CHAPTER THIRTY.
ADAMS AND THE GIRLS.
Great was the interest aroused on board the _Topaz_ when Jack Bracenarrated his experiences among the islanders, and Captain Folgerresolved to pay them a visit. He did so next day, accompanied by theEnglishman and some of the other men, the sight of whom gladdened theeyes and hearts of Adams and his large family.
Besides assuring himself of the truth of Brace's statements, the Captainobtained additional proof of the truth of Adams's account of himself andhis community in the form of the chronometer and azimuth compass of the_Bounty_.
"How many did you say your colony consists of?" asked Folger.
"Thirty-five all told, sir," answered Adams; "but I fear we shall beonly thirty-four soon."
"How so?"
"One of our lads, a dear boy of about eight years of age, is dying, Ifear," returned Adams, sadly.
"I'm sorry to hear it, and still more sorry that I have no doctor in myship," said Folger, "but I have a smatterin' of doctors' work myself.Let me see him."
Adams led the way to the hut where poor James Young lay, tenderly nursedby Mary Christian. The boy was lying on his bed as they entered, gazingwistfully out at the little window which opened from the side of it likethe port-lights or bull's-eyes of a ship's berth. His young nurse satbeside him with the _Bounty_ Bible open on her knees. She shut it androse as the strangers entered.
The poor invalid was too weak to take much interest in them. He wasextremely thin, and breathed with great difficulty. Nevertheless hisface flushed, and a gleam of surprise shot from his eyes as he turnedlanguidly towards the Captain.
"My poor boy," said Folger, taking his hand and gently feeling hispulse, "do you suffer much?"
"Yes,--very much," said little James, with a sickly smile.
"Can you rest at all?" asked the Captain.
"I am--always--resting," he replied, with a pause between each word;"resting--on Jesus."
The Captain was evidently surprised by the answer.
"Who told you about Jesus?" he asked.
"God's book--and--the Holy--Spirit."
It was obvious that the exertion of thinking and talking was not goodfor poor little James. Captain Folger therefore, after smoothing thehair on his forehead once or twice very tenderly, bade him good-bye, andwent out.
"Doctors could do nothing for the child," he said, while returning withAdams to his house; "but he is rather to be envied than pitied. I wouldgive much for the _rest_ which he apparently has found."
"_Give_ much!" exclaimed Adams, with an earnest look. "Rest in the Lordis not to be purchased by gifts. Itself is the grand free gift of Godto man, to be had for the asking."
"I know it," was the Captain's curt reply, as he entered Adams's house."Where got you the chronometer and azimuth compass?" he said, onobserving these instruments.
"They belonged to the _Bounty_. You are heartily welcome to both ofthem if you choose; they are of no use to me." [See Note.]
Folger accepted the gift, and promised to write to England and acquaintthe Government with his discovery of the colony.
"You see, sir," said Adams, with a grave look, while hospitablyentertaining his visitor that afternoon, "we are increasing at a greatrate, and although they may perhaps take me home and swing me up to theyard-arm, I think it better to run the risk o' that than to leave allthese poor young things here unprotected. Why, just think what mighthappen if one o' them traders which are little better than pirates wereto come an' find us here."
He looked at the Captain earnestly.
"Now, if we were under the protection o' the British flag--only justrecognised, as it were,--that would go a long way to help us, andprevent mischief."
At this point the importunities of some of the young people to hearabout the outside world prevailed, and Folger began, as Jack Brace haddone the day before, to tell them some of the most stirring events inthe history of his own land.
But he soon found out that the mental capacity of the Pitcairners waslike a bottomless pit. However much they got, they wanted more.Anecdote after anecdote, story after story, fact after fact, was throwninto the gulf, and still the cry was, "More! more!"
At last he tore himself away.
"Good-bye, and God bless you all," he said, while stepping into thecanoe which was to carry him off. "I won't forget my promise."
"And tell 'em to send us story-books," shouted Daniel McCoy, as thecanoe rose on the back of the breakers.
The Captain waved his hand. Most of the women and children wiped theireyes, and then they all ran to the heights to watch the _Topaz_ as shesailed away. They watched her till she vanished over that mysterioushorizon which seemed to the Pitcairners the utmost boundary of theworld, and some of them continued to gaze until the stars came out, andthe gulls retired to bed, and the soft black mantle of night descendedlike a blessing of tranquillity on land and sea.
Before bidding the _Topaz_ farewell, we may remark that Captain Folgerfaithfully fulfilled his promise. He wrote a letter to England giving afull account of his discovery of the retreat of the mutineers, whicharoused much interest all over the land; but at that time the stirringevents of warfare filled the minds of men in Europe so exclusively, thatthe lonely island and its inhabitants were soon forgotten--at least noaction was taken by the Government--and six years elapsed before anothervessel sailed out of the great world into the circle of vision aroundPitcairn.
Meanwhile the Pitcairners, knowing that, even at the shortest, a long,long time must pass before Folger could communicate with the "oldcountry," continued the even tenor of their innocent lives.
The school prospered and became a vigorous institution. The church notless so. More children were born to Thursday October, insomuch that heat last had one for every working-day in the week; more yam-fields werecultivated, and more marriages took place--but hold, this isanticipating.
We have said that the school prospered. The entire community went toit, male and female, old and young. John Adams not only taught hispupils all he knew, but set himself laboriously to acquire all theknowledge that was to be obtained by severe study of the Bible, thePrayer-book. Carteret's Voyages, and by original meditation. From thefirst mine he gathered and taught the grand, plain, and blessed truthsabout salvation through Jesus, together with a few tares of errorresulting from misconception and imperfect reasoning. From the secondhe adopted the forms of worship of the Church of England. From thethird he gleaned and amplified a modicum of nautical, geographical, andgeneral information; and from the fourth he extracted a flood ofmiscellaneous, incomplete, and disjointed facts, fancies, and fallacies,which at all events served the good purpose of interesting his pupilsand exercising their mental powers.
But into the midst of all this life death stepped and claimed a victim.The great destroyer came not, however, as an enemy but as a friend, toraise little James Young to that perfect rest of which he had alreadyhad a foretaste on the island.
It was the first death among the second generation, and naturally had adeeply solemnising effect on the young people. This occurred soon afterthe departure of the _Topaz_. The little grave was made under the shadeof a palm-grove, where wild-flowers grew in abundance, and openings inthe leafy canopy let in the glance of heaven's blue eye.
One evening, about six months after this event, Adams went up the hillto an eminence to which he was fond of retiring when a knotty problem inarithmetic had to be tackled. Arithmetic was his chief difficulty. Thesoliloquy which he uttered on reaching his place of meditation willexplain his perplexities.
"That 'rithmetic do bother me, an' no mistake," he said, with a graveshake of the head at a lively lizard which was looking up in his face."You see, history is easy. What I knows I knows an' can teach, an' whatI don't know I let alone, an there's an end on't. There's no makin' abetter o' _that_. Then, as to writin', though my hand is crabbedenough, and my pot-hooks are shaky and sprawly, still I know the shapeso' things, an' the youngsters are so qu
ick that they can most of 'emwrite better than myself; but in regard to that 'rithmetic, it's aheartbreak altogether, for I've only just got enough of it to puzzle me.Wi' the use o' my fingers I can do simple addition pretty well, an' Ican screw round subtraction, but multiplication's a terrible business.Unfort'nitely my edication has carried me only the length o' the fourthline, an' that ain't enough."
He paused, and the lively lizard, ready to fly at a moment's notice, putits head on one side as if interested in the man's difficulty.
"Seven times eight, now," continued Adams. "I've no more notion whatthat is than the man in the moon. An' I've no table to tell me, an' noway o' findin' it out--eh? Why, yes I have. I'll mark 'em down one ata time an' count 'em up."
He gave his thigh a slap, which sent the lively lizard into his hole,horrified.
"Poor thing, I didn't mean that," he said to the absent animal."Hows'ever, I'll try it. Why, I'll make a multiplication-table formyself. Strange that that way never struck me before."
As he went on muttering he busied himself in rubbing clean a flatsurface of rock, on which, with a piece of reddish stone, he made a rowof eight marks, one below another. Alongside of that he made anotherrow of eight marks, and so on till he had put down seven rows, when hecounted them up, and found the result to be fifty-six. This piece ofacquired knowledge he jotted down in a little notebook, which, with aquantity of other stationery, had originally belonged to that greatfountain of wealth, the _Bounty_.
"Why, I'll make out the whole table in this way," he said, quiteheartily, as he sat down again on the flat rock and went to work.
Of course he found the process laborious, especially when he got amongthe higher numbers; but Adams was not a man to be turned from hispurpose by trifles. He persevered until his efforts were crowned withsuccess.
While he was engaged with the multiplication problem on that day, he wasinterrupted by the sound of merry voices, and soon Otaheitan Sally,Bessy Mills, May Christian, Sarah Quintal, and his own daughter Dinah,came tripping up the hill towards him.
These five, ranging from fifteen to nineteen, were fond of ramblingthrough the woods in company, being not only the older members of theyoung flock, but like-minded in many things. Sally was looked up to bythe other four as being the eldest and wisest, as well as the mostbeautiful; and truly, the fine clear complexion of the pretty brunettecontrasted well with their fairer skins and golden or light-brown locks.
"We came up to have a chat with you, father," said Sally, as they drewnear. "Are you too busy to be bothered with us?"
"Never too busy to chat with such dear girls," said the gallant seaman,throwing down his piece of red chalk, and taking one of Sally's hands inhis. "Sit down, Sall; sit down, May, on the other side--there. Now,what have you come to chat about?"
"About that dear _Topaz_, of course, and that darling Captain Folger,and Jack Brace, and all the rest of them," answered Sarah Quintal, withsparkling eyes.
"Hallo, Sarah! you've sent your heart away with them, I fear," saidAdams.
"Not quite, but nearly," returned Sarah. "I would give anything if thewhole crew would only have stayed with us altogether."
"Oh! how charming! delightful! _so_ nice!" exclaimed three of theothers. Sally said nothing, but gave a little smile, which sent asparkle from her pearly teeth that harmonised well with the gleam of herlaughter-loving eyes.
"No doubt," said Adams, with a peculiar laugh; "but, I say, girls, youmust not go on thinking for ever about that ship. Why, it is six monthsor more since it left us, and you are all as full of it as if it hadsailed but yesterday."
"How can we help it, father?" said Sally. "It is about the mostwonderful thing that has happened since we were born, and you can'texpect us to get it out of our heads easily."
"And how can we help thinking, and talking too," said Bessy Mills,"about all the new and strange things that Jack Brace related to us?"
"Besides, father," said Dinah, "you are quite as bad as we are, for youtalk about nothing else now, almost, except Lord Nelson and the battlesof the Nile and Trafalgar."
"Come, come, Di; don't be hard on me. I don't say much about thembattles now."
"Indeed you do," cried May Christian, "and it is only last night that Iheard you muttering something about Trafalgar in your sleep, and yousuddenly broke out with a half-muttered shout like this: `Englan' 'specsevery man'll do's dooty!'"
May was not a bad mimic. This was received with a shout of laughter bythe other girls.
While they were conversing thus two tall and slim but broad-shoulderedyouths were seen climbing the hill towards them, engaged in very earnestconversation. And this reference to conversation reminds us of thecurious fact that the language of the young Pitcairners had greatlyimproved of late. As they had no other living model to improve uponthan John Adams, this must have been entirely the result of reading.Although the books they had were few, they proved to be sufficient notonly to fill their minds with higher thoughts, but their mouths withpurer English than that nautical type which had been peculiar to themutineers.
The tall striplings who now approached were Daniel McCoy and CharlieChristian. These two were great friends and confidants. We will notreveal the subject of their remarkably earnest conversation, but merelygive the concluding sentences.
"Well, Charlie," said Dan, as they came in view of the knoll on whichAdams and the girls were seated, "we will pluck up courage and make adash at it together."
"Ye-es," said Charlie, with hesitation.
"And shall we break the ice by referring to Toc's condition, eh?" saidDan.
"Well, it seems to me the easiest plan; perhaps I should say the leastdifficult," returned Charlie, with a faint smile.
"Come, don't lose heart, Charlie," said Dan, with an attempt to lookhumorous, which signally failed.
"Hallo, lads! where away?" said Adams, as they came up.
"Just bin havin' a walk and a talk, father," answered Dan. "We saw youup here, and came to walk back with you."
"I'm not so sure that we'll let you. The girls and I have been having apleasant confab, an' p'r'aps they don't want to be interrupted."
"Oh, we don't mind; they may come," said Di Adams, with a laugh.
So the youths joined the party, and they all descended the mountain incompany.
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A footnote in Lady Belcher's book tells us that this chronometer hadbeen twice carried out by Captain Cook on his voyages of discovery. Itwas afterwards supplied to the _Bounty_ when she was fitted out for whatwas to be her last voyage, and carried by the mutineers to PitcairnIsland. Captain Folger brought it away, but it was taken from him thesame year by the governor of Juan Fernandez, and sold in Chili to ACaldeleugh, Esquire, of Valparaiso, from whom it was purchased byCaptain, (afterwards Admiral), Sir T. Herbert for fifty guineas. Thatofficer took it to China, and in 1843 brought it to England andtransmitted it to the Admiralty, by which department it was presented tothe United Service Museum, in Great Scotland Yard, where the writer sawit only a few days ago, and was told that it keeps excellent time still.
The Lonely Island: The Refuge of the Mutineers Page 30
