The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean, Page 2

  CHAPTER II.

  The departure--The sea--My companions--Some account of the wonderfulsights we saw on the great deep--A dreadful storm and a frightful wreck.

  It was a bright, beautiful, warm day when our ship spread her canvass tothe breeze, and sailed for the regions of the south. Oh, how my heartbounded with delight as I listened to the merry chorus of the sailors,while they hauled at the ropes and got in the anchor! The captainshouted--the men ran to obey--the noble ship bent over to the breeze, andthe shore gradually faded from my view, while I stood looking on with akind of feeling that the whole was a delightful dream.

  The first thing that struck me as being different from anything I had yetseen during my short career on the sea, was the hoisting of the anchor ondeck, and lashing it firmly down with ropes, as if we had now bid adieuto the land for ever, and would require its services no more.

  "There, lass," cried a broad-shouldered jack-tar, giving the fluke of theanchor a hearty slap with his hand after the housing wascompleted--"there, lass, take a good nap now, for we shan't ask you tokiss the mud again for many a long day to come!"

  And so it was. That anchor did not "kiss the mud" for many long daysafterwards; and when at last it did, it was for the last time!

  There were a number of boys in the ship, but two of them were my specialfavourites. Jack Martin was a tall, strapping, broad-shouldered youth ofeighteen, with a handsome, good-humoured, firm face. He had had a goodeducation, was clever and hearty and lion-like in his actions, but mildand quiet in disposition. Jack was a general favourite, and had apeculiar fondness for me. My other companion was Peterkin Gay. He waslittle, quick, funny, decidedly mischievous, and about fourteen yearsold. But Peterkin's mischief was almost always harmless, else he couldnot have been so much beloved as he was.

  "Hallo! youngster," cried Jack Martin, giving me a slap on the shoulder,the day I joined the ship, "come below and I'll show you your berth. Youand I are to be mess-mates, and I think we shall be good friends, for Ilike the look o' you."

  Jack was right. He and I and Peterkin afterwards became the best andstanchest friends that ever tossed together on the stormy waves.

  I shall say little about the first part of our voyage. We had the usualamount of rough weather and calm; also we saw many strange fish rollingin the sea, and I was greatly delighted one day by seeing a shoal offlying fish dart out of the water and skim through the air about a footabove the surface. They were pursued by dolphins, which feed on them,and one flying-fish in its terror flew over the ship, struck on therigging, and fell upon the deck. Its wings were just fins elongated, andwe found that they could never fly far at a time, and never mounted intothe air like birds, but skimmed along the surface of the sea. Jack and Ihad it for dinner, and found it remarkably good.

  When we approached Cape Horn, at the southern extremity of America, theweather became very cold and stormy, and the sailors began to tellstories about the furious gales and the dangers of that terrible cape.

  "Cape Horn," said one, "is the most horrible headland I ever doubled.I've sailed round it twice already, and both times the ship was a'mostblow'd out o' the water."

  "An' I've been round it once," said another, "an' that time the sailswere split, and the ropes frozen in the blocks, so that they wouldn'twork, and we wos all but lost."

  "An' I've been round it five times," cried a third, "an' every time woswuss than another, the gales wos so tree-mendous!"

  "And I've been round it no times at all," cried Peterkin, with animpudent wink of his eye, "an' _that_ time I wos blow'd inside out!"

  Nevertheless, we passed the dreaded cape without much rough weather, and,in the course of a few weeks afterwards, were sailing gently, before awarm tropical breeze, over the Pacific Ocean. Thus we proceeded on ourvoyage, sometimes bounding merrily before a fair breeze, at other timesfloating calmly on the glassy wave and fishing for the curiousinhabitants of the deep,--all of which, although the sailors thoughtlittle of them, were strange, and interesting, and very wonderful to me.

  At last we came among the Coral Islands of the Pacific, and I shall neverforget the delight with which I gazed,--when we chanced to pass one,--atthe pure, white, dazzling shores, and the verdant palm-trees, whichlooked bright and beautiful in the sunshine. And often did we three longto be landed on one, imagining that we should certainly find perfecthappiness there! Our wish was granted sooner than we expected.

  One night, soon after we entered the tropics, an awful storm burst uponour ship. The first squall of wind carried away two of our masts; andleft only the foremast standing. Even this, however, was more thanenough, for we did not dare to hoist a rag of sail on it. For five daysthe tempest raged in all its fury. Everything was swept off the decksexcept one small boat. The steersman was lashed to the wheel, lest heshould be washed away, and we all gave ourselves up for lost. Thecaptain said that he had no idea where we were, as we had been blown farout of our course; and we feared much that we might get among thedangerous coral reefs which are so numerous in the Pacific. At day-breakon the sixth morning of the gale we saw land ahead. It was an islandencircled by a reef of coral on which the waves broke in fury. There wascalm water within this reef, but we could only see one narrow openinginto it. For this opening we steered, but, ere we reached it, atremendous wave broke on our stern, tore the rudder completely off, andleft us at the mercy of the winds and waves.

  "It's all over with us now, lads," said the captain to the men; "get theboat ready to launch; we shall be on the rocks in less than half anhour."

  The men obeyed in gloomy silence, for they felt that there was littlehope of so small a boat living in such a sea.

  "Come boys," said Jack Martin, in a grave tone, to me and Peterkin, as westood on the quarterdeck awaiting our fate;--"Come boys, we three shallstick together. You see it is impossible that the little boat can reachthe shore, crowded with men. It will be sure to upset, so I mean ratherto trust myself to a large oar, I see through the telescope that the shipwill strike at the tail of the reef, where the waves break into the quietwater inside; so, if we manage to cling to the oar till it is driven overthe breakers, we may perhaps gain the shore. What say you; will you joinme?"

  We gladly agreed to follow Jack, for he inspired us with confidence,although I could perceive, by the sad tone of his voice, that he hadlittle hope; and, indeed, when I looked at the white waves that lashedthe reef and boiled against the rocks as if in fury, I felt that therewas but a step between us and death. My heart sank within me; but atthat moment my thoughts turned to my beloved mother, and I rememberedthose words, which were among the last that she said to me--"Ralph, mydearest child, always remember in the hour of danger to look to your Lordand Saviour Jesus Christ. He alone is both able and willing to save yourbody and your soul." So I felt much comforted when I thought thereon.

  The ship was now very near the rocks. The men were ready with the boat,and the captain beside them giving orders, when a tremendous wave cametowards us. We three ran towards the bow to lay hold of our oar, and hadbarely reached it when the wave fell on the deck with a crash likethunder. At the same moment the ship struck, the foremast broke offclose to the deck and went over the side, carrying the boat and men alongwith it. Our oar got entangled with the wreck, and Jack seized an axe tocut it free, but, owing to the motion of the ship, he missed the cordageand struck the axe deep into the oar. Another wave, however, washed itclear of the wreck. We all seized hold of it, and the next instant wewere struggling in the wild sea. The last thing I saw was the boatwhirling in the surf, and all the sailors tossed into the foaming waves.Then I became insensible.

  On recovering from my swoon, I found myself lying on a bank of softgrass, under the shelter of an overhanging rock, with Peterkin on hisknees by my side, tenderly bathing my temples with water, andendeavouring to stop the blood that flowed from a wound in my forehead.