"Why, where ever have "ee got yourself into?" said Jarwin, going down on his knees and groping carefully about the opening of the pit. "I do believe you"ve bin an" got into a trap o" some sort. The savages must have been here before us, doggie, and made more than one of "em, for I"ve just comed out o" one myself. Hallo! _there_, I"m into another!"
he exclaimed as the treacherous bank gave way, and he slipped in headlong, with a dire crash, almost smothering Cuffy in his fall.
Fortunately, no damage, beyond a few scratches, resulted either to dog or man, and in a few minutes more both stood upon firm ground.
It would be vain, reader to attempt to give you in detail all that John Jarwin said and did on that great occasion, as he sat there on the ground caressing his dog as if it had been his own child. We leave it to your imagination!
When he had expended the first burst of feeling, he got up, and was about to retrace his steps, when he observed some bones lying near him.
On examination, these proved to be the skeleton of a man. At first Jarwin thought it must be that of a native; but he was startled to find among the dust on which the skeleton lay several bra.s.s b.u.t.tons with anchors on them. That he stood beside the remains of a brother seaman, who had probably been cast on that island, as he himself had been, seemed very evident, and the thought filled him with strange depressing emotions. As it was by that time too dark to make further investigations, he left the place, intending to return next day; and, going as cautiously as possible out of the wood, returned to his abode, where he kindled a fire, gave Cuffy some food, and prepared some for himself; but before he had tasted that food another of the shivering fits seized him. A strange feeling of being very ill, and a peculiar wandering of his mind, induced him to throw himself on his couch. The prolonged strain to which body and mind had been subjected had proved too much for him, and before morning he was stricken with a raging fever.
CHAPTER FOUR.
HOPES AND FEARS AND STERN RESOLVES LEAD TO VIGOROUS ACTION.
For several days the sailor lay tossing in helpless misery in his bower, without food or fire. Indeed he could not have eaten even if food had been offered him, and as to fire, there was heat enough in his veins, poor fellow! to more than counterbalance the want of that.
During part of the time he became delirious, and raved about home and sea-life and old companions in a way that evidently quite alarmed Cuffy, for that sagacious terrier approached his master with caution, with his tail between his legs, and a pitiful, earnest gaze, that was quite touching. This was partly owing to the fact that Jarwin had several times patted him with such painful violence as to astonish and render him doubtful of the affection displayed by such caresses. Jarwin also recurred at these times to his tobacco and beer, and apparently suffered a good deal from dreams about those luxuries. In his ravings he often told Cuffy to fill a pipe for him, and advised him to look sharp about it, and he frequently reproached some of his old comrades for not pa.s.sing the beer. Fortunately the fountain was close at hand, and he often slaked his burning thirst at it. He also thought frequently of the skeleton in the thicket, and sometimes raved with an expression of horror about being left to die alone on a desert island.
By degrees the fever reached its climax, and then left him almost dead.
For a whole day and night he lay so absolutely helpless that it cost him an effort to open his eyes, and he looked so ill that the poor dog began to whine piteously over him, but the day after that a sensation of hunger induced him to make an effort to rouse up. He tried to raise his head--it felt as if made of lead.
"Hallo! Cuffy, somethin" wrong I suspect!"
It was the first time for many days that Jarwin had spoken in his natural tones. The effect on the dog was instantaneous and powerful.
It sprang up, and wagged its expressive tail with something of the energy of former times; licked the sick man"s face and hands; whined and barked intelligently; ran away in little bursts, as if it had resolved to undertake a journey off-hand, but came back in a few seconds, and in many other ways indicated its intense delight at finding that Jarwin was "himself again."
But alas! Jarwin was not quite himself yet, and Cuffy, after his first ebullition, sat looking in surprise at the invalid, as he strove to turn on his side, and reach out his heavy hand and skinny arm towards a few sc.r.a.ps of the last meal he had cooked before being struck down. Cuffy, after eating the portion of that meal that suited his taste, had left the remnants there as being unworthy of notice, and catered for himself among the dead fish cast up on the beach. Although lying within a yard of his couch, Jarwin had the greatest difficulty in reaching the food; and when he did at length succeed in grasping it, he fell back on his couch, and lay for a long time as if dead. Soon, however, he recovered, and, with a feeling of grat.i.tude such as he had never before experienced, began to gnaw the hard morsels.
"I"m in a bad way, Cuff," he said, after satisfying the first cravings of hunger.
Cuffy gave a responsive wag with his tail, and c.o.c.ked his ears for more.
"Hows"ever, seems to me that I"ve got the turn; let"s be thankful for _that_, my doggie. Wonder how long I"ve bin ill. Months mayhap. Don"t think I could have come to be sitch a skeleton in a short time. Ha!
that minds me o" the skeleton in the wood. Have "ee seed it, Cuff, since I found "ee there? Well, I must eat and drink too, if I would keep the skin on _my_ skeleton. Wish you had hands, doggie, for I"m greatly in need o" help just now. But you"re a comfort, anyhow, even though you hain"t got no hands. I should have died without you, my doggie--you cheer me up, d"ee see, and when it"s nigh low water with a man, it don"t take much to make him slip his cable. The want of a kind look at this here time, Cuffy, would have sent me adrift, I do believe."
It must not be supposed that all this was spoken fluently. It came slowly, by fits and starts, with a long pause at the end of each sentence, and with many a sigh between, expressive of extreme weakness.
"I wish I had a drink, Cuffy," said the invalid after a long pause, turning a longing look towards the spring, which welled up pleasantly close to the opening of the hut. "Ay, that"s all very well in its way, but bow-wowin" an" waggin" yer tail won"t fetch me a can o" water.
Hows"ever, it"s o" no manner o" use wishin". `Never say die." Here goes."
So saying, he began slowly and painfully, but with unyielding perseverance, to push, and draw, and hitch himself, while lying at full length, towards the spring, which he reached at last so exhausted, that he had barely put his lips to it and swallowed a mouthful, when his head dropped, and he almost fainted. He was within an ace of being drowned, but with a violent effort he drew his face out of the spring, and lay there in a half unconscious condition for some time, with the clear cool water playing about his temples. Reviving in a little time, he took another sip, and then crawled back to his couch. Immediately he fell into a profound slumber, from which Cuffy strove in vain to awaken him; therefore, like a sagacious dog, he lay down at his master"s side and joined him in repose.
From that hour Jarwin began to mend rapidly. In a few days he was able to walk about with the aid of a stick. In a few weeks he felt somewhat like his former self, and soon after that, he was able to ascend to the top of the island, and resume his watch for a pa.s.sing sail. But the first few hours of his watch beside the old flagstaff convinced him that his hopes would, in all probability, be doomed to disappointment, and that he would soon fall back into a state of apathy, from which he might perhaps be unable to rouse himself, in which case his fate would certainly be that of the poor sailor whose remains he had that day buried in the pit near to which they had been discovered. He resolved, therefore, to give up watching altogether, and to devote all his energies in future to devising some plan of escape from the island, but when he bent his mind to this task he felt a deep sinking of the heart, for he had no implements wherewith to construct a boat or canoe.
Suddenly it occurred to him, for the first time in his life, that he ought, in this extremity, to pray to G.o.d for help. He was, as we have said, a straightforward man, prompt to act as well as ready to conceive.
He fell on his knees at once, humbly confessed his sin in depending so entirely on himself in time past, and earnestly asked help and guidance for the future. His prayer was not long--neither was the publican"s-- but it was effectual. He arose with feelings of strong resolution and confidence, which appeared to himself quite unaccountable, for he had not, as yet, conceived any new idea or method as to escaping from the island. Instead of setting his mind to work, as he had intended, he could not help dwelling on the fact that he had never before deliberately asked help from his Maker, and this raised a train of self-condemnatory thoughts which occupied him the remainder of that day.
At night he prayed again before laying down to rest.
Next morning he rose like a giant refreshed, and, after a plunge in the sea and a hearty breakfast, set out with Cuffy for a meditative walk.
Great were the thoughts that swelled the seaman"s broad chest during that walk, and numerous, as well as wild and quaint, were the plans of escape which he conceived and found it necessary to abandon.
"It"s harder work to think it out than I had expected, Cuffy," he said, sitting down on a cliff that overlooked the sea, and thinking aloud.
"If you and I could only swim twenty miles or so at a stretch, I"d risk it; but, as nothin" short o" that would be likely to be of sarvice, we must give it up. Then, if I could only cut down trees with my shoe, and saw planks with my jacket, we might make a boat; but I can"t do that, and we haven"t no nails--except our toe-nails, which ain"t the right shape or strong enough; so we must give that up too. It"s true that we might burn a canoe out of a solid tree, but who"s to cut down the solid tree for us, doggie? I"m sure if the waggin" of a tail could do it you wouldn"t be long about it! Why on earth can"t "ee keep it still for a bit? Well, then, as we can"t swim or fly, and haven"t a boat or canoe, or the means o" makin" em, what"s the next thing to be done?"
Apparently neither man nor dog could return an answer to that question, for they both sat for a very long time in profound silence, staring at the sea.
After some time Jarwin suddenly exclaimed, "I"ll do it!"
Cuffy, startled by the energy with which it was said, jumped up and said, "That"s right!"--or something very like it--with his eyes.
"Yes, Cuffy, I"ll make a raft, and you and I shall get on it, some day, with a fair wind, and make for the island that we think we"ve seen so often on the horizon."
He alluded here to a faint blue line which, on unusually fine and clear days, he had distinguished on the horizon to the southward, and which, from its always appearing on the same spot, he believed to be land of some sort, although it looked nothing more than a low-lying cloud.
"So that"s settled," continued Jarwin, getting up and walking smartly back to his hut with the air of a man who has a purpose in view. "We shall make use of the old raft, as far as it"ll go. Luckily the sail is left, as you and I know, Cuff, for it has been our blanket for many a day, and when all"s ready we shall go huntin", you and I, till we"ve got together a stock of provisions, and then--up anchor and away! We can only be drownded once, you know, and it"s better that than stopping here to die o" the blues. What think "ee o" that, my doggie?"
Whatever the doggie thought of the idea, there can be no question what he thought of the cheery vigorous tones of his master"s voice, for he gambolled wildly round, barked with vociferous delight, and wagged his "spanker boom" to such an extent that Jarwin warned him to have a care lest it should be carried away, an" go slap overboard.
In pursuance of the designs thus expressed, the sailor began the construction of a raft without delay, and worked at it diligently the remainder of that day. He found, on examination, that a considerable portion of the old raft yet remained stranded on the beach, though all the smaller spars of which it had been composed had been used for firewood. With great difficulty he rolled these logs one by one into the sea, and, getting astride of each, pushed them by means of a pole towards a point of rocks, or natural jetty, alongside of which the water was deep. Here he fastened them together by means of a piece of rope-- one of the old fastenings which remained to him, the others having been used in the construction of the hut. The raft thus formed was, however, much too small to weather a gale or float in a rough sea. In whatever way he placed the spars the structure was too narrow for safety.
Seeing, therefore, that it was absolutely necessary to obtain more logs, he set brain and hands to work without delay.
Many years before, he had seen an ancient stone hatchet in a museum, the head of which was fastened to the haft by means of a powerful thong of untanned hide. He resolved to make a hatchet of this sort. Long did he search the beach for a suitable stone, but in vain. At last he found one pretty nearly the proper shape, which he chipped and ground into the rude form of an axe. It had no eye for the handle. To have made a hole in it would have weakened the stone too much. He therefore cut a groove in the side of the handle, placed the head of the stone into it, and completed the fastening by tying it firmly with the tough fibrous roots of a tree. It was strongly and neatly made, though clumsy in appearance, but, do what he would, he could not put a sufficiently fine edge on it, and although it chipped pretty well when applied to the outside of a tree, it made very slow progress indeed as the cut deepened, and the work became so toilsome at last that he almost gave it up in despair. Suddenly it occurred to him that fire might be made use of to facilitate the work. Selecting a tall cocoanut-tree, he piled dry wood all round the foot of it. Before setting it on fire he dipped a quant.i.ty of cocoanut fibre in the sea and tied a thick belt of this round the tree just above the pile, so as to protect the upper parts of the spar from the flames as much and as long as possible. This done, he kindled the pile. A steady breeze fanned the flame into an intense fire, which ere long dried up the belt of fibre and finally consumed it.
The fire was pretty well burnt out by that time, however, so that the upper part of the stem had been effectually preserved. Removing the ashes, he was rejoiced to find that the foot of the tree had been so deeply burned that several inches of it were reduced to charcoal, which his stone hatchet readily cut away, and the operation was so successful that it only required a second fire to enable him to fell the tree.
This done, he measured it off in lengths. Under each point of measurement he piled up dry wood--which consisted merely of broken branches--with belts of wet fibre on each side of these piles. Then, applying a light to the fires he reduced the parts to charcoal as before, and completed the work with the hatchet. Thus, in the course of a single day, he felled a tall tree and cut it up into six lengths, which he rolled down to the sea and floated off to the end of the jetty.
Next day Jarwin rose with the sun, and began to make twine of twisted cocoanut fibre--of which there was great abundance to be had everywhere.
When a sufficient quant.i.ty had been made he plaited the twine into cords, and the cords into stout ropes, which, although not so neat as regular ropes, were, nevertheless, sufficiently pliable and very strong.
Several days were spent over this somewhat tedious process; and we may mention here, that in all these operations the busy seaman was greatly a.s.sisted by his dog, who stuck close to him all the time, encouraging him with looks and wags of approbation.
After the ropes were made, the raft was put together and firmly lashed.
There was a mast and yard in the centre of it, and also a hollow, formed by the omission of a log, which was just large enough to permit of the man and his dog lying down. This hollow, slight though it was, afterwards proved of the utmost service.
It is needless to recount all the details of the building and provisioning of this raft. Suffice it to say that, about three weeks after the idea of it had been conceived, it was completed and ready for sea.
During his residence on the island, although it had only extended over a few months, Jarwin had become very expert in the use of a sharp-pointed pole, or javelin, with which he had become quite an adept in spearing fish. He had also become such a dead-shot with a stone that when he managed to get within thirty yards of a bird, he was almost certain to hit it. Thus he was enabled to procure fish and fowl as much as he required and as the woods abounded with cocoa-nuts, plums, and other wild fruits, besides many edible roots, he had no lack of good fare.
Now that he was about to "go to sea," he bethought him of drying some of the fruits as well as curing some fish and birds. This he did by degrees, while engaged on the raft, so that when all was ready he had a store of provisions sufficient to last him several weeks. In order to stow all this he removed another log from the middle of the raft, and, having deposited the food in the hollow--carefully wrapped in cocoanut leaves and made into compact bundles--he covered it over by laying a layer of large leaves above it and lashing a small spar on the top of them to keep them down. The cask with which he had landed from the original raft, and which he had preserved with great care, not knowing how soon he might be in circ.u.mstances to require it, served to hold fresh water.
On a fine morning about sunrise, Jarwin embarked with his little dog and bade farewell to the coral island, and although he had not dwelt very long there, he felt, to his own surprise, much regret at quitting it.
A fresh breeze was blowing in the direction of the island--or the supposed island--he wished to reach. This was important, because, in such a craft, it was impossible to sail in any way except before the wind. Still, by means of a rude oar or paddle, he could modify its direction so as to steer clear of the pa.s.sage through the reef and get out to sea.
Once outside, he squared the sail and ran right before the breeze. Of course such a weighty craft went very slowly through the water, but the wind was pretty strong, and to Jarwin, who had been for a comparatively long time unaccustomed to moving on the water, the speed seemed fast enough. As the island went astern, and the raft lifted and fell gently on the long swell of the ocean, the seaman"s heart beat with a peculiar joy to which it had long been a stranger, and he thanked G.o.d fervently for having so soon answered his prayer.
For a long time he sat reclining in the hollow of the raft, resting his hand lightly on the steering oar and gazing in silence at the gradually fading woods of his late home. The dog, as if it were aware that a great change was being effected in their destiny, lay also perfectly still--and apparently contemplative--at his master"s feet; resting his chin on a log and gazing at the receding land. It was evident, however, that _his_ thoughts were not absent or wandering, for, on the slightest motion made by his master, his dark eyes turned towards him, his ears slightly rose, and his tail gave the faintest possible indication of an intention to wag.