The Coral Island by Robert Michael Ballantyne (interesting books to read in english TXT) 📖

into it; but before they

could get the oars out the gale carried them past the point and

away to leeward of the island. After we landed I saw them

endeavouring to pull towards us, but as they had only one pair of

oars out of the eight that belong to the boat, and as the wind was

blowing right in their teeth, they gradually lost ground. Then I

saw them put about and hoist some sort of sail, - a blanket, I

fancy, for it was too small for the boat, - and in half an hour

they were out of sight.”

 

“Poor fellows,” I murmured sorrowfully.

 

“But the more I think about it, I’ve better hope of them,”

continued Jack, in a more cheerful tone. “You see, Ralph, I’ve

read a great deal about these South Sea Islands, and I know that in

many places they are scattered about in thousands over the sea, so

they’re almost sure to fall in with one of them before long.”

 

“I’m sure I hope so,” said Peterkin, earnestly. “But what has

become of the wreck, Jack? I saw you clambering up the rocks there

while I was watching Ralph. Did you say she had gone to pieces?”

 

“No, she has not gone to pieces, but she has gone to the bottom,”

replied Jack. “As I said before, she struck on the tail of the

island and stove in her bow, but the next breaker swung her clear,

and she floated away to leeward. The poor fellows in the boat made

a hard struggle to reach her, but long before they came near her

she filled and went down. It was after she foundered that I saw

them trying to pull to the island.”

 

There wan a long silence after Jack ceased speaking, and I have no

doubt that each was revolving in his mind our extraordinary

position. For my part I cannot say that my reflections were very

agreeable. I knew that we were on an island, for Jack had said so,

but whether it was inhabited or not I did not know. If it should

be inhabited, I felt certain, from all I had heard of South Sea

Islanders, that we should be roasted alive and eaten. If it should

turn out to be uninhabited, I fancied that we should be starved to

death. “Oh!” thought I, “if the ship had only stuck on the rocks

we might have done pretty well, for we could have obtained

provisions from her, and tools to enable us to build a shelter, but

now - alas! alas! we are lost!” These last words I uttered aloud

in my distress.

 

“Lost! Ralph?” exclaimed Jack, while a smile overspread his hearty

countenance. “Saved, you should have said. Your cogitations seem

to have taken a wrong road, and led you to a wrong conclusion.”

 

“Do you know what conclusion I have come to?” said Peterkin. “I

have made up my mind that it’s capital, - first rate, - the best

thing that ever happened to us, and the most splendid prospect that

ever lay before three jolly young tars. We’ve got an island all to

ourselves. We’ll take possession in the name of the king; we’ll go

and enter the service of its black inhabitants. Of course we’ll

rise, naturally, to the top of affairs. White men always do in

savage countries. You shall be king, Jack; Ralph, prime minister,

and I shall be - “

 

“The court jester,” interrupted Jack.

 

“No,” retorted Peterkin, “I’ll have no title at all. I shall

merely accept a highly responsible situation under government, for

you see, Jack, I’m fond of having an enormous salary and nothing to

do.”

 

“But suppose there are no natives?”

 

“Then we’ll build a charming villa, and plant a lovely garden round

it, stuck all full of the most splendiferous tropical flowers, and

we’ll farm the land, plant, sow, reap, eat, sleep, and be merry.”

 

“But to be serious,” said Jack, assuming a grave expression of

countenance, which I observed always had the effect of checking

Peterkin’s disposition to make fun of everything, “we are really in

rather an uncomfortable position. If this is a desert island, we

shall have to live very much like the wild beasts, for we have not

a tool of any kind, not even a knife.”

 

“Yes, we have THAT,” said Peterkin, fumbling in his trousers

pocket, from which he drew forth a small penknife with only one

blade, and that was broken.

 

“Well, that’s better than nothing; but come,” said Jack, rising,

“we are wasting our time in TALKING instead of DOING. You seem

well enough to walk now, Ralph, let us see what we have got in our

pockets, and then let us climb some hill and ascertain what sort of

island we have been cast upon, for, whether good or bad, it seems

likely to be our home for some time to come.”

 

CHAPTER IV.

 

We examine into our personal property, and make a happy discovery -

Our island described - Jack proves himself to be learned and

sagacious above his fellows - Curious discoveries - Natural

lemonade!

 

WE now seated ourselves upon a rock and began to examine into our

personal property. When we reached the shore, after being wrecked,

my companions had taken off part of their clothes and spread them

out in the sun to dry, for, although the gale was raging fiercely,

there was not a single cloud in the bright sky. They had also

stripped off most part of my wet clothes and spread them also on

the rocks. Having resumed our garments, we now searched all our

pockets with the utmost care, and laid their contents out on a flat

stone before us; and, now that our minds were fully alive to our

condition, it was with no little anxiety that we turned our several

pockets inside out, in order that nothing might escape us. When

all was collected together we found that our worldly goods

consisted of the following articles:-

 

First, A small penknife with a single blade broken off about the

middle and very rusty, besides having two or three notches on its

edge. (Peterkin said of this, with his usual pleasantry, that it

would do for a saw as well as a knife, which was a great

advantage.) Second, An old German-silver pencil-case without any

lead in it. Third, A piece of whip-cord about six yards long.

Fourth, A sailmaker’s needle of a small size. Fifth, A ship’s

telescope, which I happened to have in my hand at the time the ship

struck, and which I had clung to firmly all the time I was in the

water. Indeed it was with difficulty that Jack got it out of my

grasp when I was lying insensible on the shore. I cannot

understand why I kept such a firm hold of this telescope. They say

that a drowning man will clutch at a straw. Perhaps it may have

been some such feeling in me, for I did not know that it was in my

hand at the time we were wrecked. However, we felt some pleasure

in having it with us now, although we did not see that it could be

of much use to us, as the glass at the small end was broken to

pieces. Our sixth article was a brass ring which Jack always wore

on his little finger. I never understood why he wore it, for Jack

was not vain of his appearance, and did not seem to care for

ornaments of any kind. Peterkin said “it was in memory of the girl

he left behind him!” But as he never spoke of this girl to either

of us, I am inclined to think that Peterkin was either jesting or

mistaken. In addition to these articles we had a little bit of

tinder, and the clothes on our backs. These last were as follows:-

 

Each of us had on a pair of stout canvass trousers, and a pair of

sailors’ thick shoes. Jack wore a red flannel shirt, a blue

jacket, and a red Kilmarnock bonnet or night-cap, besides a pair of

worsted socks, and a cotton pocket-handkerchief, with sixteen

portraits of Lord Nelson printed on it, and a union Jack in the

middle. Peterkin had on a striped flannel shirt, - which he wore

outside his trousers, and belted round his waist, after the manner

of a tunic, - and a round black straw hat. He had no jacket,

having thrown it off just before we were cast into the sea; but

this was not of much consequence, as the climate of the island

proved to be extremely mild; so much so, indeed, that Jack and I

often preferred to go about without our jackets. Peterkin had also

a pair of white cotton socks, and a blue handkerchief with white

spots all over it. My own costume consisted of a blue flannel

shirt, a blue jacket, a black cap, and a pair of worsted socks,

besides the shoes and canvass trousers already mentioned. This was

all we had, and besides these things we had nothing else; but, when

we thought of the danger from which we had escaped, and how much

worse off we might have been had the ship struck on the reef during

the night, we felt very thankful that we were possessed of so much,

although, I must confess, we sometimes wished that we had had a

little more.

 

While we were examining these things, and talking about them, Jack

suddenly started and exclaimed -

 

“The oar! we have forgotten the oar.”

 

“What good will that do us?” said Peterkin; “there’s wood enough on

the island to make a thousand oars.”

 

“Ay, lad,” replied Jack, “but there’s a bit of hoop iron at the end

of it, and that may be of much use to us.”

 

“Very true,” said I, “let us go fetch it;” and with that we all

three rose and hastened down to the beach. I still felt a little

weak from loss of blood, so that my companions soon began to leave

me behind; but Jack perceived this, and, with his usual considerate

good nature, turned back to help me. This was now the first time

that I had looked well about me since landing, as the spot where I

had been laid was covered with thick bushes which almost hid the

country from our view. As we now emerged from among these and

walked down the sandy beach together, I cast my eyes about, and,

truly, my heart glowed within me and my spirits rose at the

beautiful prospect which I beheld on every side. The gale had

suddenly died away, just as if it had blown furiously till it

dashed our ship upon the rocks, and had nothing more to do after

accomplishing that. The island on which we stood was hilly, and

covered almost everywhere with the most beautiful and richly

coloured trees, bushes, and shrubs, none of which I knew the names

of at that time, except, indeed, the cocoa-nut palms, which I

recognised at once from the many pictures that I had seen of them

before I left home. A sandy beach of dazzling whiteness lined this

bright green shore, and upon it there fell a gentle ripple of the

sea. This last astonished me much, for I recollected that at home

the sea used to fall in huge billows on the shore long after a

storm had subsided. But on casting my glance out to sea the cause

became apparent. About a mile distant from the shore I saw the

great billows of the ocean rolling like a green wall, and falling

with a long, loud roar, upon a low coral reef, where they were

dashed into