CHAPTER II
The three black pearls--The fatal morning--Jensen and his flotilla driftaway--Alone on the ship--"Oil on the troubled waters"--A substitute for arudder--Smoke signals--The whirlpool--The savages attack--I escape fromthe blacks--A strange monster--The _Veielland_ strikes a reef--Stone deafthrough the big wave--I leap into the sea--How Bruno helped me ashore--Thedreary island--My raft--A horrible discovery.
This adventure made our Malay crew very anxious to leave these regions.They had not forgotten the octopus incident either, and they nowappointed their serang to wait upon the captain--a kind of "one-man"deputation--to persuade him, if possible, to sail for freshfishing-grounds. At first Jensen tried to persuade them to remain in thesame latitudes, which is not to be wondered at, seeing the harvest he hadsecured; but they would not listen to this, and at last he was compelledto direct his ship towards some other quarter. Where he took us to Icannot say, but in the course of another week we dropped anchor in somepractically unexplored pearling grounds, and got to work once more. Ourluck was still with us, and we continued increasing every day the valueof our already substantial treasure. In these new grounds we found aparticularly small shell very rich in pearls, which required no divingfor at all. They were secured by means of a trawl or scoop dragged fromthe stern of the lifeboat; and when the tide was low the men jumped intothe shallow water and picked them up at their ease.
One morning, as I was opening the shells as usual, out from one droppedthree magnificent black pearls. I gazed at them, fascinated--why, I knownot. Ah! those terrible three black pearls; would to God they had neverbeen found! When I showed them to the captain he became very excited,and said that, as they were worth nearly all the others put together, itwould be well worth our while trying to find more like them. Now, thismeant stopping at sea longer than was either customary or advisable. Thepearling season was practically at an end, and the yearly cyclonicchanges were actually due, but the captain had got the "pearl fever" verybadly and flatly refused to leave. Already we had made an enormous haul,and in addition to the stock in my charge Jensen had rows of picklebottles full of pearls in his cabin, which he would sit and gloat overfor hours like a miser with his gold. He kept on saying that there_must_ be more of these black pearls to be obtained; the three we hadfound could not possibly be isolated specimens and so on. Accordingly,we kept our divers at work day after day as usual. Of course, I did notknow much about the awful dangers to which we were exposing ourselves byremaining out in such uncertain seas when the cyclones were due; and Idid not, I confess, see any great reason why we should _not_ continuepearling. I was inexperienced, you see.
The pearl-fishing season, as I afterwards learned, extends from Novemberto May. Well, May came and went, and we were still hard at work, hopingthat each day would bring another haul of black pearls to our store oftreasure; in this, however, we were disappointed. And yet the captainbecame more determined than ever to find some. He continued to takecharge of the whale-boat whenever the divers went out to work, and hepersonally superintended their operations. He knew very well that he hadalready kept them at work longer than he ought to have done, and it wasonly by a judicious distribution of more jewellery, pieces of cloth, &c.,that he withheld them from openly rebelling against the extended stay.The serang told him that if the men did once go on strike, nothing wouldinduce them to resume work, they would simply sulk, he said; and die outof sheer disappointment and pettishness. So the captain was compelled totreat them more amiably than usual. At the very outside their contractwould only be for nine months. Sometimes when he showed signs of beingin a cantankerous mood because the haul of shells did not please him, theserang would say to him defiantly, "Come on; take it out of me if you arenot satisfied." But Jensen never accepted the challenge. As the dayspassed, I thought the weather showed indications of a change; for onething, the aneroid began jumping about in a very uneasy manner. I calledJensen's attention to the matter, but he was too much interested in hishunt for black pearls to listen to me.
And now I pass to the fatal day that made me an outcast from civilisationfor so many weary years. Early one morning in July 1864, Jensen went offas usual with the whole of his crew, leaving me absolutely alone incharge of the ship. The women had often accompanied the divers on theirexpeditions, and did so on this occasion, being rather expert at thework, which they looked upon as sport.
Whenever I look back upon the events of that dreadful day, I am filledwith astonishment that the captain should have been so mad as to leavethe ship at all. Only an hour before he left, a tidal wave broke overthe stern, and flooded the cabins with a perfect deluge. Both Jensen andI were down below at the time, and came in for an awful drenching. Thisin itself was a clear and ominous indication of atmospheric disturbance;but all that poor Jensen did was to have the pumps set to work, and afterthe cabins were comparatively dry he proceeded once more to the pearlbanks that fascinated him so, and on which he probably sleeps to thisday. The tide was favourable when he left, and I watched the fleet oflittle boats following in the wake of the whale-boat, until they weresome three miles distant from the ship, when they stopped forpreparations to be made for the work of diving. I had no presentimentwhatever of the catastrophe that awaited them and me.
A cool, refreshing breeze had been blowing up to his time, but the windnow developed a sudden violence, and the sea was lashed into huge wavesthat quickly swamped nearly every one of the little cockle-shell boats.Fortunately, they could not sink, and as I watched I saw that the Malayswho were thus thrown into the water clung to the sides of the littleboats, and made the best of their way to the big craft in charge ofCaptain Jensen. Every moment the sea became more and more turbulent asthe wind quickened to a hurricane. When all the Malays had scrambledinto the whale-boat, they attempted to pull back to the ship, but I couldsee that they were unable to make the slightest headway against thetremendous sea that was running, although they worked frantically at theoars.
On the contrary, I was horrified to see that they were gradually drifting_away from me_, and being carried farther and farther out across theillimitable sea. I was nearly distracted at the sight, and I racked mybrains to devise some means of helping them, but could think of nothingfeasible. I thought first of all of trying to slip the anchor and letthe ship drift in their direction, but I was by no means sure that shewould actually do this. Besides, I reflected, she might strike on someof the insidious coral reefs that abound in those fair but terriblydangerous seas. So I came to the conclusion that it would be better tolet her remain where she was--at least, for the time being. Moreover, Ifelt sure that the captain, with his knowledge of those regions, wouldknow of some island or convenient sandbank, perhaps not very far distant,on which he might run his boat for safety until the storm had passed.
The boats receded farther and farther from view, until, about nine in themorning, I lost sight of them altogether. They had started out soonafter sunrise. It then occurred to me that I ought to put the ship intosome sort of condition to enable her to weather the storm, which wasincreasing instead of abating. This was not the first storm I hadexperienced on board the _Veielland_, so I knew pretty well what to do.First of all, then, I battened down the hatches; this done, I made everymovable thing on deck as secure as I possibly could. Fortunately all thesails were furled at the time, so I had no trouble with them. By mid-dayit was blowing so hard that I positively could not stand upright, but hadto crawl about on my hands and knees, otherwise I should have been hurledoverboard. I also attached myself to a long rope, and fastened the otherend to one of the masts, so that in the event of my being washed into theraging sea, I could pull myself on board again.
Blinding rain had been falling most of the time, and the waves camedashing over the deck as though longing to engulf the little ship; butshe rode them all in splendid style. The climax was reached about twoo'clock, when a perfect cyclone was raging, and the end seemed very nearfor me. It made me shudder to listen to the wind s
creaming and moaninground the bare poles of the sturdy little vessel, which rose on veritablemountains of water and crashed as suddenly into seething abysses thatmade my heart stand still. Then the weather suddenly became calm oncemore--a change that was as unexpected as the advent of the storm itself.The sky, however, continued very black and threatening, and the sea wasstill somewhat boisterous; but both wind and rain had practicallysubsided, and I could now look around me without feeling that if Istirred I was a doomed man. I clambered up the lower portion of the mainrigging, but only saw black, turbulent waters, hissing and heaving, andraging on every side, and seemingly stretching away into infinity. Withterrible force the utter awfulness and hopelessness of my position dawnedupon me, yet I did not despair. I next thought it advisable to try andslip my anchor, and let the ship drift, for I still half-fancied thatperhaps I might come across my companions somewhere. Before I could freethe vessel, however, the wind veered completely round, and, to my horrorand despair, sent a veritable mountain of water on board, that carriedaway nearly all the bulwarks, the galley, the top of the companion-way,and, worst of all, completely wrenched off the wheel. Compasses andcharts were all stored in the companion-way, and were therefore lost forever. Then, indeed, I felt the end was near. Fortunately, I was for'ardat the time, or I must inevitably have been swept into the appallingwaste of whirling, mountainous waters. This lashing of myself to themast, by the way, was the means of saving my life time after time. Soonafter the big sea--which I had hoped was a final effort of the terriblestorm--the gale returned and blew in the opposite direction with evengreater fury than before. I spent an awful time of it the whole nightlong, without a soul to speak to or help me, and every moment I thoughtthe ship must go down, in that fearful sea. The only living thing onboard beside myself was the captain's dog, which I could occasionallyhear howling dismally in the cabin below, where I had shut him in whenthe cyclone first burst upon me.
Among the articles carried overboard by the big sea that smashed thewheel was a large cask full of oil, made from turtle fat, in which wealways kept a supply of fresh meats, consisting mainly of pork and fowls.This cask contained perhaps twenty gallons, and when it overturned, theoil flowed all over the decks and trickled into the sea. The effect wassimply magical. Almost immediately the storm-tossed waves in thevicinity of the ship, which hitherto had been raging mountains high,quieted down in a way that filled me with astonishment. Thistranquillity prevailed as long as the oil lasted; but as soon as thesupply was exhausted the giant waves became as turbulent and mountainousas ever.
All night long the gale blew the ship blindly hither and thither, and itwas not until just before daybreak that the storm showed any signs ofabating. By six o'clock, however, only a slight wind was blowing, andthe sea no longer threatened to engulf me and my little vessel. I wasnow able to look about me, and see what damage had been done; and you mayimagine my relief when I found that the ship was still sound and water-tight, although the bulwarks were all gone, and she had all theappearance of a derelict. One of the first things I did was to go downand unloose the dog--poor Bruno. The delight of the poor creature knewno bounds, and he rushed madly up on deck, barking frantically for hisabsent master. He seemed very much surprised to find no one aboardbesides myself.
Alas! I never saw Peter Jensen again, nor the forty Malays and the twowomen. Jensen _may_ have escaped; he may even have lived to read theselines; God only knows what was the fate of the unfortunate fleet of pearl-fishers. Priggish and uncharitable people may ejaculate: "The reward ofcupidity!" But I say, "judge not, lest ye also be judged."
As the morning had now become beautifully fine, I thought I might attemptto get out some spare sails. I obtained what I wanted from the fo'c'sle,and after a good deal of work managed to "bend" a mainsail and staysail.Being without compass or chart, however, I knew not where I was, norcould I decide what course to take in order to reach land. I had a vagueidea that the seas in those regions were studded with innumerable littleislands and sandbanks known only to the pearl-fishers, and it seemedinevitable that I must run aground somewhere or get stranded upon a coralreef after I had slipped the cable.
However, I did not see what advantage was to be gained by remaining whereI was, so I fixed from the stern a couple of long sweeps, or steeringoars, twenty-six feet long, and made them answer the purpose of a rudder.These arrangements occupied me two or three days, and then, wheneverything was completed to my satisfaction, and the ship was in sailingtrim, I gave the _Veielland_ her freedom. This I managed as follows: Themoment the chain was at its tautest--at its greatest tension--I gave it aviolent blow with a big axe, and it parted. I steered due west, takingmy observations by the sun and my own shadow at morning, noon, andevening. For I had been taught to reckon the degree of latitude from thenumber of inches of my shadow. After a time I altered my course to westby south, hoping that I might come upon one of the islands of the DutchIndies,--Timorland, for instance, but day after day passed without landcoming in sight.
Imagine the situation, if you can: alone on a disabled ship in thelimitless ocean,--tortured with doubts and fears about the fate of mycomrades, and filled with horror and despair at my own miserableprospects for the future.
I did not sail the ship at night, but got out a sea-anchor (using a floatand a long coir rope), and lay-to while I turned in for a sleep. I wouldbe up at day-break next morning, and as the weather continued beautifullyfine, I had no difficulty in getting under way again. At last theexpected happened. One afternoon, without any warning whatsoever, thevessel struck heavily on a reef. I hurriedly constructed a raft out ofthe hatches and spare spars, and put biscuits and water aboard, afterwhich I landed on the rocks. When the tide reached its lowest point thestern of the _Veielland_ was left fully _twenty feet out of water_,securely jammed between two high pinnacles of coral rock. The sight wasremarkable in the extreme. The sails were still set, and the stiffbreeze that was blowing dead against them caused them to belly out justas though the craft were afloat, and practically helped to keep thevessel in position. The bows were much higher than the stern, the lineof the decks being at an angle of about forty-five degrees. In thisremarkable situation she remained secure until the turning of the tide.My only hope was that she would not suffer from the tremendous strain towhich she was necessarily being subjected. It seemed to me every minutethat she would free herself from her singular position between the rocks,and glide down bows foremost into the sea to disappear for ever. But thesails kept her back. How earnestly I watched the rising of the waters;and night came on as I waited. Slowly and surely they crept up the bows,and the ship gradually assumed her natural level until at length thestanch little craft floated safe and sound once more, apparently verylittle the worse for her strange experience. And then away I went on myway--by this time almost schooled to indifference. Had she gone down Imust inevitably have succumbed on those coral reefs, for the stock ofbiscuits and water I had been able to put aboard the raft would only havelasted a very few days.
For nearly a fortnight after the day of the great storm I kept on thesame course without experiencing any unpleasant incident or check, alwaysexcepting the curious threatened wreck which I have just mentioned.
Just before dusk on the evening of the thirteenth day, I caught sight ofan island in the distance--Melville Island I now know it to be; and I wasgreatly puzzled to see smoke floating upwards apparently from many fireskindled on the beach. I knew that they were signals of some kind, and atfirst I fancied that it must be one of the friendly Malay islands that Iwas approaching. A closer scrutiny of the smoke signals, however, soonconvinced me that I was mistaken. As I drew nearer, I saw a number ofnatives, perfectly nude, running wildly about on the beach andbrandishing their spears in my direction.
I did not like the look of things at all, but when I tried to turn thehead of the ship to skirt the island instead of heading straight on, Ifound to my vexation that I was being carried forward by a strong tide orcurrent straight
into what appeared to be a large bay or inlet. I had noalternative but to let myself drift, and soon afterwards found myself ina sort of natural harbour three or four miles wide, with very threateningcoral reefs showing above the surface. Still the current drew mehelplessly onward, and in a few minutes the ship was caught in adangerous whirlpool, round which she was carried several times before Imanaged to extricate her. Next we were drawn close in to some rocks, andI had to stand resolutely by with an oar in order to keep the vessel'shead from striking. It was a time of most trying excitement for me, andI wonder to this day how it was that the _Veielland_ did not strike andfounder then and there, considering, firstly, that she was virtually aderelict, and secondly, that there was no living creature on board tonavigate her save myself.
I was beginning to despair of ever pulling the vessel through, when wesuddenly entered a narrow strait. I knew that I was in a waterwaybetween two islands--Apsley Strait, dividing Melville and BathurstIslands, as I have since learned.
The warlike and threatening natives had now been left behind long ago,and I never thought of meeting any other hostile people, when just as Ihad reached the narrowest part of the waterway, I was startled by theappearance of a great horde of naked blacks--giants, every one of them--onthe rocks above me.
They were tremendously excited, and greeted me first of all with a showerof spears. Fortunately, on encountering the first lot of threateningblacks, I had prepared a shelter for myself on deck by means of thehatches reared up endwise against the stanchions, and so the spears fellharmlessly around me. Next, the natives sent a volley of boomerangs onboard, but without any result. Some of these curious weapons hit thesails and fell impotently on the deck, whilst some returned to theirthrowers, who were standing on the rocks about fifty yards away, near theedge of the water. I afterwards secured the boomerangs that came onboard, and found that they were about twenty-four inches in length,shaped like the blade of a sickle, and measured three or four inchesacross at the widest part.
They were made of extremely hard wood, and were undoubtedly capable ofdoing considerable injury when dexterously and accurately thrown. Theblacks kept up a terrific hubbub on shore, yelling like madmen, andhurling at me showers of barbed spears. The fact that they hadboomerangs convinced me that I must be nearing the Australian mainland.All this time the current was carrying the _Veielland_ rapidly along, andI had soon left the natives jabbering furiously far behind me.
At last I could see the open sea once more, and at the mouth of thestrait was a little low, wooded island, where I thought I might ventureto land. As I was approaching it, however, yet another crowd of blacks,all armed, came rushing down to the beach; they jumped into theircatamarans, or "floats," and paddled out towards me.
After my previous experience I deemed it advisable not to let them gettoo near, so I hoisted the mainsail again and stood for the open sea.There was a good supply of guns and ammunition on board, and it wouldhave been an easy matter for me to have sunk one or two of the nativecatamarans, which are mere primitive rafts or floats, and so cooled theirenthusiasm a bit; but I refrained, on reflecting that I should not gainanything by this action.
By this time I had abandoned all hope of ever coming up with my friends,but, of course, I did not despair of reaching land--although I hardlyknew in what direction I ought to shape my course. Still, I thought thatif I kept due west, I should eventually sight Timor or some other islandof the Dutch Indies, and so, for the next three or four days, I sailedsteadily on without further incident.
About a week after meeting with the hostile blacks, half a gale sprangup, and I busied myself in putting the ship into trim to weather thestorm, which I knew was inevitable. I happened to be looking over thestern watching the clouds gathering in dark, black masses, when a strangeupheaval of the waters took place almost at my feet, and a huge blackfish, like an exaggerated porpoise, leaped into the air close to thestern of my little vessel.
It was a monstrous, ungainly looking creature, nearly the size of a smallwhale. The strange way it disported itself alongside the ship filled mewith all manner of doubtings, and I was heartily thankful when itsuddenly disappeared from sight. The weather then became moreboisterous, and as the day advanced I strove my utmost to keep the ship'shead well before the wind; it was very exhausting work. I was unable tokeep anything like an adequate look-out ahead, and had to trust toProvidence to pull me through safely.
All this time I did not want for food. Certainly I could not cookanything, but there was any quantity of tinned provisions. And I fedBruno, too. I conversed with him almost hourly, and derived muchencouragement and sympathy therefrom. One morning sometime between thefifteenth and twentieth day, I was scanning the horizon with my customaryeagerness, when suddenly, on looking ahead, I found the sea white withthe foam of crashing breakers; I knew I must be in the vicinity of asunken reef. I tried to get the ship round, but it was too late. Icouldn't make the slightest impression upon her, and she forged stolidlyforward to her doom.
A few minutes later her keel came into violent contact with a coral reef,and as she grated slowly over it, the poor thing seemed to shiver fromstem to stern. The shock was so severe that I was thrown heavily to thedeck. Bruno could make nothing whatever of it, so he found relief indoleful howls. While the vessel remained stuck on the rocks, I waslooking out anxiously from the rigging, when, without a moment's warning,a gigantic wave came toppling and crashing overboard from the stern,overwhelming me in the general destruction that followed. I was dashedwith tremendous force on to the deck, and when I picked myself up,bruised and bleeding, the first thing I was conscious of was a deathlystillness, which filled me with vague amazement, considering that but afew moments before my ears had been filled with the roar and crash of thebreakers. And I could see that the storm was still raging with greatfury, although not a sound reached my ears.
Gradually the horrible truth dawned upon me--_I was stone deaf_! Theblow on the head from the great wave had completely deprived me of allsense of hearing. How depressed I felt when I realised this awful factno one can imagine. Nevertheless, things were not altogether hopeless,for next morning I felt a sudden crack in my left ear, and immediatelyafterwards I heard once more the dull roar of the surf, the whistling ofthe wind, and the barking of my affectionate dog. My right ear, however,was permanently injured, and to this day I am decidedly deaf in thatorgan. I was just beginning to think that we had passed over the mostserious part of the danger, when to my utter despair I again heard thathideous grating sound, and knew she had struck upon another reef. Shestuck there for a time, but was again forced on, and presently floated indeep water. The pitiless reefs were now plainly visible on all sides,and some distance away I could see what appeared to be nothing more thana little sandbank rising a few feet above the waters of the lagoon.
While I was watching and waiting for developments the deck of the vesselsuddenly started, and she began rapidly to settle down by the stern.Fortunately, however, at that point the water was not excessively deep.When I saw that nothing could save the ship, and that her deck was allbut flush with the water, I loosened several of the fittings, as well assome spars, casks, and chests, in the hope that they might drift to landand perhaps be of service to me afterwards. I remained on board as longas I possibly could, trying to build a raft with which to get some thingsashore, but I hadn't time to finish it.
Up and up came the inexorable water, and at last, signalling to Bruno tofollow me, I leaped into the sea and commenced to swim towards thesandbank. Of course, all the boats had been lost when the pearling fleetdisappeared. The sea was still very rough, and as the tide was againstus, I found it extremely exhausting work. The dog seemed to understandthat I was finding it a dreadful strain, for he swam immediately in frontof me, and kept turning round again and again as though to see if I werefollowing safely.
By dint of tremendous struggling I managed to get close up to the shore,but found it utterly impossible to climb up and land. Every tim
e Iessayed to plant my legs on the beach, the irresistible backwash swept medown, rolling me head over heels, and in my exhausted condition thisfilled me with despair. On one occasion this backwash sent me spinninginto deep water again, and I am sure I should have been drowned had notmy brave dog come to my rescue and seized me by my hair--which, I shouldhave explained, I had always worn long from the days of my childhood.Well, my dog tugged and tugged at me until he had got me half-way throughthe breakers, nor did this exertion seem to cause him much trouble inswimming.
I then exerted myself sufficiently to allow of his letting go my hair,whilst I took the end of his tail between my teeth, and let him help meashore in this peculiar way. He was a remarkably strong and sagaciousbrute--an Australian dog--and he seemed to enjoy the task. At length Ifound myself on my legs upon the beach, though hardly able to move fromexhaustion of mind and body. When at length I had recovered sufficientlyto walk about, I made a hasty survey of the little island or sandbankupon which I found myself. Thank God, I did not realise at that momentthat I was doomed to spend a soul-killing _two and a half years_ on thatdesolate, microscopical strip of sand! Had I done so I must have goneraving mad. It was an appalling, dreary-looking spot, without one singletree or bush growing upon it to relieve the terrible monotony. I tellyou, words can never describe the horror of the agonising months as theycrawled by. "My island" was nothing but a little sand-spit, with hereand there a few tufts of grass struggling through its parched surface. Asa matter of fact the sand was only four or five inches deep in mostplaces, and underneath was solid coral rock.
Think of it, ye who have envied the fate of the castaway on a gorgeousand fertile tropical island perhaps miles in extent! It was _barely ahundred yards in length_, _ten yards wide_, _and only eight feet abovesea-level at high water_! There was no sign of animal life upon it, butbirds were plentiful enough--particularly pelicans. My tour of theisland occupied perhaps ten minutes; and you may perhaps form someconception of my utter dismay on failing to come across any trace offresh water.
With what eager eyes did I look towards the ship then! So long as shedid not break up I was safe because there were water and provisions inplenty on board. And how I thanked my God for the adamant bulwarks ofcoral that protected my ark from the fury of the treacherous seas! Asthe weather became calmer, and a brilliant moon had risen, I decided toswim back to the ship, and bring some food and clothing ashore from her.
I reached the wreck without much trouble, and clambered on board, butcould do very little in the way of saving goods, as the decks were stillbelow water. However, I dived, or rather ducked, for the depth of waterwas only four or five feet, into the cabin and secured some blankets, butI could not lay my hands on any food.
After infinite trouble I managed to make some sort of a raft out ofpieces of wood I found lying loose and floating about, and upon thisplatform I placed the blankets, an oak chest, and one or two otherarticles I proposed taking ashore. In the oak chest were a number offlags, some clothing and medicine together with my case of pearls and thefour medical books. But after I had launched it, I found that the tidewas still running out, and it was impossible for me to get anythingashore that night. The weather was beautifully fine, however, and as theforepart of the ship was well out of water, I decided to remain on boardand get an hour or two's sleep, which I needed badly. The night passedwithout incident, and I was astir a little before dawn.
As the tide was now favourable, I loosed my raft and swam it ashore. WhenI gained the island, I made another survey of it, to find the mostsuitable spot for pitching my camp, and in the course of my wanderings Imade a discovery that filled me with horror and the anguish of blackestdespair. My curiosity was first attracted by a human skull that lay neara large circular depression in the sand about two feet deep. I commencedscratching with my fingers at one side, and had only gone a few inchesdown, when I came upon a quantity of human remains.
The sight struck terror to my heart, and filled me with the most dismalforebodings. "My own bones," I thought, "will soon be added to thepile." So great was my agony of mind that I had to leave the spot, andinterest myself in other things; but some time afterwards, when I had gotover my nervousness, I renewed my digging operations, and in an hour orso had unearthed no fewer than sixteen complete skeletons--fourteenadults, and two younger people, possibly women! They lay alongside oneanother, covered by sand that had been blown over them by the wind.
The Adventures of Louis de Rougemont Page 2
