He listened attentively to every word we said, and now and then uttered a word after us.
"I suspect that in the course of a few days he will be able to tell us more about himself than he can do now," observed the captain; "in the meantime, we must not bother him too much."
We got on board just before darkness set in. Popo was greeted warmly by the whole of the crew, who were delighted to find that he had escaped and to have him back among them again; while Harry, as the white boy was at once called, was received with much curiosity, every one being eager to know who he was and how he had fallen into the hands of the savages.
As may be supposed, he had not been many minutes on board before he was rigged out in a shirt and trousers and jacket, with a handkerchief round his neck, and a broad-brimmed hat on his head. He made no objection to putting on the dress, which really became him; and d.i.c.k Tillard, who acted as his valet, observed that it was surely not the first time he had been so rigged out.
Next day, the commander went on sh.o.r.e with a strongly-armed party, taking Tamaku with him, that he might try and obtain further information from the natives. The latter showed no signs of fear, being apparently accustomed to the sight of white men. They inquired what had become of the boys, and demanded to have them back. Tamaku replied that one of them belonged to the ship, and that the other desired to remain on board, so that they could not be given up; but the English commander would make a present to them if they would inform him honestly how they came to have the white boy among them. After this, by Tamaku"s account, they had a long palaver, when the old chief, stepping forward, said that he was ready to declare the truth: that some seven years before, as he and his people were on board a large canoe on their way to this island, they had fallen in with an English boat containing several men and a little boy; but the men had all died; and the little boy had been taken care of, and had lived with them ever since.
Tamaku had his suspicions that the men had been put to death; however, it was not worth while pressing the matter home on the chief, as, of course, he would have denied it.
The commander having finished his survey of the island, and obtained all the information respecting the boy which he could collect, we again made sail and stood to the westward.
CHAPTER THREE.
HARRY A MEMBER OF OUR MESS--HE RAPIDLY IMPROVES--ANCHOR OFF A VOLCANIC ISLAND--OUR BOAT-CRUISE ROUND THE ISLAND--CHASE A WHALER--A HURRICANE-- RUN BEFORE IT--DRIVEN ON AN ISLAND--BOAT DAMAGED--FIND COCOA-NUTS-- SEARCH FOR FOOD--THE BIRD ISLAND--WE FORM A CAMP, AND GO TO SLEEP.
I must not stop to describe our run to the westward, the islands we sighted, the narrow escapes we had of knocking our bows in against coral reefs, or the gales we encountered in the falsely so-called Pacific,-- not but that it is pacific enough at times, when long calms prevail; and on two such occasions we lay basking, or rather sweltering, under the rays of a tropical sun, scarcely cooled even during the night. Still we all retained our health, being amply supplied with lime-juice and preserved vegetables, calculated to keep the much-dreaded scurvy at bay.
Harry at once became a favourite on board; for though he had been cowed by his task-masters, his spirit had not been broken. He was grateful for all kindness shown him, and anxious to learn, so that he in a short time was as civilised as any one on board. He also rapidly acquired a knowledge of English,--or, I may say, regained it, for so quickly did he pick up the more simple words, that it was clear he must have known them before. As he did so, recollections of the past seemed to come back to his mind; and when he was able to speak his thoughts, he mentioned numerous circ.u.mstances which convinced us of what the commander had from the first suspected.
I took a great liking to him, as he did to me; and taking care not to suggest ideas to him which might have led him into error, I frequently got him to tell me the recollections of his early days. He remembered his mother, whom he described as very beautiful, as he naturally thought her, and very like what Mrs Hudson must have been; and he spoke of his father as being a great chief, who commanded a number of men; and also of being on board a ship, which he said was very much larger than the _Heroine_, and had a great number of men and boats. He spoke, also, of enormous fish being caught, and brought alongside, and cut up and burned; so that, of course, I knew she must have been a whaler. At length he said he recollected being carried into a boat and rowed away from the ship, which he had never seen again; and now I had not a shadow of doubt that he was indeed the long-lost child of Captain and Mrs Hudson. He had no recollection of the murder of the crew, however; but he next remembered finding himself among dark-skinned savages, with whom he had ever afterwards remained. Possibly he might have been in an unconscious state, from want of food, when the boat was seized by the savages, and had so escaped witnessing the murder of her crew.
As soon as I made this out, I told the commander; who took great pains to cross-question Harry, and ultimately arrived at the same conclusion that I had done. He therefore at once told Harry that his surname was Hudson, and that he would spare no pains to restore him to his father and mother, who had long mourned him as lost. Harry seemed much affected by this, and often expressed to me his wish to see his mother again, declaring that he should know her at once; and he thought, also, that he could recognise his father. I reminded him that his mother would look much older than when he had been parted from her, as grief and sickness had paled her cheek; but that I felt sure she would recognise him, and that he must do his best to be like us, so that she might find him a real English boy.
The commander, on thus ascertaining who he was, asked us if we would receive him in the midshipmen"s berth,--charging us at the same time to set him a good example, by avoiding anything that was wrong, and by teaching him only what was right. Without a dissentient voice we all agreed to the commander"s proposal, and Harry Hudson forthwith became a member of our mess. Some of the men, and d.i.c.k Tillard especially, were at first rather jealous of this. When I told him what the commander had said, he replied,--"It"s all right, Mr Rayner; and if you follow his advice, it will do you as much good as it will Harry; and we"ll all be ready to serve him as much as before."
The commander also spoke on the subject to Harry; who, however, did not require his lecture, as he took the greatest possible pains to imitate us, as well as to speak correctly. We began also to teach him to read and write; but I think he must have known his letters before, from the rapid way in which he learned them--he knew them all in a couple of days, and in a week could read short words; indeed, it was evident that he was possessed of great natural intelligence, and an amiable disposition. Yet, had he lived on with the savages, he would have remained as wild and ignorant as they were.
The commander, who was a truly religious man, frequently had him in to talk to him about G.o.d, and to tell him how man, being sinful, had separated from G.o.d, and had become a rebel to him; how G.o.d, notwithstanding, loved him, and yet how, being a G.o.d of justice, he must punish sin, and could not therefore forgive him unless he had allowed another--his own sinless Son--to be punished instead of sinful man.
Harry thought over what the commander told him; and a day or two afterwards he repeated to me all that had been said, and observed that he was convinced it was just the plan to suit man"s wants, and that he would henceforth try to serve so good and merciful a G.o.d, and love that dear Son who had been punished instead of him. Thus Harry became a Christian; and, I believe, a much better Christian than very many on board. Of course, when we found him his mind was imbued with the same dark heathenism as were the minds of the savages among whom he had lived.
A sharp look-out was kept for a sail; and our earnest wish was, that as we got to the westward we should fall in with Captain Hudson"s ship, as he had intended to proceed in that direction. We were not so likely, it was feared, to fall in with any of the abominable Chilian kidnappers; they would probably only attempt to carry off the brown natives from the islands on the eastern side of the Pacific.
We were now, it will be understood, approaching the region inhabited by the black-skinned races. We had stood to the southward, and visited Samoa or Navigator"s Islands, inhabited by an intelligent brown-skinned race, far more advanced in civilisation than the people we now expected to meet with; but I must not stop to describe them.
We had been some days at sea, still running to the westward, when we sighted a small island ahead. The captain considered that it was the northernmost of a chain of volcanic islands extending from the Friendly group; and, as it was not marked on the chart, he wished to survey it, so we accordingly stood on. As we approached nearer, we saw that it consisted of a range of conical peaks,--many of the hills rising sheer out of the water, while others were bordered by low cliffs or beaches.
It had also several deep bays or inlets. Though it was surrounded by a coral reef, two openings were perceived in it, through which it appeared that there would be no difficulty in taking the ship, when we might find secure anchorage in one of the bays within it. A pa.s.sage nearly the eighth of a mile wide appearing ahead of us, we entered, having look-outs as usual aloft, to warn us in time of any hidden reefs in our course, while the lead was also kept going.
The wind being light, it was evening before we came to an anchor; and darkness soon coming on, displayed to our eyes the magnificent spectacle of a volcano sending forth ma.s.ses of flame, with hot lava running down the sides of the mountain in broad streams, some making their way towards the bay in which we lay, others being lost to sight in a deep gully, apparently on the other side. Now and then loud rumbling sounds were heard, like the discharge of big guns in rapid succession or the rattling of thunder; and the watch on deck declared they felt the ship shake, as if there had been an earthquake. Once, also, a shower of ashes fell on the ship"s deck, the wind having shifted, and blowing from off the land. The commander, however, did not consider there was any danger, so we remained quietly at anchor.
The next morning, when the commander and master were preparing to set off to commence their survey, Mudge asked me if I should like to make a trip along the coast. Of course I said Yes. As Tom and Harry begged that they might accompany us, Mudge got leave to take the jolly-boat, with Tillard, Tamaku, and Popo to a.s.sist in pulling. We provided ourselves with food to last us for the day, put four muskets and a cutla.s.s apiece into the boat; though, as the island did not appear to be inhabited, we did not expect to meet with natives. We might, however, we thought, get a shot at some wild-fowl; and we intended landing somewhere and lighting a fire to cook our provisions.
Fully expecting to have a pleasant day, we pulled away from the ship.
Shortly afterwards a breeze sprang up, and we made sail, running swiftly along the sh.o.r.e. Mudge and I had our note-books, in which we noted down the points and inlets, with the computed distances.
We soon got to the extreme end of the island, and had just doubled it when I caught sight of a vessel in the offing. I pointed her out to Mudge. He looked at her through his spy-gla.s.s. "She is becalmed," he observed; "and, Rayner, do you just look at her, and tell me what you think she is; but speak in a low voice, because I don"t want Harry to hear."
I took the gla.s.s, and made out that the vessel was barque-rigged; and though she was hull down, I felt sure that she was a whaler.
"From the appearance of her sails, I shouldn"t be surprised if she was the _Hopewell_," said Mudge. "I am sure that the commander would wish us to try and communicate with her, and restore that poor lad to his parents; and even if it should fall dark before we can get back, the volcano will serve to guide us."
Of course I was very willing to do as Mudge proposed. We agreed, however, not to say anything to Harry, lest we should disappoint him.
"We are going to board yonder barque," said Mudge aloud; "there is an opening through the reef just abreast of us, and we shall have no difficulty in reaching her."
"Orders are orders," said Tillard; "I never knew any good come of disobeying them."
Mudge, however, did not hear him; and I, looking forward to the pleasure of seeing Harry restored to his parents,--and it may be that I just thought of the pretty young lady I had seen on board,--did not repeat what he had said.
As there was a light breeze off the land, we hoisted our sail, that we might benefit by it as long as it lasted. Our only fear was that the barque might get the breeze also, and stand away from us. We kept rowing, therefore, to increase our speed. On we pulled, but in my eagerness it appeared that we were no nearer the barque than at first.
I saw by Harry"s countenance that he was as eager as we were, and I could not help thinking that he suspected the object of our trying to board the barque. At last he asked, looking at me intently, "Do you think that my father"s ship?"
"We have some hopes that she is; but, you know, we may be mistaken, Harry," said Mudge; "so you must not raise your expectations too high.
Even if she is, we may not reach her; but, at all events, we"ll do our best to get on board."
Soon after this, on looking through the gla.s.s I observed the barque"s sails fill out, though the wind came from a different quarter to that from which we got it.
"We may still cut her off, though we must steer rather more to the westward than we are doing," remarked Mudge, altering the boat"s course.
We immediately afterwards got a much stronger breeze; and the boat ran merrily over the waves, which, as we got from under the lee of the land, were somewhat higher than they had before been. Still Mudge, in his eagerness, did not seem to notice this, nor, I confess, did I; having our eyes fixed on the vessel, we did not look astern. We had been standing on for some distance, when an exclamation from Tillard made me look towards the land, over which hung a dense black cloud. Directly afterwards, a loud rushing noise reached our ears, resembling the continuous roar of thunder, mingled with the sound of a downpour of rain. It was the voice of the hurricane. Tillard sprang to the halyards, and, without waiting for Mudge"s orders, lowered the sail half down.
"Keep her before the wind, Mr Mudge; it"s our only chance now!" he exclaimed.
Mudge, seeing that this was the best thing to be done, followed his advice; and the wind striking us the instant afterwards, away we flew directly before it. Had the seas been higher, we might have attempted to keep the boat"s head to wind, and our chance of escape would have been small indeed; as it was, fast as we flew through the seething ocean, we hardly escaped being p.o.o.ped, the crests of the seas continually breaking over the stern and compelling all hands to keep baling. I looked for the barque, but could nowhere see her; indeed, the ma.s.ses of spray which filled the atmosphere, mingled with showers of dust and ashes which came from the volcano, completely obscured all objects at a distance; and in a short time we entirely lost sight of the land itself. We all felt that we were in a most perilous position: did the sea get up more, we should in all probability be swamped; or did the gale continue and we live through it, we should be driven far away from the island. There might be others ahead, but they were certain to be surrounded by reefs, on which the boat would probably be dashed to pieces. All we could do was to keep the sail hoisted a few feet up, and to bale out the water as fast as it washed over the gunwale.
Night now came on, adding to the horrors of the scene. On and on we went, Mudge sitting at the helm, and steering the boat in a way which a good seaman only could have done. Tillard offered to relieve him.
"No," he answered; "I got you into this mess, and it is my business to get you out of it if I can. The hurricane will come to an end at last,--maybe before daybreak,--and then we must do our best to make our way back to the island."
In spite of our dangerous position, we were all getting very hungry; we had been about to land in order to cook our dinner, when we saw the barque, and after that we were too eager to think of eating. I got some biscuits out of our basket, which I served round to all hands; and I then found a bottle of wine.
"We must economise that," observed Mudge, when he found what I was about; "half a gla.s.s to each person is as much as we ought to take--it may be longer than you suppose before we get back over the ground we have come."
The food somewhat revived our spirits. Harry sat wonderfully quiet and calm; Tommy Peck"s teeth chattered a little, as if he did not like it; but neither Popo nor Tamaku uttered a word. The storm gave no signs of breaking, and on and on we went, rushing through the darkness. At any moment we might find ourselves, we knew, cast upon a reef, and the boat dashed to pieces; but that risk, fearful as it was, must be run.
I asked Mudge if he could tell what o"clock it was.
"It"s too dark to see the hands of my watch, but I judge that it is some time past midnight," he answered.
I groaned, for I thought it must be nearly daybreak.
"G.o.d has taken care of us thus far, and he will take care of us, if he thinks fit, till morning," observed Tillard; "we must not give in, however bad things look."
At last day began to break. The wind blew as hard as ever, and no land was visible--only the tumbling, foam-crested seas, amid which we flew, were around us.
"Patience, lads," said Mudge; "all we can do is to stand on as we have been going,--and we may be thankful that we have been preserved thus far,--better to have no land, than to find ourselves close to a coral reef with the sea dashing furiously over it." Which there was no gainsaying.