The Coral Island
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CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
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 skylight 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, andin a schooner requiring at least eight men as her proper crew! But Iwill not tax the reader's patience with a minute detail of my feelingsand doings during the first few days that followed the death of mycompanion. I will merely mention that I tied a cannon-ball to his feet,and with feelings 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 leeway the schoonermade, I hoped to hit the Coral Island without much difficulty. In thisI was 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 topsails.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 bruisedand somewhat stunned by this untoward accident. However, I consideredit fortunate that I was not killed. In my next attempt I made sure ofnot coming by a similar accident, so I unreeved the tackling and fittedup larger blocks and ropes. But although the principle on which I actedwas quiet correct, the machinery was now so massive and heavy that themere friction and stiffness of the thick cordage prevented me frommoving it at all. Afterwards, however, I came to proportion things morecorrectly; but I could not avoid reflecting at the time how much betterit would have been had I learned all this from observation and study,instead of waiting till I was forced to acquire it through the painfuland tedious lessons of experience.
After the tackling was prepared and in good working order, it took methe greater part of a day to hoist the main topsail. As I could notsteer and work at this at the same time, I lashed the helm in such aposition that, with a little watching now and then, it kept the schoonerin her proper course. By this means I was enabled, also, to go aboutthe deck and down below for things that I wanted as occasion required;also to cook and eat my victuals. But I did not dare to trust to thisplan during the three hours of rest that I allowed myself at night, asthe wind might have shifted, in which case I should have been blown farout of my course ere I awoke. I was, therefore, in the habit ofheaving-to during those three hours--that is, fixing the rudder and thesails in such a position as that, by acting against each other, theywould keep the ship stationary. After my night's rest, therefore, I hadonly to make allowance for the leeway she had made, and so resume mycourse.
Of course I was, to some extent, anxious lest another squall shouldcome; but I made the best provision I could in the circumstances, andconcluded that by letting go the weather-braces of the topsails and thetopsail halyards at the same time, I should thereby render these sailsalmost powerless. Besides this, I proposed to myself to keep a sharplookout on the barometer in the cabin; and if I observed at any time asudden fall in it, I resolved that I would instantly set about mymultiform appliances for reducing sail, so as to avoid being takenunawares. Thus I sailed prosperously for two weeks, with a fair wind,so that I calculated I must be drawing near to the Coral Island, at thethought of which 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 delightfulbook indeed; and I not only obtained much interesting knowledge aboutthe sea in which I was sailing, but I had many of my own opinions,derived from experience, corroborated, and not a few of them corrected.Besides the reading of this charming book, and the daily routine ofoccupations, nothing of particular note happened to me during thisvoyage--except once, when on rising one night, after my three hours'nap, while it was yet dark, I was amazed and a little alarmed to findmyself floating in what appeared to be a sea of blue fire! I had oftennoticed the beautiful appearance of phosphorescent light, but this farexceeded anything of the sort I ever saw before. The whole sea appearedsomewhat like 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 theluminous substance was left behind on my palm. I ran with it to thelamp, but when I got there it was gone. I found, however, that when Iwent into the dark my hand shone again; so I took the large glass of theship's telescope and examined my hand minutely, when I found that therewere on it one or two small patches of a clear, transparent substancelike jelly, which were so thin as to be almost invisible to the nakedeye. Thus I came to know that the beautiful phosphoric light, which Ihad so often admired before, was caused by animals; for I had no doubtthat these were of the same kind as the medusa or jelly-fish, which areseen in all parts of 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 soaringmajestically over the ship. I immediately took it into my head thatthis was the albatross I had seen at Penguin Island. I had, of course,no good reason for supposing this; but the idea occurred to me, I knownot why, and I cherished it, and regarded the bird with as muchaffection as if he had been an old friend. He kept me company all thatday, and left me as night fell.
Next morning, as I stood motionless and with heavy eyes at the helm--forI had not slept well--I began to weary anxiously for daylight, andpeered towards the horizon, where I thought I observed something like ablack cloud against the dark sky. Being always on the alert forsqualls, I ran to the bow. There could be no doubt it was a squall, andas I listened I thought I heard the murmur of the coming gale.Instantly I began to work might and main at my cumbrous tackle forshortening sail, and in the course of an hour and a half had the most ofit reduced--the topsail yards down on the caps, the topsails clewed up,the sheets hauled in, the main and fore peaks lowered, and theflying-jib down. While thus engaged, the dawn advanced, and I cast anoccasional furtive glance ahead in the midst of my labour. But now thatthings were prepared for the worst, I ran forward again and lookedanxiously over the bow. I now heard the roar of the waves distinctly;and as a single ray of the rising sun gleamed over the ocean, I saw--what! could it be that I was dreaming?--that magnificent breaker withits ceaseless roar--that mountain-top! Yes, once more I beheld theCoral Island!