The Coral Island

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

  NOTABLE DISCOVERY AT THE SPOUTING CLIFFS--THE MYSTERIOUS GREEN MONSTEREXPLAINED--WE ARE THROWN INTO UNUTTERABLE TERROR BY THE IDEA THAT JACKIS DROWNED--THE DIAMOND CAVE.

  "Come, Jack," cried Peterkin one morning about three weeks after ourreturn from our long excursion, "let's be jolly to-day, and do somethingvigorous. I'm quite tired of hammering and bammering, hewing andscrewing, cutting and butting at that little boat of ours, that seems ashard to build as Noah's ark. Let us go on an excursion to themountain-top, or have a hunt after the wild ducks, or make a dash at thepigs. I'm quite flat--flat as bad ginger-beer--flat as a pancake; infact, I want something to rouse me--to toss me up, as it were. Eh! whatdo you say to it?"

  "Well," answered Jack, throwing down the axe with which he was justabout to proceed towards the boat, "if that's what you want, I wouldrecommend you to make an excursion to the waterspouts. The last one wehad to do with tossed you up a considerable height; perhaps the nextwill send you higher--who knows?--if you're at all reasonable ormoderate in your expectations!"

  "Jack, my dear boy," said Peterkin gravely, "you are really becoming toofond of jesting. It's a thing I don't at all approve of; and if youdon't give it up, I fear that, for our mutual good, we shall have topart."

  "Well, then, Peterkin," replied Jack with a smile, "what would youhave?"

  "Have?" said Peterkin. "I would _have_ nothing. I didn't say I wantedto _have_; I said that I wanted to _do_."

  "By the bye," said I, interrupting their conversation, "I am reminded bythis that we have not yet discovered the nature of yon curiousappearance that we saw near the waterspouts on our journey round theisland. Perhaps it would be well to go for that purpose."

  "Humph!" ejaculated Peterkin, "I know the nature of it well enough."

  "What was it?" said I.

  "It was of a _mysterious_ nature, to be sure!" said he with a wave ofhis hand, while he rose from the log on which he had been sitting andbuckled on his belt, into which he thrust his enormous club.

  "Well, then, let us away to the waterspouts," cried Jack, going up tothe bower for his bow and arrows.--"And bring your spear, Peterkin; itmay be useful."

  We now, having made up our minds to examine into this matter, salliedforth eagerly in the direction of the waterspout rocks, which, as I havebefore mentioned, were not far from our present place of abode. Onarriving there we hastened down to the edge of the rocks and gazed overinto the sea, where we observed the pale-green object still distinctlyvisible, moving its tail slowly to and fro in the water.

  "Most remarkable!" said Jack.

  "Exceedingly curious!" said I.

  "Beats everything!" said Peterkin.--"Now, Jack," he added, "you madesuch a poor figure in your last attempt to stick that object that Iwould advise you to let me try it. If it has got a heart at all, I'llengage to send my spear right through the core of it; if it hasn't got aheart, I'll send it through the spot where its heart ought to be."

  "Fire away, then, my boy," replied Jack with a laugh.

  Peterkin immediately took the spear, poised it for a second or two abovehis head, then darted it like an arrow into the sea. Down it wentstraight into the centre of the green object, passed quite through it,and came up immediately afterwards, pure and unsullied, while themysterious tail moved quietly as before!

  "Now," said Peterkin gravely, "that brute is a heartless monster; I'llhave nothing more to do with it."

  "I'm pretty sure now," said Jack, "that it is merely a phosphoric light;but I must say I'm puzzled at its staying always in that exact spot."

  I also was much puzzled, and inclined to think with Jack that it must bephosphoric light, of which luminous appearance we had seen much while onour voyage to these seas. "But," said I, "there is nothing to hinder usfrom diving down to it, now that we are sure it is not a shark."

  "True," returned Jack, stripping off his clothes. "I'll go down, Ralph,as I'm better at diving than you are.--Now, then, Peterkin, out o' theroad!" Jack stepped forward, joined his hands above his head, bent overthe rocks, and plunged into the sea. For a second or two the spraycaused by his dive hid him from view; then the water became still, andwe saw him swimming far down in the midst of the green object. Suddenlyhe sank below it, and vanished altogether from our sight! We gazedanxiously down at the spot where he had disappeared for nearly a minute,expecting every moment to see him rise again for breath; but fully aminute passed and still he did not reappear. Two minutes passed! andthen a flood of alarm rushed in upon my soul when I considered that,during all my acquaintance with him, Jack had never stayed under watermore than a minute at a time--indeed, seldom so long.

  "Oh Peterkin!" I said in a voice that trembled with increasing anxiety,"something has happened. It is more than three minutes now." ButPeterkin did not answer; and I observed that he was gazing down into thewater with a look of intense fear mingled with anxiety, while his facewas overspread with a deadly paleness. Suddenly he sprang to his feetand rushed about in a frantic state, wringing his hands, and exclaiming,"Oh Jack! Jack! He is gone! It must have been a shark, and he is gonefor ever!"

  For the next five minutes I know not what I did; the intensity of myfeelings almost bereft me of my senses. But I was recalled to myself byPeterkin seizing me by the shoulders and staring wildly into my face,while he exclaimed, "Ralph! Ralph! perhaps he has only fainted! Divefor him, Ralph!"

  It seemed strange that this did not occur to me sooner. In a moment Irushed to the edge of the rocks, and without waiting to throw off mygarments, was on the point to spring into the waves when I observedsomething black rising up through the green object. In another momentJack's head rose to the surface, and he gave a wild shout, flinging backthe spray from his locks, as was his wont after a dive. Now we werealmost as much amazed at seeing him reappear, well and strong, as we hadbeen at first at his non-appearance; for, to the best of our judgment,he had been nearly ten minutes under water--perhaps longer--and itrequired no exertion of our reason to convince us that this was utterlyimpossible for mortal man to do and retain his strength and faculties.It was, therefore, with a feeling akin to superstitious awe that I helddown my hand and assisted him to clamber up the steep rocks. But nosuch feeling affected Peterkin. No sooner did Jack gain the rocks andseat himself on one, panting for breath, than he threw his arms roundhis neck and burst into a flood of tears. "Oh Jack! Jack!" said he,"where were you? What kept you so long?"

  After a few moments Peterkin became composed enough to sit still andlisten to Jack's explanation, although he could not restrain himselffrom attempting to wink every two minutes at me in order to express hisjoy at Jack's safety. I say he attempted to wink, but I am bound to addthat he did not succeed; for his eyes were so much swollen with weepingthat his frequent attempts only resulted in a series of violent andaltogether idiotical contortions of the face, that were very far fromexpressing what he intended. However, I knew what the poor fellow meantby it; so I smiled to him in return, and endeavoured to make believethat he was winking.

  "Now, lads," said Jack when we were composed enough to listen to him,"yon green object is not a shark; it is a stream of light issuing from acave in the rocks. Just after I made my dive, I observed that thislight came from the side of the rock above which we are now sitting; soI struck out for it, and saw an opening into some place or other thatappeared to be luminous within. For one instant I paused to thinkwhether I ought to venture. Then I made up my mind and dashed into it;for you see, Peterkin, although I take some time to tell this, ithappened in the space of a few seconds, so that I knew I had wind enoughin me to serve to bring me out o' the hole and up to the surface again.Well, I was just on the point of turning--for I began to feel a littleuncomfortable in such a place--when it seemed to me as if there was afaint light right above me. I darted upwards, and found my head out ofwater. This relieved me greatly, for I now felt that I could take inair enough to enable me to return the way I came. Then it all at onceoccurred
to me that I might not be able to find the way out again; buton glancing downwards, my mind was put quite at rest by seeing the greenlight below me streaming into the cave, just like the light that we hadseen streaming out of it, only what I now saw was much brighter.

  "At first I could scarcely see anything as I gazed around me, it was sodark; but gradually my eyes became accustomed to it, and I found that Iwas in a huge cave, part of the walls of which I observed on each sideof me. The ceiling just above me was also visible, and I fancied that Icould perceive beautiful, glittering objects there; but the farther endof the cave was shrouded in darkness. While I was looking around me ingreat wonder, it came into my head that you two would think I wasdrowned; so I plunged down through the passage again in a great hurry,rose to the surface, and--here I am!"

  When Jack concluded his recital of what he had seen in this remarkablecave, I could not rest satisfied till I had dived down to see it; whichI did, but found it so dark, as Jack had said, that I could scarcely seeanything. When I returned we had a long conversation about, it, duringwhich I observed that Peterkin had a most lugubrious expression on hiscountenance.

  "What's the matter, Peterkin?" said I.

  "The matter?" he replied. "It's all very well for you two to be talkingaway like mermaids about the wonders of this cave; but you know I mustbe content to hear about it, while you are enjoying yourselves downthere like mad dolphins. It's really too bad!"

  "I'm very sorry for you, Peterkin--indeed I am," said Jack; "but wecannot help you. If you would only learn to dive--"

  "Learn to fly, you might as well say!" retorted Peterkin in a very sulkytone.

  "If you would only consent to keep still," said I, "we would take youdown with us in ten seconds."

  "Hum!" returned Peterkin; "suppose a salamander was to propose to you`only to keep still' and he would carry you through a blazing fire in afew seconds, what would you say?"

  We both laughed and shook our heads, for it was evident that nothing wasto be made of Peterkin in the water. But we could not rest satisfiedtill we had seen more of this cave; so, after further consultation, Jackand I determined to try if we could take down a torch with us, and setfire to it in the cavern. This we found to be an undertaking of nosmall difficulty, but we accomplished it at last by the following means:First, we made a torch of a very inflammable nature out of the bark of acertain tree, which we cut into strips, and after twisting, cementedtogether with a kind of resin or gum, which we also obtained fromanother tree; neither of which trees, however, was known by name toJack. This, when prepared, we wrapped up in a great number of plies ofcocoa-nut cloth, so that we were confident it could not get wet duringthe short time it should be under water. Then we took a small piece ofthe tinder, which we had carefully treasured up lest we should requireit, as before said, when the sun should fail us; also, we rolled up somedry grass and a few chips, which, with a little bow and drill, likethose described before, we made into another bundle and wrapped it up incocoa-nut cloth. When all was ready we laid aside our garments, withthe exception of our trousers, which, as we did not know what roughscraping against the rocks we might be subjected to, we kept on.

  Then we advanced to the edge of the rocks--Jack carrying one bundle,with the torch; I the other, with the things for producing fire.

  "Now don't weary for us, Peterkin, should we be gone some time," saidJack. "We'll be sure to return in half-an-hour at the very latest,however interesting the cave should be, that we may relieve your mind."

  "Farewell!" said Peterkin, coming up to us with a look of deep butpretended solemnity, while he shook hands and kissed each of us on thecheek--"farewell! And while you are gone I shall repose my weary limbsunder the shelter of this bush, and meditate on the changefulness of allthings earthly, with special reference to the forsaken condition of apoor shipwrecked sailor-boy!" So saying, Peterkin waved his hand,turned from us, and cast himself upon the ground with a look ofmelancholy resignation, which was so well feigned that I would havethought it genuine had he not accompanied it with a gentle wink. Weboth laughed, and springing from the rocks together, plunged head firstinto the sea.

  We gained the interior of the submarine cave without difficulty, and onemerging from the waves, supported ourselves for some time by treadingwater, while we held the two bundles above our heads. This we did inorder to let our eyes become accustomed to the obscurity. Then, when wecould see sufficiently, we swam to a shelving rock, and landed insafety. Having wrung the water from our trousers, and dried ourselvesas well as we could under the circumstances, we proceeded to ignite thetorch. This we accomplished without difficulty in a few minutes; and nosooner did it flare up than we were struck dumb with the wonderfulobjects that were revealed to our gaze. The roof of the cavern justabove us seemed to be about ten feet high, but grew higher as it recededinto the distance until it was lost in darkness. It seemed to be madeof coral, and was supported by massive columns of the same material.Immense icicles (as they appeared to us) hung from it in various places.These, however, were formed, not of ice, but of a species of limestone,which seemed to flow in a liquid form towards the point of each, whereit became solid. A good many drops fell, however, to the rock below,and these formed little cones, which rose to meet the points above.Some of them had already met, and thus we saw how the pillars wereformed, which at first seemed to us as if they had been placed there bysome human architect to support the roof. As we advanced farther in wesaw that the floor was composed of the same material as the pillars, andit presented the curious appearance of ripples such as are formed onwater when gently ruffled by the wind. There were several openings oneither hand in the walls that seemed to lead into other caverns, butthese we did not explore at this time. We also observed that theceiling was curiously marked in many places, as if it were the fretworkof a noble cathedral; and the walls, as well as the roof, sparkled inthe light of our torch, and threw back gleams and flashes as if theywere covered with precious stones. Although we proceeded far into thiscavern, we did not come to the end of it; and we were obliged to returnmore speedily than we would otherwise have done, as our torch was nearlyexpended. We did not observe any openings in the roof, or anyindications of places whereby light might enter; but near the entranceto the cavern stood an immense mass of pure-white coral rock, whichcaught and threw back the little light that found an entrance throughthe cave's mouth, and thus produced, we conjectured, the pale-greenobject which had first attracted our attention. We concluded, also,that the reflecting power of this rock was that which gave forth the dimlight that faintly illumined the first part of the cave.

  Before diving through the passage again we extinguished the small pieceof our torch that remained, and left it in a dry spot--conceiving thatwe might possibly stand in need of it if, at any future time, we shouldchance to wet our torch while diving into the cavern. As we stood for afew minutes after it was out, waiting till our eyes became accustomed tothe gloom, we could not help remarking the deep, intense stillness andthe unutterable gloom of all around us; and as I thought of thestupendous dome above, and the countless gems that had sparkled in thetorchlight a few minutes before, it came into my mind to consider howstrange it is that God should make such wonderful and exquisitelybeautiful works never to be seen at all--except, indeed, by chancevisitors such as ourselves.

  I afterwards found that there were many such caverns among the islandsof the South Seas, some of them larger and more beautiful than the one Ihave just described.

  "Now, Ralph, are you ready?" said Jack in a low voice, that seemed toecho up into the dome above.

  "Quite ready."

  "Come along, then," said he; and plunging off the ledge of the rock intothe water, we dived through the narrow entrance. In a few seconds wewere panting on the rocks above, and receiving the congratulations ofour friend Peterkin.