the sandbank—the wrecked crew make the best of bad circumstances.
it will scarcely surprise the reader to be told that, after the first emotions of thankfulness for deliverance from what had appeared to the shipwrecked mariners to be inevitable death, a feeling amounting almost to despair took possession of the whole party for a time.
the sandbank was so low that in stormy weather it was almost submerged. it was a solitary coral reef in the midst of the boundless sea. not a tree or bush grew upon it, and except at the point where the ship had struck, there was scarcely a rock large enough to afford shelter to a single man. without provisions, without sufficient shelter, without the means of escape, and almost without the hope of deliverance, it seemed to them that nothing awaited them but the slow, lingering pains and horrors of death by starvation.
as those facts forced themselves more and more powerfully home to the apprehension of the crew,—while they cowered for shelter from the storm under the lee of the rocky point, they gave expression to their feelings in different ways. some sat down in dogged silence to await their fate; others fell on their knees and cried aloud to god for mercy; while a few kept up their own spirits and those of their companions by affecting a cheerfulness which, however, in some cages, was a little forced. ailie lay shivering in her father’s arms, for she was drenched with salt water and very cold. her eyes were closed, and she was very pale from exposure and exhaustion, but her lips moved as if in prayer.
captain dunning looked anxiously at dr hopley, who crouched beside them, and gazed earnestly in the child’s face while he felt her pulse.
“it’s almost too much for her, i fear,” said the captain, in a hesitating, husky voice.
the doctor did not answer for a minute or two, then he said, as if muttering to himself rather than replying to the captain’s remark, “if we could only get her into dry clothes, or had a fire, or even a little brandy, but—” he did not finish the sentence, and the captain’s heart sank within him, and his weather-beaten face grew pale as he thought of the possibility of losing his darling child.
glynn had been watching the doctor with intense eagerness, and with a terrible feeling of dread fluttering about his heart. when he heard the last remark he leaped up and cried— “if brandy is all you want you shall soon have it.” and running down to the edge of the water, he plunged in and grasped the cable, intending to clamber into the ship, which had by this time been driven higher on the rocks, and did not suffer so much from the violence of the breakers. at the same instant phil briant sprang to his feet, rushed down after him, and before he had got a yard from the shore, seized him by the collar, and dragged him out of the sea high and dry on the land.
glynn was so exasperated at this unceremonious and at the moment unaccountable treatment, that he leaped up, and in the heat of the moment prepared to deal the irishman a blow that would very probably have brought the experiences of the “ring” to his remembrance; but briant effectually checked him by putting both his own hands into his pockets, thrusting forward his face as if to invite the blow, and exclaiming—
“och! now, hit fair, glynn, darlint; put it right in betwane me two eyes!”
glynn laughed hysterically, in spite of himself.
“what mean you by stopping me?” he asked somewhat sternly.
“shure, i mane that i’ll go for the grog meself. ye’ve done more nor yer share o’ the work this mornin’, an’ it’s but fair to give a poor fellow a chance. more be token, ye mustn’t think that nobody can’t do nothin’ but yeself. it’s phil briant that’ll shin up a rope with any white man in the world, or out of it.”
“you’re right, phil,” said rokens, who had come to separate the combatants. “go aboord, my lad, an’ i’ll engage to hold this here young alligator fast till ye come back.”
“you don’t need to hold me, tim,” retorted glynn, with a smile; “but don’t be long about it, phil. you know where the brandy is kept—look alive.”
briant accomplished his mission successfully, and, despite the furious waves, brought the brandy on shore in safety. as he emerged like a caricature of old neptune dripping from the sea, it was observed that he held a bundle in his powerful grasp. it was also strapped to his shoulders.
“why, what have you got there?” inquired the doctor, as he staggered under the shelter of the rocks.
“arrah! give a dhrop to the child, an’ don’t be wastin’ yer breath,” replied briant, as he undid the bundle. “sure i’ve brought a few trifles for her outside as well as her in.” and he revealed to the glad father a bundle of warm habiliments which he had collected in ailie’s cabin, and kept dry by wrapping them in several layers of tarpaulin.
“god bless you, my man,” said the captain, grasping the thoughtful irishman by the hand. “now, ailie, my darling pet, look up, and swallow a drop o’ this. here’s a capital rig-out o’ dry clothes too.”
a few sips of brandy soon restored the circulation which had well-nigh been arrested, and when she had been clothed in the dry garments, ailie felt comparatively comfortable, and expressed her thanks to phil briant with tears in her eyes.
a calm often succeeds a storm somewhat suddenly, especially in southern latitudes. soon after daybreak the wind moderated, and before noon it ceased entirely, though the sea kept breaking in huge rolling billows on the sandbank for many hours afterwards. the sun, too, came out hot and brilliant, shedding a warm radiance over the little sea-girt spot as well as over the hearts of the crew.
human nature exhibits wonderful and sudden changes. men spring from the depths of despair to the very summit, of light-hearted hope, and very frequently, too, without a very obvious cause to account for the violent change. before the day after the storm was far advanced, every one on the sandbank seemed to be as joyous as though there was no danger of starvation whatever. there was, however, sufficient to produce the change in the altered aspect of affairs. for one thing, the warm sun began to make them feel comfortable—and really it is wonderful how ready men are to shut their eyes to the actual state of existing things if they can only enjoy a little present comfort. then the ship was driven so high up on the rocks as to be almost beyond the reach of the waves, and she had not been dashed to pieces, as had at first been deemed inevitable, so that the stores and provisions in her might be secured, and the party be thus enabled to subsist on their ocean prison until set free by some passing ship.
under the happy influence of these improved circumstances every one went about the work of rendering their island home more comfortable, in good, almost in gleeful spirits. phil briant indulged in jests which a few hours ago would have been deemed profane, and gurney actually volunteered the song of the “man wot got his nose froze;” but every one declined to listen to it, on the plea that it reminded them too forcibly of the cold of the early morning. even the saturnine steward, tarquin, looked less ferocious than usual, and king bumble became so loquacious that he was ordered more than once to hold his tongue and to “shut up.”
the work they had to do was indeed of no light nature. they had to travel to and fro between the ship and the rocks on the rope-cable, a somewhat laborious achievement, in order to bring ashore such things as they absolutely required. a quantity of biscuit, tea, coffee, and sugar were landed without receiving much damage, then a line was fastened to a cask of salt beef, and this, with a few more provisions, was drawn ashore the first day, and placed under the shelter of the largest rock on the point. on the following day it was resolved that a raft should be constructed, and everything that could in any way prove useful be brought to the sandbank and secured. for captain dunning well knew that another storm might arise as quickly as the former had done, and although the ship at present lay in comparatively quiet water, the huge billows that would be dashed against her in such circumstances would be certain to break her up and scatter her cargo on the breast of the all-devouring sea.
in the midst of all this activity and bustle there sat one useless and silent, but exceedingly grave and uncommonly attentive spectator, namely, jacko the monkey. that sly and sagacious individual, seeing that no one intended to look after him, had during the whole of the recent storm wisely looked after himself. he had ensconced himself in a snug and comparatively sheltered corner under the afterpart of the weather-bulwarks. but when he saw the men one by one leaving the ship, and proceeding to the shore by means of the rope, he began to evince an anxiety as to his own fate which had in it something absolutely human. jacko was the last man, so to speak, to leave the red eric. captain dunning, resolving, with the true spirit of a brave commander; to reserve that honour to himself, had seen the last man, he thought, out of the ship, and was two-thirds of the distance along the rope on his way to land, when jim scroggles, who was always either in or out of the way at the most inopportune moments, came rushing up from below, whither he had gone to secure a favourite brass finger-ring, and scrambled over the side.
it would be difficult to say whether jim’s head, or feet, or legs, or knees, or arms went over the side first,—they all got over somehow, nobody knew how—and in the getting over his hat flew off and was lost for ever.
seeing this, and feeling, no doubt, the momentous truth of that well-known adage “now or never,” master jacko uttered a shriek, bounded from his position of fancied security, and seized jim scroggles firmly by the hair, resolved apparently to live or perish along with him. as to simply clambering along that cable to the shore. jacko would have thought no more of it than of eating his dinner. had he felt so disposed he could have walked along it, or hopped along it, or thrown somersaults along it. but to proceed along it while it was at one moment thirty feet above the sea, rigid as a bar of iron, and the next moment several feet under the mad turmoil of the raging billows—this it was that filled his little bosom with inexpressible horror, and induced him to cling with a tight embrace to the hair of the head of his bitterest enemy!
having gained the shore, jacko immediately took up his abode in the warmest spot on that desolate sandbank, which was the centre of the mass of cowering and shivering men who sought shelter under the lee of the rocks, where he was all but squeezed to death, but where he felt comparatively warm, nevertheless. when the sun came out he perched himself in a warm nook of the rock near to ailie, and dried himself, after which, as we have already hinted, he superintended the discharging of the cargo and the arrangements made for a prolonged residence on the sandbank.
“och! but yer a queer cratur,” remarked briant, as he passed, chucking the monkey under the chin.
“oo-oo-oo-ee-o!” replied jacko.
“very thrue, no doubt—but i haven’t time to spake to ye jist yet, lad,” replied briant, with a laugh, as he ran down to the beach and seized a barrel which had just been hauled to the water’s edge.
“what are you going to do with the wood, papa?” asked ailie.
the captain had seized an axe at the moment, and began vigorously to cut up a rough plank which had been driven ashore by the waves.
“i’m going to make a fire, my pet, to warm your cold toes.”
“but my toes are not cold, papa; you’ve no idea how comfortable i am.”
ailie did indeed look comfortable at that moment, for she was lying on a bed of dry sand, with a thick blanket spread over her.
“well, then, it will do to warm jacko’s toes, if yours don’t want it; and besides, we all want a cup of tea after our exertions. the first step towards that end, you know, is to make a fire.”
so saying, the captain piled up dry wood in front of the place where ailie lay, and in a short time had a capital fire blazing, and a large tin kettle full of fresh water boiling thereon.
it may be as well to remark here that the water had been brought in a small keg from the ship, for not a single drop of fresh water was found on the sandbank after the most careful search. fortunately, however, the water-tanks of the red eric still contained a large supply.
during the course of that evening a sort of shed or tent was constructed out of canvas and a few boards placed against the rock. this formed a comparatively comfortable shelter, and one end of it was partitioned off for ailie’s special use. no one was permitted to pass the curtain that hung before the entrance to this little boudoir, except the captain, who claimed a right to do what he pleased, and glynn, who was frequently invited to enter in order to assist its fair occupant in her multifarious arrangements, and jacko, who could not be kept out by any means that had yet been hit upon, except by killing him; but as ailie objected to this, he was suffered to take up his abode there, and, to do him justice, he behaved very well while domiciled in that place.
it is curious to note how speedily little children, and men too, sometimes, contrive to forget the unpleasant or the sad, or, it may be, the dangerous circumstances in which they may chance to be placed, while engaged in the minute details incident to their peculiar position. ailie went about arranging her little nest under the rock with as much zeal and cheerful interest as if she were “playing at houses” in her own room at home. she decided that one corner was peculiarly suited for her bed, because there was a small rounded rock in it which looked like a pillow; so glynn was directed to spread the tarpaulin and the blankets there. another corner exhibited a crevice in the rock, which seemed so suitable for a kennel for jacko that the arrangement was agreed to on the spot. we say agreed to, because ailie suggested everything to glynn, and glynn always agreed to everything that ailie suggested, and stood by with a hammer and nails and a few pieces of plank in his hands ready to fulfil her bidding, no matter what it should be. so jacko was sent for to be introduced to his new abode, but jacko was not to be found, for the very good reason that he had taken possession of the identical crevice some time before, and at that moment was enjoying a comfortable nap in its inmost recess. then ailie caused glynn to put up a little shelf just over her head, which he did with considerable difficulty, because it turned out that nails could not easily be driven into the solid rock. after that a small cave at the foot of the apartment was cleaned out and ailie’s box placed there. all this and sundry other pieces of work were executed by the young sailor and his little friend with an amount of cheerful pleasantry that showed they had, in the engrossing interest of their pursuit, totally forgotten the fact that they were cast away on a sandbank on which were neither food nor water, nor wood, except what was to be found in the wrecked ship, and around which for thousands of miles rolled the great billows of the restless sea.
