Masterman Ready; Or, The Wreck of the Pacific

by Frederick Marryat

  CHAPTER FORTY THREE.

  As usual, Ready was the first up on the following morning, and havinggreeted Juno, who followed him out of the house, he set off on hisaccustomed rounds, to examine into the stock and their otherpossessions. He was standing in the garden at the point. First hethought that it would be necessary to get ready some sticks for thepeas, which were now seven or eight inches out of the ground; he hadproceeded a little farther, to where the calivances, or French haricotbeans, had been sown, and had decided upon the propriety of hoeing upthe earth round them, as they were a very valuable article of food, thatwould keep, and afford many a good dish during the rainy or winterseason. He had gone on to ascertain if the cucumber seeds had shownthemselves above-ground, and was pleased to find that they were doingwell. He said to himself, "We have no vinegar, that I know of, but wecan preserve them in salt and water, as they do in Russia; it will be achange, at all events;" and then he raised his eyes and looked out tothe offing, and, as usual, scanned the horizon. He thought he saw aship to the north-east, and he applied his telescope to his eye. He wasnot mistaken--it was a vessel.

  The old man's heart beat quick; he dropped his telescope on his arm, andfetched some heavy breaths before he could recover from the effect ofthis unexpected sight. After a minute, he again put his telescope tohis eye, and then made her out to be a brig, under top-sails andtop-gallant sails, steering directly for the island.

  Ready walked to the rocky point, from which they fished, and sat down toreflect. Could it be that the vessel had been sent after them, or thatshe had by mere chance come among the islands? He decided after a shorttime that it must be chance, for none could know that they were saved,much less that they were on the island. Her steering towards the islandmust then be either that she required water or something else; perhapsshe would alter her course and pass by them. "At all events," thoughtthe old man, "we are in the hands of God, who will, at his own time andin his own way, do with us as he thinks fit. I will not at present sayanything to Mr and Mrs Seagrave. It would be cruel to raise hopeswhich might end in disappointment. A few hours will decide. And yet Icannot do without help--I must trust William."

  Ready rose, examined the vessel with his telescope, and then walkedtowards the house. William was up, and the remainder of the family werestirring.

  "William," said Ready to him, as they walked away from the house, "Ihave a secret to tell you, which you will at once see the necessity ofnot telling to anyone at present. A few hours will decide thequestion." William readily gave his promise. "There is a vessel offthe island; she may be the means of rescuing us, or she may pass withoutseeing us. It would be too cruel a disappointment to your father andmother, if the latter were the case."

  William stared at Ready, and for a moment could not speak, hisexcitement was so great.

  "Oh, Ready, how grateful I am! I trust that we may be taken away, foryou have no idea how my poor father suffers in silence--and so does mymother."

  "I know it, William, I know it, and it is natural; they do their best tocontrol their yearnings, and they can do no more. But now we must bequick, and at work before breakfast. But stop, I will show you thevessel."

  Ready caught the vessel in the field of the telescope, which he leantagainst the trunk of a cocoa-nut, and William put his eye to the glass.

  "Do you see her?"

  "Oh yes, Ready, and she is coming this way."

  "Yes, she is steering right for the island. I will put the telescopedown here, and we will go about our work."

  William and Ready went to the storehouse for the axe. Ready selected avery slight cocoa-nut tree nearest to the beach, which he cut down, andas soon as the top was taken off with the assistance of William hecarried it down to the point.

  "Now, William, go for a shovel and dig a hole here, that we may fix itup as a flag-staff. When all is ready, I will go for a small block andsome rope for halyards to hoist up the flags as soon as the vessel islikely to see them. At breakfast-time, I shall propose that you and Iget the boat out of the sand and examine her, and give Mr Seagrave somework indoors."

  "But the flags, Ready; they are round my mother's bed. How shall we getthem?"

  "Suppose I say that it is time that the house should be well cleaned,and that the canvas hangings of the beds should be taken out to be airedthis fine day. Ask your father to take the direction of the work whilewe dig out the boat; that will employ them all inside the house."

  "Yes, that will do, Ready."

  During breakfast-time, Ready observed that he intended to get the boatout of the sand, and that William should assist him.

  "And what am I to do, Ready?" said Mr Seagrave.

  "Why, sir, I think, now that the rains are over, it would not be a badthing if we were to air bedding, as they say at sea; it is a fine, warmday; and if all the bedding was taken out of the house and well shaken,and then left out to air, it would be a very good job over; for you see,sir, I have thought more than once that the house does smell a littleclose."

  "It will be a very good thing, Ready," observed Mrs Seagrave; "and, atthe same time, Juno and I will give the house a thorough cleaning andsweeping."

  "Had we not better have the canvas screens down, and air them too?"

  "Yes," replied Ready; "we had better air everything. We will assist intaking down the screens and flags, and spread them out to air, and then,if Mr Seagrave has no objection, we will leave him to superintend andassist Madam and Juno."

  "With all my heart," replied Mr Seagrave. "We have done breakfast, andwill begin as soon as you please."

  Ready and William took down the canvas screens and flags, and went outof the cottage with them; they spread out the canvas at some distancefrom the house, and then William went down to the beach with the flags,while Ready procured the block and small rope to hoist them up with.

  Ready's stratagem answered well. Without being perceived by those inthe cottage, the flag-staff was raised, and fixed in the ground, and theflags all ready for hoisting; then Ready and William returned to thefuel-stack, and each carried down as much stuff as they could hold, thatthey might make a smoke to attract the notice of those on board of thevessel. All this did not occupy much more than an hour, during whichthe brig continued her course steadily towards the island. When Readyfirst saw her the wind was light, but latterly the breeze had increasedvery much, and at last the brig took in her top-gallant sails. Thehorizon behind the vessel, which had been quite clear, was now banked upwith clouds, and the waves curled in white foam over the reefs of rocksextending from the island.

  "The breeze is getting up strong, William," said Ready, "and she willsoon be down, if she is not frightened at the reefs, which she can seeplainer now the water is rough, than she could before."

  "I trust she will not be afraid," replied William. "How far do youthink she is off now?"

  "About five miles; not more. The wind has hauled round more to thesouthward, and it is banking up fast, I see. I fear that we shall haveanother smart gale; however, it won't last long. Come, let us hoist theflags; we must not lose a chance; the flags will blow nice and clear forthem to see them."

  William and Ready hoisted up the ensign first, and below it the flag,with the ship's name, Pacific, in large letters upon it. "Now then,"said Ready, as he made fast the halyards, "let us strike a light andmake a smoke; that will attract their notice."

  As soon as the cocoa-nut leaves were lighted, Ready and William threwwater upon them, so as to damp them and procure a heavy column of smoke.The vessel approached rapidly, and they were watching her in silentsuspense, when they perceived Mr and Mrs Seagrave, Juno carryingAlbert, with Tommy and Caroline running down as fast as they could tothe beach. The fact was, that Tommy, tired of work, had gone out of thehouse and walked towards the beach; there he perceived, first, the flagshoisted, and then he detected the vessel off the island. He immediatelyran back to the house, crying out, "Papa! Mamma! Captain Osborn comeback--come back in a big ship." At th
is announcement, Mr and MrsSeagrave ran out of the house, perceived the vessel and the flagsflying, and ran as fast as they could down to where William and Readywere standing by the flag-staff.

  "Oh! Ready, why did you not tell us this before?" exclaimed MrSeagrave.

  "I wish you had not known it now, sir," replied Ready; "but, however, itcan't be helped; it was done out of kindness, Mr Seagrave."

  "Yes, indeed it was, papa."

  Mrs Seagrave dropped down on the rock, and burst into tears. MrSeagrave was equally excited.

  "Does she see us, Ready?" exclaimed he at last.

  "No, sir, not yet, and I waited till she did, before I made it known toyou," replied Ready.

  "She is altering her course, Ready," said William.

  "Yes, sir, she has hauled to the wind; she is afraid of coming too nearto the reefs."

  "Surely she is not leaving us!" exclaimed Mrs Seagrave.

  "No, madam; but she does not see us yet."

  "She does! she does!" cried William, throwing up his hat; "see, shehoists her ensign."

  "Very true, sir; she does see us. Thanks be to God!"

  Mr Seagrave embraced his wife, who threw herself sobbing into his arms,kissed his children with rapture, and wrung old Ready's hand. He wasalmost frantic with joy. William was equally delighted.

  As soon as they were a little more composed, Ready observed: "MrSeagrave, that they have seen us is certain, and what we must now do isto get our own boat out of the sand. We know the passage through thereefs, and they do not. I doubt if they will, however, venture to senda boat on shore, until the wind moderates a little. You see, sir, it isblowing up very strong just now."

  "But you don't think it will blow harder, Ready?"

  "I am sorry to say, sir, that I do. It looks very threatening to thesouthward, and until the gale is over, they will not venture near anisland so surrounded with rocks. It would be very imprudent if theydid. However, sir, a few hours will decide."

  "But, surely," said Mrs Seagrave, "even if it does blow, they will notleave the island without taking us off. They will come after the galeis over."

  "Yes, madam, if they can, I do think they will; but God knows, some menhave hard hearts, and feel little for the misery of others."

  The brig had, in the meantime, kept away again, as if she was runningin; but very soon afterwards she hauled to the wind, with her head tothe northward, and stood away from the island.

  "She is leaving us," exclaimed William, mournfully.

  "Hard-hearted wretches!" said Mr Seagrave, with indignation.

  "You are wrong to say that, sir," replied Ready: "excuse me, MrSeagrave, for being so bold; but the fact is, that if I was in commandof that vessel, I should do just as they have done. The gale risesfast, and it would be very dangerous for them to remain where they noware. It does not at all prove that they intend to leave us; they butconsult their own safety, and, when the gale is over, we shall, I trust,see them again."

  No reply was made to Ready's judicious remarks. The Seagraves only sawthat the vessel was leaving them, and their hearts sank. They watchedher in silence, and as she gradually diminished to the view, so didtheir hopes depart from them. The wind was now fierce, and a heavysquall, with rain, obscured the offing, and the vessel was no longer tobe distinguished. Mr Seagrave turned to his wife, and mournfullyoffered her his arm. They walked away from the beach without speaking;the remainder of the party, with the exception of old Ready, followedthem. Ready remained some time with his eyes in the direction where thevessel was last seen. At last he hauled down the ensign and flag, and,throwing them over his shoulder, followed the disconsolate party to thehouse.