Part 22 (2/2)
William squeezed Ready's hand; his heart was too full to speak
”They will coht, William; you have not much time to spare; climb to the look-out, and wait there till day daatch the as you can, and then come and tell me what you have seen”
Ready's voice beca so much
William immediately cliht At the dawn of day, he perceived that the savages were at work, that they had collected all the faggots together opposite to where the old house had stood, and were very busy in eot, and commenced their advance towards the stockade; Willia with Mrs Seagrave The rave and Juno took their posts below the planking, to reload them as fast as they were fired
”We , Williarave, ”for the more we check their advance, the better”
When the first savages ithin fifty yards, they both fired, and two of the men dropped; they continued to fire as their assailants careat success for the first ten er body, and took the precaution to hold the faggots in front of them, for soained the stockade in safety, and corave and William still kept up an incessant fire upon theh radually heaped up, till they alh which they pointed their es contrived to slope theround, it was evident that they meant to mount up and take theots had been placed, and the savages retired farther back, to where the cocoa-nut trees were still standing
”They have gone away, father,” said Williaain, and I fear it is all over with us”
”I fear so too,to arrange for a general assault, and they noill be able to gain an entrance I alht have escaped as Ready pointed out to us, but now I fear we have no chance”
”Don't say a word to my mother,” said William; ”let us defend ourselves to the last, and if we are overpowered it is the will of God”
”I should like to take a farewell erave; ”but, no; it will be weakness just now Here they come, William, in a swarm Well, God bless you, my boy; we shall all, I trust, es were now advancing from the cocoa-nut wood in a solid mass; they raised a yell, which struck terror into the hearts of Mrs Seagrave and Juno, yet they flinched not The savages were again within fifty yards of them, when the fire was opened upon thees had already reached to the bottoots, when the yells and the reports of the muskets were drowned by aof the cocoa-nut trees, which made both parties start with surprise; another and another followed, the ground was ploughed up, and the savages fell in numbers
”It must be the cannon of a shi+p, father,” said Willia else; we are saved, and by a rave in utter astonishes paused in the advance, quite stupefied; again, again, again, the report of the loud guns boorape carove; at this last broadside, the savages turned, and fled towards their canoes: not one was left to be seen
”We are saved!” cried Mr Seagrave, leaping off the plank and e his wife, who sank down on her knees, and held up her clasped hands in thankfulness to Heaven
William had hastened up to the look-out on the cocoa-nut tree, and now cried out to thee schooner, father; she is firing at the savages, who are at the canoes; they are falling in every direction: soed into the water; there is a boat full of ar on shore; they are close to the beach, by the garden-point Three of the canoes have got off full of ain; two of the canoes are sunk, father; the boat has landed, and the people are co up this way” William then descended from the look-out as fast as he could
As soon as he was down, he co the door of the stockade He pulled out the last pole just as he heard the feet of their deliverers outside He threw open the door, and, a second after, found himself in the arms of Captain Osborn
Chapter LXVI
Before ind up this history, it will be as well to state toreaders hoas that Captain Osborn made his appearance at so fortunate acareat disappointment that the party on the island experienced in her not ain The fact was, that those on board of the brig had not only seen their signals, but had read the naale which came on drove the did not consider that he should do his duty to his owners, if he lost so ain He therefore decided uponall sail for Sydney, to which port he was bound
When Captain Osborn was put into the boat by Mackintosh and the searadually recovered, and after a storht, Captain Osborn was so far recovered as to hear from Mackintosh what had taken place, and why it was that he found hi the wind h to fall in with a vessel bound to Van Diemen's Land, which took theiven by Mackintosh, Captain Osborn had no doubt in his rave family had perished, and the loss of the vessel, with them on board, was duly reported to the owners When at Van Diemen's Land, Captain Osborn was so much taken with the beauty and fertility of the country, and perhaps not so well inclined to go to sea again after such danger as he had incurred in the last voyage, that he resolved to purchase land and settle there He did so, and had already stocked his farone round to Sydney in a schooner to await the arrival of a large order fro arrived and reported the existence of some white people on the s with the na this, went to the , and questioned hiitude of the island to be not far from that of the shi+p when she was deserted, and he was now convinced that, by sorave family had been preserved He therefore went to the Governor of New South Wales, and made him acquainted with the facts which had been established, and the Governor instantly replied, that the governo in quest of his former shi+pmates Inconvenient as the absence at that time was to Captain Osborn, he at once acquiesced, and in a few days the schooner sailed for her destination She arrived off the island on the saes effected their landing, and when Willia into the stockade, that there was another vessel under sail off the garden-point, had Ready had time to put his eye to the telescope, he would have discovered that it was the schooner
The schooner stood in to the reefs, and then hauled off again, that she e The boat, when sounding, perceived the canoes and the savages, and afterwards heard the report of firearms on the first attack On her return on board the schooner, they stated what they had seen and heard, and their idea that the white people on the island were being attacked by the savages As the boat did not return on board till near dusk, they had not tiht attack wasof the muskets This made Captain Osborn es were in such numbers, and the crew of the schooner did not consist of more than twenty-five men, the commander considered it was rash to make the atte his schooner to an anchor, so as to protect his reed that they should land
The boat had reported deep water and good anchorage close to the garden-point, and every preparation was ; but unfortunately, it fell calm for the best part of the day, and it was not until thetheir last attack upon the stockade, that she could get in As soon as she did, she opened the fire of her carronades, and the result is already known
My readers rave when they beheld their old friend Captain Osborn All danger was now over; the party who had landed with him went out under the command of the es to be found; but, except the dead and dying, all had escaped in some of the sraves, and they inforone to attend as soon as Captain Osborn was engaged with his father and mother Captain Osborn hurried out to see him; Ready knew his voice, for his eyes were already so dim that he could not see
”That is Captain Osborn, I know,” said Ready in a faint voice ”You have coood time, sir; I knew you would co man”
”I hope it is not so bad as that, Ready; we have a surgeon on board, and I will send for hieon can help me, sir,” replied Ready; ”another hour of time will not pass before I shall be in Eternity”
The old man then joined his hands across his breast, and remained for some time in silent prayer Then he bade theed to a mere whisper They still re round hi his hand, when the old man's head fell back, and he was no rave one to receive the reward of a good and just rave then led away his wife and children, leaving Juno and William William closed his eyes, and Juno went and fetched the shi+p's ensign, which they laid over the body, after which they joined the rest of the party in the house
It was decided that the following day should be passed in packing up and getting on board their luggage, and that the day after the family should embark William then mentioned the wish of poor old Ready as to his burial The coave directions for a coffin to be rave at the spot that William should point out
Chapter LXVII
The hurry and bustle of preparing for their departure from the island, and the rapid succession of events which had been crowded together within so very few days, had not allowed tirave and Williath, however, every preparation had been ed by the coe the afternoon, and it was proposed that they should sail on the following day
Now they had time to feel, and bitterly did they lament the loss of their old friend, and deplore that he had not survived to sail with theed the hope that one day they should be taken off the island, and in that hope they had ever looked forward to old Ready beco a part of their future household Now that their wishes had been granted - so ret - that could he have been restored to theladly remained on the island
Captain Osborn, the commander, and the crew of the schooner had taken leave of thee, on the following day The children had been put to bed, and Juno had quitted the house; Mr and Mrs Seagrave and Williaether in their now half-disirl had evidently been weeping
”Well, Juno,” observed Mr Seagrave, with a view to break the silence which had continued for solad to leave the island?”
”One tilad, but now I not care much,” replied Juno ”Island very nice place, all very happy till savage come Suppose they not kill old Ready, I not care”
”Yes, indeed,” said Mrs Seagrave, ”it is a sad blow to us all; I did hope to have fostered the good old ratitude, but--”
”It is the will of Heaven that it should be otherwise,” continued Mr Seagrave; ”I would give half that I am possessed of, that he had not perished”
”Oh, Massa!” said Juno, ”I sit by hi and look at his face, so calood, I almost tink he smile at me, and then I cry Oh! Massa Toret,” replied Mr Seagrave, ”that his life should have been sacrificed through the thoughtlessness of one of my own children; what a lesson it will be to Toh to comprehend the consequences of his conduct”
”That hemournfully over the table; ”one of Ready's last injunctions was that Tommy was never to be told of it”
”His last wishes shall be religiously attended to, rave; ”for what do we not owe to that good old man? When others deserted us and left us to perish, he remained with us to share our fate By his skill ere saved and landed in safety He provided for our wants, added to our comforts, instructed us how to make the best use of our means Without his precautions we should have perished by the spears of the savages What an example of Christian fortitude and humility did he ever show us! and indeed, I may truly say, that by his example, sinful as I must ever be, I have beco by us, - but the Lord's will be done!”