the places of which they told me, none captivated and charmed my imagination so much as the Coral Islands of the Southern Seas. They told me of thousands of beautiful fertile islands that had been formed by a small creature called the coral insect, where summer reigned nearly all the year round, — where the trees were laden with a constant harvest of luxuriant f ru it, — where the climate was almost perpetually delight- f u l 5 — yet where, strange to say, men were wild, blood- thirsty savages, excepting in those favored isles to which the gospel of our Saviour had been conveyed. These exciting accounts had so great an effect upon my mind, that when I reached the age of fifteen, I resolved to make a voyage to the South Seas. I had no little difficulty at first in prevailing on my dear parents to let me go ; but when I urged on my father that he would never have become a great captain had he remained in the coasting trade, he saw the truth of what I said, and gave his consent. My dear mother, seeing that my father had made up his mmd, no longer offered opposition to my wishes. " But oh, Ralph," she said, on the day I bade her adieu, " come back soon to us, my dear boy, for we are getting old now, Ralph, and may not have many years to live." I will not take up my reader's time with a minute ac- count of all that occurred before I took my final leave of my dear parents. Suffice it to say, that my father placed me under the charge of an old messmate of his own, a THE CORAL ISLAND. ID merchant captain, who was on the point of sailing to the South Seas in his own ship, the Arrow. My mother gave me her blessing and a small Bible ; and her Last re- quest was, that I would never forget to read a chapter every day, and say my prayers ; which I promised, with tears in my eyes, that I would certainly do. Soon afterwards I went on board the Arrow, which was a fine large ship, and set sail for the islands of the Pacific Ocean. 14 THE COEAL ISLAND. CHAPTER II. THE DEPARTURE — THE SEA — MY COMPANIONS — SOME ACCOUNT OF THE WONDERFUL SIGHTS WE SAW ON THE GREAT DEEP — A DREADFUL STORM AND A FRIGHTFUL WRECK. IT was a bright, beautiful, warm day when our ship spread her canvas to the breeze, and sailed for the regions of the south. Oh, how my heart bounded with delight as I listened to the merry chorus of the sailors, while they hauled at the ropes and got in the anchor ! The captain shouted — the men ran to obey — the noble ship bent over to the breeze, and the shore gradually faded from my view, while I stood looking on with a kind of feeling that the whole was a delightful dream. The first thing that struck me as being different from anything I had yet seen during my short career on the sea, was the hoisting of the anchor on deck, and lashing it firmly down with ropes, as if we had now bid adieu to the land forever, and would require its services no more. " There, lass," cried a broad-shouldered jack-tar, giv- ing the fluke of the anchor a hearty slap with his hand after the housing was completed — " there, lass, take a good nap now, for we shan't ask you to kiss the mud again for many a long day to come ! " And so it was. That anchor did not " kiss the mud " for many long days afterwards ; and when at last it did, it was for the last time ! There were a number of boys in the ship, but two ot THE CORAL ISLAND. 15 them were my special favorites. Jack Martin waa a tall, strapping, broad-shouldered youth of eighteen, with a handsome, good-humored, firm face. He had had a good education, was clever and hearty and lion-like In his actions, but mild and quiet in disposition. Jack was a general favorite, and had a peculiar fondness for me. My other companion was Peterkin Gay. He was little, quick, funny, decidedly mischievous, and about fourteen years old. But Peterkin's mischief was almo.-t always harmless, else he could not have been so much beloved as he was. " Hallo ! youngster," cried Jack Martin, giving me a slap on the shoulder, the day I joined the ship, " come below and I'll show you your berth. You and I are to be messmates, and I think we shall be good friends, for I like the look o' you." Jack was right. He and I and Peterkin afterwards became the best and stanchest friends that ever tossed together on the stormy waves. I shall say little about the first part of our voyage. "We had the usual amount of rough weather and calm ; also we saw many strange fish rolling in the sea, and I was greatly delighted one day by seeing a shoal of flying- fish dart out of the water and skim through the air about a foot above the surface. They were pursued by dol- phins, which feed on them, and one flying-fish in its terror flew over the ship, struck on the rigging, and fell upon the deck. Its wings were just fins elongated, and we found that they could never fly far at a time, and never mounted into the air like birds, but skimmed along the surface of the sea. Jack and I had it for dinner, and found it remarkably good. When we approached Cape Horn, at the southern ex- 16 THE CORAL ISLAND. tremity of America, the weather became very cold and stormy, and the sailors began to tell stories about the furious gales and the dangers of that terrible cape. " Cape Horn," said one, " is the most horrible head- land I ever doubled. I've sailed round it twice already, and both times the ship was a'most blow'd out o' the water." "An' I've been round it once," said another, " an' that time the sails were split, and the ropes frozen in the blocks, so that they wouldn't work, and we wos all but lost." "An' I've been round it five times," cried a third, " an' every time wos wuss than another, the gales wos so tree- in en dous ! " "And I've been round it no times at all," cried Peter- kin, with an impudent wink of his eye, " an' that time I wos blow'd inside out ! " Nevertheless, we passed the dreaded cape without much rough weather, and, in the course of a few weeks afterwards, were sailing gently, before a warm tropical breeze, over the Pacific Ocean. Thus we proceeded on our voyage, sometimes bounding merrily before a fair breeze, at other times floating calmly on the glassy wave and fishing for the curious inhabitants of the deep, — all of which, although the sailors thought little of them, were strange, and interesting, and very wonderful to me. At last we came among the Coral Islands of the Pa- cific, and I shall never forget the delight with which I gazed, — when we chanced to pass one, — at the pure, white, dazzling shores, and the verdant palm-trees, which looked bright and beautiful in the sunshine. And often did we three long to be landed on one, imagining that we should certainly find perfect happiness there ! Our wish was granted sooner than we expected. THE CORAL ISLAND. 17 One night, soon after we entered the tropics, an awful storm burst upon our ship. The first squall of wind carried away two of our masts ; and left only the fore^ mast standing. Even this, however, was more than enough, for we did not dare to hoist a rag of sail on it. For five days the tempest raged in all its fury. Every- thing was swept off the decks except one small boat. The steersman was lashed to the wheel, lest he should be washed away, and we all gave ourselves up for lost. The captain said that he had no idea where we were, as we had been blown far out of our course ; and we feared much that we might get among the dangerous coral reefs which are so numerous in the Pacific. At daybreak on the sixth morning of the gale we saw land ahead. It was an island encircled by a reef of coral on which the waves broke in fury. There was calm water within this reef, but we could only see one narrow opening into it. For this opening we steered, but, ere we reached it, a tremendous wave broke on our stern, tore the rudder completely off, and left us at the mercy of the winds and waves. " It's all over with us now, lads," said the captain to the men ; " get the boat ready to launch ; we shall be on the rocks in less than half an hour." The men obeyed in gloomy silence, for they felt that there was little hope of so small a boat living in such a sea. " Come boys," said Jack Martin, in a grave tone, to me and Peterkin, as we stood on the quarter-deck await- ing our fate ; — " Come boys, we three shall stick to- gether. You see it is impossible that the little boat can reach the shore, crowded with men. It will be sure to upset, so I mean rather to trust myself to a large oar. I 2 13 THE COKAL ISLAND. see through the telescope that the ship will strike at the tail of the reef, where the waves break into the quiet water inside ; so, if we manage to cling to the oar till it is driven over the breakers, we may perhaps gain the shore. What say you ; will you join me ? " We gladly agreed to follow Jack, for he inspired us with confidence, although I could perceive, by the sad tone of his voice, that he had little hope ; and, indeed, when I looked at the white waves that lashed the reef and boiled against the rocks as if in fury, I felt that there was but a step between us and death. My heart sank within me ; but at that moment my thoughts turned to my beloved mother, and I remembered those words, which were among the last that she said to me — " Balph, my dearest child, always remember in the hour of danger to look to your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He alone is both able, and willing to save your body and your soul." So I felt much comforted when I thought thereon. The ship was now very near the rocks. The men were ready with the boat, and the captain beside them giving orders, when a tremendous wave came towards us. We three ran towards the bow to lay hold of our oar, and had barely reached it when the wave fell on the deck with a crash like thunder. At the same moment the ship struck, the foremast broke off close to the deck and went over the side, carrying the boat and men along with it. Our oar got entangled with the wreck, and Jack seized an axe to cut it free, but, owing to the motion of the ship, he missed the cordage and struck the axe deep into the oar. Another wave, however, washed it clear of the wreck. We all seized hold of it, and the next instant we were struggling in the wild sea. The last thing I saw 'co iU o THE CORAL ISLAND. 10 was the boat whirling in the surf, and all the sailors tossed into the foaming waves. Then I became insensible. On recovering from ray swoon, I found myself lying on a bank of soft grass, under the shelter of an over- hanging rock, with Peterkin on his knees by my side, tenderly bathing my temples with water, and endeavor- ing to stop the blood that flowed from a wound in my forehead. 20 THE CORAL ISLAND. CHAPTER III. THE CORAL ISLAND — OUR FIRST COGITATIONS AFTER LANDING, AND THE RESULT OF THEM — WE CONCLUDE THAT THE ISLAND IS UNINHABITED. THERE is a strange and peculiar sensation experi- enced in recovering from a state of insensibility, which is almost indescribable ; a sort of dreamy, confused consciousness ; a half-waking, half-sleeping condition, ac- companied with a feeling of weariness, which, however, is by no means disagreeable. As I slowly recovered and heard the voice of Peterkin inquiring whether I felt better, I thought that I must have overslept myself, and should be sent to the masthead for being lazy ; but be- fore I could leap up in haste, the thought seemed to van- ish suddenly away, and I fancied that I must have been ill. Then a balmy breeze fanned my cheek, and I thought of home, and the garden at the back of my father's cottage, with its luxuriant flowers, and the sweet- scented honeysuckle that my dear mother trained so carefully upon the trellised porch. But the roaring of the surf put these delightful thoughts to flight, and I was back again at sea, watching the dolphins and the flying- fish, and reefing topsails off the wild and stormy Cape Horn. Gradually the roar of the surf became louder and more distinct. I thought of being wrecked far, far away from my native land, and slowly opened my eyes to meet those of my companion Jack, who, with a look of intense anxiety, was gazing into my face. THE CORAL ISLAND. 21 <• Speak to us, my clear Ralph," whispered Jack, ten- derly, " are you better now ? " I smiled and looked up, saying, " Better ; why, what do you mean, Jack ? I'm quite well." " Then what are you shamming for, and frightening us in this way ? " said Peterkin, smiling through his tears ; for the poor boy had been really under the im- pression that I was dying. I now raised myself on my elbow, and putting my hand to my forehead, found that it had been cut pretty severely, and that I had lost a good deal of blood. " Come, come, Ralph," said Jack, pressing me gently backward, " lie down, my boy ; you're not right yet. Wet your lips with this water, it's cool and clear as crys- tal. I got it from a spring close at hand. There, now, don't say a word, hold your tongue," said he, seeing me about to speak. " I'll tell you all about it, but you must not utter a syllable till you have rested well." " Oh ! don't stop him from speaking, Jack," said Pe- terkin, who, now that his fears for my safety were re- moved, busied himself in erecting a shelter of broken branches in order to protect me from the wind ; which, however, was almost unnecessary, for the rock beside which I had been laid completely broke the force of the gale. " Let him speak, Jack ; it's a comfort to hear that he's alive, after lying there stiff, and white, and sulky for a whole hour, just like an Egyptian mummy. Never saw such a fellow as you are, Ralph ; always up to mis- chief. You've almost knocked out all my teeth and more than half choked me, and now you go shamming dead ! It's very wicked of you, indeed it is." While Peterkin ran on in this style, my faculties be- came quite clear again, and I began to understand my 22- L\HE CORAL ISLAND. position. " What do you mean by saying I half choked you Peterkin ? " said I. " What do I mean ? Is English not your mother tongue, or do you want me to repeat it in French, by way of making it clearer ? Don't you remember — " " I remember nothing," said I, interrupting him, " after we were thrown into the sea." " Hush, Peterkin," said Jack, " you're exciting Ralph with your nonsense. I'll explain it to you. You recol- lect that after the ship struck, we three sprang over the bow into the sea ; well, I noticed that the oar struck your head and gave you that cut on the brow, which nearly stunned you, so that you grasped Peterkin round the neck without knowing apparently what you were about. In doing so you pushed the telescope — which you clung to as if it had been your life — against Peter- kin's mouth — " " Pushed it against his mouth ! " interrupted Peterkin, " say crammed it down his throat. Why, there's a dis- tinct mark of the brass rim on the back of my gullet at this moment ! " " Well, well, be that as it may," continued Jack, " you clung to him, Ralph, till I feared you really would choke him ; but I saw that he had a good hold of the oar, so I exerted myself to the utmost to push you towards the shore, which we luckily reached without much trouble, for the water inside the reef is quite calm." " But the captain and crew, what of them ? " I in- quired anxiously. Jack shook his head. "Are they lost?" " No, they are not lost, I hope, but I fear there is not much chance of their being saved. The ship struck at THE CORAL ISLAND. 23 the very tail of the island on which we are cast. When the boat was tossed into the sea it fortunately did not up- set, although it shipped a good deal of water, and all the men managed to scramble into it ; but before they 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 endeavoring 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 scat- tered 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 clam- bering 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 foun- dered that I saw them trying to pull to the island." There was a long silence after Jack ceased speaking, 24 THE CORAL ISLAND. and I have no doubt that each was revolving in his raind 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 struck on the rocks we might have done pretty well, for we could have ob- tained 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 over- spread 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 / 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." THE CORAL ISLAND. 25 " But suppose there are no native- ? '' " 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 ex- pression 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 pen- knife 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, Ealph, 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." 26 THE CORAL ISLAND. 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 EEL- LOWS — 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 ut- most care, and laid their contents out on a fiat stone be- fore 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 Ave 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. THE CORAL. ISLAND. 27 Third, A piece of whipcord about six yards long. Fourth, A sail-maker's needle of a small size. Fifth, A -hip'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 .Tack 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 mis- taken. 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 canvas trousers, and a pair of sailors' thick shoes. Jack wore a red flannel shirt, a blue jacket, and a red Kilmarnock bonnet or nightcap, besides a pair of worsted sock-, and a cotton pocket-handkerchief, with sixteen portraits of Lord Nel- son 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 maimer of a tunic, — and a round black straw hat. 1 Ic 28 THE CORAL ISLAND. 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 flan- nel shirt, a blue jacket, a black cap, and a pair of worsted socks, besides the shoes and canvas 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 some- times 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-na- ture, 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 CORAL ISLAND. 29 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 every- where with the most beautiful and richly colored trees, bushes, and shrubs, none of which I knew the names of at that time, except, indeed, the cocoa-nut palms, which I recognized 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 roll- ing like a green wall, and falling with a long, loud roar, upon a low coral reef, where they were dashed into white foam and flung up in clouds of spray. This spray some- times flew exceedingly high, and, every here and there, a beautiful rainbow was formed for a moment anions the falling drops. We afterwards found that this coral reef extended quite round the island, and formed a natural breakwater to it. Beyond this the sea rose and tossed violently from the effects of the storm ; but between the reef and the shore it was as calm and as smooth as a pond. My heart was filled with more delight than I can express at sight of so many glorious objects, and my thoughts turned suddenly to the contemplation of the 30 THE CORAL ISLAND. Creator of them all. I mention this the more gladly, because at that time, I am ashamed to say, I very seldom thought of my Creator, although I was constantly sur- rounded by the most beautiful and wonderful of His works. I observed from the expression of my com- panion's countenance that he too derived much joy from the splendid scenery, which was all the more agreeable to us after our long voyage on the salt sea. There, the breeze was fresh and cold, but here it was delightfully mild ; and, when a puff blew off the land, it came laden with the most exquisite perfume that can be imagined. "While we thus gazed, we were startled by a loud " Huz- za!" from Peterkin, and, on looking towards the edge of the sea, we saw him capering and jumping about like a monkey, and ever and anon tugging with all his might at something that lay upon the shore. " What an odd fellow he is, to be sure," said Jack, taking me by the arm and hurrying forward ; " come, let us hasten to see what it is." " Here it is, boys, hurrah ! come along. Just what we want," cried Peterkin, as we drew near, still tug- ging with all his power. " First rate ; just the very ticket ! " I need scarcely say to my readers that my companion Peterkin was in the habit of using very remarkable and peculiar phrases. And I am free to confess that I did not well understand the meaning of some of them, — such, for instance, as " the very ticket ; " but I think it my duty to recount everything relating to my adven- tures with a strict regard to truthfulness in as far as my memory serves me ; so I write, as nearly as possible, the exact words that my companions spoke. I often asked Peterkin to explain what he meant by " ticket," but he THE CORAL ISLAND. 31 always answered me by going into fits of laughter. However, by observing the occasions on which he used it, I came to understand that it meant to show that some- thing was remarkably good, or fortunate. On coming up we found that Peterkin was vainly endeavoring to pull the axe out of the oar, into which, it will be remembered, Jack struck it while endeavor- ing to cut away the cordage among which it had be- come entangled at the bow of the ship. Fortunately for us the axe had remained fast in the oar, and even now, all Peterkin's strength could not draw it out of the cut. " Ah ! that is capital indeed," cried Jack, at the same time giving the axe a wrench that plucked it out of the tough wood. " How fortunate this is ! Ii will be of more value to us than a hundred knives, and the edge is quite new and sharp." " I'll answer for the toughness of the handle at any rate," cried Peterkin ; " my arms are nearly pulled out of the sockets. But see here, our luck is great. There is iron on the blade." He pointed to a piece of hoop iron, as he spoke, which had been nailed round the blade of the oar to prevent it from splitting. This also was a fortunate discovery. Jack went down on his knees, and with the edge of the axe began care- fully to force out the nails. But as they were firmly fixed in, and the operation blunted our axe, we carried the oar up with us to the place where we had left the rest of our things, intending to burn the wood away from the iron at a more convenient time. " Now, lads," said Jack, after we had laid it on the stone which contained our little all, " I propose that we should go to the tail of the island, where the .-hip struck, 32 THE CORAL ISLAND. which is only a quarter of a mile off, and see if anything else has been thrown ashore. I don't expect anything, but it is well to see. When we get back here it will be time to have our supper and prepare our beds." " Agreed ! " cried Peterkin and I together, as, indeed, we would have agreed to any proposal that Jack made ; for, besides his being older and much stronger and taller than either of us, he was a very clever fellow, and I think would have induced people much older than him- self to choose him for their leader, especially if they re- quired to be led on a bold enterprise. Now, as we hastened along the white beach, which shone so brightly in the rays of the setting sun that our eyes were quite dazzled by its glare, it suddenly came into Peterkin's head that we had nothing to eat except the wild berries which grew in profusion at our feet. " What shall we do, Jack ? " said he, with a rueful look ; " perhaps they may be poisonous ! " " No fear," replied Jack, confidently ; " I have ob- served that a few of them are not unlike some of the berries that grow wild on our own native hills. Besides, I saw one or two strange birds eating them just a few minutes ago, and what won't kill the birds won't kill us. But look up there, Peterkin," continued Jack, pointing to the branched head of a cocoa-nut palm. " There are nuts for us in all stages." " So there are ! " cried Peterkin, who being of a very unobservant nature had been too much taken up with other things to notice anything so high above his head as the fruit of a palm-tree. But, whatever faults my young comrade had, he could not be blamed for want of activity or animal spirits. Indeed, the nuts had scarcely been pointed out to him when he bounded up the tall THE CORAL tSLAND. 33 stem of the tree like a squirrel, and, in a few minute.-, returned with three nuts, each as large as a man'- fist. "You had better keep them till we return," said Jack. " Let us finish our work before eating." " So be it, captain, go ahead," cried Peterkin, thrusting the nuts into his trousers pocket. " In fact I don't want to eat just now, but I would give a good deal for a drink. Oh that I could find a spring ! but I don't see the smallest sign of one hereabouts. I say, Jack, how does it happen that you seem to "be up to everything? You have told us the names of half a dozen trees already, and yet you say that you were never in the South Seas before." " I'm not up to everything, Peterkin, as you'll find out ere long," replied Jack, with a smile ; " but I have been a great reader of books of travel and adventure all my life, and that has put me up to a good many things that you are, perhaps, not acquainted with." " Oh, Jack, that's all humbug. If you begin to lay everything to the credit of books, I'll quite lose my opinion of you," cried Peterkin, with a look of contempt. "I've seen a lot o' fellows that were always poring over books, and when they came to try to do anything, they were no better than baboons ! " " You are quite right," retorted Jack ; " and I have seen a lot of fellows who never looked into books at all, who knew nothing about anything except the things they had actually seen, and very little they knew even about these. Indeed, some were so ignorant that they did not know that cocoa-nuts grew on cocoa-nut trees ! " I could not refrain from laughing at this rebuke, for there was much truth in it, as to Peterkin's ignorance. " Humph! may be you're right," answered Peterkin; " but I would not give tuppence for a man of books, if he had nothing else in him." 34 THE COEAL ISLAND. " Neither would I," said Jack ; " but that's no reason why you should run books down, or think less of me for having read them. Suppose, now, Peterkin, that you wanted to build a ship, and I were to give you a long and particular account of the way to do it, would not that be very useful ? " " No doubt of it," said Peterkin, laughing. " And suppose I were to write the account in a letter instead of telling you in words, would that be less use- ful?" " Well — no, perhaps not." " Well, suppose I were to print it, and send it to you in the form of a book, would it not be as good and useful as ever ? " " Oh, bother ! Jack, you're a philosopher, and that's worse than anything ! " cried Peterkin, with a look of pretended horror. " Very well, Peterkin, we shall see," returned Jack, halting under the shade of a cocoa-nut tree. " You said you were thirsty just a minute ago ; now, jump up that tree and bring down a nut, — not a ripe one, bring a green, unripe one." Peterkin looked surprised, but, seeing that Jack was in earnest, he obeyed. " Now, cut a hole in it with your penknife, and clap it to your mouth, old fellow," said Jack. Peterkin did as he was directed, and we both burst into uncontrollable laughter at the changes that instantly passed over his expressive countenance. No sooner had he put the nut to his mouth, and thrown back his head in order to catch what came out of it, than his eyes opened to twice their ordinary size with astonishment, while his throat moved vigorously in the act of swallowing. Then THE CORAL ISLAND. 35 a smile and look of intense delight overspread his face, except, indeed, the mouth, which, being firmly fixed to the hole in the nut, could not take part in the expression ; but he endeavored to make up for this by winking at us excessively with his right eye. At length he stopped, and, drawing a long breath, exclaimed — " Nectar ! perfect nectar ! I say, Jack, you're a Briton — the best fellow I ever met in my life. Only taste that ! " said he, turning to me and holding the nut to my mouth. I immediately drank, and certainly I was much surprised at the delightful liquid that flowed copiously down my throat. It was extremely cool, and had a sweet taste, mingled with acid ; in fact, it was the likest thing to lemonade I ever tasted, and was most grateful and refreshing. I handed the nut to Jack, who, after tasting it, said, "Now, Peterkin, you unbeliever, I never Baw or tasted a cocoa-nut in my life before, except those sold in shops at home ; but I once read that the green nuts contain that stuff, and you see it is true ! " "And pray," asked Peterkin, "what sort of 'stuff' does the ripe nut contain ? " "A hollow kernel," answered Jack, " with a liquid like milk in it ; but it does not satisfy thirst so well as hunger. It is very wholesome food I believe." " Meat and drink on the same tree ! " cried Peterkin ; " washing in the sea, lodging on the ground, — and all for nothing ! My dear boys, we're set up for life ; it must be the ancient Paradise, — hurrah ! " and Peterkin tossed his straw hat in the air, and ran along the beach hallooing like a madman with delight. "Wo afterwards found, however, that these lovely islands were very unlike Paradise in many thing-. But more of this in its proper place. 36 THE CORAL ISLAND. We had now come to the point of rocks on which the ship had struck, but did not find a single article, although we searched carefully among the coral rocks, which at this place jutted out so far as nearly to join the reef that encircled the island. Just as we were about to return, however, we saw something black floating in a little cove that had escaped our observation. Running forward, we drew it from the water, and found it to be a long thick leather boot, such as fishermen at home wear ; and a few paces farther on we picked up its fellow. We at once recognized these as having belonged to our captain, for he had worn them during the whole of the storm, in order to guard his legs from the waves and spray that constantly washed over our decks. My first thought on seeing them was that our dear captain had been drown- ed ; but Jack soon put my mind more at rest on that point, by saying that if the captain had been drowned with the boots on, he would certainly have been washed ashore along with them, and that he had no doubt what- ever he had kicked them off while in the sea, that he might swim more easily. Peterkin immediately put them on, but they were so large that, as Jack said, they would have done for boots, trousers, and vest too. I also tried them, but, although I was long enough in the legs for them, they were much too large in the feet for me ; so we handed them to Jack, who was anxious to make me keep them, but as they fitted his large limbs and feet as if they had been made for him, I would not hear of it, so he consented at last to use them. I may remark, however, that Jack did not use them often, as they were extremely heavy. It was beginning to grow dark when we returned to our encampment ; so we put off our visit to the top of THE CORAL ISLAND. 7 a hill till next day, and employed the light that yet re- mained to us in cutting down a quantity of boughs and the broad leaves of a tree, of which none of us knew the name. With these we erected a sort of rustic bower, in which we meant to pass the night. There was no abso- lute necessity for this, because the air of our island was so genial and balmy that we could have slept quite well without any shelter ; but we were so little used to sleep- ing in the open air, that we did not quite relish the idea of lying down without any covering over us ; besides, our bower would shelter us from the night dews or rain, if any should happen to fall. Having strewed the floor with leaves and dry grass, we bethought ourselves of supper. But it now occurred to us, for the first time, that we had no means of making a fire. " Now, there's a iix ! — what shall we do ? " said Peter- kin, while we both turned our eyes to Jack, to whom we always looked in our difficulties. Jack seemed not a little perplexed. " There are flints enough, no doubt, on the beach," said he, " but they are of no use at all without a steel. How- ever, w r e must try." So saying, he went to the beach, and soon returned with two flints. On one of these he placed the tinder, and endeavored to ignite it ; but it was with great difficulty that a very small spark was struck out of the flints, and the tinder, being a bad, hard piece, would not catch. He then tried the bit of hoop iron, which would not strike fire at all; and after that the back of the axe, with no better success. During all these trials Feterkin sat with his hands in his pockets, gazing with ti most melancholy visage at our comrade, his face growing longer and more miserable at each suc- cessive failure. 38 THE CORAL ISLAND. " Oh dear ! " he sighed, " I would not care a button for the cooking of our victuals, — perhaps they don't need it, — but it's so dismal to eat one's supper in the dark, and we have had such a capital day, that it's a pity to finish off in this glum style. Oh, I have it ! " he cried, starting up ; " the spy-glass, — the big glass at the end is a burn- ing-glass ! " " You forget that we have no sun," said I. Peterkin was silent. In his sudden recollection of the telescope he had quite overlooked the absence of the sun. " Ah, boys, I've got it now ! " exclaimed Jack, rising and cutting a branch from a neighboring bush, which he stripped of its leaves. " I recollect seeing this done once at home. Hand me the bit of whip-cord." With the cord and branch Jack soon formed a bow. Then he cut a piece, about three inches long, off the end of a dead branch, which he pointed at the two ends. Round this he passed the cord of the bow, and placed one end against his chest, which was protected from its point by a chip of wood ; the other point he placed against the bit of tinder, and then began to saw vigorously with the bow, just as a blacksmith does with his drill while boring a hole in a piece of iron. In a few seconds the tinder began to smoke ; in less than a minute it caught fire ; and in less than a quarter of an hour we were drinking our lemon- ade and eating cocoa-nuts round a fire that would have roasted an entire sheep, while the smoke, flames, and sparks, flew up among the broad leaves of the overhang- ing palm-trees, and cast a warm glow upon our leafy bower. That night the starry sky looked down through the gently rustling trees upon our slumbers, and the distant roaring of the surf upon the coral reef was our lullaby. THE CORAL tSLAND. .30 CHAPTER V. MORNING, AND COGITATIONS CONNECTED THEREWITH — WE LUX- URIATE IN THE SEA, TRY OUB DIVING POWERS, AND MAKE ENCHANTING EXCURSIONS AMONG THE CORAL GROVES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN— THE WONDERS OF THE DEEP ENLARGED UPON. WHAT a joyful thing it is to awaken, on a fresh glorious morning, and find the rising sun staring into your face with dazzling brilliancy! — to see the birds twittering in the bushes, and to hear the murmuring of a rill, or the soft hissing ripples as they fall upon the sea- shore ! At any time and in any place such sights and sounds are most charming, but more especially are they so when one awakens to them, for the first time, in a novel and romantic situation, with the soft sweet air of a tropical climate mingling with the fresh smell of the sea, and stirring the strange leaves that flutter overhead and around one, or ruffling the plumage of the stranger birds that fly inquiringly around, as if to demand what business we have to intrude uninvited on their domains.. When I awoke on the morning after the shipwreck, I found myself in this most delightful condition ; and, as I lay on my back upon my bed of leaves, gazing up through the branches of the cocoa-nut trees into the clear blue sky, and watched the few fleecy clouds that passed slowly across it, my heart expanded more and more with an exulting gladness, the like of which I had never felt 40 THE CORAL ISLAND. before. While I meditated, my thoughts again turned to the great and kind Creator of this beautiful world, as they had done on the previous day, when I first beheld the sea and the coral reef, with the mighty waves dashing *over it into the calm waters of the lagoon. "While thus meditating, I naturally bethought me of my Bible, for I had faithfully kept the promise, which I gave at parting to my beloved mother, that I would read it every morning ; and it was with a feeling of dismay that I remembered I had left it in the ship. I was much troubled about this. However, I consoled myself with reflecting that I could keep the second part of my prom- ise to her, namely, that I should never omit to say my prayers. So I rose quietly, lest I should disturb my companions, who were still asleep, and stepped aside into the bushes for this purpose. On my return I found them still slumbering, so I again lay down to think over our situation. Just at that mo- ment I was attracted by the sight of a very small parrot, which Jack afterwards told me was called a paroquet. It was seated on a twig that overhung Peterkin's head, and I was speedily lost in admiration of its bright green plumage, which w r as mingled with other gay colors. "While I looked I observed that the bird turned its head slowly from side to side and looked downwards, first with the one eye, and then with the other. On glancing downwards I observed that Peterkin's mouth was wide open, and that this remarkable bird was looking into it. Peterkin used to say that I had not an atom of fun in my composition, and that I never could understand a joke. In regard to the latter, perhaps he was right ; yet I think that, when they were explained to me, I under- stood jokes as well as most people ; but in regard to the THE CORAL ISLAND. 41 former lie must certainly have been wrong, for this bird seemed to me to be extremely funny; and I could not help thinking that, if it should happen to faint, or slip its foot, and fall off the twig into Peterkin's mouth, he would perhaps think it funny too! Suddenly the paroque( bent down its head and uttered a loud scream in his face. This awoke him, and, with a cry of surprise, he started up, while the foolish bird flew precipitately away. " Oh you monster ! " cried Peterkin, shaking his fist at the bird. Then he yawned and rubbed his eyes, and asked what o'clock it was. I smiled at this question, and answered that, as our watches were at the bottom of the sea, I could not tell, but it was a little past sunrise. Peterkin now began to remember where we were. As he looked up into the bright sky, and snuifed the scented air, his eyes glistened with delight, and he uttered a faint "hurrah!" and yawned again. Then he gazed slowly round, till, observing the calm sea through an opening in the bushes, he started suddenly up as if he had received an electric shock, uttered a vehement shout, flung off his garments, and rushing over the white sands, plunged into the water. The cry awoke Jack, who rose on his elbow with a look of grave surprise ; but this was followed by a quiet smile of intelligence on seeing Peterkin in the water. With an energy that he only gave way to in mo- ments of excitement, Jack bounded to his feet, threw off his clothes, shook back his hair, and, with a lion- like spring, dashed over the sands and plunged into the sea with such force as quite to envelop Peterkin in a shower of spray. Jack was a remarkably good swimmer and diver, so that after his plunge we saw no sign of him for nearly a minute ; after which he suddenly 42 THE CORAL ISLAND. emerged, with a cry of joy, a good many yards out from the shore. My spirits were so much raised by seeing all this that I, too, hastily threw off my garments and endeavored to imitate Jack's vigorous bound ; but I was so awkward that my foot caught on a stump, and I fell to the ground ; then I slipped on a stone while running over the sand, and nearly fell again, much to the amusement of Peterkin, who laughed heartily, and called me a " slow coach," while Jack cried out, " Come along, Ralph, and I'll help you." However, when I got into the water I managed very well, for I was really a good swimmer, and diver too. I could not, indeed, equal Jack, who was superior to any Englishman I ever saw, but I infinitely surpassed Peterkin, who could only swim a little, and could not dive at all. While Peterkin enjoyed himself in the shallow water and in running along the beach, Jack and I swam out into the deep water, and occasionally dived for stones. I shall never forget my surprise and delight on first behold- ing the bottom of the sea. As I have before stated, the water within the reef was as calm as a pond ; and, as there was no wind, it was quite clear, from the surface to the bottom, so that we could see down easily even at a depth of twenty or thirty yards. When Jack and I dived in shallower water, we expected to have found sand and stones, instead of which we found ourselves in what appeared really to be an enchanted garden. The whole of the bottom of the lagoon, as we called the calm water within the reef, was covered with coral of every shape, size, and hue. Some portions were formed like large mushrooms ; others appeared like the brain of a man, having stalks or necks attached to them ; but the most common kind was a species of branching coral, and THE CORAL ISLAND. 40 some portions were of a lovely pale pink color, others pure white. Among this there grew large quantities of sea-weed of the richest hues imaginable, and of the most graceful forms ; while innumerable fishes — blue, red, yel- low, green, and striped — sported in and out amongst the flower-beds of this submarine garden, and did not appear to be at all afraid of our approaching them. On darting to the surface for breath, after our first dive, Jack and I rose close to each other. " Did you ever in your life, Ralph, see anything so lovely?" said Jack, as he flung the spray from his hair. " Never," I replied. " It appears to me like fairy realms. I can scarcely believe that we are not dream- ing." "Dreaming!" cried Jack, "do you know, Ralph, I'm half tempted to think that we really are dreaming. But if so, I am resolved to make the most of it, and dream another dive; so here goes, — down again, my boy!" We took the second dive together, and kept beside each other while under water ; and I was greatly surprised to find that we could keep down much longer than I ever recollect having done in our own seas at home. I be- lieve that this was owing to the heat of the water, which was so warm that we afterwards found we could remain in it for two and three hours at a time without feeling any unpleasant effects such as we used to experience in the sea at home. When Jack reached the bottom, he grasped the coral stems, and crept along on his hands and knees, peeping under the sea-weed and among the rocks. I observed him also pick up one or two large oysters, and retain them in his grasp, as if he meant to take them up with him, so I also gathered a few. Sud- 44 THE CORAL ISLAND. denly lie made a grasp at a fish with blue and yellow stripes on its back, and actually touched its tail but did not catch it. At this he turned towards me and at- tempted to smile; but no sooner had he done so than he sprang like an arrow to the surface, where, on fol- lowing him, I found him gasping and coughing, and spitting water from his mouth. In a few minutes he recovered, and we both turned to swim ashore. " I declare, Ralph," said he, " that I actually tried to laugh under water." " So I saw," I replied ; " and I observed that you very nearly caught that fish by the tail. It would have done capitally for breakfast if you had." " Breakfast enough here," said he, holding up the oys- ters, as we landed and ran up the beach. " Hallo ! Peterkin, here you are, boy. Split open these fellows while Ralph and I put on our clothes. They'll agree with the cocoa-nuts excellently, I have no doubt." Peterkin, who was already dressed, took the oysters, and opened them with the edge of our axe, exclaim- ing, " Now, that is capital. There's nothing I'm so fond of." " Ah ! that's lucky," remarked Jack. " I'll be able to keep you in good order now, Master Peterkin. You know you can't dive any better than a cat. So, sir, whenever you behave ill, you shall have no oysters for breakfast." " I'm very glad that our prospect of breakfast is so good," said I, " for I'm very hungry." " Here, then, stop your mouth with that, Ralph," said Peterkin, holding a large oyster to my lips. I opened my mouth and swallowed it in silence, and really it was remarkably good. THE CORAL ISLAND. 45 We now set ourselves earnestly about our preparations for spending the day. We had no difficulty with the fire this morning, as our burning-glass was an admirable one ; and while we roasted a few oysters and ate our cocoa- nuts, we held a long, animated conversation about our plans for the future. "What those plans were, and how we carried them into effect, the reader shall see hereafter. 46 THE CORAL ISLAND. CHAPTER VI. AN EXCURSION INTO THE INTERIOR, IN WHICH WE MAKE MANY VALUABLE AND INTERESTING DISCOVERIES — WE GET A DREADFUL FRIGHT — THE BREAD-FRUIT TREE — WONDERFUL PECULIARITY OF SOME OF THE FRUIT TREES — SIGNS OF FOR- MER INHABITANTS. OUR first care, after breakfast, was to place the few articles we possessed in the crevice of a rock at the farther end of a small cave which we discovered near our encampment. This cave, we hoped, might be useful to us afterwards as a storehouse. Then we cut two large clubs off a species of very hard tree which grew near at hand. One of these was given to Peterkin, the other to me, and Jack armed himself with the axe. We took these precautions because we purposed to make an ex- cursion to the top of the mountains of the interior, in order to obtain a better view of our island. Of course we knew not what dangers might befall us by the way, so thought it best to be prepared. Having completed our arrangements and carefully ex- tinguished our fire, we sallied forth and walked a short distance along the sea-beach, till we came to the entrance of a valley, through which flowed the rivulet before mentioned. Here we turned our backs on the sea and struck into the interior. The prospect that burst upon our view on entering the valley was truly splendid. On either side of us there was THE CORAL ISLAND. 17 a gentle rise in the land, which thus formed two ridges about a mile apart on each side of the valley. These ridges, — which, as well as the low grounds between them, were covered with trees and shrubs of the most luxuriant kind, — continued to recede inland for about two miles, when they joined the foot of a small mountain. This hill rose rather abruptly from the head of the val- ley, and was likewise entirely covered even to the top with trees, except on one particular spot near the left shoulder, where was a bare and rocky place of a broken and savage character. Beyond this hill we could not see, and we therefore directed our course up the banks of the rivulet towards the foot of it, intending to climb to the top, should that be possible, as, indeed, we had no doubt it was. Jack, being the wisest and boldest among us, took the lead, carrying the axe on his shoulder. Peterkin, with his enormous club, came second, as he said he should like to be in a position to defend me if any danger should threaten. I brought up the rear, but, having been more taken up with the wonderful and curious things I saw at starting than with thoughts of possible danger, I had very foolishly left my club behind me. Although, as I have said, the trees and bushes were very luxuriant, they were not ^o thickly crowded together as to hinder our progress among them. AVe were able to wind in and out, and to follow the banks of the stream quite easily, although, it is true, the height and thickness of the foliage prevented us from seeing far ahead. But sometimes a jutting-out rock on the hill-side afforded us a position whence we could enjoy the romantic view and mark our progress towards the foot of the hill. I was par- ticularly struck, during the walk, with the richness of 48 THE CORAL ISLAND. the undergrowth in most places, and recognized many- berries and plants that resembled those of my native land, especially a tall, elegantly formed fern, which emitted an agreeable perfume. There were several kinds of flowers, too, but I did not see so many of these as I should have expected in such a climate. We also saw a great variety of small birds of bright plumage, and many paroquets similar to the one that awoke Peterkin so rudely in the morning. Thus we advanced to the foot of the hill without en- countering anything to alarm us, except, indeed, once, when we were passing close under a part of the hill which was hidden from our view by the broad leaves of the banana trees, which grew in great luxuriance in that part. Jack was just preparing to force his way through this thicket, when we were startled and arrested by a strange pattering or rumbling sound, which appeared to us quite different from any of the sounds we had heard during the previous part of our walk. " Hallo ! " cried Peterkin, stopping short and grasping his club with both hands, " what's that ? " Neither of us replied ; but Jack seized his axe in his right hand, while with the other he pushed aside the broad leaves and endeavored to peer amongst them. " I can see nothing," he said, after a short pause. " I think it — " Again the rumbling sound came, louder than before, and we all sprang back and stood on the defensive. For myself, having forgotten my club, and not having taken the precaution to cut another, I buttoned my jacket, doubled my fists, and threw myself into a boxing atti- tude. I must say, however, that I felt somewhat un- easy ; and my companions afterwards confessed that THE CORAL ISLAND. 49 their thoughts at this moment had been instantly filled with all they had ever heard or read of wild beasts and savages, torturings at the stake, roastings alive, and such like horrible things. Suddenly the pattering noise in- creased with tenfold violence. It was followed by a fear- ful crash among the bushes, which was rapidly repeated as if some gigantic animal were bounding towards us. In another moment an enormous rock came crashing through the shrubbery, followed by a cloud of dust and small stones, and flew close past the spot where we stood, carrying bushes and young trees along with it. " Pooh ! is that all ? " exclaimed Peterkin, wiping the perspiration off his forehead. " Why, I thought it was all the wild men and beasts in the South Sea Islands galloping on in one grand charge to sweep us off the face of the earth, instead of a mere stone tumbling down the mountain side." " Nevertheless," remarked Jack, " if that same stone bad hit any of us, it would have rendered the charge you speak of quite unnecessary, Peterkin." This was true, and I felt very thankful for our escape . On examining the spot more narrowly, we found that it lay close to the foot of a very rugged precipice, from which stones of various sizes were always tumbling at intervals. Indeed, the numerous fragments lying scat- tered all around might have suggested the cause of the sound, had we not been too suddenly alarmed to think of anything. We now resumed our journey, resolving that, in our future excursions into the interior, we'would be careful to avoid this dangerous precipice. Soon afterwards we arrived at the foot of the hill and prepared to ascend it. Here Jack made a discoverv 4 50 THE CORAL ISLAND. which caused us all very great joy. This was a tree of a remarkably beautiful appearance, which Jack confi- dently declared to be the celebrated bread-fruit tree. 11 Is it celebrated ? " inquired Peterkin, with a look of great simplicity. " It is," replied Jack. " That's odd, now," rejoined Peterkin ; " I never heard of it before." " Then it's not so celebrated as I thought it was," re- turned Jack, quietly squeezing Peterkin's hat over his eyes ; " but listen, you ignorant booby, and hear of it now!" Peterkin readjusted his hat, and was soon listening with as much interest as myself, while Jack told us that this tree is one of the most valuable in the islands of the south ; that it bears two, sometimes three, crops of fruit in the year ; that the fruit is very like wheaten bread in appearance, and that it constitutes the principal food of many of the islanders. " So," said Peterkin, " we seem to have everything ready prepared to our hands in this wonderful island — lemonade ready bottled in nuts, and loaf-bread growing on the trees ! " Peterkin, as usual, was jesting ; nevertheless, it is a curious fact that he spoke almost the literal truth. " Moreover," continued Jack, " the bread-fruit tree af- fords a capital gum, which serves the natives fo*r pitching their canoes ; the bark of the young branches is made by them into cloth ; and of the wood, which is durable and of a good color, they build their houses. So you see, lads, that we have no lack of material here to make us comfortable, if we are only clever enough to use it." " But are you sure that that's it ? " asked Peterkin. THE CORAL ISLAND. 51 " Quite sure," replied Jack ; " for I was particularly interested in the account I once read of it, and I remem- ber the description well. I am sorry, however 3 that I have forgotten the descriptions of many other trees which I am sure we have seen to-day, if we could but recognize them. So you see, Peterkin, I'm not up to everything yet." " Never mind, Jack," said Peterkin, with a grave, patronizing expression of countenance, patting his tall companion on the shoulder, — " never mind, Jack ; you know a good deal for your age. You're a clever boy, sir, — a promising young man ; and if you only go on as you have begun, sir, you will — " The end of this speech was suddenly cut short by Jack tripping up Peterkin's heels and tumbling him into a mass of thick shrubs, where, finding himself comforta- ble, he lay still, basking in the sunshine, wliile Jack and I examined the bread-fruit tree. AYe were much struck with the deep, rich green color of its broad leaves, which were twelve or eighteen inches long, deeply indented, and of a glossy smoothness, like the laurel. The fruit, with which it was loaded, was nearly round, and appeared to be about six inches in di- ameter, with a rough rind, marked with lozenge-shaped divisions. It was of various colors, from light pea-green to brown and rich yellow. Jack said that the yellow was the ripe fruit. AYe afterwards found that most of the fruit-trees on the island were evergreens, and that we might, when we wished, pluck the blossom and the ripe fruit from the same tree. Such a wonderful differ- ence from the trees of our own country surprised us not a little. The bark of the tree was rough and light col- ored ; the trunk was about two feet in diameter, and it 52 THE COEAL ISLAND. appeared to be twenty feet high, being quite destitute of branches up to that height, where it branched off into a beautiful and umbrageous head. We noticed that the fruit hung in clusters of twos and threes on the branches ; but as we were anxious to get to the top of the hill, we refrained from attempting to pluck any at that time. Our hearts were now very much cheered by our good fortune, and it was with light and active steps that we clambered up the steep sides of the hill. On reaching the summit, a new, and if possible, a grander prospect met our gaze. We found that this was not the highest part of the island, but that another hill lay beyond, with a wide valley between it and the one on which we stood. This valley, like the first, was also full of rich trees, some dark and some light green, some heavy and thick in foliage, and others light, feathery, and graceful, while the beautiful blossoms on many of them threw a sort of rainbow tint over all, and gave to the valley the appear- ance of a garden of flowers. Among these we recog- nized many of the bread-fruit trees, laden with yellow fruit, and also a great many cocoa-nut palms. After gazing our fill we pushed down the hill-side, crossed the valley, and soon began to ascend the second mountain. It was clothed with trees nearly to the top, but the sum- mit was bare, and in some places broken. While on our way up we came to an object which filled us with much interest. This was the stump of a tree that had evidently been cut down with an axe ! So, then, we were not the first who had viewed this beauti- ful isle. The hand of man had been at work there be- fore us. It now began to recur to us again that perhaps the island was inhabited, although we had not seen any traces of man until now ; but a second glance at the THE CORAL ISLAND. 53 stump convinced us that we had not more reason to think so now than formerly ; for the surface of the wood was quite decayed, and partly covered with fungus and green matter, so that it must have been cut many years ago. " Perhaps," said Peterkin, " some ship or other has touched here long ago for wood, and only taken one tree." "We did not think this likely, however, because, in such circumstances, the crew of a ship would cut wood of small size, and near the shore, whereas this was a large tree and stood near the top of the mountain. In fact it was the highest large tree on the mountain, all above it being wood of very recent growth. " I can't understand it," said Jack, scratching the sur- face of the stump with his axe. " I can only suppose that the savages have been here and cut it for some purpose known only to themselves. But. hallo ! what have we here ? " As he spoke, Jack began carefully to scrape away the moss and fungus from the stump, and soon laid bare three distinct traces of marks, as if some inscription or initials had been cut thereon. But although the traces were distinct, beyond all doubt, the exact form of the letters could not be made out. Jack thought they looked like J. S. but we could not be certain. They had ap- parently been carelessly cut, and long exposure to the weather had so broken them up that we could not make out what they were. We were exceedingly perplexed at this discovery, and stayed a long time at the place conjecturing what these marks could have been, but without avail ; so, as the day was advancing, we left it and quickly reached the top of the mountain. We found this to be the highest point of the island, and from it we saw our kingdom lying, as it were, like a 54 THE CORAL ISLAND. map around us. As I have always thought it impossible to get a thing properly into one's understanding without comprehending it, I shall beg the reader's patience for a little while I describe our island, thus, shortly : — It consisted of two mountains : the one we guessed at 500 feet ; the other, on which we stood, at 1000. Be- tween these lay a rich, beautiful valley, as already said. This valley crossed the island from one end to the other, being high in the middle and sloping on each side towards the sea. The large mountain sloped, on the side farthest from where we had been wrecked, gradually towards the sea ; but although, when viewed at a glance, it had thus a regular sloping appearance, a more careful observation showed that it was broken up into a multitude of very small vales, or rather dells and glens, intermingled with little rugged spots and small but abrupt precipices here and there, with rivulets tumbling over their edges and wandering down the slopes in little white streams, some- times glistening among the broad leaves of the bread-fruit and cocoa-nut trees, or hiding altogether beneath the rich underwood. At the base of this mountain lay a narrow bright green plain or meadow, which terminated abruptly at the shore. On the other side of the island, whence we had come, stood the smaller hill, at the foot of which diverged three valleys ; one being that which we had ascended, with a smaller vale on each side of it, and separated from it by the two ridges before mentioned. In these smaller valleys there were no streams, but they were clothed with the same luxuriant vegetation. The diameter of the island seemed to be about ten miles, and, as it was almost circular in form, its circum- ference must have been thirty miles ; — perhaps a little more, if allowance be made for the numerous bays and THE CORAL ISLAND. 55 indentations of the shore. The entire island was belted by a beach of pure white sand, on which laved the gentle ripples of the lagoon. We now also observed thai the coral reef completely encircled the island ; but it varied its distance from it here and there, in some places being a mile from the beach, in others, a few hundred yards, but the average distance was half a mile. The reef lay very low, and the spray of the surf broke quite over it in many places. This surf never ceased its roar, for, however calm the weather might be, there is always a gentle swaying motion in the great Pacific, which, although scarce noticeable out at se&, reaches the shore at last in a huge billow. The water within the la- goon, as before said, was perfectly still. There were three narrow openings in the reef: one opposite each end of the valley which I have described as crossing the island ; the other opposite our own valley, which wt3 afterwards named the Valley of the Wreck. At each of these open- ings the reef rose into two small green islets, covered with bushes and having one or two cocoa-nut palms on each. These islets were very singular, and appeared as if planted expressly for the purpose of marking the chan- nel into the lagoon. Our captain was making for one of these openings the day we were wrecked, and would have reached it too, I doubt not, had not the rudder been torn away. Within the lagoon were several pretty, low coral islands, just opposite our encampment ; and, im- mediately beyond these, out at sea, lay about a dozen other islands, at various distances, from half a mile to ten miles ; all of them, as far as we could discern, smaller than ours and apparently uninhabited. They seemed to be low coral islands, raised but little above the sea, yet covered with cocoa-nut trees. 56 THE CORAL ISLAND. All this we noted, and a great deal more, while we sat on the top of the mountain. After we had satisfied ourselves we prepared to return ; but here again we discovered traces of the presence of man. These were a pole or staff and one or two pieces of wood which had been squared with an axe. All of these were, however, very much decayed, and they had evidently not been touched for many years. Full of these discoveries we returned to our encamp- ment. On the way we fell in with the traces of some four-footed animal, but whether old or of recent date none of us were able to guess. This also tended to raise our hopes of obtaining some animal food on the island, so we reached home in good spirits, quite prepared for supper, and highly satisfied with our excursion. After much discussion, in which Peterkin took the lead, we canfe to the conclusion that the island was un- inhabited, and went to bed. THE CORAL ISLAND. 57 CHAPTER VLL JACK ; S INGENUITY — WE GET INTO DIFFICULTIES ABOUT FISHING, AND GET OUT OF THEM BY A METHOD WHICH GIYES US A COLD BATH — HORRIBLE ENCOUNTER WITH A SHARK. FOR several days after the excursion related in the last chapter we did not wander far from our en- campment, but gave ourselves up to forming plans for the future and making our present abode comfortable. There were various causes that induced this state of comparative inaction. In the first place, although every- thing around us was so delightful, and we could without difficulty obtain all that we required for our bodily com- fort, we did not quite like the idea of settling down here for the rest of our lives, far away from our friends and our native land. To set energetically about preparations for a permanent residence seemed so like making up our minds to saying adieu to home and friends forever, that we tacitly shrank from it and put off our preparations, for one reason and another, as long as we could. Then there was a little uncertainty still as to there being na- tives on the island, and we entertained a kind of faint hope that a ship might come and take us off. But as day after day passed, and neither savages nor ships ap- peared, we gave up all hope of an early deliverance and set diligently to work at our homestead. During this time, however, we had not been altogether idle. We made several experiments in cooking the cocoa- nut, most of which did not improve it. Then we re- 58 THE CORAL ISLAND. moved our goods, and took up our abode in the cave, but found the change so bad that we returned gladly to the bower. Besides this, we bathed very frequently, and talked a great deal ; at least Jack and Peterkin did, — I listened. Among other useful things, Jack, who was ever the most active and diligent, converted about three inches of the hoop-iron into an excellent knife. First he beat it quite flat with the axe. Then he made a rude handle, and tied the hoop-iron to it with our piece of w T hipcord, and ground it to an edge on a piece of sand- stone. When it was finished he used it to shape a better handle, to which he fixed it with a strip of his cotton handkerchief; — in which operation he had, as Peterkin pointed out, torn off one of Lord Nelson's noses. How- ever, the whipcord, thus set free, was used by Peterkin as a fishing line. He merely tied a piece of oyster to the end of it. This the fish were allowed to swallow, and then they were pulled quickly ashore. But as the line was very short and we had no boat, the fish we caught were exceedingly small. One day Peterkin came up from the beach, where he had been angling, and said in a very cross tone, " I'll tell you what, Jack, I'm not going to be humbugged with catching such contemptible things any longer. I want you to swim out with me on your back, and let me fish in deep water ! " " Dear me, Peterkin," replied Jack, " I had no idea you were taking the .thing so much to heart, else I would have got you out of that difficulty long ago. Let me see," — and Jack looked down at a piece of timber on which he had been laboring, with a peculiar gaze of abstraction, which he always assumed when trying to in- vent or discover anything. THE OOBAL ISLAND. 50 * w What say you to building a boat?" he inquired, look- ing up hastily. " Take far too long," was the reply ; " can't be both- ered waiting. I want to begin at once ! " Again Jack considered. " I have it ! " he cried. " We'll fell a large tree and launch the trunk of it in the water, so that when you want to fish you've nothing to do but to swim out to it." " Would not a small raft do better ? " said I. " Much better ; but we have no ropes to bind it to- gether with. Perhaps we may find something hereafter that will do as well, but, in the mean time, let us try the tree." This was agreed on, so we started off to a spot not far distant, where we knew of a tree that would suit us, which grew near the water's edge. As soon as we reached it Jack threw off his coat, and, wielding the axe with his sturdy arms, hacked and hewed at it for a quarter of an hour without stopping. Then he paused, and, while he sat down to rest, I continued the work. Then Peterkin made a vigorous attack on it, so that when Jack renewed his -powerful blows, a few minutes cutting brought it down with a terrible crash. " Hurrah ! now for it," cried Jack ; " let us off with its head." So saying he began to cut through the stem again, at about six yards from the thick end. This done, he cut three strong, short poles or levers from the stout branches, with which to roll the log down the beach into the sea ; for, as it was nearly two feet thick at the large end, we could not move it without such helps. With the levers, however, we rolled it slowly into the sea. Having been thus successful in launching our vessel, 60 THE CORAL ISLAND. we next shaped the levers into rude oars or paddles, and then attempted to embark. This was easy enough to do ; but, after seating ourselves astride the log, it was with the utmost difficulty we kept it from rolling round and plunging us into the water. Not that we minded that much ; but we preferred, if possible, to fish in dry clothes. To be sure, our trousers were necessarily wet, as our legs were dangling in the water on each side of the log ; but, as they could be easily dried, we did not care. After half an hour's practice, we became expert enough to keep our balance pretty steadily. Then Peterkin laid down his paddle, and having baited his line with a whole oys- ter, dropt it into deep water. " Now, then, Jack," said he, " be cautious ; steer clear o' that sea-weed. There ; that's it ; gently, now gently. I see a fellow at least a foot long down there, coming to — ha ! that's it ! Oh ! bother, he's off." " Did he bite ? " said Jack, urging the log onwards a little with his paddle. " Bite ? ay ! He took it into his mouth, but the mo- ment I began to haul he opened his jaws and let it out again." " Let him swallow it next time," said Jack, laughing at the melancholy expression of Peterkin's visage. " There he's again," cried Peterkin, his eyes flashing with excitement. " Look out ! Now then ! No ! Yes ! No ! Why, the brute ivon't swallow it ! " " Try to haul him up by the mouth, then," cried Jack. " Do it gently." A heavy sigh and a blank look of despair showed that poor Peterkin had tried and failed again. " Never mind, lad," said Jack, in a voice of sympathy ; " we'll move on, and offer it to some other fish." So say- THE CORAL ISLAND. 61 ing, Jack plied his paddle ; but scarcely had he moved from the spot, when a fish with an enormous head and a little body darted from under a rock and swallowed the bait at once. " Got him this time, — that's a fact!" cried Peterkin, hauling in the line. " He's swallowed the bait right down to his tail, I declare. Oh what a thumper ! " As the fish came struggling to the surface, we leaned forward to see it, and overbalanced the log. Peterkin threw his arms round the fish's neck ; and, in another in- stant, we were all floundering in the water ! A shout of laughter burst from us as we rose to the surface like three drowned rats, and seized hold of the log. "We soon recovered our position, and sat more warily, while Peterkin secured the fish, which had well- nigh escaped in the midst of our struggles. "It SPaa littl e worth having, however ; but as Peterkin remarked, it was better than the smouts he had been catching for the last two or three days ; so we laid it on the log before us, and having rebaited the line, dropt it in again for another. Now, while we were thus intent upon our sport, our attention was suddenly attracted by a ripple on the sea, just a few yards away from us. Peterkin shouted to us to paddle in that direction, as he thought it was a big fish, and we might have a chance of catching it. But Jack, instead of complying, said in a deep, earnest tone of voice, which I never before heard him use, — " Haul up your line, Peterkin ; seize your paddle ; quick, — it's a shark ! " The horror with which we heard this may well be im- agined, for it must be remembered that our legs were hanging down in the water, and we could not venture to pull them up without upsetting the log. Peterkin in- 62 THE CORAL ISLAND. stantly hauled up the line ; and, grasping his paddle, ex- erted himself to the utmost, while we also did our best to make for shore. But we were a good way off, and the log being, as I have before said, very heavy, moved but slowly through the water. We now saw the shark quite distinctly swimming round and round us, its sharp fin every now and then protruding above the water. From its active and unsteady motions, Jack knew it was making up its mind to attack us, so he urged us vehe- mently to paddle for our lives, while he himself set us the example. Suddenly he shouted " Look out ! — there he comes ! " and in a second we saw the monstrous fish dive close under us, and turn half over on his side. But we all made a great commotion with our paddles, which no doubt frightened it away for that time, as we saw it immediately after circling round us as before. " Throw the fish to him," cried Jack, in a quick, sup- pressed voice ; " we'll make the shore in time yet if we can keep him off for a few minutes." Peterkin stopped one instant to obey the command, and then plied his paddle again with all his might. No sooner had the fish fallen on the water than we ob- served the shark to sink. In another second we saw its white breast rising ; for sharks always turn over on their sides when about to seize their prey, their mouths being not at the point of their heads, like those of other fish, but, as it were, under their chins. In another mo- ment his snout rose above the water, — his wide jaws, armed with a terrific double row of teeth, appeared. The dead fish was engulfed, and the shark sank out of sight. But Jack was mistaken in supposing that it would be satisfied. In a very few minutes it returned to us, and its quick motions led us to fear that it would attack us at once. TKRRTBLE ENCOUNTER WITH A SHARK P THE CORAL ISLAND. G3 "Stop paddling," cried Jack suddenly. "I Bee it coming up behind us. Now, obey my orders quickly. Our lives may depend on it. Ralph, Peterkin, do your best to balance the log. Don't look out for the shark. Don't glance behind you. Do nothing but balance the log." Peterkin and I instantly did as we were ordered, be- ing only too glad to do anything that afforded us a chance or a hope of escape, for we had implicit confidence in Jack's courage and wisdom. For a few seconds, that seemed long minutes to my mind, we sat thus silently ; but I could not resist glancing backward, despite the orders to the contrary. On doing so, I saw Jack sitting rigid like a statue, with his paddle raised, his lips com- pressed, and his eyebrows bent over his eyes, which glared savagely from beneath them down into the water. I also saw the shark, to my horror, quite close under the log, in the act of darting toward's Jack's foot. I could scarce suppress a cry on beholding this. In another mo- ment the shark rose. Jack drew his leg suddenly from the water, and threw it over the log. The monster's snout rubbed against the log as it passed, and revealed its hideous jaws, into which Jack instantly plunged the paddle, and thrust it down its throat. So violent was this act that Jack rose to his feet in performing it ; the log was thereby rolled completely over, and we were once more plunged into the water. "We all rose, spluttering and gasping, in a moment. " Now, then, strike out for shore," cried Jack. " Here, Peterkin, catch hold of my collar, and kick out with a will." Peterkin did as he was desired, and Jack struck out with such force that he cut through the water like a 64 THE COKAL ISLAND. boat ; while I, being" free from all encumbrance, suc- ceeded in keeping up with him. As we had by this time drawn pretty near to the shore, a few minutes more sufficed to carry us into shallow water ; and, finally, we landed in safety, though very much exhausted, and not a little frightened by our terrible adventure. THE CORAL ISLAND. 65 CHAPTER Y1II. THE BEAUTIES OF TIIE BOTTOM OF THE SEA TEMPT PETERKTN TO DIVE — HOW HE DID IT— MORE DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME — TIIE WATER GARDEN— CURIOUS CREATURES OF THE SEA— THE TANK — CANDLES BUSSED VERY MUCH, AND THE CANDLE-NUT TREE DISCOVERED— WONDERFUL ACCOUNT OF PETERKIN'S FIRST TOY- AGE— CLOTH FOUND GROWING ON A TREE — A PLAN PROJECTED, AND ARMS PREPARED FOR OFFENCE AND DEFENCE — A DREAD- FUL CRY. UR encounter with the shark was the first great danger that had befallen us since landing on this island, and we felt very seriously affected by it, especially when we considered that we had so often unwittingly incurred the same danger before while bathing. We were now forced to take to fishing again in the shal- low water, until we should succeed in constructing a raft. What troubled us most, however, was, that we were com- pelled to forego our morning swimming excursions. We did, indeed, continue to enjoy our bathe in the shallow water, but Jack and I found that one great source of our enjoyment was gone, when we could no longer dive down among the beautiful coral groves at the bottom of the lagoon. We had come to be so fond of this exercise, and to take such an interest in watching the formations of coral and the gambols of the many beautiful fish amongst the forests of red and green sea- weeds, that we had be- come quite familiar with the appearance of the fish and the localities that they chiefly haunted. We had also be- come expert divers. But we made it a rule never to 5 QQ THE CORAL ISLAND. stay long under water at a time. Jack told me that to do so often was bad for the lungs, and, instead of af- fording us enjoyment, would ere long do us a serious injury. So we never stayed at the bottom as long as we might have done, but came up frequently to the top for fresh air, and dived down again immediately. Some- times, when Jack happened to be in a humorous frame, he would seat himself at the bottom of the sea on one of the brain corals, as if he were seated on a large paddock- stool, and then make faces at me, in order, if possible, to make me laugh under water. At first, when he took me unawares, he nearly succeeded, and I had to shoot to the surface in order to laugh ; but afterwards I became aware of his intentions, and, being naturally of a grave disposition, I had no difficulty in restraining myself. I used often to wonder how poor Peterkin would have liked to be with us ; and he sometimes expressed much regret at being unable to join us. I used to do my best to gratify him, poor fellow, by relating all the wonders that we saw ; but this, instead of satisfying, seemed only to whet his curiosity the more, so one day we prevailed on him to try to go down with us. But, although a brave boy in every other way, Peterkin was very nervous in the water, and it was with difficulty we got him to con- sent to be taken down, for he could never have man- aged to push himself down to the bottom without assist- ance. But no sooner had we pulled him down a yard or so into the deep clear water, than he began to strug- gle and kick violently, so we were forced to let him go, when he rose out of the water like a cork, gave a loud gasp and a frightful roar, and struck out for the land with the utmost possible haste. Now, all this pleasure we were to forego, and when THE CORAL ISLAND. 7 we thought thereon, Jack and I felt very much depressed in our spirits. I could see, also, that Peterkin grieved and sympathized with us, for, when talking about this matter^ he refrained from jesting and bantering us upon it. As, however, a man's difficulties usually set him upon devising methods to overcome them, whereby he often discovers better things than those he may have lost, bo this our difficulty induced us to think of searching for a large pool among the rocks, where the water should be deep enough for diving, yet so surrounded by rocks as to prevent sharks from getting at us. And such a pool we afterwards found, which proved to be very much better than our most sanguine hopes anticipated. It was situ- ated not more than ten minutes' walk from our camp, and was in the form of a small, deep bay or basin, the entrance to which, besides being narrow, was se shallow that no fish so large as a shark could get in, at least not unless he should be a remarkably thin one. Inside of this basin, which we called our Water Gar- den, the coral formations were much more wonderful, and the sea-weed plants far more lovely and vividly col- ored, than in the lagoon itself. And the water was so clear and still, that, although very deep, you could see tin- minutest object at the bottom. Besides this, there was a ledge of rock which overhung the basin at its deepest part, from which we could dive pleasantly, and whereon Peterkin could sit and see not only all the won- ders I had described to him, but also see Jack and me creeping amongst the marine shrubbery at the bottom, like, — as he expressed it, — " two great white sea-mon- sters." During these excursions of ours to the bottom of the sea, we began to get an insight into the manners and customs of its inhabitants, and to make discoveries 68 THE CORAL ISLAND. of wonderful things, the like of which we never before conceived. Among other things, we were deeply inter- ested with the operations of the little coral insect, which, I was informed by Jack, is supposed to have entirely constructed many of the numerous islands in the Pacific Ocean. And, certainly, when we considered the great reef which these insects had formed round the island on which we were cast, and observed their ceaseless activity in building their myriad cells, it did at first seem as if this might be true ; but then, again, when I looked at the mountains of the island, and reflected that there were thousands of such, many of them much higher, in the South Seas, I doubted that there must be some mis- take here. But more of this hereafter. I also became much taken up' with the manners and appearance of the anemones and star-fish, and crabs, and sea-urchins, and such like creatures ; and was not con- tent with watching those I saw during my dives in the Water Garden, but I must needs scoop out a hole in the coral rock close to it, which I filled with salt water, and stocked with sundry specimens of anemones and shell-fish, in order to watch more closely how they were in the habit of passing their time. Our burning-glass also now became a great treasure to me, as it enabled me to magnify, and so to perceive more clearly the forms and actions of these curious creatures of the deep. Having now got ourselves into a very comfortable con- dition, we began to talk of a project which we had long had in contemplation, — namely, to travel entirely round the island ; in order, first, to ascertain whether it con- tained any other productions which might be useful to* us ; and, second, to see whether there might be any place more convenient and suitable for our permanent THE CORAL ISLAND. residence than that on which we were now encamped. Not that we were in any degree dissatisfied with it ; on the contrary, we entertained quite a home feeling to our bower and its neighborhood ; but if a better place did exist, there was no reason why we should not make use of it. At any rate, it would be well to know of its ex- istence. We had much earnest talk over this matter. But Jack proposed that, before undertaking such an excursion, we should supply ourselves with good defensive arms, for, as we intended not only to go round all the shore, but to ascend most of the valleys, before returning home, we should be likely to meet with, he would not say dan- gers, but, at least, with everything that existed on the island, whatever that might be. " Besides," said Jack, " it won't do for us to live on cocoa-nuts and oysters always. No doubt they are very excellent in their way, but I think a little animal food, now and then, would be agreeable as well as good for us ; and as there are many small birds among the trees, some of which are probably very good to eat, I think it would be a capital plan to make bows and arrows, with which we could easily knock them over." " First rate ! " cried Peterkin. " You will make the bows, Jack, and 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 per- severed up to the present time, but I've never hit any- thing yet." ' k You forget," said I, " you hit me one day on the shin." -All. true,". replied Peterkin, "and a precious shindy you kicked up in consequence. But you were at least 70 THE CORAL ISLAND. 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 firelight, 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 im- proving 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," re- marked 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 — " THE CORAL ISLAND. 71 u Then why don't you do it?" interrupted Peterkin. "Why have you kept us in the dark so long, you vile philosopher ? " u 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 de- scription." - 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 re- member. 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 >>i>j 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.' 72 THE CORAL ISLAND. said lie, ' 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 taffrail, and a gilt figure-head 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 harbor, 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 figure-head 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 figure-head 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 taffrail was green. Three masts, — yes, that must be it, — and the gilt figure-head 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 quarter-deck. ' Hold on ! ' cried I, rushing frantically through the crowd. ' Hold on ! hold on ! ' repeated some of the bystanders, while the men THE CORAL ISLAND. 73 at the ropes delayed for a minute. This threw the cap- tain into a frightful rage ; for some of his friends had* come down to see him off, and having his orders contra- dicted so flatly was too much for liim. 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 walks 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 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 sake of sending a small boy ashore, seemed to make him very angry. Besides, it was blowin' fresh outside the harbor, 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 har- bor, 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 74 THE CORAL ISLAND. 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 ? " " JNo, not half a mile." u 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. TVe 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, THE CORAL ISLAND. 7o that seem to wave like soft plumes in the wind. Hut when we saw one of the*se 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 alter- nately on each side. But what seemed to us the most wonderful thing about it was a curious substance resem- bling cloth, which was wrapped round the thick end of the stalk, where it had been cut from the tree. Peter- kin told us that he had the greatest difficulty in separat- ing the branch from the stem, on account of this sub- stance, 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 exag- gerate. Indeed, with regard to all the things I saw dur- ing 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 76 THE CORAL ISLAND. wished to bore a hole in them, which, not having any- thing better at hand at the time, he did with the point of our useless pencil-case. Then he strung them on the cocoa-nut spine, and on putting a light to the topmost nut, we found to our joy that it burned with a clear, beautiful flame; upon seeing which, Peterkin sprang up and danced round the fire for at least five minutes in the excess of his satisfaction. " Now, lads," said Jack, extinguishing our candle, the sun will set in an hour, so we have no time to lose. I shall go and cut a young tree to make my bow out of, and you had better each of you go and select good strong sticks for clubs, and we'll set to work at them after dark." So saying he shouldered his axe and went off, fol- lowed by Peterkin, while I took up the piece of newly- discovered cloth, and fell to examining its structure. So engrossed was I in this that I was still sitting in the same attitude and occupation when my companions re- turned. " I told you so ! " cried Peterkin, with a loud laugh. u Oh, Ralph, you're incorrigible. See, there's a club for you. I was sure, when we left you looking at that bit of stuff, that we would find you poring over it when we came back, so I just cut a club for you as well as for myself." " Thank you, Peterkin," said I. " It was kind of you to do that, instead of scolding me for a lazy fellow, as I confess I deserve." " Oh ! as to that," returned Peterkin, " I'll blow you up yet, if you wish it — only it would be of no use if I did, for you're a perfect mule ! " As it was now getting dark we lighted our candle, and THE CORAL ISLAXD. 77 placing it in a holder made of two crossing branches, inside of our bower, we seated ourselves on our leafy beds and began to work. " I intend to appropriate the bow for my own use " said Jack, chipping the piece of wood he had brought with his axe. " I used to be a pretty fair shot once. But what's that you're doing?" he added, looking at Peterkin, who had drawn the end of a long pole Into the tent, and was endeavoring to fit a small pFece of the hoop-iron to the end of it. " I'm going to enlist into the Lancers," answered Pe- ' terkin. " You see, Jack, I find the club rather an un- wieldy instrument for my delicately-formed muscles, and I flatter myself I shall do more execution with a spear." '•Well, if length constitutes power," said Jack, "you'll certainly be invincible." The pole which Peterkin had cut was full twelve feet long, being a very strong but light and tough young tree, which merely required thinning at the butt to be 1 ser- viceable weapon. " That's a very good idea," said I. "Which — this? "inquired Peterkin, pointing to the spear. " Yes," I replied. "Humph! "said he; "you'd find it a pretty tough and matter-of-fact idea, if you had it stuck through your gizzard, old boy! " "I mean the idea of making it is a good one," said I laughing. « And now I think of it, I'll change my plan! too. I don't think much of a club, so I'll make me a' sling out of this piece of cloth. I used to be very fond of slinging, ever since I read of David slaying Goliath the Philistine, and I was once thought to be expert at it." 78 THE CORAL ISLAND. So I set to work to manufacture a sling. For a long time we all worked very busily without speaking. At length Peterkin looked up : "I say, Jack, I'm sorry to say I must apply to you for another strip of your hand- kerchief, to tie on this rascally head with. It's pretty well torn at any rate, so you won't miss it." Jack proceeded to comply with this request, when Pe- terkin suddenly laid his hand on his arm and arrested him. " Hist, man," said he, " be tender ; you should never be needlessly cruel if you can help it. Do try to shave past Lord Nelson's mouth without tearing it, if possible ! Thanks. There are plenty more handkerchiefs on the cocoa-nut trees." Poor Peterkin ! with what pleasant feelings I recall and record his jests and humorous sayings now ! While we were thus engaged, we were startled by a distant but most strange and horrible cry. It seemed to come from the sea, but was so far away that we could not clearly distinguish its precise direction. Rushing out of our bower, we hastened down to the beach and stayed to listen. Again it came quite loud and distinct on the night air, — a prolonged, hideous cry, something like the braying of an ass. The moon had risen, and we could see the islands in and beyond the lagoon quite plainly, but there was no object visible to account for such a cry. A strong gust of wind was blowing from the point whence the sound came, but this died away while we were gazing out to sea. " What can it be ? " said Peterkin, in a low whisper, while we all involuntarily crept closer to each other. " Do you know," said Jack, " I have heard that mys- terious sound twice before, but never so loud as to-night. THE COBAL ISLAND. 70 Indeed, it was so faint that I thought I must have merely fancied it, so, as I did not wish to alarm you, I said noth- ing about it." We listened for a long time for the sound again, but as it did not come, we returned to the bower and resumed our work. "Very strange," said Peterkin, quite gravely. « Do you believe in ghosts, Ralph ? " " No," I answered, " I do not. Nevertheless I must confess that strange, unaccountable sounds, such as we have just heard, make me feel a little uneasy." " What say you to it, Jack ? " " I neither believe in ghosts nor feel uneasy," he re- plied. "I never saw a ghost myself, and I never met with any one who had; and I have generally found that strange and unaccountable things have almost always been accounted for, and found to be quite simple, on close examination. I certainly can't imagine what that sound is; but I'm quite sure I shall find out before long, — and if it's a ghost I'll — I'll " " Eat it," cried Peterkin. " Yes, I'll eat it ! Now, then, my bow and two ar- rows are finished ; so if you're ready we had better turn in." . By this time Peterkin had thinned down his spear and tied an iron point very cleverly to the end of it ; I had formed a sling, the lines of which were composed of thin strips of the cocoa-nut cloth, plaited; and Jack had made a stout bow, nearly five feet long, with two arrows, feath- ered with two or three large plumes which some bird had dropt. They had no barbs, but Jack said that if arrows were well feathered, they did not require iron points, but would fly quite well if merely sharpened at the point ; which I did not know before. 80 THE CORAL ISLAND. " A feathered arrow without a barb," said he, " is a good weapon, but a barbed arrow without feathers is utterly useless." The string of the bow was formed of our piece of whip-cord, part of which, as he did not like to cut it, was rolled round the bow. Although thus prepared for a start on the morrow, we thought it wise to exercise ourselves a little in the use of our weapons before starting, so we spent the whole of the next day in practising. And it was well we did so, for we found that our arms were very imperfect, and that we were far from perfect in the use of them. First, Jack found that the bow was much too strong, and he had to thin it. Also, the spear was much too heavy, and so had to be reduced in thickness, although nothing would induce Peterkin to have it shortened. My sling answered very well, but I had fallen so much out of practice that my first stone knocked off Peterkin's hat, and narrowly missed making a second Goliath of him. However, after having spent the whole day in diligent practice, we began to find some of our former expertness returning — at least, Jack and I did. As for Peterkin, being naturally a neat-handed boy, he soon handled his spear well, and could run full tilt at a cocoa-nut, and hit it with great precision once out of every five times. But I feel satisfied that we owed much of our rapid success to the unflagging energy of Jack, who insisted that, since we had made him Captain, we should obey him ; and he kept us at work from morning till night, perseveringly, at the same thing. Peterkin wished very much to run about and stick his spear into everything he passed ; but Jack put up a cocoa-nut, and would not let him leave off running at that for a moment, except when THE COBAL ISLAND. , 82 THE CORAL ISLAND CHAPTER IX. CURRENCES. O CAKCELY had the sun shot its first ray across the D bosom of the broad Pacific, when Jack sprang to his feet, and, hallooing in Peterkin's ear to awaken Jnrn, ran down the beach to take his customary dip id the B ea. We did not, as was our wont, bathe that mormng in our Water Garden, but, in order to save tune refreshed our- selves in the shallow water just oppostte the bower. Our breakfast was also despatched without loss of tune, and in less than an hour afterwards all our preparations for the iourney were completed. In addition to his ordinary dress, Jack tied a belt of cocoa-nut cloth round his waist, into which he thrust the axe I was also advised to put on a belt and carry a Short cudgel or bludgeon in it ; for, as Jack truly re- nt e , I dbg would he of little use if we should chance to come to close quarters with any wildammui As for Peterkin, notwithstanding that he earned such a Ion., and I must add, frightful-looking spear oyer Ins holder, we could not prevail on him to leave h,s club behind ; " for," said he, « a spear at close quarters .s not worth a button." I must say that it seemed to me that the club was, to use his own style of language not worth a button-hole; for it was all knotted over at the head, THE CORAL ISLAND. 83 I something like the club wnich I remember to have ob- served in picture-books of Jack the Giant-Killer, bes being so heavy that he required to grasp it with both hands in order to wield it at all. However, he took it with hira, and, in this manner, we set out upon our travel-. We did not consider it necessary to cany any food with us, as wo knew that wherever we wont we should lie certain to fall in with cocoa-nut trees; having which, we wore amply supplied, as Peterkin said, with meat and drink and pocket-handkerchiefs ! I took the precaution, however, to put the burning-glass into my pocket, lest we should want fire. The morning was exceeding lovely. It was one of that very still and peaceful sort which made iiio tew noises that we heard seem to be quiet noises. I know no other way of expressing this idea. Noises which — so far from interrupting the universal tranquillity of earth, sea, and sky — rather tended to reveal to us how quiet the world around us really was. Such sounds as I refer to were, the peculiarly melancholy — yet, it seemed to me, cheerful — plaint of sea-birds floating on the glassy water, or sailing in the sky, also the subdued twittering of little birds among the bushes, the faint ripples, on the beach, and the solemn boom of the surf upon the distant coral reef. We felt very glad in our hearts as we walked along the sands side by side. For my part, I felt so deeply overjoyed, that I was surprised at my own sensations, and fell into a reverie upon the causes of happiness. I came to the conclusion that a state of profound peace and repose, both in regard to outward objects and within the soul, is the happiest con- dition in which man can be placed ; for, although I had 84 THE CORAL ISLAND. many a time been most joyful and happy when engaged in bustling, energetic, active pursuits or amusements, I never found that such joy or satisfaction was so deep or so pleasant to reflect upon as that which I now expe- rienced. And I was the more confirmed in this opin- ion when I observed, and, indeed, was ,told by himself, that Peterkin's happiness was also very great ; yet he did not express this by dancing, as was his wont, nor did he give so much as a single shout, but walked quietly between us with his eye sparkling, and a joyful smile upon his countenance. My reader must not suppose that I thought all this in the clear and methodical man- ner in which I have set it down here. These thoughts did, indeed, pass through my mind, but they did so in a very confused and indefinite manner, for I was young at that time, and not much given to deep reflections. Neither did I consider that the peace whereof I write is not to be found in this world — at least in its perfec- tion, although I have since learned that by religion a man may attain to a very great degree of it. I have said that Peterkin walked along the sands be- tween us. We had two ways of walking together about our island. When we travelled through the woods, we always did so in single file, as by this method we ad- vanced with greater facility, the one treading in the other's footsteps. In such cases Jack always took the lead, Peterkin followed, and I brought up the rear. But when we travelled along the sands, which extended almost in an unbroken line of glistening white round the island, we marched abreast, as we found this method more sociable, and every way more pleasant. Jack, being the tallest, walked next the sea, and Peterkin marched between us, as by this arrangement either of THE COKAL ISLAND. 85 ds could talk to him or lie to as, while if Jack and I happened to wish to converse together, we could con- veniently do so over Peterkin's head. Peterkin used to say, in reference to this arrangement, that had he been as tall as either of us, our order of march might have been the same, for, as Jack often used to scold him for h-tiing everything we said to him pass in at one ear and out at the other, his head could of course form no in- terruption to our discourse. We were now fairly started. Half a mile's walk con- viynl ua round a bend in the land which shut out our bower from view, and for some time we advanced at a brisk pace without speaking, though our eyes were not idle, hut noted everything, in the woods, on the shore, or in the sea, that was interesting. After passing the ridge of land that formed one side of our valley — the Valley of the Wreck — we beheld another small vale lying before us in all the luxuriant loveliness of tropical veg- etation. We had, indeed, seen it before from the moun- taintop, but Ave had no idea that it would turn out to be -o much more lovely when we were close to it. We were about to commence the exploration of this valley, when Peterkin stopped us, and directed our attention to a very remarkable appearance in advance along the shore. " What's yon, think you ? " said he, levelling his Bpear, as if he expected an immediate attack from the object in question, though it was full half a mile distant. As he spoke, there appeared a white column above the rock-, as if of steam or spray. It rose upwards to a height of several feet, and then disappeared. Had this been near the sea, we, would not have been so greatly 86 THE CORAL ISLAND. surprised, as it might in that case have been the surf, for at this part of the coast the coral reef approached so near to the island that in some parts it almost joined it. There was therefore no lagoon between, and the heavy surf of the ocean beat almost up to the rocks. But this white column appeared about fifty yards inland. The rocks at the place were rugged, and they stretched across the sandy beach into the sea. Scarce had we ceased ex- pressing our surprise at this sight, when another column flew upwards for a few seconds, not far from the spot where the first had been seen, and disappeared ; and so, at long irregular intervals, these strange sights recurred. "We were now quite sure that the columns were watery or composed of spray, but what caused them we could not guess, so we determined to go and see. In a few minutes we gained the spot, which was very rugged and precipitous, and, moreover, quite damp with the falling of the spray. "We had much ado to pass over dry-shod. The ground also was full of holes here and there. Now, while we stood anxiously waiting for the reappearance of these warer-spouts, we heard a low, rumbling sound near us, which quickly increased to a gurgling and hissing noise, and a moment afterwards a thick spout of water burst upwards from a hole in the rock, and spouted into the air with much violence, and so close to where Jack and I were standing that it nearly touched us. "We sprang to one side, but not before a cloud of spray descended, and drenched us both to the skin. Peterkin, who was standing farther off, escaped with a few drops, and burst into an uncontrollable fit of laugh- ter on beholding our miserable plight. "Mind your eye!" he shouted eagerly, "there goes THE CORAL ISLAND. 87 another!" Tin* words were scarcely out of hia mouth when there came up a spout from another hole-, which Berved us exactly in the same manner as before. Peterkin now shrieked \vith laughter; but his merri- ment was abruptly put a stop to by the gurgling noise occurring close to where he stood. k - Where'll it spout this time, I wonder?" he said, look- ing about with some anxiety, and preparing to run. Suddenly fhere came a loud hiss or snort ; a fierce spout of water burst up between Peterkin's legs, blew him off his feet, enveloped him in its spray, and hurled him to the ground. lie fell with so much violence that we feared he must have broken some of his bones, and ran anxiously to his assistance; but fortunately he had fallen on a clump of tangled herbage, in which he lay sprawl- ing in a most deplorable condition. It w r as now our turn to laugh ; but as we were not yet quite sure that he was unhurt, and as we knew not when or where the next spout might arise, we assisted him hastily to jump up and hurry from the spot. I may here add, that although I am quite certain that the spout of water was very strong, and that it blew Pe- terkin completely off his legs, I am not quite certain of the exact height to which it lifted him, being somewhat startled by the event, and blinded partially by the spray, so that my power of observation was somewhat impaired for the moment. "What's to be done now?" inquired Peterkin rue- fully. " Make a fire, lad, and dry ourselves," replied Jack. "And here is material ready to our hand." -aid I, picking up a dried branch of a tree, as we hurried up to .the w r oods. 88 THE CORAL ISLAND. Iii about an hour after this mishap our clothes were again dried. While they were hanging up before the fire, we walked down to the beach, and soon observed that these curious spouts took place immediately after the fall of a huge wave, never before it ; and, moreover, that the spouts did not take place excepting when the billow was an extremely large one. From this we con- cluded that there must be a subterraneous channel in the rock into which the water was driven by the larger waves, and finding no way of escape except through these small holes, was thus forced up violently through them. At any rate, we could not conceive any other reason for these strange water-spouts, and as this seemed a very simple and probable one, we forthwith adopted it. " I say, Ralph, what's that in the water ? Is it a shark ? " said Jack, just as we were about to quit the place. I immediately ran to the overhanging ledge of rock, from which he was looking down into the sea, and bent over it. There I saw a very faint pale object of a greenish color, which seemed to move slightly while I looked at it. " It's like a fish of some sort," said I. ' k Hallo, Peterkin ! " cried Jack, " fetch your spear ; here's work for it." But when we tried to reach the object, the spear proved to be too short. " There, now," said Peterkin with a sneer, " you were always telling me it was too long." Jack now drove the spear forcibly towards the object, and let go his hold ; but, although it seemed to be well aimed, he must have missed, for the handle soon rose again ; and when the spear was drawn up, there was the THE COBAL ISLAND. 89 pale green object in exactly the same spot, slowly mov- ing its tail. " Wry odd," said Jack. But although it was undoubtedly very odd. and al- though .Jack and all of us plunged the spear at it repeat- edly, we could neither hit it nor drive it away, so we were compelled to continue our journey without discov- ering what it was. I was very much perplexed at this strange appearance in the water, and could not get it out of my mind for a long time afterwards. However, I quieted myself by resolving that I would pay a visit to it Hgain at some more convenient season. 90 THE CORAL ISLAND. CHAPTER X. MAKE DISCOVERY OF MANY EXCELLENT ROOTS AND FRUITS — THE RESOURCES OF THE CORAL ISLAND GRADUALLY UNFOLDED — THE BANIAN-TREE — ANOTHER TREE WHICH IS SUPPORTED BY NATU- RAL PLANKS — WATER-FOWL FOUND — A VERY REMARKABLE DIS- COVERY, AND A VERY PECULIAR MURDER — WE LUXURIATE ON THE FAT OF THE LAND. OUR examination of the little valley proved to be altogether most satisfactory. We found in it not only similar trees to those we had already seen in our own valley, but also one or two others of a different spe- cies. We had also the satisfaction of discovering a pe- culiar vegetable, which Jack concluded must certainly be that of which he had read as being very common among the South Sea islanders, and which was named taro. Also we found a large supply of yams, and another root like a potato in appearance. As these were all quite new to us, we regarded our lot as a most fortunate one, in being thus cast on an island which was«se prolific and so well stored with all the necessaries of life. Long af- terwards we found out that this island of ours was no better in these respects than thousands of other islands in those seas. Indeed, many of them were much richer and more productive; but that did not" render us the less grateful for our present good fortune. We each put one of these roots in our pocket, intending to use them for our supper ; of which more hereafter. We also saw many beautiful birds here, and traces of some four-footed THE CORAL ISLAND. 91 animal again. Meanwhile the sun began to descend, so we returned to the shore, and pushed on round the spout- ing rocks into the next valley. This was that valley of which I have spoken as running across the entire island. It was by far the largest and most beautiful that we had yet looked upon. Here were trees of every shape, and size and hue which it is possible to conceive of, many of which we had not seen in the other valleys ; for, the stream in this valley being larger, and the mould much richer than in the Valley of the Wreck, it was clothed with a more luxuriant growth of trees and plants. Some trees were dark glossy green, others of a rich and warm hue, contrasting well with those of a pale light green, which were everywhere abundant. Among these we recognized the broad dark heads of the bread-fruit, with its golden fruit; the pure, silvery foliage of the candle- nut, and several species which bore a strong resemblance to the pine ; while here and there, in groups and in sin- gle trees, rose the tall forms of the cocoa-nut palms, spreading abroad, and waving their graceful plumes high above all the rest, as if they were a superior race of stately giants keeping guard over these luxuriant forests. Oh ! it was a most enchanting scene, and I thanked God for having created such delightful spots for the use of man. Now, while we were gazing around us in silent ad- miration, Jack uttered an exclamation of surprise, and, pointing to an object a little to one side of us, said, — " That's a banian-tree." " And what's a banian-tree ? " inquired Peterkin, as we walked towards it. " A very curious one, as you shall see presently^" replied Jack. " It is called the aoa here, if I recollect 92 THE CORAL ISLAND. rightly, and has a wonderful peculiarity about it. What an enormous one it is, to be sure." " It ! " repeated Peterkin ; " why, there are dozens of banians here ! What do you mean by talking bad gram- mar ? Is your philosophy deserting you, Jack ? " " There is but one tree here of this kind," returned Jack, " as you will perceive if you will examine it." And, sure enough, we did find that what we had sup- posed was a forest of trees was in reality only one. Its bark was of a light color, and had a shining appearance, the leaves being lance-shaped, small, and of a beautiful pea-green. But the wonderful thing about it was, that the branches, which grew out from the stem horizontally, sent down long shoots or fibres to the ground, which, tak- ing root, had themselves become trees, and were covered with bark like the tree itself. Many of these fibres had descended from the branches at various distances, and thus supported them on natural pillars some of which were so large and strong, that it was not easy at first to distinguish the offspring from the parent stem. The fibres were of all sizes and in all states of advancement, from the pillars we have just mentioned to small cords which hung down and were about to take root, and thin brown threads still far from the ground, which swayed about with -every motion of wind. In short, it seemed to us that, if there were only space afforded to it, this single tree would at length cover the whole island. Shortly after this we came upon another remarkable tree, which, as its peculiar formation afterwards proved extremely useful to us, merits description. It was a splendid chestnut, but its proper name Jack did not know. However, there were quantities of fine nuts upon it, some of which we put in our pockets. But its stem THE CORAL ISLAND. was the wonderful part of it. It rose to about twelve without a branch, and was not of great thickness ; on the contrary, it was remarkably slender for the size of the tree ; but, to make up for this, there were four or five wonderful projections in this Stem, which I cannot better describe than by asking the reader to suppose that five planks of two inches thick and three feet broad had been placed round the trunk of the tree, with their edges closely' fi^ed to it, from the ground up to the branches, and that these planks had been covered over with the bark of the tree and incorporated with it. In short, they were just natural buttresses, without which the stem could not have supported its heavy and umbrageous top. We found these chesnuts to be very numerous. They grew chiefly on the banks of the stream, and were of all sizes. AVhile we were examining a small tree of this kind, Jack chipped a piece off a buttress with his axe, and found the wood to be firm and easily cut. He then struck the axe into it with all his force, and very soon split it off close to the tree, first, however, having cut it across transversely above and below. By this means he satisfied himself that we could now obtain short planks, as it were all ready sawn, of any size and thick- ness that we desired ; which was a very great discov- ery indeed, perhaps the *most important we had yet made. We now wended our way back to the coast, intending to encamp near the beach, as we found that the mosqui- toes were troublesome in the forest. On our way we could not help admiring the birds which flew and chirped around us. Among them we observed a pretty kind of paroquet, with a green body, a blue head, and a red 94 THE CORAL ISLAND. breast ; also a few beautiful turtle-doves, and several flocks of wood-pigeons. The hues of many of these birds were extremely vivid, — bright green, blue, and scarlet, being the prevailing tints. We made several attempts throughout the day to bring down one of these, both with the bow and the sling, — not for mere sport, but to ascertain whether they were good for food. But we in- variably missed, although once or twice we were very near hitting. ' As evening drew on, however, a flock of pigeons flew past. I slung a stone into the midst of them at a venture, and had the good fortune to kill one. We were startled, soon after, by a loud, whistling noise above our heads ; and on looking up, saw a flock of wild ducks making for the coast. We watched these, and, observing where they alighted, followed them up until we came upon a most lovely blue lake, not more than two hundred yards long, embosomed in verdant trees. Its placid surface, which reflected every leaf and stem, as if in a mirror, was covered with various species of wild clucks, feeding among the sedges and broad-leaved water- plants which floated on it, while numerous birds like water-hens ran to and fro most busily on its margin. These all with one accord flew tumultuously away the instant we made our appearance. While walking along the margin we observed fish in the water, but of what sort we could not tell. Now, as we neared the shore, Jack and I said we would go a little out of our way to see if we could pro- cure one of those ducks ; so, directing Peterkin to go straight to the shore and kindle a fire, we separated, promising to rejoin him speedily. But we did not find the ducks, although we made a diligent search for half an hour. We were about to retrace our steps, when we THE CORAL ISLAND. 95 were arrested by one of the strangest sights that we had yet beheld. Just id front of us. at the distance of about ten yard-, grew a superb tree, which certainly was the largest we had seen on die island. Its. trunk was at least th- in diameter, with a smooth, gray bark ; above this the spreading branches were clothed with light green leave-, amid which were clusters of bright yellow fruit, so nu- merous a- to weigh down the boughs with their great weight. This fruit seemed to be of the plum species, of an oblong form, and a good deal larger than the magnum bonum plum. The ground at tin- foot of this tree was thickly strewn with the fallen fruit, in the midst of which lay sleeping, in every possible attitude, at least twenty • fall ages and sizes, apparently quite surfeited with a recent banquet. Jack and I could scarce restrain our laughter as we gazed at these coarse, fat, ill-looking animals, while they lay groaning and snoring heavily amid the remains of their supper. "Now, Ralph," said Jack, in a low whisper, "put a -tone in your sling, — a good big one, — and let fly at that fat fellow with his back toward you. I'll try to put an arrow into yon little pig." " Don't you think we had better put them up first?" I whispered; "it seems cruel to kill them while asleep." " If I wanted sport, Ralph, I would certainly set them up ; but as we only want pork, we'll let them lie. Besides, we're not sure of killing them; so, lire away." Thus admonished, I slung my stone with so good aim that it went bang against the hog's flank as if against the head of a drum ; but it had no other effect than that 96 THE CORAL ISLAND. of causing the animal to start to its feet, with a frightful yell of surprise, and scamper away. At the same in- stant Jack's bow twanged, and the arrow pinned the lit- tle pig to the ground by the ear. « I've missed, after all," cried Jack, darting forward with uplifted axe, while the little pig uttered a loud squeal, tore the arrow from the ground, and ran away with it, along with the whole drove into the bushes, and disappeared^hough we heard them screaming long after- wards in the distance. " That's very provoking, now," said Jack, rubbing the point of his nose. " Very," I replied, stroking my chin. " Well, we must make haste and rejoin Peterkin," said Jack. " It's getting late." And, without further remark, we threaded our way quickly through the woods towards the shore. When we reached it, we found wood laid out, the fire lighted and beginning to kindle up, with other signs of preparation for our encampment, but Peterkin was no- where to be found. We wondered very much at this ; but Jack suggested that he might have gone to fetch water ; so he gave a shout to let him know that we had arrived, and sat down upon a rock, while I threw off my jacket and seized the axe, intending to split up one or two billets of wood. But I had scarce moved from the spot when, in the distance, we heard a most appalling shriek, which was followed up by a chorus of yells from the hogs, and a loud " hurrah ! " " I do believe," said I, " that Peterkin has met with the hogs." " When Greek meets Greek," said Jack, soliloquizing, " then comes the tug of — " THE CORAL ISLAND. 97 " Hurrah!" shouted Peterkin in the distance. We turned hastily towards the direction whence the -.und came, and soon descried Peterkin walking along the beach towards us with a little pig transfixed on the end of his long spear ! " Well dune, my boy ! " exclaimed Jack, slapping him on the shoulder when he came up, " you're the best shot amongst us." - Look here, Jack!" cried Peterkin, as he disengaged the animal from his spear. " Do you recognize that hole? " said he, pointing to the pig's ear; " and are you familiar with tins arrow, eh?" " Well, I declare ! " said Jack. " Of course you do," interrupted Peterkin ; "but. pray restrain your declarations at this time, and let's have' supper, for I'm uncommonly hungry, I can tell you ; and h a do joke to charge a whole herd of swine with their great-grandmother bristling like a giant porcupine at the head of them!" We now set about preparing supper; and, truly, a good display of viands we made, when all was laid out on a flat rock in the light of the blazing fire. There was, firs* of all, the little pig; then there was the taro-root, a*d the yam, and the potato, and six plums ; and, lastly, the wood-pigeon. To these Peterkin added a bit of sugar-cane, which he had cut from a little patch of that Plant which he had found not long after separating from M J "and, ' said he, « the patch was somewhat in a square form, which convinces me it must have been planted by man." J "Very likely," replied Jack. "From all we have seen, I'm inclined to think that some of the savages must have dwelt here long ago." 98 THE CORAL ISLAND. We found no small difficulty in making up our minds how we were to cook the pig. None of us had ever cut up one before, and we did not know exactly how to be- gin ; besides, we had nothing but the axe to do it with, our knife having been forgotten. At last Jack started up and said, — " Don't let us waste more time talking about it, boys. Hold it up, Peterkin. There, lay the hind leg on this block of wood, — so;" and he cut it off, with a large portion of the haunch, at a single blow of the axe. "Now the other, — that's it." And having thus cut off the two hind legs, he made several deep gashes in them, thrust a sharp-pointed stick through each, and stuck them up before the blaze to roast. The wood-pigeon was then split open, quite flat, washed clean in salt water, and treated in a similar manner. While these were cooking, we scraped a hole in the sand and ashes under the fire, into which we put our vegetables and covered them up. The taro-root was of an oval shape, about ten inches long and four or five thick. It was of a mottled-gray color, and had a thick rind. We found it somewhat like an Irish potato, and exceedingly good. The yam was roundish, and had a rough, brown skin. It was very sweet and well-flavored. The potato, we were surprised to find, was quite sweet and exceedingly palatable, as also were the plums ; and, indeed, the pork and pigeon too, when we came to taste them. Altogether this was decidedly the most luxurious supper we had enjoyed for many a day ; and Jack said it was out-of-sight better than we ever got on board ship ; and Peterkin said he feared that if we should remain long on the island he would infallibly become a glutton or an epicure ; whereat Jack THE CORAL ISLAND. 00 remarked that he need not fear that, for he waa both rfready ! And so, having eaten our fill, not forgetting to frnsh ofl with a plum, wo laid ourselves comfortably down to sleep upon a couch of branches, under the over- hanging Ledge of a coral rock. 100 THE CORAL ISLAND. CHAPTER XI. EFFECTS OF OVER-EATING. AND REFLECTIONS THEREON — HUMBLE ADVICE REGARDING COLD WATER — THE " HORRIBLE CRY ■■ ACCOUNTED FOR— THE CURIOUS BIRDS CALLED PENGUINS — PECULIARITY OF THE COCOA-NUT PALM — QUESTIONS ON THE FORMATION OF CORAL ISLANDS — MYSTERIOUS FOOTSTEPS — STRANGE DISCOVERIES AND SAD SIGHTS. WHEN we awoke on the following morning, we found that the sun was already a good way above the horizon, so I came to the conclusion that a heavy supper is not conducive to early rising. Nevertheless, we felt remarkably strong and well, and much disposed to have our breakfast. First, however, we had our custom- ary morning bathe, which refreshed us greatly. I have often wondered very much in after years that the inhabitants of my own dear land did not make more frequent use of this most charming element, — water. I mean in the way of cold bathing. Of course, I have per- ceived that it is not convenient for them to go into the sea or the rivers in winter, as we used to do on the Coral Island ; but then, I knew from experience that a large washing-tub and a sponge do form a most pleasant sub- stitute. The feelings of freshness, of cleanliness, of vigor, and extreme hilarity, that always followed my bathes in the sea, and even, when in England, my ablutions in the wash-tub, were so delightful, that I would sooner have gone without my breakfast than without my bathe in cold water. My readers will forgive me for asking THE CORAL ISLAND. ]01 whether they are in the habit of bathing thus every morning ; and if they answer " No," they will pardon me for recommending them to begin at once. Of late years, since retiring from the stirring life of adventure which I have led so long in foreign climes, I have heard of a system called the cold-water cure. Now, I do not know much about that system, so I do not mean to uphold it; neither do I intend to run it down. Perhaps, in refer- ence to it, I may just hint that there may be too much of >d thing. I know not ; but of this I am quite cer- tain, that there may also be too little of a good thing; and the greal delight I have had in cold bathing during the course of my adventurous career inclines me to think that it is better to risk taking too much than to content - Self With too little. Such is my opinion, derived from much experience; but I put it before my readers with the utmost diffidence and with profound modesty, knowing that it may possibly jar with their feelings of confidence in their own ability to know and judge as to what is best and fittest in reference to their own affairs. But, to return from this digression, for which I humbly crave forgiveness : W e had not advanced on our journey much above a mil-' or so, and were just beginning to feel the pleasant -low that usually accompanies vigorous exercise, when, on turning a point that revealed to us a new and beauti- ful cluster of islands, we were suddenly arrested by the appalling cry which had so alarmed us a few night, before. But this time we were by no means so much alarmed as on the previous occasion, because, whereas at that time it was night, now it was day; and I have always found, though I am unable to account for it, thai 102 THE CORAL ISLAND. daylight banishes many of the fears that are apt to assail us in the dark. On hearing the sound, Peterkin instantly threw for- ward his spear. " Now, what can it be ? " said he, looking round at Jack. " I tell you what it is, if we are to go* on being pulled up in a constant state of horror and astonish- ment, as we have been for the last week, the sooner we're out o' this island the better, notwithstanding the yams and lemonade, and pork and plums ! " Peterkin's remark was followed by a repetition of the cry, louder than before. « It comes from one of these islands," said Jack. " It must be the ghost of a jackass, then," said Peter- kin, " for I never heard anything so like." We all turned our eyes towards the cluster of islands, where, on the largest, we observed curious objects mov- ing on the shore. " Soldiers they are, — that's flat ! " cried Peterkin, gazing at them in the utmost amazement. And, in truth, Peterkin's remark seemed to me to be correct ; for, at the distance from which we saw them, they appeared to be an army of soldiers. There they -stood, rank and file, in lines and in squares, marching .and countermarching, with blue coats and white trousers. While we were looking at them, the dreadful cry came again over the water, and Peterkin suggested that it must be a regiment sent out to massacre the natives in cold blood. At this remark Jack laughed and said, — " Why, Peterkin, they are penguins ! " " Penguins ? " repeated Peterkin. "Ay, penguins, Peterkin, penguins, — nothing more or less than big sea-birds, as you shall see one of these THE CORAL ISLAND. 103 .lavs, when we pay them a visit in our boat, which I mean to set about building the moment we return to our bower. " " So, then, our dreadful yelling ghosts and our mur- dering army of soldiers," remarked Peterkin, "have dwindled down to penguins, — big sea-birds ! Very good. Then I propose that we continue our journey as fast as possible, lest our island should be converted into a dream before we get completely round it." Now, as we continued on our way, I pondered much Over this new discovery, and the singular appearance of these birds, of which Jack could only give us a very slight ami vague account; and I began to long to corn- oaence on our boat, in order that we might go and ins them more narrowly. But by degrees these thoughts left me, and I began to be much taken up again with the interesting peculiarities of the country which we were passing through. The second night we passed in a manner somewhat similar to the first, at about two thirds of the way round the island, as we calculated, and we hoped to sleep on the night following at our bower. I will not here note po particularly all that we said and saw during the course of this second day, as we did not make any further dis- coveries of great importance. The shore along which we travelled^ and the various parts of the woods through which we passed, were similar to those which have been already treated of. There were one or two observations that we made, however, and these were as follows : — We saw that, while many of the large fruit-bearing trees grew only in the valleys, and some of them only near the banks of the streams, where the soil was pecu- liarly rich, the cocoa-nut palm grew in every place what- 104 THE CORAL ISLAND. soever, — not only on the hill-sides, but also on the sea- shore, and even, as has been already stated, on the coral reef itself, where the soil, if we may use the name, was nothing better than loose sand mingled with broken shells and coral rock. So near to the sea, too, did this useful tree grow, that in many places its roots were washed by the spray from the breakers. Yet we found the trees growing thus on the sands to be quite as luxuriant as those growing in the valleys, and the fruit as good and refreshing also. Besides this, I noticed that, on the sum- mit of the high mountain, which we once more ascended at a different point from our first ascent, were found abundance of shells and broken coral formations, which Jack and I agreed proved either that this island must have once been under the sea, or that the sea mifst once have been above the island. In other words, that as shells and coral could not possibly climb to the mountain top, they must have been washed upon it while the mountain top was on a level with the sea. We pondered this very much ; and we put to ourselves the question, " What raised the island to its present height above the sea?" But to this we could by no means give to our- selves a satisfactory reply. Jack thought it might have been blown up by a volcano ; and Peterkin said he thought it must have jumped up of its own accord ! We also noticed what had escaped us before, that the solid rocks of which the island was formed were quite differ- ent from the live coral rocks on the shore, where the wonderful little insects were continually working. They seemed, indeed, to be of the same material, — a sub- stance like limestone ; but, while the coral rocks were quite full of minute cells in which the insects lived, the other rocks inland were hard and solid, without the ap- THE CORAL ISLAND. 105 pearance of cells at all. Our thoughts and conversations on this subject were sometimes so profound that Peterkin said we should certainly get drowned in them at last, even although we were such good divers ! Nevertheless we did not allow his pleasantry on this and similar points to deter us from making our notes and observations as we went along. We found several more droves of hogs in the woods, but abstained from killing any of them, having more than sufficient for our present necessities. We saw also many of their foot-prints in this neighborhood. Among these we also observed the foot-prints of a smaller ani- mal, which we examined with much care, but could form no certain opinion as to them. Peterkin thought they were; those of a little dog, but Jack and I thought differ- ently. We became very curious on this matter, the more so that we observed these foot-prints to lie scattered about in one locality, as if the animal which had made them was wandering round about in a very irregular manner, and without any object in view. Early in the forenoon of our third day we observed these foot-prints to be much more numerous than ever, and in one par- ticular spot they diverged off into the woods in a regular beaten track, which was, however, so closely beset with bushes, that we pushed through it with difficulty. We had now become so anxious to find out what animal this was, and where it went to, that we determined to follow the track, and, if possible, clear up the mystery. Peter- kin said, in a bantering tone, that he was sure it would be cleared up as usual in some frightfully simple way. and prove to be no mystery at all ! The beaten track seemed much too large to have been formed by the animal itself, and we concluded that some 106 THE COEAL ISLAND. larger animal had made it, and that the smaller one made use of it. But everywhere the creeping plants and tangled bushes crossed our path, so that we forced our way along with some difficulty. Suddenly, as we came upon an open space, we heard a faint cry, and observed a black animal standing in the track before us. "A wild-cat ! " cried Jack, fitting an arrow to his bow, and discharging it so hastily that he missed the animal, and hit the earth about half a foot to one side of it. To our surprise the wild-cat did not fly, but walked slowly towards the arrow, and snuffed at it. " That's the most comical wild-cat I ever saw ! " cried Jack. " It's a tame wild-cat, I think," said Peterkin, levelling his spear to make a charge. " Stop ! " cried I, laying my hand on his shoulder ; " I do believe the poor beast is blind. See, it strikes against the branches as it walks along. It must be a very old one ;" and I hastened towards it. " Only think," said Peterkin, with a suppressed laugh, " of a superannuated wild-cat ! " We now found that the poor cat was not only blind, or nearly so, but extremely deaf, as it did not hear our footsteps until we were quite close behind it. Then it sprang round, and, putting up its back and tail, while the black hair stood all on end, uttered a hoarse mew and a fuff. " Poor thing," said Peterkin, gently extending his hand, and endeavoring to pat the cat's head. " Poor pussy ; chee, chee, chee ; puss, puss, puss ; cheetie pussy ! " No sooner did the cat hear these sounds than all signs of anger fled, and, advancing eagerly to Peterkin, it THE CORAL ISLAND. 107 allowed itself to be stroked, and rubbed itself against his legs, [(lining loudly all the time, and showing every symptom of the mo.-t extreme delight. k -ltV do more a wild-cat than I am!" cried Peterkin, taking it in his arms. "It's quite tame. Poor pussy, cheetie pussy ! " We now crowded around Peterkin, and were not a little surprised, and, to say truth, a good deal affected, by the sight of the poor animal's excessive joy. It rubbed its head against Peterkin's cheek, licked his chin, and thrust its head almost violently into his neck, while it purred more loudly than I ever heard a cat purr before, and appeared to be so much overpowered by its feel that it occasionally mewed and purred almost in the same breath. Such demonstrations of joy and affection led us at once to conclude that this poor cat must have known man before, and we conjectured that it had been left either accidentally or by design on the island many years ago, and was now evincing its extreme joy at meeting once more with human beings. While we were fondling the cat and talking about it, Jack glanced round the open space in the midst of which we stood. " Hallo ! " exclaimed he ; " this looks something like a clearing. The axe has been at work here. Just look at these tree-stumps." We now turned to examine these, and, without doubt, we found trees that had been cut down here and there, also stumps and broken branches ; all of which, how- ever, were completely covered over with moss, and bore evidence of having been in this condition for sonic years. No human foot-prints were to be seen, either on the track or among the bushes ; but those of the cat were found everywhere. AVe now determined to follow up 108 THE CORAL ISLAND. the track as far as it went, and Peterkin put the cat clown ; but it seemed to be so weak, and mewed so very pitifully, that he took it up again and carried it in his arms, where, in a few minutes, it fell sound asleep. About ten yards farther on, the felled trees became more numerous, and the track, diverging to the right, followed for a short space the banks of a stream. Sud- denly we came to a spot where once must have been a rude bridge, the stones of which were scattered in the stream, and those on each bank entirely covered over with moss. In silent surprise and expectancy we con- tinued to advance, and, a few yards farther on, beheld, under the shelter of some breadfruit-trees, a small hut or cottage. I cannot hope to convey to my readers a very correct idea of the feelings that affected us on witnessing this unexpected sight. We stood for a long time in silent wonder, for there was a deep and most melancholy stillness about the place that quite over- powered us ; and when we did at length speak, it was in subdued whispers, as if we were surrounded by some awful or supernatural influence. Even Peterkin's voice, usually so quick and lively on all occasions, was hushed now ; for there was a dreariness about this silent, lonely, uninhabited cottage, — so strange in its appearance, so far away from the usual dwellings of man, so old, de- cayed, and deserted in its aspect, — that fell upon our spirits like a thick cloud, and blotted out as with a pall the cheerful sunshine that had filled us since the com- mencement of our tour round the island. The hut or cottage was rude and simple in its con- struction. It was not more than twelve feet long by ten feet broad, and about seven or eight feet high. It had one window, or rather a small frame in which a window THE CORAL ISLAND. L09 might, perhaps, once have been, but which was now empty. The door was exceedingly low, and formed of rough boards, and the roof was covered with broad cocoa-nut and plantain leaves. But every part of it waa in a state of the utmost decay. Moss and green matter grew in spots all over it. The wood-work was quite perforated with holes; the roof had nearly fallen in, and appeared to be prevented from doing so al- together by the thick matting of creeping-plants and the interlaced branches which years of neglect had allowed to cover it almost entirely ; while the thick, luxuriant branches of the breadfruit and other trees spread above it. and flung a deep, sombre shadow over the spot, as if to guard it from the heat and the light of day. "We conversed long and in whispers about this strange habita- tion ere we ventured to approach it ; and when at length we did so, it was, at least on my part, with feelings of awe. At first Jack endeavored to peep in at the window, but from the deep shadow of the trees already mentioned, and the gloom within, he could not clearly discern ob- jects ; so we lifted the latch and pushed open the door. We observed that the latch was made of iron, and almost eaten away with rust. In the like condition were also the hinges, which creaked as the door swung back. On entering, we stood still and gazed around us, while we were much impressed with the dreary stillness of the room. But what we saw there surprised and shocked us not a little. There was no furniture in the apartment save a little wooden stool and an iron pot, the latter almost eaten through with rust. In the corner farthest from the door was a low bedstead, on which lay two skeletons, imbedded in a little heap of dry dust. With 110 THE COIJAL ISLAND. beating hearts we went forward to examine them. One was the skeleton of a man, the other that of a clog, which was extended close beside that of the man, with its head resting on his bosom. Now we were very much concerned about this dis- covery, and could scarce refrain from tears on beholding these sad remains. After some time, we began to talk about what we had seen, and to examine in and around the hut, in order to discover some clue to the name or history of this poor man, who had thus died in solitude, with none to mourn his loss save his cat and his faithful dog. But we found nothing, — neither a book nor a scrap of paper. We found, however, the decayed rem- nants of what appeared to have been clothing, and an old axe. But none of these things bore marks of any kind ; and, indeed, they were so much decayed as to con- vince us that they had lain in the condition in which we found them for. many years. This discovery now accounted to us for the tree stump at the top of the mountain with the initials cut on it ; also for the patch of sugar-cane and other traces of man which we had met with in the course of our rambles over the island. And we were much saddened by the reflection that the lot of this poor wanderer might possibly be our own, after many years' residence on the island, unless we should be rescued by the visit of some vessel or the arrival of natives. Having no clue whatever to account for the presence of this poor human being in such a lonely spot, we fell to conjecturing what could have brought him there. I was inclined to think that he must have been a shipwrecked sailor, whose vessel had been lost here, and all the crew been drowned except himself and his dog and cat. But Jack thought it more likely THE CORAL ISLAND. Ill thai he had run awa*y from his vessel, and taken the dog and eat to keep him company. We were also much occupied in our minds with the wonderful difference be- tween the cat and the dog. For here we saw that while the one perished, like a loving friend, by its master's side, with its head resting on his bosom, the other had sought to Bustain itself by prowling abroad in the forest, and had lived in solitude to a good old age. However, we did not conclude from this that the cat was destitute of affec- tion, for we could not forget its emotions on first meeting with us : but we saw from this, that the dog had a great deal more of generous love in its nature than the eat, because it not only found it impossible to live after the death of its master, but it must needs, when it came to •lie crawl to his side and rest its head upon his lifeless breast. While we were thinking on these tilings, and examin- ing into everything about the room, we were attracted by an exclamation from Peterkin. " I say. Jack." said he, " here is something that will be of use to us." - What is it," said Jack, hastening across the room. " An old pistol," replied Peterkin, holding up the weapon, which he had just pulled from under a heap of broken wood and rubbish that lay in a corner. " That, indeed, might have been useful," said Jack, examining it. " if Ave had any powder ; but I suspect the bow and the sling will prove more serviceable." " True, I forgot that," said Peterkin ; "but we may as well take it with us, for the flint will serve to strike fire with when the sun does not shine." After having spent more than an hour at this place without discovering anything of further interest, Peterkin 112 THE CORAL ISLAND. took up the old cat, which had lain very contentedly asleep on the stool whereon he had placed it, and we pre- pared to take our departure. In leaving the hut, Jack stumbled heavily against the door-post, which was so much decayed as to break across, and the whole fabric of the hut seemed ready to tumble about our ears. This put into our heads that we might as well pull it down, and so form a mound over the skeleton. Jack, therefore, with his axe, cut down the other door-post, which, when it was done, brought the whole hut in ruins to the ground, and thus formed a grave to the bones of the poor recluse and his dog. Then we left the spot, having brought away the iron pot, the pistol, and the old axe, as they might be of much use to us hereafter. During the rest of this day we pursued our journey, and examined the other end of the large valley, which we found to be so much alike to the parts already de- scribed, that I shall not recount the particulars of what we saw in this place. I may, however, remark, that we did not quite recover our former cheerful spirits until we arrived at our bower, which we did late in the evening, and found everything just in the same condition as we had left it three days before. THE CORAL ISLAND. j | 3 CHAPTER XTT. SOMETHING WKONG WTTTI TTIE TANK- JACK'S WISDOM WD PFTFR KINS [MPERTINENCB-WONDBRFIII BEHAVIOR OF A CIUB- GOOD WISHES TOB THOSE WHO DWELL FAB FBOM THE SEA JACK COMMENCES TO BUILD A LITTLE BOAT. T) EST is sweel as well for the body as for the mind. 11 Durin g m ylong experience, amid the vicissitudes of o checkered life, I have found that periods of profound rest al certain intervals, in addition to the ordinary hours of repose, are necessary to the well-being of man. And the nature as well as the period of this rest varies, according to the different temperaments of individuals, and the pecu" liar circumstances in which they may chance to be placed. To those who work with their minds, bodily labor is rest To those who labor with the body, deep sleep is rest.' J<) the downcast, the weary, and the sorrowful, joy and peace are rest. Nay, further, I think that to the -ay the frivolous, the reckless, when sated with pleasures that cannot last, even sorrow proves to be rest of a kind. although, perchance, it were better that I should call it relief than ret. There is, indeed, but one class of men to whom rest is denied. There is no rest to the wicked At tins I do but hint, however, as I treat not of that rest Which is spiritual, but more particularly, of that which applies to the mind and to the body. Of this rest we stood much in need on our return home, and we found it exceedingly sweet, when we indulged in 114 THE CORAL ISLAND. it, after completing the journey just related. It had not, indeed, been a very long journey, nevertheless we had pursued it so diligently that our frames were not a little prostrated. Our minds were also very much exhausted in consequence of the many surprises, frequent alarms, and much profound thought, to which they had been sub- jected ; so that when we lay down on the night of our return under the shelter of the bower, we fell immediately into very deep repose. I can state this with much cer- tainty, for Jack afterwards admitted the fact, and Peter- kin, although he stoutly denied it, I heard snoring loudly at least two minutes after lying down. In this condition we remained all night and the whole of the following day without awaking once, or so much as moving our posi- tions. When we did awake it was near sunset, and we were all in such a state of lassitude that we merely rose to swallow a mouthful of food. As Peterkin remarked, in the midst of a yawn, we took breakfast at tea-time, and then went to bed again, where we lay till the follow- ing forenoon. After this we arose very greatly refreshed, but much alarmed lest we had lost count of a day. I say we were much alarmed on this head, for we had carefully kept count of the days since we were cast upon our island, in order that we might remember the Sabbath-day, which day we had hitherto with one accord kept as a day of rest, and refrained from all work whatsoever. However, on considering the subject, we all three entertained the same opinion as to how long we had slept, and so our minds were put at ease. We now hastened to our Water Garden to enjoy a bathe, and to see how did the animals which I had placed in the tank. We found the garden more charming, pellu- THE CORAL ISLAND. } j 5 cid, and inviting than ever, and Jack and I plunged into its depth, and gambolled among its radiant coral groves ; while Peterkin wallowed at the surface, and tried occa- sionally to kick us as we passed below. Having dr I then hastened to the tank ; but what was my surprise and grief to find nearly all the animals dead, and the water in a putrid condition ! I was greatly distressed at this, and wondered what could be the cause of it. " Why, you precious humbug," said Peterkin, coming up to me, -how could you expect it to be otherwise? When fishes are accustomed to live in the Pacific Ocean, how can you expect them to exist in a hole like that ?" " Indeed, Peterkin," I replied, " there seems to be truth in what you say. Nevertheless, now I think of it, there must be some error in your reasoning ; for, if I put in but a few very small animals, they will bear the same proportion to this pond that the millions of fish bear to the ocean." " I say, Jack," cried Peterkin, waving his hand, « come here, like a good fellow. Ralph is actually talking phi- losophy. Do come to our assistance, for he's out o^ sight beyond me already ! " " What's the matter?" inquired Jack, coming up, while he endeavored to scrub his long hair dry with a towel of cocoa-nut cloth. I repeated my thoughts to Jack, who I was happy to find, quite agreed with me. « Your best plan," he said, " will be to put very few animals at first into your tank,' and add more a. you find it will bear them. And look j) e re>" he added, pointing to the sides of the tank, which, for the space of two inches above the water-level, were incrusted with salt, "you must carry your philosophy a little farther, Ralph. That water has evaporated so much 1X6 THE CORAL ISLAND. that it is too salt for anything to live in. You will re- quire to add fresh water now and then, in order to keep it at the same degree of saltness as the sea." " Very true, Jack, that never struck me before," said I. " And, now I think of it," continued Jack, " it seems to me that the surest way of arranging your tank so as to get it to keep pure and in good condition, will be to imitate the ocean in it. In fact make it a miniature Pa- cific. I don't see how you can hope to succeed unless you do that." « Most true," said I, pondering what my companion said. " But I fear that that will be very difficult." "Not at all," cried Jack, rolling his towel up into a ball, and throwing it into the face of Peterkin, who had been grinning and winking at him during the last five minutes. " Not at all. Look here. There is water of a certain saltness in the sea ; well, fill your tank with sea-water, and keep it at that saltness by marking the height at which the water stands on the sides. When it evaporates a little, pour in fresh water from the brook till it comes up to the mark, and then it will be right, for the salt does not evaporate with the water. Then, there's lots of sea-weed in the sea; — well, go and get one or two bits of sea-weed, and put them into your tank. Of course the weed must be alive, and growing to little stones ; or you can chip a bit off the rocks with the weed sticking to it. Then, if you like, you can throw a little sand and gravel into your tank, and the thing's complete." " Nay, not quite," said Peterkin, who had been gravely attentive to this off-hand advice, " not quite ; you must first make three little men to dive in it before it can be THE CORAL ISLAND. 117 said to be perfect, and that would be rather difficult, I fear, for two of them would require to be philosophers. But hullo! what's this? I say, Ralph, look here. There's one o' your crabs up to something uncommon. It's per- forming the most remarkable operation for a crab I ever, saw, — taking off its coat, I do believe, before going to bed I" We hastily stooped over the tank, and certainly were not a little amused at the conduct of one of the crabs which still survived its companions. It was one of the common small crabs, like to those that are found running about everywhere on the coasts of England. While we gazed at it, we observed its back to split away from the. lower part of its body, and out of the gap thus formed came a soft lump which moved and writhed unceasingly. This lump continued to increase in size until it appeared like a bunch of crab's legs ; and, indeed, such it proved in a very few minutes to be ; for the points of the toes wire at length extricated from this hole in its back, the legs spread out, the body followed, and the crab walked away quite entire, even to the points of its nipper-claws, leaving a perfectly entire shell behind it, so that, when we looked, it seemed as though there were two complete crabs instead of one ! " Well ! " exclaimed Peterkin, drawing a long breath, " I've heard of a man jumping out of his skin and sitting down in his skeleton in order to cool himself, but I never expected to sec a crab do it ! " AVe were, in truth, much amazed at this spectacle, and the more so when we observed that the new crab was larger than the crab that it came out of. It was also quite soft, but by next morning its skin had hardened into a good shell. We came thus to know that crabs 118 THE CORAL ISLAND. grow in this way, and not by the growing of their shells, as we had always thought before we saw this wonderful operation. Now I considered well the advice which Jack had given me about preparing my tank, and the more I thought of it, the more I came to regard it as very sound and worthy of being acted on. So I forthwith put his plan in execution, and found it to answer excellently well, indeed, much beyond my expectation ; for I found that after a little experience had taught me the proper proportion of sea-weed and animals to put into a certain amount of water, the tank needed no further attendance ; and moreover, I did not require ever afterwards to renew or change the sea-water, but only to add a very little fresh water from the brook, now and then, as the other evaporated. I therefore concluded that if I had been suddenly conveyed, along with my tank, into some region where there was no salt sea at all, my little sea and my sea-fish would have continued to thrive and to prosper not- withstanding. This made me greatly to desire that those people in the world who live far inland might know of my wonderful tank, and, by having materials like those of which it was made conveyed to them, thus be enabled to watch the habits of those most mysterious animals that reside in the sea, and examine with their own eyes the wonders of the great deep. For many clays after this, while Peterkin and Jack were busily employed in building a little boat out of the curious natural planks of the chesnut-tree, I spent much of my time in examining with the burning-glass the mar- vellous operations that were constantly going on in my tank. Here I saw those anemones which cling, like little red, yellow, and green blobs of jelly, to the rocks, put THE CORAL ISLAND. 119 forth, as it were, a multitude of arms and wait till little fish or other small animalcules unwarily touched them, wh.n they would instantly seize them, fold arm after arm around their victims, and so engulf them in their stom- achs. Here J saw the ceaseless working of those little coral insects whose efforts have incrusted the islands of the Pacific with vast rocks, and surrounded them with enormous reefs. And I observed that many of i insects, though extremely minute, were very beautiful, coining out of their holes in a circle of fine threads, and having the form of a shuttlecock. Here I saw curious little barnacles opening a hole in their backs and con- stantly putting out a thin, feathery hand, with which, I doubt not, they dragged their food into their mouth-. Here also, I saw those crabs which have shells only on the front of their bodies, but no shell whatever on their remarkably tender tails, so that, in order to find a pro- tection to them, they thrust them into the empty shells of wilks, or some such fish, and when they grow too big for one, change into another. But most curious of all, I saw an animal which had the wonderful power, when it became ill, of casting its stomach and its teeth away from it, and getting an entirely new set in the course of a few months ! All this I saw, and a great deal more, by means of my tank and my burning-glass, but I refrain from set- ting down more particulars here, as I have still much to tell of the adventures that befell us while we remained on this island. 120 THE CORAL ISLAND. CHAPTER XIII. NOTABLE DISCOVERY AT THE SPOUTING CLIFFS — THE MYSTERI- OUS GREEN MONSTER EXPLAINED — WE ARE THROWN INTO UNUTTERABLE TERROR BY THE IDEA THAT JACK IS DROWNED —THE DIAMOND CAYE. COME, Jack," cried Peterkin, one morning about three weeks after our return from our long excur- sion, " let's be jolly to-day, and do something vigorous. I'm quite tired of hammering and hammering, hewing and screwing, cutting and butting, at that little boat of ours, that seems as hard to build as Noah's ark ; let us go on an excursion to the mountain top, or have a hunt after the wild ducks, or make a dash at the pigs. I'm quite flat — flat as bad ginger-beer — flat as a pancake ; in fact, I want something to rouse me, to toss me up, as it were. Eh ! what do you say to it ? " " Well," answered Jack, throwing down the axe with which he was just about to proceed towards the boat, " if that's what you want, I would recommend you to •make an excursion to the water-spouts ; the last one we had to do with tossed you up a considerable height, per- haps the next will send you higher, who knows, if you're at all reasonable or moderate in your expectations ! " " Jack, my clear boy," said Peterkin, gravely, " you are really becoming too fond of jesting. It's a thing I don't at all approve of, and if you don't give it up, I fear that, for our mutual good, we shall have to part." THE CORAL ISLAND. 121 " Well, then, Peterkin," replied Jack, with a smile, k - \vli:i! would you have ? " "Have?" said Peterkin, "I would have nothing. I didn't say I wanted to have ; I said that I wanted to dor " T>y the by," said I, interrupting their conversation, " I am reminded by this that we have not yet discovered the nature of yon curious appearance that we saw near the water-spouts, on our journey round the island. Per- haps it would lie well to go for that purpose." •• Humph!" ejaculated Peterkin, " I know the nature of it well enough." "What was it?" said I. " It was of a mysterious nature to be sure ! u said he, with a wave of his hand, while he rose from the log on which he had been sitting, and buckled on his belt, into which he thrust his enormous club. " Well, then, let us away to the water-spouts," cried Jack, going up to the bower for his bow and arrows ; ''and bring your spear, Peterkin. It may be useful." We now, having made up our minds to examine into this matter, sallied forth eagerly in the direction of the water-spout rocks, which, as I have before mentioned, were not far from our present place of abode. On arriv- ing there we hastened down to the edge of the rocks, and gazed over into the sea, where we observed the pale- green object still distinctly visible, moving its tail slowly to and fro in the water. " Most remarkable ! " said Jack. " Exceedingly curious," said I. "Beat- everything!" said Peterkin. "Now, Jack," he added, "you made such a poor figure in your last attempt to stick that object, that I would ad- 122 THE CORAL ISLAND. vise you to let me try it. If it has got a heart at all, I'll engage to send my spear right through the core of it ; if it hasn't got a heart, I'll send it through the spot where its heart ought to be." " Fire away, then, my boy," replied Jack with a laugh. Peterkin immediately took the spear, poised it for a second or two above his head, then darted it like an arrow into the sea. Down it went straight into the centre of the green object, passed quite through it, and came up immediately afterwards, pure and un- sullied, while the mysterious tail moved quietly as be- fore ! " Now," said Peterkin, gravely, " that brute is a heart- less monster ; I'll have nothing more to do with it." " I'm pretty sure now." said Jack, " that it is merely a phosphoric light ; but I must say I'm puzzled at its staying always in that exact spot." I also was much puzzled, and inclined to think with Jack that it must be phosphoric light ; of which lumin- ous appearance we had seen much while on our voyage to these seas. " But," said I, " there is nothing to hinder us from diving down to it, now that we are sure it is not a shark." " True," returned Jack, stripping off his clothes ; " I'll go down, Ralph, as I'm better at diving than you are. Now then, Peterkin, out o' the road ! " Jack stepped forward, joined his hands above his head, bent over the rocks, and plunged into the sea. For a second or two the spray caused by his dive hid him from view, then the water became still, and we saw him swimming far down in the midst of the green object. Suddenly he sank below it, and vanished altogether from our sight ! THE CORAL ISLAND. 123 We gazed anxiously down at the spot where he had disappeared, for nearly a minute, expecting every mo- ment to see him rise again for breath : but fully a minute passed, and still he did not reappear. Two minutes passed! and then a flood of alarm rushed in upon my soul, when I considered that, during all my acquaintance with him, Jack had never stayed under water more than a minute at a time ; indeed seldom so long. " Oh, Peterkin ! " I said, in a voice that trembled with increa.-ing anxiety, u something has happened. It is more than three minutes now!" But Peterkin did not answer, and I observed that he was gazing down into the water with a look of intense fear mingled with anxiety, while his face was overspread with a deadly paleness. Suddenly he sprang to his feet and rushed about in a frantic state, wringing his hands, and exclaim- ing, " Oh, Jack, Jack ! he is gone ! It must have been a shark, and he is gone forever ! " For the next five minutes I know not what I did. The intensity of my feelings almost bereft me of my senses. But I was recalled to myself by Peterkin seiz- ing me by the shoulder and staring wildly into my face, while he exclaimed, " Ralph ! Ralph ! perhaps he has only fainted. Dive for him, Ralph ! " It seemed strange that this did not occur to me sooner. In ;i moment I rushed to the edge of the rocks, and, without waiting to throw off my garments, was on the point to spring into the waves, when I observed some- thing black rising up through the green object. In an- other moment Jack's head rose to the surface, and he gave a wild shout, flinging back the spray from his locks, as was his wont after a dive. Now we were almost as 124 THE CORAL ISLAND. much amazed at seeing him reappear, well and strong, as we had been at first at his non-appearance ; for, to the best of our judgment, he had been nearly ten minutes under water, perhaps longer, and it required no exertion of our reason to convince us that this was utterly impos- sible for mortal man to do and retain his strength and faculties. It was therefore with a feeling akin to super- stitious awe that I held down my hand and assisted him to clamber up the steep rocks. But no such feeling affected Peterkin. No sooner did Jack gain the rocks and seat himself on one, panting for breath, than he threw his arms round his neck, and burst into a flood of tears. " Oh, Jack, Jack ! " said he, " where were you ? What kept you so long ? " After a few moments Peterkin became composed enough to sit still and listen to Jack's explanation, al- though he could not restrain himself from attempting to wink every two minutes at me, in order to express his joy at Jack's safety. I say he attempted to wink, but I am bound to add that he did not succeed, for his eyes were so much swollen with weeping, that his frequent attempts only resulted in a series of violent and al- together idiotical contortions of the face, that were very far from expressing what he intended. However, I knew what the poor fellow meant by it, so I smiled to him in return, and endeavoured to make believe that he was winking. " Now, lads," said Jack, when we were composed enough to listen to him, " yon green object is not a shark ; it is a stream of light issuing from a cave in the rocks. Just after I made my dive, I observed that this light came from the side of the rock above which we are now sitting ; so I struck out for it, and saw an opening THE COBAL ISLAND. 125 into «ome place or other that appeared to be luminous within. For one instant I paused to think whether I ought to venture. Then I made up my mind, and dashed into it. For you see, Peterkin, although I take some time to tell this, it happened in the space of a few sec- onds, so that I knew I had wind enough in me to serve to bring me out o' the hole and up to the surface a^ain. Well, I wajs just on the point of turning, — for I began to feel a little uncomfortable in such a place, — when it seemed to me as if there was a faint light right above mc I darted upwards, and found my head out of water. This relieved mc greatly, for I now felt that I could take in air enough to enable me to return the way I came. Then if all at once occurred to me that I might not be able to find the way out again; but, on glancing down- wards, my mind was put quite at rest by seeing the green light below me streaming into the cave, just like the light that we had seen streaming out of it, only what I now saw was much brighter. "At first T could scarcely see anything as I gazed around me. it was so dark ; but gradually my eyes be- came accustomed to it, and I found that I was in a huge cave, part of the walls of which I observed on each side of me. The ceiling just above me was also visible, and I fancied that I could perceive beautiful glittering objects there, but the farther end of the cave was shrouded in darkness. While I was looking around me in great wonder, it came into my head that you two would think I was drowned; so I plunged down through tin.' passage again in a great hurry, rose to the surface, and — here I am !" When Jack concluded his recital of what he had seen in tin- remarkable cave. I could not rest satisfied till I 126 THE CORAL ISLAND. had dived down to see it ; which I did, but found it so dark, as Jack had said, that I could scarcely see any- thing. When I returned, we had a long conversation about it, during which I observed that Peterkin had a most lugubrious expression on his countenance. " What's the matter, Peterkin ? " said I. " The matter ? " he replied. " It's all very well for you two to be talking away like mermaids about the wonders of this cave, but you know I must be content to hear about it, while you are enjoying yourselves down there like mad dolphins. It's really too bad." " I'm very sorry for you, Peterkin, indeed I am," said Jack, " but we cannot help you. If you would only learn to dive — " " Learn to fly, you might as well say ! " retorted Peter- kin, in a very sulky tone. " If you would only consent to keep still," said I, " we would take you down with us in ten seconds." " Hum ! " returned Peterkin ; " suppose a salamander was to propose to you ' only to keep still,' and he would carry you through a blazing fire in a few seconds, what w r ould you say ? " We both laughed and shook our heads, for it was evi- dent that nothing was to be made of Peterkin in the water. But we could not rest satisfied till we had seen more of this cave ; so, after further consultation, Jack and I determined to try if w r e could take down a torch with us, and set fire to it in the cavern. This we found to be an undertaking of no small difficulty ; but we ac- complished it at last by the following means : — First, w T e made a torch of a very inflammable nature out of the bark of a certain tree, wjiich we cut into strips, and, after twisting, cemented together with a kind of resin or THE COBAL ISLAND. 127 gum, which we also obtained from another tree; neither of which trees, however, was known by name to Jack. This, when prepared, we wrapped up in a great number of plies of cocoa-nut cloth, so that we were confident it could not gel wel during the short time it should be under water. Then we took a small piece of the tinder, which we had carefully treasured up lest we should require it, as before said, when the sun should fail us ; also, we rolled up some dry grass and a few chips, which, with a little bow and drill, like those described before, we made into another bundle, and wrapped it up in cocoa-nut cloth. When all was ready we laid aside our garments, with the exception of our trousers, which, as we did not know what rough scraping against the roeLs we might be subjected to, we kept on. Then we advanced to the edge of the rocks, Jack carrying one bundle, with the torch; I the other, with the things for producing lire. u Now don't weary for us, Petcrkin, should we be gone some tune," said Jack ; "we'll be sure to return in half- an-hour at the very latest, however interesting the cave should be, that we may relieve your mind." "Farewell!" said Peterkin, coming up to us with a look of deep but pretended solemnity, while he shook hands and kissed each of us on the cheek. "Farewell ! and while you are gone I shall repose my weary limbs under the shelter of this bush, and meditate on the chaogefulness of all things earthly, with special reference to the forsaken condition of a poor ship-wrecked sailor boy ! " So saying, Peterkin waved his hand, turned from ds, and cast himself upon the ground with a look of mel- ancholy resignation, which was so well feigned, that I would have thought it genuine had he not accompanied 128 THE CORAL ISLAND. it with a gentle wink. We both laughed, and : springing from the rocks together, plunged head first into the sea. We gained the interior of the submarine cave with- out difficulty, and, on emerging from the waves, supported ourselves for some time by treading-water, while we held the two bundles above our heads. This we did in order to let our eyes become accustomed to the obscurity. Then, when we could see sufficiently, we swam to a shelving rock, and landed in safety. Having wrung the water from our trousers, and dried ourselves as well as we could under the circumstances, we proceeded to ignite the torch. This we accomplished without difficulty in a few minutes ; and no sooner did it flare up than we were struck dumb with the wonderful objects that were re- vealed to our gaze. The roof of the cavern just above us seemed to be about ten feet high, but grew higher as it receded into the distance, until it was lost in darkness. It seemed to be made of coral, and was- supported by massive columns of the same material. Immense icicles (as they appeared to us) hung from it in various places. These, however, were formed, not of ice, but of a species of limestone, which seemed to flow in a liquid form to- wards the point of each, where it became solid. A good many drops fell, however, to the rock below, and these formed little cones, which rose to meet the points above. Some of them had already met, and thus we saw how the pillars were formed, which at first seemed to us as if they had been placed there by some human architect to support the roof. As we advanced farther in, we saw that the floor was composed of the same material as the pillars ; and it presented the curious appearance of ripples, such as are formed on water when gently ruffled by the wind. There were several openings on either THE CORAL ISLAND. 129 hand in the walls, that seemed to lead into other cav- erns; but these we did not explore at this time. We also observed that the ceiling was curiously marked i n many places, as if it were the fretwork of a noble cathe- dral ; and the walls, as well as the roof, sparkled in the light of our torch, and threw back gleams and flashes, as if they were covered with precious stones. Although we proceeded far into this cavern, we did not come to the end of it ; and we were obliged to return more speedily than we would otherwise have done, as our torch was nearly expended. We did not observe any openings in the roof, or any indications of places whereby light might enter; but near the entrance to the cavern °stood °an immense mass of pure white coral rock, which caught ■"* threw back the little light that found an entrance through the cave's mouth, and thus produced, we con- jectured, the pale-green object which had first attracted our attention. We concluded, also, that the reflecting Power of this rock was that which gave forth the dim light that faintly illumined the first part of the cave. Before diving through the passage again we extin- guished (he small piece of our torch that remained, and left it in a dry spot; conceiving that we might possibly stand n. need of it, if at any future time we should chance t0 *e1 our torch while diving into the cavern. As we stood for a few minutes after it was out, waiting till our eyes became accustomed to the gloom, we could not help remarking the deep, intense stillness and the unutterable gloom of all around us; and, as I thought of the stu- pendous dome above, and the countless gems that had sparkled m the torchlight a few minutes before, it came ' mto my mind to consider how strange it is that God should make such wonderful and exquisitely-beautiful 130 THE CORAL ISLAND. works never to be seen at all, except, indeed, by chance visitors such as ourselves. I afterwards found that there were many such caverns among the islands of the South Seas, some of them larger and more beautiful than the one I have just described. " Now, Ralph, are you ready ? " said Jack, in a low voice, that seemed to echo up into the dome above. " Quite ready." " Come along, then," said he ; and, plunging off the ledge of the rock into the water, we dived through the narrow entrance. In a few seconds we were panting on the rocks above, and receiving the congratulations of our friend Peterkin. THE CORAL ISLAND. 131 CHAPTER XIV. STRANGE PECULIARITY OF THE TIDES — ALSO OF THE TWILIGHT PETERKIN'8 REMARKABLE CONDUCT IX EMBRACING A LIT- TLB PIG AND KILLING A BIG SOW— SAGE REMARKS ON JEST- ING— ALSO ON LOVE. IT was quite a relief to us to breathe the pure air and to enjoy the -lad sunshine after four long ramble in the Diamond Cave, as we named it ; for, although we did not stay more than half an hour away, it seemed to us much longer. While we were dressing, and daring our walk home, we did our best to satisfy the curiosity of poor Peterkin, who seemed to regret, with lively sin- cerity, his inability to dive. . There was no help for it, however, so we condoled with him as we best could. Had there been any great rise or fall in the tide of these seas, we might perhaps have found it possible to take him down with us at low water ; but as the tide never rose or fell more than eigh- teen inches or two feet, this was impossible. This peculiarity of the tide — its slight rise and fall — had not attracted our observation till some time after our residence on the island. Neither had we observed another curious circumstance until we had been some lime there. This Nvas the fact, that the tide rose and fell with constant regularity, instead of being affected by the changes of the moon as in our own country, and as it is in most other parts of the world, — at least in all those parts with which I am acquainted. Every day and every 132 THE CORAL ISLAND. night, at twelve o'clock precisely, the tide is at the full ; and at six o'clock every morning and evening it is ebb. I can speak with much confidence on this singular cir- cumstance, as we took particular note of it, and never found it to alter. Of course I must admit we had to guess the hour of twelve midnight, and I think we could do this pretty correctly ; but in regard to twelve noon we are quite positive, because we easily found the highest point that the sun reached in the sky by placing ourselves at a certain spot whence we observed the sharp summit of a cliff resting against the sky, just where the sun passed. Jack and I were surprised that we had not noticed this the first few days of our residence here, and could only account for it by our being so much taken up with the more obvious wonders of our novel situation. I have since learned, however, that this want of observation is a sad and very common infirmity of human nature, there being hundreds of persons before whose eyes the most wonderful things are passing every day, who nevertheless are totally ignorant of them. I therefore have to record my sympathy with such persons, and to recommend to them a course of conduct which I have now for a long time myself adopted, — namely, the habit of forcing my attention upon all things that go on around me, and of taking some degree of interest in them, whether I feel it naturally or not. I suggest this the more earnestly, though humbly, because I have very frequently come to know that my indifference to a thing has generally been caused by my ignorance in regard to it. We had much serious conversation on this subject of the tides ; and Jack told us, in his own quiet, philosophi- cal way, that these tides did great good to the world in THE CORAL ISLAND. 133 many ways, particularly in the way of cleansing the shores of the land, and carrying off the filth that was con- stantly poured into the sea therefrom; which, Peterkin siiL r ,L r <'-t<'oth Jack and Peterkin answered this inquiry by themselves laughing so immoderately that I was induced to believe I had missed noticing some good joke, so I ed that it might be explained to me; but as this only produced repeated roars of laughter, I smiled and helped myself to another slice of plantain. f* Well, but," continued Peterkin, H I was talking of a sail to-morrow. Can't we have one, Jack ? " " No," replied Jack, " we can't have a sail, but I hope we Bhall have a row, as I intend to work hard at the oars this afternoon, and if we can't get them finished by sun- set we'll light our candle-nuts, and turn them out of hands before we turn into bed." 144 THE CORAL ISLAND. " Very good," said Peterkin, tossing a lump of pork to the cat, who received it with a mew of satisfaction. " I'll help you, if I can." " Afterwards," continued Jack, " we will make a sail out of the cocoa-nut cloth, and rig up a mast, and then we shall be able to sail, to some of the other islands, and visit our old friends the penguins." The prospect of being so soon in a position to extend our observations to the other islands, and enjoy a sail over the beautiful sea, afforded us much delight, and, after dinner, we set about making the oars in good earnest. Jack went into the woods and blocked them roughly out with the axe, and I smoothed them down with the knife, while Peterkin remained in the bower, spinning, or, rather, twisting some strong, thick cordage with which to fasten' them to the boat. We worked hard and rapidly, so that when the sun went down, Jack and I returned to the bower with four stout oars, which required little to be done to them save a slight degree of polishing with the knife. As we drew near we were suddenly arrested by the sound of a voice ! We were not a little surprised at this — indeed, I may almost say alarmed — for, although Peterkin was un- doubtedly fond of talking, we had never, up to this time, found him talking to himself. We listened intently, and still heard the sound of a voice as if in conversation. Jack motioned me to be silent, and, advancing to the bower on tiptoe, we peeped in. The sight that met our gaze was certainly not a little amusing. On the top of a log which we sometimes used as a table, sat the black cat, with a very demure express- ion on its countenance ; and in front of it, sitting on the ground, with his legs extended on either side of the log, THE CORAL ISLAND. 1 1"> was Peterkin. At the moment we saw him he was gaz- ing intently into the cat's face, with his nose about four inches from it, — his hands being thrust into his breeches pockets. " Cat," said Peterkin, turning his head a little on one side, u I love you ! " There was a pause, as if Peterkin awaited a reply to this affectionate declaration. But the cat said nothing. " Do you hear me ? " cried Peterkin sharply. " I love you — I do. Don't you love me ? " To this touching appeal the cat said " Mew," faintly. " Ah ! that's right. You're a jolly old rascal. Why did you not speak at once ? eh ? " and Peterkin put for- ward his mouth and kissed the cat on the nose ! " Yes," continued Peterkin, after a pause, " I love you. D'you think I'd say so if I didn't, you black villain ? I love you because I've got to take care of you, and to look after you, and to think about you, and to see that you don't die — " " Mew, me-a-w ! " said the cat. " Very good," continued Peterkin, " quite true, I have no doubt ; but you've no right to interrupt me, sir. Hold your tongue till I have done speaking. Moreover, cat, I love you because you came to me the first time you ever saw me, and didn't seem to be afraid, and appeared to be fond of me, though you didn't know that I wasn't going to kill you. Now, that was brave, that was bold, and very jolly, old boy, and I love you for it — I do ! " Again there was a pause of a few minutes, during which the cat looked placid, and Peterkin dropped his eyes upon its toes as if in contemplation. Suddenly he looked up. u Well, cat, what are you thinking about now ? won't 10 146 THE CORAL ISLAND. speak ? eh ? Now, tell me ; don't yon think it's a mon- strous shame that these two scoundrels, Jack and Ralph, should keep us waiting for our supper so long ?" Here the cat arose, put up its back and stretched itself; yawned slightly, and licked the point of Peter- kin's nose ! " Just so, old boy, you're a clever fellow, — I really do believe the brute understands me ! " said Peterkin, while a broad grin overspread his face, as he drew back and surveyed the cat. At this point Jack burst into a loud fit of laughter. The cat uttered an angry fuff and fled, while Peterkin sprang up and exclaimed, — " Bad luck to you, Jack ! you've nearly made the heart jump out of my body, you have." " Perhaps I have," replied Jack, laughing, as we en- tered the bower, " but, as I don't intend to keep you or the cat any longer from your supper, I hope that you'll both forgive me." Peterkin endeavored to turn this affair off with a laugh, but I observed that he blushed very deeply at the time we discovered ourselves, and he did not seem to relish any allusion to the subject afterwards ; so we refrained from remarking on it ever after, — though it tickled us not a little at the time. After supper we retired to rest and to dream of won- derful adventures in our little boat, and distant voyages upon the sea. THE CORAL ISLAND. 147 CHAPTER XVI. THE BOAT LAUNCHED — WE VISIT THE CORAL REEF— THE GREAT BREAKEB THAT NEVER QOES DOWN — CORAL INSECTS — THE WAV IN WHICH CORAL ISLANDS ARE MADE — THE BOATS SAIL — WE TAX OUR [NGENUITY TO FORM FISH-HOOKS — SOME OF THE FISH WE SAW — AND A MONSTROUS WHALE — WONDER- HI. SHOWER OB LITTLE FISH — WATER-SPOUTS. IT was a bright, clear, beautiful morning, when we first launched our little boat and rowed out OfKga the placid waters of the lagoon. Not a breath of wind ruffled the surface of the deep. Not a cloud spotted the deep blue Bky. Not a sound that was discordant broke the stillness of the morning, although there were many sounds, sweet, tiny, and melodious, that mingled in the universal harmony of nature. The sun was just rising from the Pacific's ample bosom and tipping the mountain tops with a red glow. The sea was shining like a sheet of glass, yet heaving with the long deep swell that, all the world round, indicates the life of ocean; and the bright sea-weeds and the brilliant corals shone in the depths of that pellucid water, as we rowed over it, like rare and precious gems. Oh ! it was a sight fitted to stir the soul of man to its profoundest depths, and, if he owned a heart at all, to lift that heart in adoration and gratitude to the great Creator of this magnificent and glorious universe. At first, in the strength of our delight, we rowed hither and thither without aim or object. But after the etfer- 148 THE CORAL ISLAND. vescence of our spirits was abated, we began to look about us and to consider what we should do. " I vote that we row to the reef," cried Peterkin. " And I vote that we visit the islands within the la- goon," said I. " And I vote we do both," cried Jack, " so pull away, boys." As I have already said, we had made four oars, but our boat was so small that only two were necessary. The extra pair were reserved in case any accident should happen to the others. It was therefore only needful that two of us should row, while the third steered, by means of an oar, and relieved the rowers occasionally. First we landed on one of the small islands and ran all over it, but saw nothing worthy of particular notice. Then we landed on a larger island, on which were grow- ing a few cocoa-nut trees. Not having eaten anything that morning, we gathered a few of the nuts and break- fasted. After this we pulled straight out to sea and landed on the coral reef. This was indeed a novel and interesting sight to us. We had now been so long on shore that we had almost forgotten the appearance of breakers, for there were none within the lagoon ; but now, as we stood beside the foam-crested billow of the open sea, all the enthusiasm of the sailor was awakened in our breasts ; and, as we gazed on the wide-spread ruin of that single magnificent breaker that burst in thunder at our feet, we forgot the Coral Island behind us ; we forgot our bower and the calm repose of the scented woods ; we forgot all that had passed during the last few months, and remembered nothing but the storms, the calms, the fresh breezes, and the surging billows of the open sea. THE CORAL ISLAND. 149 This huge, ceaseless breaker, to which I have so often alluded, was a much larger and more sublime object than we had at all imagined it to be. It rose many yards above the level of the sea, and could be seen approach- ing at some distance from the reef. Slowly and majes- tically it came on, acquiring greater volume and velocity as it advanced, until it assumed the form of a clear watery arch, which sparkled in the bright sun. On it came with resistless and solemn majesty, — the upper edge lipped gently over, and it fell with a roar that seemed as though the heart of Ocean were broken in the crash of tumultuous water, while the foam-clad coral reef appeared to tremble beneath the mighty shock ! We gazed long and wonderingly at this great sight, and it was with difficulty we could tear ourselves away from it. As I have once before mentioned, this wave broke in many places over the reef and scattered some of its spray into the lagoon, but in most places the reef was sufficiently broad and elevated to receive and check its entire force. In many places the coral rocks were covered with vegetation, — the beginning, as it appeared to us, of future islands. Thus, on this reef, we came to perceive how most of the small islands of those seas are formed. On one part we saw the spray of the breaker washing over the rocks, and millions of little, active, busy creatures continuing the work of building up< this living rampart. At another place, which was just a little too high for the waves to wash over it, the coral insects were all dead ; for we found that they never did their work above water. They had faithfully completed the mighty work which their Creator had given them to do, and they were now all dead. Again, in other spots the ceaseless lashing of the sea had broken the dead 150 THE CORAL ISLAND. coral in pieces, and cast it up in the form of sand. Here sea-birds had alighted, little pieces of sea-weed and stray bits of wood had been washed up, seeds of plants had been carried by the wind, and a few lovely blades of bright green had already sprung up, which, when they died, would increase the size and fertility of these emer- alds of Ocean. At other places these islets had grown apace, and were shaded by one or two cocoa-nut trees, which grew, literally, in the sand, and were constantly washed by the ocean spray ; yet, as I have before re- marked, their fruit was most refreshing and sweet to our taste. Again at this time Jack and I pondered the formation of the large coral islands. We could now understand how the low ones were formed, but the larger islands cost us much consideration, yet we could arrive at no certain conclusion on the subject. Having satisfied our curiosity and enjoyed ourselves during the whole day, in our little boat, we returned, somewhat wearied, and, withal, rather hungry, to our bower. " Now," said Jack, " as our boat answers so well, we will get a mast and sail made immediately." " So we will," cried Peterkin, as we all assisted to drag the boat above high-water mark ; " we'll light our candle •and set about it this very night. Hurrah, my boys, pull away ! " As we dragged our boat, we observed that she grated heavily on her keel ; and, as the sands were in this place mingled with broken coral rocks, we saw portions of the wood being scraped off. " Hallo ! " cried Jack, on seeing this. '■' That won't do. Our keel will be worn off in no time at this rate." THE CORAL ISLAND. 151 " So it will," said I, pondering deeply as to how this might In prevented. But I am not of a mechanical turn, naturally, bo I could conceive no remedy save that of putting a plate of iron on the keel, but as we had no iron I knew not what was to be done. "It seems to me, Jack," I added, " that it is impossible to prevent the keel being worn off thus*" "Impossible!" cried Peterkin, "my dear Ralph you are mistaken, there is nothing so easy." " How ? " I inquired, in some surprise. "Why, by not using the boat at all!" replied Pe- terkin. " Hold your impudent tongue, Peterkin," said Jack, a- he shouldered the oars, "come along with me and I'll give you work to do. In the lirst place, you will go and collect cocoa-nut fibre, and set to work to make sewing twine with it — " 11 Please, captain," interrupted Peterkin, " I've got lots of it made already, — more than enough, as a little friend of mine used to be in the habit of saying every day after dinner." " Very well," continued Jack ; " then you'll help Ralph to collect cocoa-nut cloth, and cut it into shape, after which we'll make a sail of it. I'll see to getting the mast and the gearing; so let's to work." And to work we went right busily, so that in three days from that time we had set up a mast and sail, with the necessary rigging, in our little boat. The sail was not, indeed, very handsome to look at, as it was formed of a number of oblong patches of cloth ; but we had sewed it well by means of our sail-needle, so that it was strong, which was the chief point. Jack had also over- come the difficulty about the keel, by pinning to it a false 152 THE CORAL ISLAND. keel. This was a piece of tough wood, of the same length and width as the real keel, and about five inches deep. He made it of this depth because the boat would be thereby rendered not only much more safe, but more able to beat against the wind ; which, in a sea where the trade-winds blow so long and so steadily in one direction, was a matter of great importance. This piece of wood was pegged very firmly to the keel ; and we now launched our boat with the satisfaction of knowing that when the false keel should be scraped off we could easily put on another ; whereas, should the real keel have been scraped away, we could not have renewed it without taking our boat to pieces, which Peterkin said made his " marrow quake to think upon." The mast and sail answered excellently ; and we now sailed about in the lagoon with great delight, and exam- ined with much interest the appearance of our island from a distance. Also, we gazed into the depths of the water, and watched for hours the gambols of the curious and bright-colored fish among the corals and sea-weed. Peterkin also made a fishing line, and Jack constructed a number of hooks, some of which were very good, others remarkably bad. Some of these hooks were made of iron-wood, which did pretty well, the wood being ex- tremely hard, and Jack made them very thick and large. Fish there are not particular. Some of the crooked bones in fish-heads also answered for this purpose pretty well. But that which formed our best and most serviceable hook was the brass finger-ring belonging to Jack. It gave him not a little trouble to manufacture it. First he cut it with the axe ; then twisted it into the form of a hook. The barb took him several hours to cut. He did it by means of constant sawing with the broken penknife. THE CORAL ISLAND. 153 As for the point, an hour's rubbing on a piece of sand- stone made an excellent one. It would be a matter of much time and labor to de- scribe the appearance of the multitudes of fish that were day after day drawn into our boat by means of the brass hook. Peterkin always caught them, — for we ob- served that he derived much pleasure from fishing, while Jack and I found ample amusement in looking on, also in gazing down at the coral groves, and in baiting the hook. Among the fish that we saw, but did not catch, Wgre porpoises and sword-fish, whales and sharks. The porpoises came frequently into our lagoon in shoals, ancl amused us not a little by their bold leaps into the air, and their playful gambols in the sea. The sword-fish were wonderful creatures ; some of them apparently ten feet in length, with an ivory spear, six or eight feet long, pro- jecting from their noses. We often saw them darting after other fish, and no doubt they sometimes killed them with their ivory swords. Jack remembered having heard once of a sword-fish attacking a ship, — which seemed strange indeed; but, as they are often in the habit of at- tacking whales, perhaps it mistook the ship for one. This sword-fish ran against the vessel with such force, that it drove its sword quite through the thick planks; and when the ship arrived in the harbor, long afterwards, the sword was found still sticking in it ! Sharks did not often appear ; but we took care never again to bathe in deep water without leaving one of our number in the boat to give us warning, if he should see a shark approaching. As for the whales, they never came into our lagoon, but we frequently saw them spouting in the deep water beyond the reef. I shall never forget°my surprise the first clay I saw one of these huge monsters close 154 THE CORAL ISLAND. tome. We had been rambling about on the reef during the morning, and were about to re-embark in our little boat, to return home, when a loud blowing sound caused us to wheel rapidly round. We were just in time to see a shower of spray falling, and the flukes or tail of some monstrous fish disappear in the sea a few hundred yards off. We waited some time to see if he would rise again. As we stood, the sea seemed to open up at our very feet ; an immense spout of water was sent with a snort high into the air, and the huge blunt head of a sperm whale *arose before us. It was so large that it could easily have taken our little boat, along with ourselves, into its mouth ! It plunged slowly back into the sea, like a large ship foundering, and struck the water with its tail so forcibly as to cause a sound like a cannon shot. We also saw a great number of flying-fish, although we caught none ; and we noticed that they never flew out of the water except when followed by their bitter foe, the dolphin, from whom they thus endeavored to escape. But of all the fish that we saw, none surprised us so much as those that we used to find in shallow pools after a shower of rain ; and this not on account of their appearance, for they were ordinary-looking and very small, but on account of their having descended in a shower of rain ! We could account for them in no other way, because the pools in which we found these fish were quite dry before the shower, and at some distance above high-water mark. Jack, however, suggested a cause which seemed to me very probable. We used often to see water-spouts in the sea. A water-spout is a whirling body of water, which rises from the sea like a sharp-pointed pillar. After ris- ing a good way, it is met by a long tongue, which comes down from the clouds ; and when the two have joined, THE CORAL ISLAND. 155 they look something like an hour-glass. The water-spout is then carried by the wind, sometimes gently, sometimes with violence, over the sea, sometimes up into the cloud-, and then, bursting asunder, it descends in a deluge. This often happens over the land as well as over the sea ; and it sometimes does much damage, but frequently it passes gently away. Now, Jack thought that the little fish might perhaps have been carried up in a water-spout, and SO -'iit down again in a shower of rain. But we could not be certain as to this point ; yet we thought it likely. During these delightful fishing and boating excursions o o o o we caught a good many eels, which we found to be very good to eat. We also found turtles among the coral rocks, and made excellent sou}) in our iron kettle. Arm-nov^r, we discovered many shrimps and prawns, so that we had no lack of variety in our food ; and, indeed, we never passed a week without making some new and interesting discovery of some sort or other, either on the land or in the sea. 156 THE CORAL ISLAND. CHAPTER XVII. A MONSTER WAVE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES — THE BOAT LOST AND FOUND — PETERKINS TERRIBLE ACCIDENT —SUPPLIES OF FOOD FOR A VOYAGE IN THE BOAT — WE VISIT PENGUIN ISLAND, AND ARE AMAZED BEYOND MEASURE — ACCOUNT OF THE PENGUINS. ONE day, not long after our little boat was finished, we were sitting on the rocks at Spouting Cliff, and talking of an excursion which we intended to make to Penguin Island the next day. " You see," said Peterkin, " it might be all very well for a stupid fellow like me to remain here and leave the penguins alone, but it would be quite inconsistent with your characters as philosophers to remain any longer in ignorance of the habits and customs of these birds ; so the sooner we go the better." " Very true," said I ; " there is nothing I desire so much as to have a closer inspection of them." " And I think," said Jack,' " that you had better remain at home, Peterkin, to take care of the cat ; for I'm sure the hogs will be at it in your absence, out of re- venge for your killing their great-grandmother so reck- lessly." " Stay at home ? " cried Peterkin ; " my dear fellow, you would certainly lose your way, or get upset, if I were not there to take care of you." " Ah, true," said Jack, gravely, " that did not occur to me ; no doubt you must go. Our boat does require a THE CORAL ISLAND. 157 good deal of ballast ; and all that you say, Peterkin, car- ries so much weight with it, that we won't need stones if you go." Now, while my companions were talking, a notable event occurred, which, as it is not generally known, I shall be particular in recording here. While we were talking, as I have said, we noticed a dark line, like a low cloud or fog-bank, on the seaward horizon. The day was a fine one, though cloudy, and a gentle breeze was blowing, but the sea was not rougher, or the breaker on the reef higher than usual. At first, we thought that this looked like a thunder-cloud ; and, as we had had a good deal of broken weather of late, ac- companied by occasional peals of thunder, we supposed that a storm must be approaching. Gradually, however, this line seemed to draw nearer, without spreading up over the sky, as would certainly have been the case if it had been a storm-cloud. Still nearer it came, and soon we saw that it was moving swiftly towards the island ; but there was no sound till it reached the islands out at sea. As it passed these islands, we observed, with no little anxiety that a cloud of white foam encircled them, and burst in spray into tne air ; — it was accompanied by a loud roar. This led us to conjecture that the ap- proaching object was an enormous wave of the sea ; but we had no idea how large it was till it came near to our- selves. When it approached the outer reef, however, we were awe-struck with its unusual magnitude ; and we sprang to our feet, and clambered hastily up to the high- est point of the precipice, under an indefinable feeling of fear. I have said before that the reef opposite Spouting Cliff was very near to the shore, while, just in front of 158 THE CORAL ISLAND. the bower, it was at a considerable distance out to sea. Owing to this formation, the wave reached the reef at the latter point before it struck at the foot of Spouting Cliff. The instant it touched the reef we became aware, for the first time, of its awful magnitude. It burst com- pletely over the reef at all points, with a roar that seemed louder to me than thunder ; and this roar continued for some seconds, while the wave rolled gradually along towards the cliff on which we stood. As its crest reared before us, we felt that we were in great danger, and turned to flee ; but we were too late. With a crash that seemed to shake the solid rocks, the gigantic billow fell, and instantly the spou ting-holes sent up a gush of water- spouts with such force that they shrieked on issuing from their narrow vents. It seemed to us as if the earth had been blown up with water. We were stunned and con- fused by the shock, and so drenched and blinded with spray, that we knew not for a few moments whither to flee for shelter. At length we all three gained an emi- nence beyond the reach of the water ; but what a scene of devastation met our gaze, as we looked along the shore ! This enormous wave not only burst over the reef, but continued its way across the lagoon, and fell on the sandy beach of the island with such force that it passed completely over it and dashed into the woods, lev- elling the smaller trees and bushes in its headlong course ! On seeing this, Jack said he feared our bower must have been swept away, and that the boat, which was on the beach, must have been utterly destroyed. Our hearts sank within us as we thought of this, and we hastened round through the woods towards our home. On reach- ing it we found to our great relief of mind, that the force of the wave had been expended just before reaching the THE CORAL ISLAND. 150 bower; bat the entrance to it was almost blocked up by the torn-up bushes and tangled heaps of sea-weed. Hav- ing satisfied ourselves as to the bower, we hurried to the <- spot where the boat had been left; but no boat was there '. The spot on which it had stood was vacant, and no sign of it could we see on looking around us. " It may have been washed up into the woods," said Jack, hurrying up the beach as lie spoke. Still, no boat was to be seen, and we were about to give ourselves over to despair, when Peterkin called to Jack, and said : — "Jack, my friend, you were once so exceedingly saga- cious and wise as to make me acquainted with the fact that cocoa-nuts grow upon trees; will you now be so good as to inform me what sort of fruit that is growing on the top of yonder bush? for I confess to being igno- rant, or, at least, doubtful on the point." We looked towards the bush indicated, and there, to our surprise, beheld our little boat snugly nestled among the leaves! AYe were very much overjoyed at this, for we would have suffered any loss rather than the loss of our boat. We found that the wave had actually borne the boat on its crest from the beach into the woods, and there launched it into the heart of this bush ; which was extremely fortunate, for had it been tossed against a rock <»• a tire, it would have been dashed to pieces, whereas it had not received the smallest injury. It was no easy matter, however, to get it out of the bush and down to the sea again. This cost us two days of hard labor to accomplish. We had also much ado to clear away the rubbish from before the bower, and spent nearly a week in constant labor ere we got the neighborhood to look as clean and orderly as before ; for the uprooted bushes and sea-weed 160 THE CORAL ISLAND. that lay on the beach formed a more dreadfully confused looking mass than one who had not seen the place after the inundation could conceive. Before leaving the subject I may mention, for the sake of those who interest themselves in the curious natural phenomena of our world, that this gigantic wave occurs regularly on some of the islands of the Pacific, once, and sometimes twice in the year. I heard this stated by the missionaries during my career in those seas. They could not tell me whether it visited all of the islands, but I was certainly assured that it occurred periodically in some of them. After we had got our home put to rights, and cleared of the debris of the inundation, we again turned our thoughts to paying the penguins a visit. The boat was therefore overhauled and a few repairs done. Then we prepared a supply of provisions, for we intended to be absent at least a night or two, perhaps longer. This took us some time to do, for while Jack was busy with the boat, Peterkin was sent into the woods to spear a hog or two, and had to search long, sometimes, ere he found them. Peterkin was usually sent on this errand, when we wanted a pork chop (which was not seldom), because he was so active and could run so wonderfully fast that he found no difficulty in overtaking the hogs ; but, being dreadfully reckless, he almost invariably tumbled over stumps and stones in the course of his wild chase, and seldom re- turned home without having knocked the skin off his shins. Once, indeed, a more serious accident happened to him. He had been out all the morning alone, and did not return at the usual time to dinner. We wondered at this for Peterkin was always very punctual at the dinner hour. As supper-time drew near we began to be anx- THE CORAL ISLAND. 161 ious about him, and at length sallied forth to search the woods. For a long time we sought in vain, but a little before dark we came upon the tracks of the hogs, which we followed up until we came to the brow of a rather steep bank or precipice. Looking over this we beheld Peterkin lying in a state of insensibility at the foot, with his cluck resting on the snout of a little pig, which was pinned to the earth by the spear! We were dreadfully alarmed, but hastened to bathe his forehead with water, and had soon the satisfaction of seeing him revive. Af- ter we had carried him home, he related to us how the thing had happened. " You must know," said he, " I walked about all the forenoon, till I was as tired as an old donkey, without see- ing a single grunter, not so much as a track of one ; but, as I was determined not to return empty-handed, I re- solved to go without my dinner, and " " What ! " exclaimed Jack, " did you really resolve to do that ? " " Now, Jack, hold your tongue," returned Peterkin ; " I say that I resolved to forego my dinner and to push to the head of tlie small valley, where I felt pretty sure of discovering the hogs. I soon found that I was on the right scent, for I had scarcely walked half a mile in the direction of the small plum-tree we found there the other day, when a squeak fell on my ear. ' Ho, ho,' said I, ' there you go, my boys ; ' and I hurried up the glen. I soon started them, and singling out a fat pig, ran tilt at him. In a few seconds I was up with him, and stuck my spear right through his dumpy body. Just as I did so, I saw that we were on the edge of a precipice, whether high or low I knew not, but I had been running at such a pace that I could not stop, so the pig and I gave a howl 11 162 THE CORAL ISLAND. in concert and went plunging over together. I remem- bered nothing more after that, till I came to my senses and found you bathing my temples, and Ralph wringing his hands over me." But although Peterkin was often unfortunate, in the way of getting tumbles, he was successful on the present occasion in hunting, and returned before evening with three very nice little hogs. I, also, was successful in my visit to the mud-flats, where I killed several ducks. So that when we launched and loaded our boat at sunrise the following morning, we found our store of provisions to be more than sufficient. Part had been cooked the night before, and, on taking note of the different items, we found the account to stand thus : — 10 Breadfruits, (two baked, eight unbaked.) 20 Yams, (six roasted, the rest raw.) 6 Taro roots. 50 Fine large plums. 6 Cocoa-nuts, ripe. 6 Ditto green, (for drinking.) 4 Large ducks and two small ones, raw. 3 Cold roast pigs, with stuffing. I may here remark that the stuffing had been devised by Peterkin specially for the occasion. He kept the man- ner of its compounding a profound secret, so I cannot tell what it was ; but I can say, with much confidence, that we found it to be atrociously bad, and after the first tast- ing, scraped it carefully out and threw it overboard. We calculated that this supply would last us for several days, but we afterwards found that it was much more than we required, especially in regard to the cocoa-nuts, of which we found large supplies wherever we went. However, as Peterkin remarked, it was better to have too much THE CORAL ISLAND. 1G3 than too little, as Ave knew not to what straits we might be put during our voyage. It was a very calm, sunny morning when we launched forth and rowed over the lagoon towards the outlet in the reef, and passed between the two green islets that guard the entrance. We experienced some difficulty and no lit- tle danger in passing the surf of the breaker, and shipped a good deal of water in the attempt ; but, once past the billow, we found ourselves floating placidly on the long oily -well that rose and fell slowly as it rolled over the wide ocean. Penguin Island lay on the other side of our own island, at about a mile beyond the outer reef, and we calculated that it must be at least twenty miles distant by the way we should have to go. We might, indeed, have short- ened ill" way by coasting round our island inside of the lagoon, and going out at the passage in the reef nearly opposite to Penguin Island, but we preferred to go by the open sea ; first, because it was more adventurous ; and. secondly, because we should have the pleasure of again feeling the motion of the deep, which we all loved very much, not being liable to sea-sickness. " I wish we had a breeze," said Jack. " So do I," cried Peterkin, resting on his oar and wip- ing his heated brow ; " pulling is hard work. Oh dear, if we could only catch a hundred or two of these gulls, tie them to the boat with long strings, and make them fly as we want them, how capital it would be ! " "Or bore a hole through a shark's tail, and reeve a rope through it, eh?" remarked Jack. "But, I say, it seems that my wish is going to be granted, for here comes a breeze. Ship your oar, Peterkin. Up with the mast, Ralph ; I'll see to the sail. Mind your helm ; look out for squalls ! " 164 THE CORAL ISLAND. This last speech was caused by the sudden appearance of a dark blue line on the horizon, which in an incredibly short space of time, swept down on us, lashing up the sea in white foam as it went. We presented the stern of the boat to its first violence, and, in a few seconds, it moder- ated into a steady breeze, to which we spread our sail and flew merrily over the waves. Although the breeze died away soon afterwards, it had been so stiff while it lasted, that we were carried over the greater part of our way before it fell calm again ; so that, when the flapping of the sail against the mast told us that it was time to resume the oars, we were not much more than a mile from Penguin Island. " There go the soldiers ! " cried Peterkin, as we came in sight of it ; " how spruce their white trousers look, this morning ! I wonder if they will receive us kindly. D'you think they are hospitable, Jack ? " " Don't talk, Peterkin, but pull away, and you shall see shortly." As we drew near to the island we were much amused by the manoeuvres and appearance of these strange birds. They seemed to be of different species, for some had crests on their heads while others had none, and while some were about the size of a goose others appeared nearly as large as a swan. We also saw a huge albatross soaring above the heads of the penguins. It was followed and surrounded by numerous flocks of sea-gulls. Having approached to within a few yards of the island, which was a low rock, with no other vegetation on it than a few bushes, we lay on our oars and gazed at the birds with surprise and pleasure, they returning our gaze with in- terest. We now saw that their soldierlike appearance was owing to the stiff, erect manner in which they sat THE CORAL ISLAND. 1G5 on their short legs, — " Bolt-up-right," as Peterkin ex- pressed it. They had black heads, long sharp beaks, white breasts, and bluish backs. Their wing- were so short that they looked more like the fins of a fish, and, indeed, we soon saw that they used them for the purpose of swimming under water. There were no quills on these wings, but a sort of scaly feathers ; which also thickly covered their bodies. Their legs were short, and plaeed so far back that the birds, while on land, were obliged to stand quite upright in order to keep their balance ; but in the water they floated like other water-fowl. At first we were so stunned with the clamor which they and other sea-birds kept up around us, that we knew not which way to look, — for they covered the rocks in thousands , but as we continued to gaze, we observed several quad- rupeds (as we thought) walking in the midst of the pen- guins. " Pull in a bit," cried Peterkin, " and let's see what these are. They must be fond of noisy company, to con- sort with such creatures." To our surprise we found that these were no other than penguins which had gone down on all fours, and were crawling among the bushes on their feet and wings, just like quadrupeds. Suddenly one big old bird, that had been sitting on a point very near to us, gazing in mute astonishment, became alarmed, and, scuttling down the rocks, plumped or fell, rather than ran, into the sea. It dived in a moment, and, a few seconds afterwards, came out of the water far ahead, with such a spring, and such a dive back into the sea again, that we could scarcely believe it was not a fish that had leaped in sport. k ' That beats everything," said Peterkin, rubbing his 166 THE CORAL ISLAND. nose, and screwing up his face with an expression of exasperated amazement. " I've heard of a thing being neither fish, flesh nor fowl, but I never did expect to live to see a brute that was all three together, — at once, — in one ! But look there ! " he continued, pointing with a look of resignation to the shore ; " look there ! there's no end to it. What has that brute got under its tail ?" We turned to look in the direction pointed out, and there saw a penguin walking slowly and very sedately along the shore with an egg under its tail. There were several others, we observed, burdened in the same way; and we found afterwards that these were a species of penguins that always carried their eggs so. Indeed, they had a most convenient cavity for the purpose, just be- tween the tail and the legs. We were very much im- pressed with the regularity and order of this colony. The island seemed to be apportioned out into squares, of which each penguin possessed one, and sat in stiff solem- nity in the middle of it, or took a slow march up and down the spaces between. Some were hatching their eggs, but others were feeding their young ones in a man- ner that caused us to laugh not a little. The mother stood on a mound or raised rock, while the young one stood patiently below her on the ground. Suddenly the mother raised her head and uttered a series of the most discordant cackling sounds. " She's going to choke," cried Peterkin. But this was not the case, although, I confess, she looked like it. In a few seconds she put down her head and opened her mouth, into which the young one thrust its beak and seemed to suck something from her throat. Then the cackling was renewed, the sucking continued, and so the operation of feeding was carried on till the THE CORAL ISLAND. 1G7 young one was satisfied ; but what she fed her little one with, we could not tell. "Now, just look yonder!" said Peterkin, in an ex- cited tone ; " if that isn't the most abominable piece of maternal deception I ever saw. That rascally old lady penguin has just pitched her young one into the sea, and there's another about to follow her example." This indeed seemed to be the case, for, on the top of a steep rock close to the edge of the sea, we observed an old penguin endeavoring to entice her young one into the water ; but the young one seemed very unwilling to go, and, notwithstanding the enticements of its mother, moved very slowly towards her. At last she went gently behind the young bird and pushed it a little towards the water, but with great tenderness, as much as to say, " Don't be afraid, darling ! I won't hurt you, my pet ! " but no sooner did she get it to the edge of the rock, where it stood looking pensively down at the sea, than she gave it a sud- den and violent push, sending it headlong down the slope into the water, where its mother left it to scramble ashore as it best could. We observed many of them employed in doing this, and we came to the conclusion that this is the way in which old penguins teach their children to swim. Scarcely had we finished making our remarks on tin's, when we were startled by about a dozen of the old birds hopping in the most clumsy and ludicrous manner towards the sea. The beach, here, was a sloping rock, and when they came to it, some of them succeeded in hopping down in safety, but others lost their balance and rolled and scrambled clown the slope in the most helpless manner. The instant they reached the water, however, they seemed to be in their proper element. They dived and bounded. 168 THE CORAL ISLAND. out of it and into it again with the utmost agility ; and so, diving and bounding and spluttering, for they could not fly, they went rapidly out to sea. On seeing this, Peterkin turned with a grave face to us and said, " It's my opinion that these birds are all stark, staring mad, and that this is an enchanted island. I therefore propose that we should either put about ship and fly in terror from the spot, or land valor- ously on the island, and sell our lives as dearly as we can." " I vote for landing, so pull in, lads," said Jack, giving a stroke with his oar that made the boat spin. In a few seconds we ran the boat into a little creek, where we made her fast to a projecting piece of coral, and, running up the beach, entered the ranks of the penguins armed with our cudgels and our spear. We were greatly sur- prised to find that, instead of attacking us or showing signs of fear at our approach, these curious birds did not move from their places until we laid hands on them, and merely turned their eyes on us in solemn, stupid wonder as we passed. There was one old penguin, however, that began to walk slowly towards the sea, and Peterkin took it into his head that he would try to interrupt its progress, so he ran between it and the sea and brandished his cudgel in its face. But this proved to be a resolute old bird. It would not retreat ; nay, more, it would not cease to advance, but battled with Peterkin bravely and drove him before it until it reached the sea. Had Peterkin used his club he could easily have felled it, no doubt ; but, as he had no wish to do so cruel an act merely out of sport, he let the bird escape. We spent fully three hours on this island in watching THE CORAL ISLAND. 1 GO the habits of these curious birds, and, when we finally left them, we all three concluded, after much consultation, that they were the most wonderful creatures we had ever seen ; and further, we thought it probable that they were the most wonderful creatures in the world ! 170 THE CORAL ISLAND. CHAPTER XVIII. AN AWFUL STORM AND ITS CONSEQUENCES— NARROW ESCAPE — A ROCK PROVES A SURE FOUNDATION — A FEARFUL NIGHT AND A BRIGHT MORNING — DELIVERANCE FROM DANGER. IT was evening before we left the island of the penguins. As we had made up our minds to encamp for the night on a small island, whereon grew a few cocoa-nut trees, which was about two miles off, we lay to our oars with some energy. But a danger was in store for us which we had not anticipated. The wind, which had carried us so quickly to Penguin Island, freshened as evening drew on, to a stiff breeze, and, before we had made half the distance to the small island, it became a regular gale. Although it was not so directly against us as to prevent our rowing in the course we wished to go, yet it checked us very much ; and although the force of the sea was somewhat broken by the island, the waves soon began to rise, and to roll their broken crests against our small craft, so that she began to take in water, and we had much ado to keep ourselves afloat. At last the wind and sea together became so violent that we found it im- possible to make the island, so Jack suddenly put the head of the boat round and ordered Peterkin and me to hoist a corner of the sail, intending to run back to Pen- guin Island. THE CORAL ISLAND. 171 " We shall at least have the shelter of the bushes," he said, as the boat flew before the wind, " and the penguins will keep us company." As Jack spoke, the wind suddenly shifted, and blew so much against us that we were forced to hoist more of the sail in order to beat up for the island, being by this change thrown much to leeward of it. What made matters worse was, that the gale came in squalls, so that we were more than once nearly upset. " Stand by, both of you," cried Jack, in a quick, ear- nest tone ; '^fc ready to dowse the sail. I very much fear we won't make the island after all." Peterkin and I were so much in the habit of trusting everything to Jack that we had fallen into the way of not considering things, especially such things as were under Jack's care. We had, therefore, never doubted for a mo- ment that all was going well, so that it was with no little anxiety that we heard him make the above remark. However, we had no time for question or surmise, for, at the moment he spoke a heavy squall was bearing down upon us, and, as we were then flying with our lee gunwale dipping occasionally under the waves, it was evident that we should have to lower our sail altogether. In a few seconds the squall struck the boat, but Peterkin and I had the sail down in a moment, so that it did not upset us ; but when it was past, we were more than half full of water. This I soon baled out, while Peterkin again hoisted a corner of the sail ; but the evil which Jack had feared came upon us. We found it quite impossible to make Penguin Island. The gale carried us quickly past it towards the open sea, and the terrible truth flashed upon us that we should be swept out and left to perish 172 THE CORAL ISLAND. miserably in a small boat in the midst of the wide ocean. This idea was forced very strongly upon us because we saw nothing in the direction whither the wind was blowing us save the raging billows of the sea ; and, in- deed, we trembled as we gazed around us, for we were now beyond the shelter of the islands, and it seemed as though any of the huge billows, which curled over in masses of foam, might swallow us up in a moment. The water, also, began to wash in over our sides, and I had to keep constantly baling, for Jack could#iot quit the helm nor Peterkin the sail for an instant, without en- dangering our lives. In the midst of this distress Jack uttered an exclamation of hope, and pointed towards a low island or rock which lay directly ahead. It had been hitherto unobserved, owing to the dark clouds that ob- scured the sky and the blinding spray that seemed to fill the whole atmosphere. As we neared this rock we observed that it was quite destitute of trees and verdure, and so low that the sea broke completely over it. In fact it was nothing more than the summit of one of the coral formations, which rose only a few feet above the level of the water, and was, in stormy weather, all but invisible. Over this island the waves were breaking in the utmost fury, and our hearts sank within us as we saw that there was not a spot where we could thrust our little boat without its being dashed to pieces. " Show a little bit more sail," cried Jack, as we swept past the weather side of the rock with fearful speed. " Ay, ay," answered Peterkin, hoisting about a foot more of our sail. Little though the addition was it caused the boat to lie THE STORM. Page 173. THE CORAL ISLAND. 170 over and creak so loudly, as we cleft the foaming waves, that I expected to be upset every instant; and I blamed Jack in my heart for his rashness. But I did him in- justice, for, although during two seconds the water rushed in-board in a torrent, he succeeded in steering us sharply round to the leeward side of the rock, where the water was comparatively calm, and the force of the breeze broken. "Out your oars now, lads; that's well done. Give way ; " We obeyed instantly. The oars splashed into the waves together. One good hearty pull, and we were floating in a comparatively calm creek that was so nar- row as to be barely able to admit our boat. Here we were in perfect safety, and, as we leaped on shore and ia-tmed our cable to the rocks, I thanked God in my heart for our deliverance from so great danger. But, although I have said we were now in safety, I suspect that few of my readers would have envied our position. It is true we had no lack of food, but we were drenched to the skin ; the sea was foaming round us and the spray flying over our heads, so that we were completely enveloped, as it were, in water ; the spot on which we had landed was not more than twelve yards in diameter, and from this spot we could not move without the risk of being swept away by the storm. At the upper end of the creek was a small hollow or cave in the rock, which sheltered us from the fury of the winds and waves ; and as the rock extended in a sort of ledge over our heads, it pre- vented the spray from falling upon us. " Why," said Peterkin, beginning to feel cheery again, " it seems to me that we have got into a mermaid's cave, for there is nothing but water all round us ; and as for earth or sky, they are things of the past." 174 THE CORAL ISLAND. Peterkin's idea was not inappropriate, for, what with the sea roaring in white foam up to our very feet, and the spray flying in white sheets continually over our heads, and the water dripping heavily from the ledge above like a curtain in front of our cave, it did seem to us very much more like being below than above water. " Now, boys," cried Jack, " bestir yourselves, and let's make ourselves comfortable. Toss out our provisions, Peterkin ; and here, Ralph, lend a hand to haul' up the boat. Look sharp." " Ay, ay, captain," we cried, as we hastened to obey, much cheered by the hearty manner of our comrade. Fortunately the cave, although not very deep, was quite dry, so that we succeeded in making ourselves much more comfortable than could have been expected. We landed our provisions, wrung the water out of our garments, spread our sail below us for a carpet, and, after having eaten a hearty meal, began to feel quite cheerful. But as night drew on, our spirits sank again, for with the daylight all evidence of our security vanished away. We could no longer see the firm rock on which we lay, while we were stunned with the violence of the tempest that raged around us. The night grew pitchy dark, as it advanced, so that we could not see our hands, when we held them up before our eyes, and were obliged to feel each other occasionally to make sure that we were safe, for the storm at last became so terrible that it was difficult to make our voices audible. A slight variation of the wind, as we supposed, caused a few drops of spray ever and anon to blow into our faces ; and the eddy of the sea, in its mad boiling, washed up into our little creek until it reached our feet and threatened to tear THE CORAL ISLAND. 175 away our boat. In order to prevent this latter calamity, we hauled the boat farther up and held the cable in our hands. Occasional flashes of lightning shone with a ghastly glare through the watery curtains around us, and lent additional horror to the scene. Yet we longed for those dismal flashes, for they were less appalling than the thick blackness that succeeded them. Crashing peals of thunder seemed to tear the skies in twain, and fell upon our ears through the wild yelling of the hurricane as if it had been but a gentle summer breeze ; while the billows burst upon the weather side of the island until we fancied that the solid rock was giving way, and, in our agony, we clung to the bare ground, expecting every moment to be whirled away and whelmed in tlif j black howling sea ! Oh ! it was a night of terrible anxiety, and no one can conceive the feelings of intense grati- tude and relief with which we at last saw the dawn of day break through the vapory mists around us. For three days and three nights we remained on this rock, while the storm continued to rage with unabated fury. On the morning of the fourth day it suddenly ceased, and the wind fell altogether ; but the waves still ran so high that we did not dare to put off in our boat. During the greater part of this period we scarcely slept above a few minutes at a time, but on the third nighfwe slept soundly and awoke early on the fourth morning to find the sea very much down, and the sun shining brightly again in the clear blue sky. It was with light hearts that we launched forth once more in our little boat and steered away for our island home, which, we were overjoyed to find, was quite visible on the horizon, for we had feared that we had been blown out of sight of it altogether. As it was a dead 176 THE CORAL ISLAND. calm we had to row during the greater part of the day ; but towards the afternoon a fair breeze sprang up, which enabled us to hoist our sail. We soon passed Penguin Island, and the other island which we had failed to reach on the day the storm commenced ; but as we had still enough of provisions, and were anxious to get home, we did not land, to the great disappointment of Peterkin, who seemed to entertain quite an affection for the pen- guins. Although the breeze was pretty fresh for several hours, we did not reach the outer reef of our island till night- fall, and before we had sailed more than a hundred yards into the lagoon, the wind died away altogether, so that we had to take to our oars again. It was late and the moon and stars were shining brightly when we arrived opposite the bower and leaped upon the strand. So glad were we to be safe back again on our beloved island, that we scarcely took time to drag the boat a short way up the beach, and then ran up to see that all was right at the bower. I must confess, however, that my joy was mingled with a vague sort of fear lest our home had been visited and destroyed during our absence ; but on reaching it we found everything just as it had been left, and the poor black cat curled up, sound asleep, on the coral table in front of our humble dwelling. THE (ORAL ISLAND. 177 CHAPTER XTX. SIIOKMAKTXU — THE EVEN TENOR OF OUR WAY SUDDENLY INTER- IM PIED— AH UNEXPECTED VISIT AND AN APPALLING BATTLE— WE ALL BECOME WARRIORS, AND JACK PROVES HIMSELF TO BE A HERO. FOR many months after this we continued to live on our island in uninterrupted harmony and happiness. Sometimes we went out a-fishing in the lagoon, and ?ome- times went a-hunting in the woods, or ascended to the mountain top, by way of variety, although Peterkin al- ways asserted that we went for the purpose of hailing any ship that might ehance to heave in sight. But I am certain that none of us wished to be delivered from our captivity, lor we were extremely happy, and Peterkin used to say that as we were very young we should not feel the los3 of a year or two. Peterkin, as I have said before, was thirteen years of age, Jaek eighteen, and I fifteen. But Jack was very tall, strong, and manly for bis age, and might easily have been mistaken for twenty. The climate was so beautiful that it seemed to be a perpetual summer, and as many of the fruit-trees con- tinued to bear fruit and blossom all the year round, we never wanted for a plentiful supply of food. The hogs, too, seemed rather to increase than diminish, although Peterkin was \^ry frequent in his attacks on them with his spear. If at any time we failed in finding a drove, we had only to pay a visit to the plum-tree before men- 12 178 THE CORAL ISLAND. tioned, where we always found a large family of them asleep under its branches. We employed ourselves very busily during this time in making various garments of cocoa-nut cloth, as those with which we had landed were beginning to be very ragged. Peterkin also succeeded in making excellent shoes out of the skin of the old hog, in the following manner : He first cut a piece of the hide, of an oblong form, a few inches longer than his foot. This he soaked in water, and, while it was wet, he sewed up one end of it, so as to form a rough imitation of that part of the heel of a shoe where the seam is. This done, he bored a row of holes all round the edge of the piece of skin, through which a tough line was passed. Into the sewed-up part of this shoe he thrust his heel, then drawing the string tight, the edges rose up and overlapped his foot all round. It is true, there were a great many ill-looking puckers in these shoes, but we found them very serviceable notwith- standing, and Jack came at last to prefer them to his long boots. We also made various other useful articles, which added to our comfort, and once or twice spoke of build- ing us a house, but Ave had so great an affection for the bower, and, withal, found it so serviceable, that we de- termined not to leave it, nor to attempt the building of a house, w T hich, in such a climate, might turn out to be rather disagreeable than useful. We often examined the pistol that we had found in the house on the other side of the island, and Peterkin wished much that we had powder and shot, as it would render pig-killing much easier ; but, after all, we had be- come so expert in the use of our sling, and bow, and spear, that we were independent of more deadly wea- pons. THE CORAL ISLAND. 179 Divinjr in the Water Garden also continued to afford us as much pleasure as ever; and Peterkin began to be a little more expert in the water from constant practice. As for Jack and I, we began to feel as if water were our native element, and revelled in it with so much confi- dence and comfort that Peterkin said he feared we would turn into fish some day, and swim off and leave hi in ; adding, that he had been for a long time observing that Jack was becoming more and more like a shark every