she who thought of its establishments amidst thepersecutions of her aunt, and far from her mother and from you.'
"The idea of Virginia's speedy return reanimated her lover's courage, andhe resumed his pastoral occupations; happy amidst his toils, in thereflection that they would find a termination so dear to the wishes of hisheart.
"The 24th of December, 1774, at break of day, Paul, when he arose,perceived a white flag hoisted upon the Mountain of Discovery, which wasthe signal of a vessel descried at sea. He flew to the town, in order tolearn if this vessel brought any tidings of Virginia, and waited till thereturn of the pilot, who had gone as usual to visit the ship. The pilotbrought the governor information that the vessel was the Saint Geran, ofseven hundred tons, commanded by a captain of the name of Aubin; that theship was now four leagues out at sea, and would anchor at Port Louis thefollowing afternoon, if the wind was favourable: at present there was acalm. The pilot then remitted to the governor a number of letters fromFrance, amongst which was one addressed to Madame de la Tour in thehand-writing of Virginia. Paul seized upon the letter, kissed it withtransport, placed it in his bosom, and flew to the plantation. No soonerdid he perceive from a distance the family, who were waiting his returnupon the Farewell Rock, than he waved the letter in the air, without havingthe power to speak; and instantly the whole family crowded round Madame dela Tour to hear it read. Virginia informed her mother that she had sufferedmuch ill treatment from her aunt, who, after having in vain urged her tomarry against her inclination, had disinherited her; and at length sent herback at such a season of the year, that she must probably reach theMauritius at the very period of the hurricanes. In vain, she added, she hadendeavoured to soften her aunt, by representing what she owed to hermother, and to the habits of her early years: she had been treated as aromantic girl, whose head was turned by novels. At present she said shecould think of nothing but the transport of again seeing and embracing herbeloved family, and that she would have satisfied this dearest wish of herheart that very day, if the captain would have permitted her to embark inthe pilot's boat; but that he had opposed her going, on account of thedistance from the shore, and of a swell in the ocean, notwithstanding itwas a calm.
"Scarcely was the letter finished, when the whole family, transported withjoy repeated, 'Virginia is arrived!' and mistresses and servants embracedeach other. Madame de la Tour said to Paul, 'My son, go and inform ourneighbour of Virginia's arrival.' Domingo immediately lighted a torch, andhe and Paul bent their way towards my plantation.
"It was about ten at night, and I was going to extinguish my lamp, when Iperceived through the palisades of my hut a light in the woods. I arose,and had just dressed myself when Paul, half wild, and panting for breath,sprung on my neck, crying, 'Come along, come along. Virginia is arrived!Let us go to the Port: the vessel will anchor at break of day.'
"We instantly set off. As we were traversing the woods of the SlopingMountain, and were already on the road which leads from the Shaddock Groveto the Port, I heard some one walking behind us. When the person, who was anegro, and who advanced with hasty steps, had reached us, I inquired fromwhence he came, and whither he was going with such expedition. He answered,'I come from that part of the island called Golden Dust, and am sent to thePort, to inform the governor, that a ship from France has anchored upon theisland of Amber, and fires guns of distress, for the sea is very stormy.'Having said this, the man left us, and pursued his journey.
"'Let us go,' said I to Paul, 'towards that part of the island, and meetVirginia. It is only three leagues from hence.' Accordingly we bent ourcourse thither. The heat was suffocating. The moon had risen, and it wasencompassed by three large black circles. A dismal darkness shrouded thesky; but the frequent flakes of lightning discovered long chains of thickclouds, gloomy, low hung, and heaped together over the middle of theisland, after having rolled with great rapidity from the ocean, although wefelt not a breath of wind upon the land. As we walked along we thought weheard peals of thunder; but, after listening more attentively, we foundthey were the sound of distant cannon repeated by the echoes. Those sounds,joined to the tempestuous aspect of the heavens, made me shudder. I hadlittle doubt that they were signals of distress from a ship in danger. Inhalf an hour the firing ceased, and I felt the silence more appalling thanthe dismal sounds which had preceded.
"We hastened on without uttering a word, or daring to communicate ourapprehensions. At midnight we arrived on the sea shore at that part of theisland. The billows broke against the beach with a horrible noise, coveringthe rocks and the strand with their foam of a dazzling whiteness, andblended with sparks of fire. By their phosphoric gleams we distinguished,notwithstanding the darkness, the canoes of the fishermen, which they haddrawn far upon the sand.
"Near the shore, at the entrance of a wood, we saw a fire, round whichseveral of the inhabitants were assembled. Thither we repaired, in order torepose ourselves till morning. One of the circle related, that in theafternoon he had seen a vessel driven towards the island by the currents;that the night had hid it from his view; and that two hours after sun-sethe had heard the firing of guns in distress; but that the sea was sotempestuous, no boat could venture out; that a short time after, he thoughthe perceived the glimmering of the watch-lights on board the vessel, whichhe feared, by its having approached so near the coast, had steered betweenthe main land and the little island of Amber, mistaking it for the point ofEndeavour, near which the vessels pass in order to gain Port Louis. If thiswas the case, which, however, he could not affirm, the ship he apprehendedwas in great danger. Another islander then informed us, that he hadfrequently crossed the channel which separates the isle of Amber from thecoast, and which he had sounded; that the anchorage was good, and that theship would there be in as great security as if it were in harbour. A thirdislander declared it was impossible for the ship to enter that channel,which was scarcely navigable for a boat. He asserted that he had seen thevessel at anchor beyond the isle of Amber; so that if the wind arose in themorning, it could either put to sea or gain the harbour. Different opinionswere stated upon this subject, which, while those indolent Creoles calmlydiscussed, Paul and I observed a profound silence. We remained on this spottill break of day, when the weather was too hazy to admit of ourdistinguishing any object at sea, which was covered with fog. All we coulddescry was a dark cloud, which they told us was the isle of Amber, at thedistance of a quarter of a league from the coast. We could only discern onthis gloomy day the point of the beach where we stood, and the peaks ofsome mountains in the interior part of the island, rising occasionally fromamidst the clouds which hung around them.
"At seven in the morning we heard the beat of drums in the woods; and soonafter the governor, Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, arrived on horseback,followed by a detachment of soldiers armed with muskets, and a great numberof islanders and blacks. He ranged his soldiers upon the beach, and orderedthem to make a general discharge, which was no sooner done, than weperceived a glimmering light upon the water, which was instantly succeededby the sound of a gun. We judged that the ship was at no great distance,and ran towards that part where we had seen the light. We now discernedthrough the fog the hull and tackling of a large vessel; andnotwithstanding the noise of the waves, we were near enough to hear thewhistle of the boatswain at the helm, and the shouts of the mariners. Assoon as the Saint Geran perceived that we were enough to give her succour,she continued to fire guns regularly at the interval of three minutes.Monsieur de la Bourdonnais caused great fires to be lighted at certaindistances upon the strand, and sent to all the inhabitants of thatneighbourhood, in search of provisions, planks, cables, and empty barrels.A crowd of people soon arrived, accompanied by their negroes, loaded withprovisions and rigging. One of the most aged of the planters approachingthe governor, said to him, 'We have heard all night hoarse noises in themountain, and in the forests: the leaves of the trees are shaken, althoughthere is no wind: the sea birds seek refuge upon the land: it is certainthat all those signs announce a hurricane.' 'Well,
my friends,' answeredthe governor, 'we are prepared for it: and no doubt the vessel is also.'
"Every thing, indeed, presaged the near approach of the hurricane. Thecentre of the clouds in the zenith was of a dismal black, while theirskirts were fringed with a copper hue. The air resounded with the cries ofthe frigate bird, the cur water, and a multitude of other sea birds, who,notwithstanding the obscurity of the atmosphere, hastened from all pointsof the horizon to seek for shelter in the island.
"Towards nine in the morning we heard on the side of the ocean the mostterrific noise, as if torrents of water, mingled with thunder, were rollingdown the steeps of the mountains. A general cry was heard of, 'There is thehurricane!' and in one moment a frightful whirlwind scattered the fog whichhad covered the Isle of Amber and its channel.
Paul and Virginia from the French of J.B.H. de Saint Pierre Page 17
