Part 8 (2/2)
”Fore-top, there!” he hailed; ”how far are the breakers off the sh.o.r.e?”
”About a mile, I should say,” answered Ned.
”Do they look too heavy for a boat to go through them?” was the next inquiry.
”Yes,” answered Ned; ”there is nothing but white water all along this side of the island.”
”Very well,” said Williams, ”stay where you are, and keep your eyes peeled; we must try the lee side of the island, that's all. Lay aft here, my lads, and man the lee braces. Down with your helm, there, you sir, and let her come by the wind. Brace sharp up, my bullies; we mustn't leave the hooker's bones on yon island if we can help it. Well, there! belay all! How is that, Ned; shall we weather the southernmost point, think ye?”
”Yes,” answered Ned, ”and plenty to spare, if there is no current to set us to leeward.”
The island was now to leeward of the s.h.i.+p, stretching along the horizon on her larboard beam, the northern extremity being well on her quarter, whilst the southern end, with an outlying reef, lay about three points on her lee-bow. Anxious to see and learn as much as possible of the place which was to be the--possibly life-long--abode of those who had suddenly seemed so dear to him, Ned again had recourse to his telescope, with which he forthwith proceeded to carefully scan the island.
It measured, from north to south, about six miles, as nearly as the lad could estimate it; what its measurement might be in the other direction it was not then possible to say. The land was very high, especially toward the centre of the island; and one of the first things which attracted Ned's attention was a remarkable cliff, apparently quite perpendicular, which traversed the island from north to south, seemingly about four hundred feet high, and which sprang sheer out of the ridge of a lofty hill which appeared to form the back-bone, as it were, of the island. This cliff seemed to Ned to divide the island into two distinct parts; for it terminated, both to north and to south, in a terrific precipice falling sheer down to the sea, which foamed and chafed at its base. This gave the island a most peculiar appearance, suggesting the idea that at some distant period of the world's history a mighty convulsion had occurred, rending the rocks violently asunder and forcing a portion of them--namely, that which formed the land in sight--far above the level of the rest. To the eastward, or landward of the remarkable cliff already referred to, Ned could see the steep conical summit of a lofty mountain, apparently about four miles inland; but the cliff was too high to allow of his seeing any other portion of the island beyond it. The land was covered with wood from the base of the cliff clear down to the inner margin of the beach, and, with the aid of his gla.s.s, Ned could detect the feathery fronds of cocoanut and other palms, as well as the less lofty foliage of the useful banana.
Meanwhile, the s.h.i.+p had by this time reached a point which enabled the lad to make out that the long line of breakers which had first attracted his attention inclosed a bay about a mile wide and nearly that depth, the water of which was quite smooth and unbroken inside the inner line of breakers. And whilst examining this bay, with the idea that a knowledge of it might be useful to his friends, Ned's eye was arrested by an object on the inner edge of the reef, and almost in smooth water, which a more careful inspection showed him to be a wreck. This discovery he determined not to report, but to communicate, if possible, to the little party before they were landed. And, to make more certain of being able to do so, he there and then tore a leaf out of his pocket- book and jotted down a few notes respecting his observations, which he thought they might be glad to have.
At length the s.h.i.+p handsomely weathered the most southerly extremity of the island, this proving to be a bold projection in a vertical cliff, the summit of which towered in some places to a height of nearly sixteen hundred feet above the sea. This cliff extended along the whole southern seaboard of the island, towering highest at the point where it met the curious transverse cliff before mentioned, and gradually becoming lower as it neared the eastern end of the island, which now showed itself to be about eleven miles in length from east to west.
With the exception of the mountain, the conical top of which Ned had seen over the summit of the transverse cliff, that cliff seemed to be the highest part of the island; though the rest of it was also hilly, gradually sloping, however, to the eastward until it terminated in a beautiful white sandy beach, on which Ned soon saw that a landing might be effected without difficulty.
As soon as Ned had piloted the s.h.i.+p into a position where she might be hove-to with safety, Williams called him down on deck, on reaching which he was summoned aft.
”Now then!” exclaimed Williams, ”let's give this cargo”--pointing to Ned's collection of miscellaneous articles for the pa.s.sengers'
benefit--”an overhaul. You seem quite determined that they shall not want for much, by the look of it.”
”Of course not; why should they?” demanded Ned. ”They are not going on sh.o.r.e to please themselves, but to please you; and it is only right that they should be supplied with everything necessary to make themselves thoroughly comfortable. They ought not to be allowed to want for _anything_.”
Williams admitted that there was some truth in that argument; and, after inquiring what uses certain of the articles were expected to be put to, ordered the boat to be lowered and manned, and everything to be pa.s.sed down into her. When this came to be done, however, there proved to be, with the luggage, too much for one boat; so, rather than incur the delay which would be entailed by the making of a second trip, Williams, with many expressions of dissatisfaction and impatience, ordered the second quarter-boat to be lowered.
At length everything was p.r.o.nounced to be in the boats; and nothing remained but for the pa.s.sengers themselves to pa.s.s down over the side.
They had, previously to this, asked and been refused permission to say farewell to Captain Blyth, there was therefore nothing further to detain them, and Mr Gaunt now advanced to the gangway, where he paused for a moment in order to protest formally against being thus landed in a part of the world from which there seemed little or no hope of their being able to effect their escape. The protest was, of course, utterly ineffectual, as they quite expected it would be--indeed it was only made because they wished it to be clearly understood by all hands that they were not leaving the s.h.i.+p of their own free-will--and when the engineer had finished speaking, all that Williams said in reply was:
”That is all right. And now, as there is a fairish amount of swell running, I would recommend you two gentlemen to go down into the boat first, so as to help the ladies and children down, and to see that none of them fall overboard.”
This was such sound advice that the engineer at once followed it, Ned at the same time pressing forward, and, under cover of a pretence of wis.h.i.+ng to shake hands with him for the last time, slipped into his hand the pencil note he had prepared. The transfer was effected un.o.bserved; and the doctor next stepping forward, soon found himself safely in the boat beside his friend. The children were next carefully handed down by Ned; after which, at a sign from Williams, first Mrs Gaunt and then Mrs Henderson followed. There now remained only Sibylla to complete the party; and she was in the act of advancing to the gangway, when--to the unspeakable dismay of those most concerned--Williams, who was standing on the rail, gave the order for both boats to shove off, at the same moment leaping down off the rail on deck. His extraordinary order must have been antic.i.p.ated, so promptly was it obeyed; and before even Gaunt could recover from his momentary surprise, the boats were fifty yards away from the s.h.i.+p and heading for the sh.o.r.e, whilst the cries of the hapless deserted girl rang fearfully out over the water after them.
The feeling of dismay naturally excited in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the unfortunate pa.s.sengers by this singular episode was of the briefest possible duration, and was immediately succeeded by one of vexed astonishment, that by what seemed like a cruel and inexcusably careless oversight, a sensitive girl should have been subjected to even the most temporary alarm; and whilst Mrs Henderson started to her feet with clasped hands and wide-open startled eyes, Gaunt laid his hand on the tiller, and jammed it hard over, as he exclaimed authoritatively:
”Back water, the starboard oars! pull, the port! round with her, men!
You have left Miss Stanhope behind!”
The men, looking surprisedly at each other, proceeded to obey the order, upon which the new second-mate, who was in charge of the boat, started to his feet, and prefacing the inquiry with an oath, demanded:
”Now then, you sodgers, what are you about? Who commands this here boat? Give way, you swabs, and bend your backs to it, too, or there'll be trouble for some of you when you gets back to the s.h.i.+p. It's all right, sir,” he continued, addressing Gaunt; ”the young lady is to stay where she is. It was all arranged by Williams and a few more of us about half an hour ago, whilst you was all busy packing up your traps in the cabin. The fact is like this here: None of us foremast hands understands anything about navigation, so we've been obliged to press young Ned into the sarvice; and we knows as how his heart ain't in the job, and Williams sort of suspects that he'd play us a scurvy trick if he dared. As long as you was with us he was all right, because, d'ye see, Williams told him that if he played us false you'd be made to suffer for it; but it suddenly struck him just now that when you was all put ash.o.r.e where should we be? So he and two or three more of us had a palaver together, and the long and the short of it is that we decided to keep the young woman with us as a 'hostage,' Williams calls it, whereby we shall keep the whip hand of the lad, as you may say. So all her dunnage was pa.s.sed down into the after-hold again on the quiet, and if there's anything of hers in either of the boats we've got to take it back aboard again. And Williams' very last orders was that I was to be sure to tell you that you wasn't to worry about the young lady, because we've all agreed that she shall be treated as a pa.s.senger with the greatest possible respect, and not be interfered with by anybody.”
”Oh, my poor sister--my poor lost sister!” moaned Mrs Henderson, burying her face in her hands as she burst into a pa.s.sion of hysterical tears; and whilst Mrs Gaunt did her best to soothe and comfort her unfortunate friend, Doctor Henderson and the engineer sought by every means in their power to induce the boat's crew to return to the s.h.i.+p and give them an opportunity to try their persuasive powers on Williams, with the object of obtaining Miss Stanhope's release. Their efforts proved utterly vain, the men positively refusing to go back; but hope was not entirely abandoned nor their efforts suspended until they had landed, and the boats were fairly out of ear-shot on their way back to the s.h.i.+p.
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