Blown to Bits: The Lonely Man of Rakata, the Malay Archipelago

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER THIRTY.

  COMING EVENTS, ETCETERA--WONDERFUL CHANGES AMONG THE ISLANDS.

  Some days after the wreck of the _Sunshine_, as described in a previouschapter, Captain Roy and his son stood on the coast of Java not far fromthe ruins of Anjer. A vessel was anchored in the offing, and a littleboat lay on the shore.

  All sign of elemental strife had passed, though a cloud of smoke hangingover the remains of Krakatoa told that the terrible giant below was notdead but only sleeping--to awake, perchance, after a nap of another 200years.

  "Well, father," said our hero with a modest look, "it may be, as yousuggest, that Winnie Van der Kemp does not care for me more than for afathom of salt water--"

  "I did not say salt water, lad, I said bilge--a fathom o' _bilge_water," interrupted the captain, who, although secretly rejoiced at thefact of his son having fallen over head and ears in love with the prettylittle Cocos-Keeling islander, deemed it his duty, nevertheless, as asternly upright parent, to make quite sure that the love was mutual aswell as deep before giving his consent to anything like courtship.

  "It matters not; salt or bilge water makes little difference," returnedthe son with a smile. "But all I can say is that I care for Winnie somuch that her love is to me of as much importance as sunshine to theworld--and we have had some experience lately of what the want of _that_means."

  "Nonsense, Nigel," returned the captain severely. "You're workin'yourself into them up-in-the-clouds, reef-point-patterin' regionsagain--which, by the way, should be pretty well choked wi' Krakatoa dustby this time. Come down out o' that if ye want to hold or'naryintercourse wi' your old father. She's far too young yet, my boy. Youmust just do as many a young fellow has done before you, attend to yourdooties and forget her."

  "Forget her!" returned the youth, with that amused, quiet expressionwhich wise men sometimes assume when listening to foolish suggestions."I could almost as easily forget my mother!"

  "A very proper sentiment, Nigel, very--especially the `almost' part ofit."

  "Besides," continued the son, "she is not so _very_ young--and thatdifficulty remedies itself every hour. Moreover, I too am young. I canwait."

  "The selfishness of youth is only equalled by its presumption," said thecaptain. "How d'ee know _she_ will wait?"

  "I don't know, father, but I _hope_ she will--I--_think_ she will."

  "Nigel," said the captain, in a tone and with a look that were meant toimply intense solemnity, "have you ever spoken to her about love?"

  "No, father."

  "Has she ever spoken to _you_?"

  "No--at least--not with her lips."

  "Come, boy, you're humbuggin' your old father. Her tongue couldn't welldo it without the lips lendin' a hand."

  "Well then--with neither," returned the son. "She spoke with her eyes--not intentionally, of course, for the eyes, unlike the lips, refuse tobe under control."

  "Hm! I see--reef-point-patterin' poetics again! An' what did she saywith her eyes!"

  "Really, father, you press me too hard; it is difficult to translateeye-language, but if you'll only let memory have free play and revert tothat time, nigh quarter of a century ago, when you first met with acertain _real_ poetess, perhaps--"

  "Ah! you dog! you have me there. But how dare you, sir, venture tothink of marryin' on nothin'?"

  "I don't think of doing so. Am I not a first mate with a handsomesalary?"

  "No, lad, you're not. You're nothin' better than a seaman out o' work,with your late ship wrecked in a cocoa-nut grove!"

  "That's true," returned Nigel with a laugh. "But is not the cargo ofthe said ship safe in Batavia? Has not its owner a good bank account inEngland? Won't another ship be wanted, and another first mate, andwould the owner dare to pass over his own son, who is such a competentseaman--according to your own showing? Come, father, I turn the tableson you and ask you to aid rather than resist me in this matter."

  "Well, I will, my boy, I will," said the captain heartily, as he laidhis hand on his son's shoulder. "But, seriously, you must haul off thislittle craft and clap a stopper on your tongue--ay, and on your eyestoo--till three points are considered an' made quite clear. First, youmust find out whether the hermit would be agreeable. Second, you mustlook the matter straight in the face and make quite sure that you meanit. For better or for worse. No undoin' _that_ knot, Nigel, once it'sfairly tied! And, third, you must make quite sure that Winnie is sureof her own mind, an' that--that--"

  "We're all sure all round, father. Quite right. I agree with you.`All fair an' aboveboard' should be the sailing orders of every man insuch matters, especially of every seaman. But, will you explain how Iam to make sure of Winnie's state of mind without asking her about it?"

  "Well, I don't exactly see my way," replied the captain slowly. "Whatd'ee say to my soundin' her on the subject?"

  "Couldn't think of it! You may be first-rate at deep-sea soundings,father, but you couldn't sound the depths of a young girl's heart. Imust reserve that for myself, however long it may be delayed."

  "So be it, lad. The only embargo that I lay upon you is--haul off, andmind you don't let your figurehead go by the board. Meanwhile, herecomes the boat. Now, Nigel, none o' your courtin' till everything issettled and the wind fair--dead aft my lad, and blowin' stiff. You andthe hermit are goin' off to Krakatoa to-day, I suppose?"

  "Yes. I am just now waiting for him and Moses," returned Nigel.

  "Is Winnie going?"

  "Don't know. I hope so."

  "Humph! Well, if we have a fair wind I shall soon be in Batavia," saidthe captain, descending to business matters, "and I expect withouttrouble to dispose of the cargo that we landed there, as _well_ as thatpart o' the return cargo which I had bought before I left for Keeling--at a loss, no doubt, but that don't matter much. Then I'll come backhere by the first craft that offers--arter which. Ay!--Ay! shove her inhere. Plenty o' water."

  The last remark was made to the seaman who steered the boat sent fromthe vessel in the offing.

  A short time thereafter Captain Roy was sailing away for Batavia, whilehis son, with Van der Kemp, Moses, Winnie, and Spinkie, was making forKrakatoa in a native boat.

  The hermit, in spite of his injuries, had recovered his wontedappearance, if not his wonted vigour. Winnie seemed to have suddenlydeveloped into a mature woman under her recent experiences, though shehad lost none of her girlish grace and attractiveness. As for Moses--time and tide seemed to have no effect whatever on his ebony frame, andstill less, if possible, on his indomitable spirit.

  "Now you keep still," he said in solemn tones and with warning looks toSpinkie. "If you keep fidgitin' about you'll capsize de boat. Youhear?"

  Spinkie veiled his real affection for the negro under a look of supremeindifference, while Winnie went off into a sudden giggle at the idea ofsuch a small creature capsizing the boat.

  Mindful of his father's warning, Nigel did his best to "haul off" and toprevent his "figurehead" from going "by the board." But he found ituncommonly hard work, for Winnie looked so innocent, so pretty, sounconscious, so sympathetic with everybody and everything, so veryyoung, yet so wondrously wise and womanly, that he felt an irresistibledesire to prostrate himself at her feet in abject slavery.

  "Dear little thing," said Winnie, putting her hand on Spinkie's littlehead and smoothing him down from eyes to tail.

  Spinkie looked as if half inclined to withdraw his allegiance from Mosesand bestow it on Winnie, but evidently changed his mind after a moment'sreflection.

  "O that I were a monkey!" thought Nigel, paraphrasing Shakespeare, "thatI might--" but it is not fair to our hero to reveal him in his weakermoments!

  There was something exasperating, too, in being obliged, owing to thesize of the boat, to sit so close to Winnie without having a right totouch her hand! Who has not experienced this, and felt himself to be avery hero of self-denial in the circumstances?

  "Mos' awrful hot!" remarked Moses, wiping his f
orehead with the sleeveof his shirt.

  "_You_ hot!" said Nigel in surprise. "I thought nothing on earth couldbe too hot for you."

  "Dat's your ignerance," returned Moses calmly. "Us niggers, you see,ought to suffer more fro' heat dan you whites."

  "How so?"

  "Why, don't your flossiphers say dat black am better dan white for'tractin' heat, an' ain't our skins black? I wish we'd bin' born whiteas chalk. I say, Massa Nadgel, seems to me dat dere's not much left obKrakatoa."

  They had approached near enough to the island by that time to perceivethat wonderful changes had indeed taken place, and Van der Kemp, who hadbeen for some time silently absorbed in contemplation, at last turned tohis daughter and said--

  "I had feared at first, Winnie, that my old home had been blown entirelyaway, but I see now that the Peak of Rakata still stands, so perhaps Imay yet show you the cave in which I have spent so many years."

  "But why did you go to live in such a strange place, dear father?" askedthe girl, laying her hand lovingly on the hermit's arm.

  Van der Kemp did not reply at once. He gazed in his child's face withan increase of that absent air and far-away look which Nigel, ever sincehe met him, had observed as one of his characteristics. At this time ananxious thought crossed him,--that perhaps the blows which his friendhad received on his head when he was thrown on the deck of the_Sunshine_ might have injured his brain.

  "It is not easy to answer your question, dear one," he said after atime, laying his strong hand on the girl's head, and smoothing herluxuriant hair which hung in the untrammelled freedom of nature over hershoulders. "I have felt sometimes, during the last few days, as if Iwere awaking out of a long long dream, or recovering from a severeillness in which delirium had played a prominent part. Even now, thoughI see and touch you, I sometimes tremble lest I should really awake andfind that it is all a dream. I have so often--so _very_ often--dreamedsomething like it in years gone by, but never so vividly as now! Icannot doubt--it is sin to doubt--that my prayers have been at lastanswered. God is good and wise. He knows what is best and does notfail in bringing the best to pass. Yet I have doubted Him--again andagain."

  Van der Kemp paused here and drew his hand across his brow as if toclear away sad memories of the past, while Winnie drew closer to him andlooked up tenderly in his face.

  "When your mother died, dear one," he resumed, "it seemed to me as ifthe sun had left the heavens, and when _you_ were snatched from me, itwas as though my soul had fled and nought but animal life remained. Ilived as if in a terrible dream. I cannot recall exactly what I did orwhere I went for a long, long time. I know I wandered through thearchipelago looking for you, because I did not believe at first that youwere dead. It was at this time I took up my abode in the cave ofRakata, and fell in with my good faithful friend Moses."

  "Your sarvint, massa," interrupted the negro humbly. "I's proud to becall your frind, but I's only your sarvint, massa."

  "Truly you have been my faithful servant, Moses," said Van der Kemp,"but not the less have you been my trusted friend. He nursed me througha long and severe illness, Winnie. How long, I am not quite sure.After a time I nearly lost hope. Then there came a very dark period,when I was forced to believe that you must be dead. Yet, strange tosay, even during this dark time I did not cease to pray and to wanderabout in search of you. I suppose it was the force of habit, for hopeseemed to have died. Then, at last, Nigel found you. God used him asHis instrument. And now, praise to His name, we are reunited--forever!"

  "Darling father!" were the only words that Winnie could utter as shelaid her head on the hermit's shoulder and wept for joy.

  Two ideas, which had not occurred to him before, struck Nigel with greatforce at that moment. The one was that whatever or wherever his futurehousehold should be established, if Winnie was to be its chief ornament,her father must of necessity become a member of it. The other idea wasthat he was destined to possess a negro servant with a consequent andunavoidable monkey attendant! How strange the links of which the chainof human destiny is formed, and how wonderful the powers of thought bywhich that chain is occasionally forecast! How to convey all thesepossessions to England and get them comfortably settled there was aproblem which he did not care to tackle just then.

  "See, Winnie," said Van der Kemp, pointing with interest to a mark onthe side of Rakata, "yonder is the mouth of my cave. I never saw it soclearly before because of the trees and bushes, but everything seems nowto have been burnt up."

  "Das so, massa, an' what hasn't bin bu'nt up has bin blow'd up!"remarked the negro.

  "Looks very like it, Moses, unless that is a haze which enshrouds therest of the island," rejoined the other, shading his eyes with hishands.

  It was no haze, however; for they found, on drawing nearer, that thegreater part of Krakatoa had, as we have already said, actuallydisappeared from the face of the earth.

  When the boat finally rounded the point which hid the northern part ofthe island from view, a sight was presented which it is not often givento human eyes to look upon. The whole mountain named the Peak ofRakata, (2623 feet high), had been split from top to bottom, and aboutone-half of it, with all that part of the island lying to the northward,had been blown away, leaving a wall or almost sheer precipice whichpresented a grand section of the volcano.

  Pushing their boat into a creek at the base of this precipice, the partylanded and tried to reach a position from which a commanding view mightbe obtained. This was not an easy matter, for there was not a spot fora foot to rest on which was not covered deeply with pumice-dust andashes. By dint of perseverance, however, they gained a ledge whence thesurrounding district could be observed, and then it was clearly seen howwidespread and stupendous the effects of the explosion had been.

  Where the greater part of the richly wooded island had formerlyflourished, the ocean now rippled in the sunshine, and of the smallerislands around it _Lang_ Island had been considerably increased in bulkas well as in height. _Verleden_ Island had been enlarged to more thanthree times its former size and also much increased in height. Theisland named _Polish Hat_ had disappeared altogether, and two entirelynew islets--afterwards named _Steers_ and _Calmeyer_ Islands--had arisento the northward.

  "Now, friends," said Van der Kemp, after they had noted and commented onthe vast and wonderful changes that had taken place, "we will pull roundto our cave and see what has happened there."

  Descending to the boat they rowed round the southern shores of Rakatauntil they reached the little harbour where the boat and canoe hadformerly been kept.