adrift on the great ocean.
sunshine gladdens the heart of man and causes him more or less to forget his sorrows. the day on which the lively poll went down was bright and warm, as well as calm, so that some of those who were cast away on the raft—after the first shock had passed, and while busily employed in binding the spars and making other needful arrangements—began to feel sensations approaching almost to hilarity.
polly samson, in particular, being of a romantic turn of mind, soon dried her eyes, and when called on to assist in the construction of a little place of shelter for herself on the centre of the raft, by means of boxes and sails, she began to think that the life of a castaway might not be so disagreeable after all. when this shelter or hut was completed, and she sat in it with her father taking luncheon, she told him in confidence that she thought rafting was “very nice.”
“glad you find it so, polly,” replied the captain with a sad smile.
“of course, you know,” she continued, with great seriousness of look and tone, “i don’t think it’s nice that our ship is lost. i’m very very sorry—oh, you can’t think how sorry!—for that, but this is such a funny little cabin, you know, and so snug, and the weather is so fine; do you think it will last long, father?”
“i hope it may; god grant that it may, darling, but we can’t be sure. if it does last, i daresay we shall manage to reach one of the islands, of which there are plenty in the southern seas, but—”
a roar of laughter from the men arrested and surprised the captain. he raised the flap of sail which served as a door to the hut—polly’s bower, as the men styled it—and saw one of the passengers dragged from a hole or space between the spars of the raft, into which he had slipped up to the waist. mr luke, the passenger referred to, was considered a weak man, mind and body,—a sort of human nonentity, a harmless creature, with long legs and narrow shoulders. he took his cold bath with philosophic coolness, and acknowledged the laughter of the men with a bland smile. regardless of his drenched condition, he sat down on a small keg and joined the crew at the meal of cold provisions which served that day for dinner.
“lucky for us,” said one of the sailors, making play with his clasp-knife on a junk of salt pork, “that we’ve got such a fine day to begin with.”
“that’s true, bob,” said another; “a raft ain’t much of a sea-goin’ craft. if it had blowed hard when we shoved off from the ship we might ha’ bin tore to bits before we was well fixed together, but we’ve had time to make all taut now, and can stand a stiffish breeze. shove along the breadbasket, mate.”
“you’ve had your allowance, bob; mind, we’re on short commons now,” said baldwin burr, who superintended the distribution of provisions, and served out a measured quantity to every man. “there’s your grog for you.”
bob corkey growled a little as he wiped his knife on his leg, and accepted the allowance of “grog,” which, however, was only pure water.
“are you sure the raft can stand a storm?” inquired watty wilkins of philosopher jack, who sat eating his poor meal beside him.
“sure?” responded jack, “we can be sure of nothing in this life.”
“except trouble,” growled corkey.
“oh yes, you can be sure of more than that,” said baldwin burr; “you can always be sure of folly coming out of a fool’s mouth.”
“come, come, baldwin, be civil,” said philosopher jack; “it’s cowardly, you know, to insult a man when you can’t fight him.”
“can’t fight him?” repeated burr with a grin; “who said i couldn’t fight him, eh? why, i’m ready to fight him now, right off.”
“nevertheless, you can’t,” persisted the philosopher; “how could two men fight on a raft where there’s not room for a fair stand-up scrimmage between two rats? come now, don’t argue, burr, but answer little wilkins’s question if you can.”
“stowaways don’t desarve to have their questions answered,” said corkey; “in fact, they don’t desarve to live. if i had my way, i’d kill little wilkins and salt him down to be ready for us when the pork and biscuit fail.”
“well, now, as to the safety of this here raft in a gale, small wilkins,” said baldwin, regardless of corkey’s interruption, “that depends summat on the natur’ o’ the gale. if it was only a half-gale we’d weather it all right, i make no doubt; but, if it should come to blow hard, d’ee see, we have no occasion to kill and eat you, as we’d all be killed together and eaten by the sharks.”
“sharks!” exclaimed mr luke, whose damp garments were steaming under the powerful sun like a boiler on washing-day; “are there sharks here?”
“ay,” said corkey, pointing to the sea astern, where the glassy surface was broken and rippled by a sharp angular object, “that’s a shark a-follerin’ of us now, leastwise the back fin of one. if you don’t believe it, jump overboard and you’ll soon be convinced.”
this reference to the shark was overheard by polly, who came out of her bower to see it. the monster of the deep came close up at that moment, as if to gratify the child, and, turning on its back, according to shark habit when about to seize any object, thrust its nose out of the water. for one moment its double row of teeth were exposed to view, then they closed on a lump of pork that had been accidentally knocked overboard by corkey.
“is that the way you take care of our provisions?” said the captain, sternly, to baldwin.
“we’ve got a big hook, sir,” said edwin jack, touching his cap; “shall we try to recover the pork?”
“you may try,” returned the captain.
little wilkins uttered something like a war-whoop as he leaped up and assisted jack to get out the shark-hook. it was soon baited with another piece of pork. ben trench, who had a strong leaning to natural history, became very eager; and the men generally, being ever ready for sport, looked on with interest and prepared to lend a hand. the shark, however, was cautious. it did indeed rush at the bait, and seemed about to swallow it, but suddenly changed its mind, swam round it once or twice, then fell slowly astern, and finally disappeared.
although the fish was not caught, this little incident served to raise the spirits of every one, and as the calm sunny weather lasted the whole day, even the most thoughtful of the party found it difficult to realise their forlorn condition; but when evening drew near, the aspect of things quickly changed. the splendid ocean-mirror, which had reflected the golden crags and slopes, the towers and battlements of cloud-land, was shivered by a sudden breeze and became an opaque grey; the fair blue sky deepened to indigo; black and gathering clouds rose out of the horizon, and cold white crests gleamed on the darkening waves. the men gathered in anxious groups, and polly sat in the entrance of her bower gazing on the gloomy scene, until her young heart sank slowly but steadily. then, remembering her father’s advice, she betook herself to god in prayer.
young though she was, polly was no sentimentalist in religion. she believed with all her heart in jesus christ as a living, loving saviour. her faith was very simple, and founded on experience. she had prayed, and had been answered. she had sought jesus in sorrow, and had been comforted. the theologian can give the why and how and wherefore of this happy condition, but in practice he can arrive at it only by the same short road. one result of her prayer was that she went to sleep that night in perfect peace, while most of her companions in misfortune sat anxiously watching what appeared to be a gathering storm.
before going to rest however, polly had an earnest little talk with her father.
“polly,” said captain samson, sitting down under the shelter of the tarpaulin, and drawing the child’s fair head on his breast, “i never spoke to you before on a subject that p’r’aps you won’t understand, but i am forced to do it now. it’s about money.”
“about money!” exclaimed polly in surprise; “oh, father, surely you forget! the very last night we spent on shore, you spoke to me about money; you gave me a half-sovereign, and said you meant to give a blow-out to old mrs brown before leaving, and told me to buy—stay, let me see—there was half a pound of tea, and four pounds of sugar, and three penn’orth of snuff, and—”
“yes, yes, polly,” interrupted the captain, with a smile, “but i meant about money in a business way, you know, because if you chanced, d’ee see, ever to be in england without me, you know,—it—”
“but i’ll never be there without you, father, will i?” asked the child with an earnest look.
“of course not—that’s to say, i hope not—but you know, polly, that god arranges all the affairs of this world, and sometimes in his love and wisdom he sees fit to separate people—for a time, you know, only for a time—so that they don’t always keep together. now, my darling, if it should please him to send me cruising to—to—anywhere in a different direction from you, and you chanced ever to be in england alone—in scotland, that is—at your own home, you must go to bailie trench—you know him—our old friend and helper when we were in shoal water, my dear, and say to him that i handed all my savings over to mr wilkins—that’s watty’s father, poll—to be invested in the way he thought best. when you tell that to bailie trench he’ll know what to do; he understands all about it. i might send you to mr wilkins direct but he’s a very great man, d’ee see, and doesn’t know you, and might refuse to give you the money.”
“to give me the money, father! but what should i do with the money when i got it?”
“keep it, my darling.”
“oh! i see, keep it safe for you till you came back?” said polly.
“just so, poll, you’re a clever girl; keep it for me till i come back, or rather take it to bailie trench and he’ll tell you how to keep it. it’s a good pot o’ money, poll, and has cost me the best part of a lifetime, workin’ hard and spendin’ little, to lay it by. once i used to think,” continued the captain in a sad soliloquising tone, “that i’d live to cast anchor near the old spot, and spend it with your mother, polly, and you; but the lord willed it otherwise, and he does all things well, blessed be his name! now you understand what you’re to do about the money, don’t you, if you should ever find yourself without me in scotland, eh?”
polly did not quite clearly understand, but after a little further explanation she professed herself to be quite prepared for the transaction of that important piece of financial business.
poor captain samson sought thus to secure, to the best of his ability, that the small savings of his life should go to polly in the event of her being saved and himself lost. moreover, he revealed the state of his finances to philosopher jack, ben trench, and watty wilkins, whom he found grouped apart at a corner of the raft in earnest conversation, and begged of them, if they or any of them should survive, to see his daughter’s interest attended to.
“you see, my lads, although i would not for the world terrify the dear child uselessly, by telling her that we are in danger, it must be clear to you that if a gale springs up and our raft should be broken up, it’s not likely that all of us would be saved. yet polly might escape, and some of you also. we are all in the lord’s hands, however, and have nothing to fear if we are his followers.”
ah! that “if” went home. the captain did not lay stress on it; nevertheless stress was laid on it somehow, for the three youths found it recurring again and again to memory that night, though they did not speak of it to each other.
as the night advanced, the threatening gale passed away; the stars came out in all their splendour, and the morning sun found the glassy sea again ready to reflect his image. thus they floated for several days in comparative peace and comfort. but it came at last.
one evening a squall came rushing down on them, turning up the sea, and converting it to ink and foam as it approached. the rag of sail with which they had previously courted the breeze in vain was hastily taken in; the fastenings of everything were looked to. polly was placed in her canvas bower, and the whole structure of the raft was strengthened with a network of hawsers and cordage.
when the squall struck them, the raft appeared to tremble. the seas broke clean over them, several articles not properly secured were swept off, and weak points in the main fastenings were made plain, as the spars, beams, and planks writhed and struggled to get free.
but captain samson and his men were equal to the occasion; an iron clamp here, and an extra turn of a chain or hawser there, made all fast, so that before the squall had time to raise the sea, the raft held well together, and yielded, without breaking, to the motions of the waves.
of course every one was drenched, including poor little polly, for although the tarpaulin turned off the waves and spray above, it could not prevent the water spirting up between the spars from below. but polly was, according to baldwin, “a true chip of the old block;” she bore her discomforts with heroism, and quite put to shame poor mr luke, whose nervous temperament caused him great suffering.
thus was spent a night of anxiety. the next day was little better, and the night following was worse. in addition to the violence of the wind and constant breaking over them of heavy seas, the darkness became so intense that it was difficult to see where damage to the fastenings occurred, and repairs became almost impossible.
about midnight there was a terrible rending of wood in that part of the raft lying farthest from polly’s bower, and a great cry of fear was heard. the more courageous among the men sprang, by a natural impulse, to assist those in distress. it was found that a large portion of the raft had broken adrift, and was only held to it by a single rope. on this portion were two passengers and one of the crew. the former were apparently panic-stricken; the latter made frantic but futile attempts to haul in on the rope.
“bear a hand, boys!” cried edwin jack, as he laid hold of the inner end of the rope.
strong and willing hands were ready, but before they could lay hold the rope parted, and jack was dragged violently into the sea. he rose like a cork. little wilkins lay down, and stretched out a helping hand. jack caught it, and would infallibly have dragged the little fellow into the water if ben trench had not thrown himself on his legs and held on. baldwin burr seized hold of ben, and the captain coming up at the moment, lent his powerful aid. jack was saved, but the broken part of the raft, with its hapless occupants, was swept away and lost sight of.
this sad event had naturally a very depressing effect on every one. true, the portion of the raft which had broken away was large enough to sustain the unfortunates who were on it. moreover, some of the provisions had also gone with them, so that there was hope of their holding out for a time and being picked up by a passing ship, but the hope was slight, and in the event of rougher weather, their fate would be certain.
for six days and nights the raft was tossed about on the open sea. it could scarcely be said that it sailed, although as large a mast and piece of canvas as they could set up urged it slowly though the water when the wind was strong. as to steering, that was next to impossible, and in truth it did not matter much how they steered.
constant exposure by night and by day now began to tell on the less robust of the crew. little polly, however, was not one of these. she possessed a naturally good constitution, and was, besides, specially cared for by her father, who devoted all the powers of an inventive mind to the strengthening and improving of “the bower.” in this he was ably assisted by philosopher jack, whose love for the child deepened daily as he watched the sweet contented manner with which she received every drenching—and she got many—and the anxious way in which she inquired for, and sought to help, those of the party whose health began to fail.
among these latter was ben trench.
“ah! polly,” said ben one sultry forenoon when she brought him a glass of sweetened lime-juice and water, “you’re a kind little nurse. i really don’t know how i should get on without you.”
“upon my word,” said little wilkins, pouting, “you’re a grateful fellow! here have i been nursing you all the morning, yet you seem to think nothing of that in comparison with polly’s glass of lime-juice.”
“come, watty, don’t be jealous,” said ben; “it’s not the glass of lime-juice, but polly’s sympathetic face beaming behind it, that does me so much good. besides, you know, polly’s a girl, and a girl is always a better nurse than a man; you must admit that.”
watty was not at all prepared to admit that, but his being spoken of as a man did much to mollify his hurt feelings.
“but i do hope you feel better to-day,” said polly, observing with some anxiety the short, half-breathless manner in which the invalid spoke.
“oh yes! i feel better—that is to say, i think i do. sometimes i do, and sometimes i don’t. you know, polly, i came on this voyage chiefly on account of my health, and of course i must expect to be a little damaged by so much exposure, though your good father has indeed done his best to shelter me. why, do you know, i sometimes think the berth he has made for me between the logs here is a greater triumph of his inventive genius than your bower. i often think they spoiled a splendid engineer when they made your father a sailor.”
polly laughed at this, and watty wilkins tried to laugh, just by way of keeping up his friend’s spirits and being what baldwin called good company; but poor watty could not laugh. he had loved and played with ben trench since ever he could remember, and when he looked at his pale face and listened to his weak voice, a dread foreboding came over him, and brought such a rush of feeling to his heart that he was fain to leap up and spring to the farthest end of the raft, where he fell to hauling and tightening one of the rope-fastenings with all the energy of his little body and soul.
“land ho!” shouted one of the men at that moment from the top of a cask, which formed the outlook, where, every day and all day, a man was stationed to watch for a sail or a sign of land.
an electric shock could not have produced greater excitement than these two words.
“where away?” exclaimed the captain, leaping up beside the look-out.
“on the port-bow, sir,—there!” pointing eagerly.
“i don’t see it—oh—yes—no. it’s only a cloud. who ever heard of the port-bow of a raft? bah! your eyes have been squintin’. not a bit of it, i see it—low lyin’; why, i see the palms—and i see the nuts—ah, and the monkeys, no doubt a-eatin’ of ’em—hip, hip, hurrah!”
such were some of the exclamations, ending in a long, deep-toned, british cheer, with which the discovery of land was greeted.
in a short time all uncertainty was removed, and the land was clearly made out to be a small coral island with its narrow outlying reef, and a few cocoa-nut palms waving thereon.
the joy of the shipwrecked crew was excessive—somewhat in proportion to their previous depression. they shook bands, laughed, cheered, and in some cases wept, while a few clasped their hands, looked up, and audibly thanked god.
“you’ll soon get ashore,” said polly, laying her hand on ben trench’s arm.
“ay, and the cocoa-nut milk will set you up and make you fat in no time,” added watty wilkins.
“so it will,” returned ben, who had not risen like the others; “we’ll have jolly times of it, won’t we? like robinson crusoe. oh! how i wish that sister susan was here! she would enjoy it so much. it’s an island, isn’t it?”
“yes,” said edwin jack, coming forward at the moment, “a coral island, with plenty of vegetation on it. so cheer up, ben, we shall soon be ashore.”
not so soon, however, as they expected, for the wind was light, although favourable, the raft was heavy, and the two oars had but little influence on it. the sun sank and rose again before they drew near to the reef. inside the reef, between it and the island-shore, there was a lake or lagoon of calm water, but outside, on the reef itself, a heavy swell broke with continuous roar. to get involved in those giant breakers would have been destruction to the raft, and probably death to most of those on board. one narrow opening, marked by a few shrubs and palms on either side, formed the only portal to the calm lagoon. the captain himself took the steering oar, and summoned our philosopher to his assistance.
“give way now, lads, with a will.”
as many men as could grasp the two oars laid hold of them, and bent their backs till the strong wood cracked again. gradually the raft neared the opening. as it did so the ground-swell began to act on it. by degrees the towering billows—which seemed to rise out of a calm sea and rush to their destruction like walls of liquid glass—caught it, dragged it on a little, and then let it slip. at last one great wave began to curl in hissing foam underneath, caught the raft fairly, carried it forward on its boiling crest, and launched it with lightning speed into the opening. the space was too narrow! one of the projecting spars touched the reef. instantly the fastenings were rent like pack-thread, and the raft was hurled forward in disconnected fragments. one of these turned completely over with several men on it. another portion passed through the opening and swung round inside. the steering oar was wrenched from jack’s hands, and struck the captain into the water. as if by instinct, jack sprang to the “bower,” caught polly in his arms, and leaped into the sea. at the same moment wilkins ran to the rescue of his friend ben. these two were on the part that had swung round to the calm side of the reef, and watty waded to it with ben on his back. the captain and all the rest were washed in a cataract of foam and wreckage through the opening into the lagoon, and pitched by curling eddies on the shore. in a few minutes they all stood in safety, panting, but uninjured, on the white sands of the coral reef.
