Part 1 (1/2)
Yorke The Adventurer
by Louis Becke
Chapter I
In that delightful and exciting book, written by Captain Joshua Slocu Alone Round the World,” there is a part wherein the adventurous Aht attacks by the savages by a simple, but efficient precaution It was his custoht off the snow-clad and inhospitable shores of Tierra del Fuego, to profusely sprinkle his cutter's deck with sharp tacks, and then calmly turn in and sleep the sleep of the just; for even the horny soles of the Fuegian foot is susceptible to the business end of a tack; and, as I read Slocuht of dear old Yorke and the _Francesco_
I first met Yorke early in the ”seventies” Our vessel had run in under the lee of the South Cape of New Britain to wood and water, and effect soh the Solomon Group, on a special mission to a certain island off the coast of New Guinea, we had met with heavy weather, and had lost our foretop on the whole of the south coast of New Britain, froe's Channel on the east, to Dampier's Straits on the west--a stretch of more than three hundred miles, and little was known of the natives beyond the fact of their being treacherous cannibals In Blanche Bay only, on the northern shore, was there a settlelish traders--the employees of a rich German company--and these were only acquainted with the natives in their own vicinity Even the reat island, not only on account of the dangerous character of its inhabitants, but also because there was not, they thought, anything to tempt them to risk their and their crews'
lives--for the shore nearly everywhere presented a line of dense unbroken forest, with but scanty groves of coco-palroves, no communication could be had with the people In the wild days of the ”seventies” the practice of cutting up and drying the coconut into what is known as ”copra” had scarcely made any headway in those parts of New Britain, New Ireland, and the Solo vessels--the nuts were turned into oil by a crude and wasteful process known as ”rotting”
The captain of our little vessel was one of the oldest and ri, but yet cautious of his men's lives, if not of his own; so when he decided to anchor under the lee of the South Cape, he chose a part of the coast which seemed to be but scantily inhabited The dense forest which cae thatfro in the vicinity, though we could not see any canoes
We brought to about half a mile from the shore Two boats were at once lowered, uidance, set out to search for water, which we knee should have but little difficulty in finding, even on the south coast of New Britain, which is not nearly so atered as the northern shore of the island In the captain's boat were sixboat,three water-casks--all we could stow
Pulling in together, close to the shore, the captain then went ahead, ulation distance of fifty yards, only four hands rowing in each, leaving four men to keep a look-out for natives
Presently the skipper turned to me, and pointed shoreward
”That's the place for us, Drake--between those two spurs--just round this point There's bound to be water there”
The place which he indicated was about two ood will, for the prospect of having a drink of pure water after the brackish and ill-sht, was very pleasing Although but a little past nine o'clock in thethe day was intensely hot, and windless as well, and the perspiration was strea down the naked chests and backs of our sturdy native sailors The only sounds that broke the silence were the cries of birds--cockatoos and large green and scarlet parrots, which screarily at us as the boats passed close in to the dense, steale of the littoral
Just as the captain's boat rounded the point, we heard a cry of astonishment from his crew, a cry that was echoed by ourselves half a minute later; for there in the centre of a s at anchor! She appeared to be of about thirty or forty tons, had an awning spread aft, and presented a very weather-worn appearance; her rudder was gone, and the upper part of her stern badly daed There was no one visible on deck, but presently, in answer to the captain's hail, the face of an old, white-haired man, appeared above the coorous tones, andhiin to sweep the after-deck vigorously with one hand, the other being in a sling
”Guess he's a lunatic,” said Captain Guest, turning to e in surside; the stranger was standing at the stern, broo us
”Step on board here, over the stern, please,” he said, and then he added quickly, ”but are you all wearing boots?”
”No,” answered the captain, now quite sure the oldin his head, ”some of my men have no boots”
”Then they had better not come aboard,” he said with a quiet, amused smile, as he saw our puzzled faces
The moment Captain Guest and er,the reason for the broom--the entire deck, except the small space aft which had just been swept, was covered with broken glass!
”Glad to see you, gentlemen My name is Yorke, and this cutter is the _Francesco_”
”And antine _Fray Sentos_, of Sydney, lying just round the point, and this is Mr Drake, entlelass--my cabin is very s one if you had another two h, as he surveyed our new friend's proportions And indeed he was right, for Yorke was over six feet in height, rather stout, and with a chest like a working bullock His face and neck were deeply bronzed to a dark tan, and presented a striking and startling yet pleasing contrast to his snohite hair, moustache, and eyebrows; his clear, steely blue eyes were in consonance with the broad, square jaw, and the , courageous, dominant, and self-reliant
The moment Captain Guest mentioned that our men were thirsty and would like a drink of water, Yorke became the soul of hospitality, and told them to come on board and help themselves, while for Guest and myself he produced a couple of bottles of excellent Tennant, and took a glass of it hientle us, ”this ht I heard some one call out, 'All ready there, for'ard?' and I heard the rattle of a cable through the hawse-pipes Then I woke and looked at the clock--it was just half-past seven”
”And at half-past seven we let go anchor, a good four miles from here