Mother Carey's Chicken Part 39

Haggard, pale, some with faces blackened with powder, others with their heads bound up with handkerchiefs and bandages which showed the necessity for their application, and all in the sleep which comes of utter exhaustion.

The ladies, with their hair dishevelled and their wet garments clinging to them, evoked most of the lad's pity, which was the next moment withdrawn for his father, who looked ghastly pale, and lay back with his head against the side of the boat, his hand resting upon that of Mr Morgan, whose face was buried in his chest as he leaned against a thwart.

The first-mate, too, crouched amids.h.i.+ps in a very uneasy position, where he had tried to settle down with the major so as to leave more room.

While the latter seemed the most placid of all, and lay back with half a cigar in his teeth--one which had evidently been cut in two, for there was no sign of the end having been lit.

Mark gazed round in a half-stupefied way for some minutes, hardly realising what it all meant, and it was only by sc.r.a.ps that he recalled the events since the fight in the cabin.

But by degrees all came back, even to the grazing of the reef and the gliding into calm water, and he looked to the right, to see about a mile away a long line of white foam, whose sound came in a low murmur, while between them and it lay blue water quite smooth and unruffled, save that it heaved softly, and far beyond the line of white foam there was the sunlit sea.

Sunlit, for, save to his left, there was not a cloud to be seen. The sky was of an intense blue, and the cloud that remained was peculiar-looking--fleecy and roseate, and hanging over the centre of a beautiful land whose sh.o.r.e was of pure white sand, rising right out of which and close to the water were the smooth straight columns of the cocoa-nut trees with their capitals of green.

He could see little but these beautiful vegetable productions, save farther along the sh.o.r.e, and beyond the belt of cocoa-nut trees a pile of rocks ran right down into the water; but from a glimpse here and there it was evident that there were tall trees and high ground beyond the palms.

Greatest boon of all to his eyes was the sun, which was not yet high, but whose warm beams provided him with an invigorating bath and seemed to send life and hope and strength into his cramped and chilled limbs.

He turned to look in another direction, and found that the boat was within a few yards of the pure white sands of a sort of spit or point which ran down into the lagoon, whose limpid waters were sheltered by the barrier reef; and as he wondered how it was that they had not drifted quite ash.o.r.e he realised that the sail with its yard half sunken beneath the surface had caught in a piece of jagged coral rock, which rose from the bottom covered with its freight of animation, and to this they were anch.o.r.ed.

"Shall I wake them?" thought Mark as he looked round him at the sleeping people; but he did not stir, for the act seemed cruel. They were sleeping soundly and resting; the sun was rising higher and drying their wet garments; and at last, deciding that it would be wiser to let them wake of themselves, he turned his longing eyes to the soft white sand, which he felt must be warm, and it was all he could do to keep from lowering himself over the side and wading ash.o.r.e, to lie down in it, to cover his limbs with it, and try once more to sleep.

The act would have aroused the sufferers about him, and he refrained, contenting himself with gazing down over the side at the coral rock three feet below the bottom of the boat, and seeing there among the miniature groves of wondrously tinted weeds shoals of silvery fish; translucent shrimps; curiously long snaky, scaly looking objects which wound in and out and undulated among the weeds, while every here and there played about some tiny chubby-looking fish like a fat young John Dory, but gorgeous in colour in the sunlit waters almost beyond description, so vivid were the bands of orange, purple, azure-blue, green, and gold.

Every here and there were curious sh.e.l.l-fish, some creeping like snails with their heavy houses upon their backs, others were oyster and mussel like, anch.o.r.ed and lying with their valvular sh.e.l.ls half open; while a couple of yards away lay one monster about two feet long, a bivalve with ponderous sh.e.l.ls, whose edges were waved in three folds, and a glance inside whose opening showed a lining of the most delicate pinky tint.

The warmth of the sun and the wonders of the coral-reef beneath his eyes made Mark forget his troubles for a time, but he was recalled to his position by his sensations of hunger, a whine from Bruff, and an inquiring chatter from the monkey, who changed his position and sat up on one of the thwarts looking very skinny and miserable, his face wrinkled and puckered, and the appealing inquiring look in his eyes growing more intense.

Mark gazed from one countenance to the other, all haggard and troubled, and he was beginning to long to awaken some one when the major stirred slightly, and drawing a long breath rolled the half cigar to and fro between his lips. Then without unclosing his eyes he grunted out:

"Bring me a light."

Miserable, wet, and hungry as he was, Mark could not restrain a smile.

"Bring me a light," growled the major again. "Do you--eh?" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, opening his eyes and gazing round. "Oh! hah! I remember now. Huph! Oh my legs; they're as stiff as if they'd no joints! Why, Mark, my lad, good morning."

His words were uttered in a low voice, for he had glanced round and seen that everyone was asleep.

Mark reached over and extended his hand, which was warmly grasped, and this done, the major gave a glance round, grasping at once their position.

"Shame to wake them," he said, "but I want to stretch my legs. Ah, that's it! Give me your knife, lad."

Mark drew out his pocket-knife, and the major took hold of the sheet which reached to the submerged sail, and drew upon it so as to set the boat in motion. Then letting it go again he dexterously cut the sheet in two upon the edge of the boat before there was any check, and the gig floated slowly towards the sh.o.r.e.

"We shall be able to find that afterwards," he said in a whisper; and then he waited till the boat softly grounded upon the sands, so close to where they lay dry, that the major was able to step ash.o.r.e, rocking the boat so slightly that no one stirred.

Mark made a sign, and Bruff limped up on to the thwart painfully, and made as if to leap ash.o.r.e, but hesitated, lifted up his wounded paw, and whimpered.

The difficulty was solved by his master lifting his hind quarters over the side, the dog offering no resistance, and touching bottom he managed the rest himself, and splashed through the water to limp a few yards, and lie down and roll in the warm dry sand.

Jack needed no invitation or order, for, hopping to the side rather stiffly, he leaped over the intervening water on to the sand, and bounded to Bruff, chattering and revelling in the suns.h.i.+ne, while the dog ran on along the sh.o.r.e, and the two now began to gambol and roll.

Mark was the next to step ash.o.r.e, and as he followed the major he limped, feeling as if every joint had been wrenched; but the pain wore off a little as he persevered, and following the major's example he stretched himself upon the sand.

"We're not much more than damp now, my lad," said the major; "and this will dry us and warm us too. I say, my boy, I thought we had come to the end of the book. Didn't you?"

"No," said Mark quietly. "I knew we were in great danger; but I felt that my father would save our lives."

"That's right," said the major. "Always have faith in your father, my lad. He's a fine fellow, and if you follow his example you will not go far wrong. Now, then, I begin to feel much better, and if I could light my cigar I should feel better still."

"Have you no matches, sir?"

"Yes, my lad, but if they are dry they may be wanted to cook something if there is anything here to cook, and I mustn't waste them on my luxuries. I wish I had awakened my Mary, but it's best to let her waken herself, and if I woke her I should have awakened them all."

"There's Mr Gregory opening his eyes, sir," said Mark eagerly; and he made a sign to the mate.

Mr Gregory stared hard at him for a few moments before any sign of comprehension came into his face. It did, however, at last, and he rose stiffly and stepped ash.o.r.e.

"Good morning, indeed," he said; "it's more than good, for yesterday I thought it was good night for all of us. Why don't you light your cigar, major?"

"Don't tempt me, man, I'm going to practise chewing. Have this other half. Will you chew it?"

"No," said Mr Gregory, taking out a little silver matchbox; "I've plenty of lights, quite dry."

He struck one, and the two men lit their half cigars and sat in the sun smoking, while Mark watched them, the sun begetting a delicious sense of content and satisfaction, making him half-close his eyes as he listened to their conversation.

"Where are we, major! Can't exactly say. Small coral island somewhere near the track of s.h.i.+ps to the east."

"It must be a good-sized coral island," said the major, "for there seems to be quite a mountain yonder."

"Can't be the mainland," said Gregory. "Yes, you're right. That is a hill of some height, and--why, there are clouds upon it and--why, they are only half-way up, and there are more on the top."

"Why, Gregory," cried the major, "it's a volcano!"

"No," said the mate; "there is no volcano anywhere near where we can be.

You're right, sir, after all. Well, I'm puzzled; for that's a burning mountain certainly!"

Mark gazed with wondering eyes at the mountain, to see that the clouds which he had noticed when he first gazed sh.o.r.eward were slowly dissolving away, leaving a line of mist apparently about a thousand feet above the sea; while above that the mountain was visible running up in a perfect cone to quite three thousand feet higher, where the point was hidden in a steaming cloud.

"You don't know where we are, then?"

"No, sir; perhaps the captain will know when he wakes. I've been out here again and again, and never seen that mountain. We can't, I am sure, be on the mainland, and it seems impossible that we can have been driven anywhere near Java. However, we are safe ash.o.r.e, and, judging from the look of the trees and the sea, we shall not starve."

"I shall," said the major, puffing away at his bit of cigar. "If we don't soon have food I shall either kill and eat the monkey or Master Mark here! I must have something. By the way, don't throw your cigar-end down--save it. Tobacco may grow scarce."

The mate nodded; and just then Mark uttered an e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n, for he saw Mrs Strong move; her companions started into wakefulness at the same time; and the next moment, as they rose painfully the major and Mark helped them ash.o.r.e, where they sank down in the warm sand.

The captain was roused by the motion of the boat; and he would have come ash.o.r.e without awaking his men, but the boat was so lightened now that the men were roused. The least injured came ash.o.r.e, and after an effort or two ran the gig up on the sands, with the two men who were worst lying in the bottom--Mr Morgan and one of the fore-mast men--these two being carefully lifted out and laid on the sand in the shade of the cocoa-nut trees, while something in the shape of breakfast was prepared.

At first everyone moved painfully, but every step in the light and warmth seemed comforting; and before long all were busy, the men finding sh.e.l.l-fish in the hollows and crevices of the coral rocks; others collected wood, while a fire was made. Billy Widgeon, after rubbing his legs and bathing his feet first in the sea and then in the warm sand, volunteered to climb a cocoa-nut tree and get down some fruit; the ladies went to a pool in the rocks to try and perform something in the way of a morning toilet; and the major turned chef and cooked the sh.e.l.l-fish, and opened some tins of preserved meat and biscuit; Mark being the successful discoverer of a spring as he went in search of Bruff, to find him drinking thereof.