The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean
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CHAPTER XXVIII.
Alone on the deep--Necessity the mother of invention--A valuable bookdiscovered--Natural phenomenon--A bright day in my history.
It was with feelings of awe, not unmingled with fear, that I now seatedmyself on the cabin sky-light and gazed upon the rigid features of mylate comrade, while my mind wandered over his past history andcontemplated with anxiety my present position. Alone! in the midst ofthe wide Pacific, having a most imperfect knowledge of navigation, and ina schooner requiring at least eight men as her proper crew. But I willnot tax the reader's patience with a minute detail of my feelings anddoings during the first few days that followed the death of my companion.I will merely mention that I tied a cannon ball to his feet and, withfeelings of the deepest sorrow, consigned him to the deep.
For fully a week after that a steady breeze blew from the east, and, asmy course lay west-and-by-north, I made rapid progress towards mydestination. I could not take an observation, which I very muchregretted, as the captain's quadrant was in the cabin; but, from the dayof setting sail from the island of the savages, I had kept a deadreckoning, and as I knew pretty well now how much lee-way the schoonermade, I hoped to hit the Coral Island without much difficulty. In this Iwas the more confident that I knew its position on the chart (which Iunderstood was a very good one), and so had its correct bearings bycompass.
As the weather seemed now quite settled and fine, and as I had got intothe trade-winds, I set about preparations for hoisting the top-sails.This was a most arduous task, and my first attempts were completefailures, owing, in a great degree, to my reprehensible ignorance ofmechanical forces. The first error I made was in applying my apparatusof blocks and pulleys to a rope which was too weak, so that the veryfirst heave I made broke it in two, and sent me staggering against theafter-hatch, over which I tripped, and, striking against the main-boom,tumbled down the companion ladder into the cabin. I was much bruised andsomewhat stunned by this untoward accident. However, I considered itfortunate that I was not killed. In my next attempt I made sure of notcoming by a similar accident, so I unreeved the tackling and fitted uplarger blocks and ropes. But although the principle on which I acted wasquite correct, the machinery was now so massive and heavy that the merefriction and stiffness of the thick cordage prevented me from moving itat all. Afterwards, however, I came to proportion things more correctly;but I could not avoid reflecting at the time how much better it wouldhave been had I learned all this from observation and study, instead ofwaiting till I was forced to acquire it through the painful and tediouslessons of experience.
After the tackling was prepared and in good working order, it took me thegreater part of a day to hoist the main-top sail. As I could not steerand work at this at the same time, I lashed the helm in such a positionthat, with a little watching now and then, it kept the schooner in herproper course. By this means I was enabled also to go about the deck anddown below for things that I wanted, as occasion required; also to cookand eat my victuals. But I did not dare to trust to this plan during thethree hours of rest that I allowed myself at night, as the wind mighthave shifted, in which case I should have been blown far out of my courseere I awoke. I was, therefore, in the habit of heaving-to during thosethree hours; that is, fixing the rudder and the sails in such a positionas that by acting against each other, they would keep the shipstationary. After my night's rest, therefore, I had only to makeallowance for the lee-way she had made, and so resume my course.
Of course I was to some extent anxious lest another squall should come,but I made the best provision I could in the circumstances, and concludedthat by letting go the weather-braces of the top-sails and the top-sailhalyards at the same time, I should thereby render these sails almostpowerless. Besides this, I proposed to myself to keep a sharp look-outon the barometer in the cabin, and if I observed at any time a suddenfall in it, I resolved that I would instantly set about my multiformappliances for reducing sail, so as to avoid being taken at unawares.Thus I sailed prosperously for two weeks, with a fair wind, so that Icalculated I must be drawing near to the Coral Island; at the thought ofwhich my heart bounded with joyful expectation.
The only book I found on board, after a careful search, was a volume ofCaptain Cook's voyages. This, I suppose, the pirate captain had broughtwith him in order to guide him, and to furnish him with informationregarding the islands of these seas. I found this a most delightful bookindeed, and I not only obtained much interesting knowledge about the seain which I was sailing, but I had many of my own opinions, derived fromexperience, corroborated; and not a few of them corrected. Besides thereading of this charming book, and the daily routine of occupations,nothing of particular note happened to me during this voyage, exceptonce, when on rising one night, after my three hours' nap, while it wasyet dark, I was amazed and a little alarmed to find myself floating inwhat appeared to be a sea of blue fire! I had often noticed thebeautiful appearance of phosphorescent light, but this far exceededanything of the sort I ever saw before. The whole sea appeared somewhatlike milk and was remarkably luminous.
I rose in haste, and, letting down a bucket into the sea, brought some ofthe water on board and took it down to the cabin to examine it; but nosooner did I approach the light than the strange appearance disappeared,and when I removed the cabin lamp the luminous light appeared again. Iwas much puzzled with this, and took up a little of the water in thehollow of my hand and then let it run off, when I found that the luminoussubstance was left behind on my palm. I ran with it to the lamp; butwhen I got there it was gone. I found, however, that when I went intothe dark my hand shone again; so I took the large glass of the ship'stelescope and examined my hand minutely, when I found that there were onit one or two small patches of a clear, transparent substance like jelly,which were so thin as to be almost invisible to the naked eye. Thus Icame to know that the beautiful phosphoric light, which I had so oftenadmired before, was caused by animals, for I had no doubt that these wereof the same kind as the medusae or jelly-fish which are seen in all partsof the world.
On the evening of my fourteenth day, I was awakened out of a nap intowhich I had fallen by a loud cry, and starting up, I gazed around me. Iwas surprised and delighted to see a large albatross soaring majesticallyover the ship. I immediately took it into my head that this was thealbatross I had seen at Penguin Island. I had, of course, no good reasonfor supposing this, but the idea occurred to me, I know not why, and Icherished it, and regarded the bird with as much affection as if he hadbeen an old friend. He kept me company all that day and left me as nightfell.
Next morning as I stood motionless and with heavy eyes at the helm, for Ihad not slept well, I began to weary anxiously for day-light, and peeredtowards the horizon, where I thought I observed something like a blackcloud against the dark sky. Being always on the alert for squalls, I ranto the bow. There could be no doubt it was a squall, and as I listened Ithought I heard the murmur of the coming gale. Instantly I began to workmight and main at my cumbrous tackle for shortening sail, and in thecourse of an hour and a half had the most of it reduced,--the top-sailyards down on the caps, the top-sails clewed up, the sheets hauled in,the main and fore peaks lowered, and the flying-jib down. While thusengaged the dawn advanced, and I cast an occasional furtive glance aheadin the midst of my labour. But now that things were prepared for theworst, I ran forward again and looked anxiously over the bow. I nowheard the roar of the waves distinctly, and as a single ray of the risingsun gleamed over the ocean I saw--what! could it be that I wasdreaming?--that magnificent breaker with its ceaseless roar!--thatmountain top!--yes, once more I beheld the Coral Island!