Palm Tree Island Part 21

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIRST

OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE CREW ARE PERSUADED TO AN INDUSTRIOUS AND ORDERLY MODE OF LIFE

I have never seen a face more woebegone than Billy's was when I came to his side, and there was a world of reproach in his eye. I told him the main drift of what had pa.s.sed before. "I know," says he; "I heard it.

What's the good?" "Why, my doubting Thomas," said I, "the good is this: that we shall have our island to ourselves again." "I take my davy we won't," says he. "If you let 'em come across that there gap they'll turn round on us as soon as there's enough of 'em, and then where are you?"

I told him that coming across the gap was out of the question, because we had destroyed their bridge, and I did not wish to wait while another was a-making. My purpose was to convey the men from the island to the rock in our canoe, not all together, but one by one, so that there would be no risk of their overpowering us. Billy was pleased to say that this was a pretty good notion, but he fell gloomy again in an instant, and when I asked him what other objection he had to make, he said, "You said as how the men would have to work for their keep, but how can they work on this old rock? Don't we know there ain't nothing to do? And if there was anything, they wouldn't do it, bless you, not unless you stood over 'em with a whip." I told him that in that case they would certainly get nothing to eat, and was proceeding to explain what I designed concerning their work when we heard a hail, and saw the men coming in a group from the wood. "Now don't you go for to be too kind, master," says Billy, as I went down to meet them. "They'll only think you're a silly a.s.s." I smiled at him, and promised I would make a very stern taskmaster, and bade him again to be ready with his bow and arrows; and then I walked very leisurely down to the ledge, and asked the men whether they had come at any resolution.

"We have, sir," says Chick, as respectful as you please. "We've had a quorum" (Where did he get the word, I wonder?), "and what we says is this: you're a kind gentleman, and your good uncle afore ye, and----"

Here I called to him not to make a speech, but to say what he had to say in few words; and one or two of his mates roughly scolded him, and bade him come to the point; whereupon without more ado he told me that, relying on my promise to give them food, they were ready to accept my conditions and take up their abode on the rock.

"And Hoggett and Wabberley--what about them?" I said, having seen from the first that these two were not among them. They looked from one to another as if reluctant to speak, and then Pumfrey said bluntly, "They won't come, sir," and when I asked why not, he said he didn't know; they only said they wouldn't, with a great deal of cursing and swearing.

"Very well," said I, "then you must make them come. Every one of you must come to the rock, Hoggett included. If he and Wabberley won't consent, you must overpower them and carry them to the rock like parcels."

[Sidenote: Terms]

They looked very mumchanced at this, and I could see that they still held Hoggett in some dread. They began to talk in undertones among themselves, and thinking to quicken them I turned on my heel, telling them pleasantly to think it over. On this they broke forth into cries, beseeching me to let them come across at once, because they were so hungry; and when I said that I could permit none to come until every man of them was ready, Colam and one or two more of the boldest swore that they would not starve for the sake of Hoggett, and Chick vowed that he would make Wabberley see reason, or he would know the reason why. Whereupon, to encourage them, I said that I would give them a little provision as an earnest of my engagement; and calling up to Billy, I bade him bring down a little smoked pork and fish, as well as a quant.i.ty of bread-fruit. At this the men cheered with an unfeigned heartiness that I found infinitely moving, and they cheered again when Billy appeared, carrying very unwillingly, as I could see, the small quant.i.ty of provision I had ordered. And then those men must needs go about to ingratiate themselves with Billy, choosing the wrong way, as ignorant and foolish folk often will. "That's never little Billy Bobbin!" says one. "How he's growed, to be sure!" says another.

"Fancy little Billy turning into such a fine figure of a man!" says a third; and all the time I think they hardly knew what they said, their eyes being fixed on the things he carried. Billy's round face became as red as a lobster when it is boiled, and his eyes flashed fire, and for a moment I thought he was going to fling his burdens over the ledge into the sea; but he put a curb upon himself and brought the things to me, and then, as though no longer afraid of doing hurt to my property, he stood at the very brink of the ledge and cried, "Yes, I'm Billy Bobbin, and I've growed, and I won't have my master put upon; and if I ain't as handsome as Pumfrey, I ain't got a squint like Chick--and this is our grub what we smoked and such with our very own hands, and you ought to go down on your bended knees and say grace for it, and for what you are going to receive----"

I interrupted Billy at this point, being quite amazed at his outburst, the like of which I had not seen since we fought about that matter of the three-legged stool. "n.o.body could make them thieving villains truly thankful," he said under his breath, and when I bade him throw the food across the gap among the men, he did it with a certain viciousness at first, and chuckled when a piece of salt fish struck Pumfrey in the face. But he became sober the moment he saw with what eagerness the poor wretches picked up the food, and as they began to hasten away with it to their fire, and some even to eat the dried meat raw, he offered them much useful instruction in the best way of cooking it, especially the bread-fruit. Before the men went, I told them to convey their muskets and what ammunition was left down to the lava beach, and lay them ten yards above high-water mark, promising to come and fetch them. And I added, in the solemnest tones I was master of, that if a man of them was to be seen on the beach when I came there, a little after midday, I would withdraw my offer, and of that I gave them fair warning. Billy was much more easy in mind now, and said he thought there might be something in my plan; indeed, he was eager to set off almost at once, without waiting for the time I had appointed.

However, I managed to persuade him to wait until we had eaten our dinner, and then we launched the canoe, and in due time sailed round the island to the lava beach. There was no one to be seen, except one man whom we spied disappearing into the woods as we arrived; but on the beach above high-water mark, as I had said, the muskets were laid neatly in a row, the powder-horns with them. We paddled in until the water was shallow, not designing to beach the canoe, and then Billy leapt overboard and ran up the beach, I meanwhile handling my bow to show that he was covered. He returned with four muskets, and told me that there were four more to bring, so that one was missing, there having been nine when the men came to the island. As soon as all the muskets, together with the powder-horns and bullet-pouches, were stowed in the canoe, I set up a loud halloo, at which the men started out of the wood in which they had been, I doubt not, watching us, and came towards us, and when they were near enough I cried to them that the muskets were one short, and asked whose it was, to which the answer, as I expected, was that it was Hoggett's. Then I asked where Hoggett was, and they told me he had barricadoed himself in the hut, and refused to give up the musket. I asked about Wabberley.

"Here I be, Mr. Brent, sir," says the man himself, coming from the rear of the group; "and right down glad I am, d'ye see, sir, to know as how you be a-going to feed us proper. Ah! how I do remember your good uncle, and the dear lady your aunt----"

[Sidenote: Hoggett is Obstinate]

I could not endure this, both Chick and Wabberley in one day stirring up memories of the home I should never see more, so I peremptorily commanded him to cease, and said that as he was Hoggett's particular friend he had better employ his eloquence in persuading Hoggett to give up his musket with the rest. I told him that a bargain was a bargain, and as the bargain was that all the muskets were to be delivered, the men would receive only half rations until the full tale was made up.

This incensed them very much against Hoggett, and they were in the mind to deal very hardly with him had he been in their power; but one of the men said that he still had a very meagre supply of food in the hut, which could not be eked out beyond a day or two; whereupon I determined to wait, knowing that the men would be eager enough to bring Hoggett to terms so long as they were kept on short commons. I told them to come to the rock before night for another meal, and then we set off in the canoe, and conveyed the muskets to the cave in the cliff, and left them at the entrance of the tunnel, after that returning to the Red Rock.

We spent the next two days in carrying back to our storehouse a certain part of our provisions, leaving on the rock no more than would suffice the men for a single week. We took back also our pigs, which we left at the entrance of the tunnel, thinking that a few hours of darkness would not hurt them. These comings and goings were watched very curiously by the men, who would have liked to know where we went after we pa.s.sed from their sight beneath the cliff; indeed, afterwards they put questions to Billy, who, however, would never give them the least particle of satisfaction on that matter. Each day we gave them two meals, and the knowledge that it was Hoggett who prevented them from enjoying plenty made them exceeding bitter against him. But they told me that he was deaf to all their entreaties, and kept himself close shut in the hut, only cursing when they spoke to him, and threatening to blow out the brains of any man that offered to molest him. However, on the third day, in the morning, one of the men came to the ledge all breathless, having run all the way from the hut to be the first to tell me that Hoggett had yielded, being, in fact, very weak and ill from his privations. Soon after, the others came up with his musket, and then one of them asked me, in name of them all, whether I would not come to the island and rule over them there, promising to obey me faithfully in all points. When this was being said, I saw Billy looking at me with great anxiety, lest this offer of a kingdom (which was already my own) should seduce me from my purpose; but there was no need for him to fear, because I knew the fickle and unscrupulous nature of these mariners, and that they could never be trusted until they should be subdued by the wholesome discipline of work. Accordingly I refused this pet.i.tion, announcing that on the next morning, soon after daybreak, I would begin the transport of them to the rock, bidding them come one by one unarmed to the sandy beach, to be taken off in the canoe. I think if they had known what a bare, inhospitable abode they were coming to they might have made some demur; but they said nothing, and agreed to do exactly as I commanded.

[Sidenote: The Rock Prison]

Next morning we began this work, Billy and I, taking the men one at a time into the canoe, after we had searched them, and conveying them to the rock as quickly as might be, Billy paddling, while I stood over our pa.s.senger with a loaded musket. Having landed him I bade him make his way to the top, and then we went back for another. When we had carried eight of them in this way, I saw that we should not come to an end of it before night unless we took more than one at a time, for the going to and fro was near an hour's work, and very fatiguing; so I determined to take two men, having proceeded so far without any sign of resistance. By the time we came to the rock with the ninth and tenth men, there was a little a.s.semblage on the plateau, and when we were paddling back I saw that Pumfrey and Chick had found their way to the ledge, and they shouted after us, and though we could not hear their words, Billy said he was sure they were crying to be taken off again.

Indeed, when we arrived with the next two men, we found that Chick and Pumfrey, in defiance of my order that none of those we had landed should return to the landing-place, had come down and were awaiting us, and as we came near, Chick asked with a great deal of indignation whether I supposed that true-born Englishmen, and able seamen besides, were going to bide up in that G.o.d-forsaken place. I reminded him of the bargain, and, holding off from the rock, asked him whether he wished all his mates to starve, as they certainly would do unless he mounted to the plateau and stayed there, for I would not land another man, nor give them any more food, until he had gone. At this, one of the men in the canoe told Chick not to be a fool, but to do as I bid him, and Chick cried that it was all very well, but _he_ had not seen the place. However, he went away, very unwillingly, with Pumfrey, and we had no more trouble of that sort.

We brought Hoggett away last of all, and alone. He looked very ill, and said never a word to us, but I could see that he was inwardly a very furnace of wrath. Billy had said to me, as we went to fetch him, "Mind you shoot him, master, if he tries any tricks," and I was very carefully on my guard and did not feel at all easy in my mind until I saw him safely landed. I lately saw a lion-tamer performing tricks with lions in a cage, and as I watched, my thoughts went back many years to this day of our life on Palm Tree Island, and I fancied that the tamer must feel pretty much as I felt when we had Hoggett in the canoe--as if the wild beast might at any moment break loose.

[Sidenote: Sheep and Goats]

Having thus conveyed all the men to the rock, we returned to the island, and laid up the canoe just as it was falling dark, being pretty tired, especially Billy, for though I had taken a turn at paddling he would not let me do much, saying that he knew he would be a bad hand with a musket, and might shoot me instead of the men if one of them proved mutinous. We went up very eagerly to our hut, feeling like wanderers returning home, Little John frisking and barking about us in as great a delight as we ourselves. But our mirth was turned to melancholy when we came to the hut, for it was in such a dreadful state that we could not endure the thought of pa.s.sing the night in it, and so we dragged our weary limbs back to the canoe, and slept there, supperless, for the men had not kept the fire in, and we had nothing with us which we could eat raw. Our sleep lasted until pretty late the next morning, and then, having kindled the fire and cooked our breakfast, we sat talking of the remaining part of my scheme. Billy's face beamed when I showed him how I meant to make the men work for their living, and for once he did not ask, "What's the good?" but declared he couldn't have thought of anything better himself.

I had a pretty good notion of the characters of the men individually, having been for upwards of a year on board s.h.i.+p with them; and Billy knew them even better than I did, because of his nearness to them in the forecastle. A s.h.i.+p is a little world, and there, as in the great world, there are good and bad, and some that are neither good nor bad, for there are a good many colours, as you may say, betwixt white and black. The crew of the _Lovey Susan_, to be sure, was made up rather of evil-disposed than of well-disposed, for it was recruited by Wabberley and Chick, as I said at the beginning of my story, and you know what I thought of them. The better sort among them being few, could not prevail against the many, and especially against a man like Hoggett, who was so exceeding strong and masterful. Now it was a part of my scheme to sunder the sheep from the goats, if I may say so; and they being all on the rock I could do this, I hoped, without seeming to make any distinction among them, at any rate at first. For when I spoke of their working for their living, I did not have the rock in mind as the scene of their labours, but the island. To feed so many, we should need to enlarge our plantation, and this would mean work; and I had already thought, with leaping heart, of another task we might put in hand when I had brought the men to a proper humbleness and docility.

But since there would not be at first enough work for all of them, nor indeed would it be safe to employ them all, I had resolved to begin with the least wicked of them. As we sat at breakfast, therefore, Billy and I conned over their names, pa.s.sing judgment on them, as it were.

"What about Clums?" I said.

"He's a fat fool," says Billy, "but there ain't no harm in him, away from Hoggett. But he can't do anything but cook, and I can cook as well as him now."

"Well, he must learn to do other things," I said. "And Jordan?"

"Not by no means," says Billy. "He speaks you pretty fair, but he's a sly wretch, the sort of man to pick your grub when you warn't looking."

"What do you say to Hoskin, then?" I asked.

"Why, I don't think much of Hoskin," says he; "but I'll say this for him, that he's about the only man of 'em that didn't kick and cuff me, though he looked on when the others did. But what about Mr. Bodger?"

I said that I thought Mr. Bodger a weak and cowardly fellow, who would probably deem himself very much ill-used if set to work, and I was determined to have none idle on the island, while if he were put over the others, they would flout him and might grow mutinous again. Well, after considering the men one by one, we resolved to bring Clums and Hoskin first to the island, and Billy said, antic.i.p.ating me, that their first job must be the cleansing of our hut, which in its present state was not fit for a pig to live in. This put me in mind of our two pigs in the cave, and as soon as we had finished our breakfast we paddled to the cave and brought them away, though when we took them to the sty we found that it was not a secure place at present, those lazy wretches having actually broken up a great part of the fence, I suppose for firewood. "That's the second job," says Billy, "to mend the fence."

We then made our way to the cliff opposite Red Rock, so that we could speak to the men, for we could scarce make our voices heard at so great a height if we sailed to the foot of the rock in our canoe; and having hailed them, I said that Clums and Hoskin were to come to the landing-place and we would fetch them to make a beginning in working for their living. Pumfrey asked whether he couldn't come too, which I took to be a very good sign; but I replied that his turn would come another day.

The two men came with us very readily, and on the way Clums said he would cook us the best dinner we had had for years, upon which Billy winked at me, making such a comical grimace that I could not help laughing. Clums was taken aback when he learnt what task had been a.s.signed to him, but he was a cheerful soul, and said that as Billy had cleaned his pans for him a good many times on the _Lovey Susan_ he supposed it was only fair that he should clean up the floor for Billy and me, though he thought it ought by rights to be done by Hoggett and Wabberley. It took them pretty nearly all day to make the hut thoroughly tidy and s.h.i.+pshape, and when they were looking rather rueful at the thought of being taken back to the rock for the night, I pleased them mightily by giving them the small hut to sleep in. As for Billy and me, we took up our quarters in our old place, having as a precaution brought in the drawbridge and barricadoed the door; and we had Little John with us to give warning of any attempt to break in, which indeed I thought unlikely, for I did not see what they could gain by it.

I thought we would wait one more day before we brought over any more men, so we gave the two next morning the job of cleaning the outbuildings and beginning the repair of the fences. They wrought willingly enough, though clumsily, not being used to this kind of work: accordingly on the third day we fetched Pumfrey and another man, whose name I forget, and while the first two were still working on the repairs, we set the others to dig the yam plantation, to make ready for the new crop. We deemed it well thus to keep the four men in two parties until we were sure of them.

On the fourth day, when we sailed to the rock to bring two more men, we found the whole company a.s.sembled on the ledge, and they raised a great clamour, from which we made out by and by that all their food was gone.

I had left what I thought would be enough for a full week, and so it would have been if they had portioned it out with any prudence. When we brought them another supply I said they would have to manage better, and one of them said that so they would if we took them to the island and gave them some work to do, for on the rock there was nothing else to do but feed. There was so much reason in this that I forbore to upbraid them any more; but I appointed the man who had spoken a kind of commissary to dole out the provisions, and told the other men that if there were any disputes the quarrelsome would be the last to be taken to the island. It being now late, we took no more men that day, but two the next, and these were all whom we had any reason to believe were the sheep.

It would make too long a story to tell of all the little happenings of the next weeks. From the first we gave the men to understand that they would go back to the rock and take turn with others, at our pleasure, whether they went or not depending on themselves. They proved to be reasonable, performing the tasks set them without grumbling, and indeed they confessed that they were very glad to have something to do and good food to eat after their miserable life under Hoggett's rule. We soon put Clums to his proper work of cooking, he having no skill in anything else, and he was always amazed at the never-failing supply of provisions which Billy and I brought in our canoe, not having revealed to any one the secret of our storehouse. Our fowls, as I have said, were all dispersed, except those that the men had eaten, but we got some of them back in our old way of liming the trees, and so had the beginning of a poultry-run again; and when the men had repaired the pig-sty and made a new fowl-house, and dug up the ground for the yams, there was very little left to employ them, so I set them to fell trees for building another and more commodious house, which would hold them all when my scheme had perfectly ripened. And when, after a week or two, I found everything going on as well as I could wish, I determined to bring over the goats, who had learnt by conversations across the gap what we were doing, and were, many of them, exceeding desirous of enjoying the same liberty as their comrades, even though they had to work. Accordingly I got the men to make a bridge like that which we had destroyed, and when this was flung across the gap, we brought two of the men across, with Mr. Bodger, who, as I supposed, was mightily indignant at being left among the worst of the crew. I told him very frankly what my reasons were, and he immediately said that if I thought so ill of him he would waive all privileges as an officer, and work as a common seaman until I was satisfied with him. I was so much surprised at this, never supposing him to have any spirit at all, that I thought fit to put him to his trial as an officer, and giving him a musket, made him overseer of the men who were felling and preparing trees. I soon saw that the position of authority, and the means to enforce it, wrought a change in him, and though he was never a strong man, and would never have been able to exercise command if left quite to himself, yet he became a satisfactory lieutenant, and I never had cause to repent trusting him.

[Sidenote: The Uses of Adversity]

Hoggett and Wabberley and Chick were the last of the men to be brought to the island. I overheard some of the men grumbling at this one day, saying that these three were living a lazy life, doing nothing for their keep, while the rest were working hard. But Clums silenced the grumblers; calling them fools with a seaman's bluntness, asking them whether they didn't owe all their miseries to those three, and bursting into tears when he spoke of a little girl he had at home, and said that but for the mutiny they might all be living happy at Wapping or Deptford by now. I felt a lump come into my throat when the man talked of home, and Billy, who was with me, said he wouldn't mind having a look at his old dad, especially as he thought he would no longer be afraid of his mother-in-law, as he always called his step-mother.

Clums, I say, said that the longer Hoggett and the other two were kept on the rock the better, but I thought they should have their chance with the rest; accordingly one day I went up myself, with Billy, to the ledge and called for them. Hoggett and Wabberley refused point-blank to come, but Chick said he was ready to oblige, and we took him over, telling the other two that they would be put on half rations until they came to a better mind. This very soon had its effect on Wabberley, to whom his creature comforts were everything; and even Hoggett yielded in a day or two, and came over with the rest in the morning. I had forgot to say that we did not allow the men we called the goats to remain on the island overnight, but marched them back to the rock when their day's work was done, this partly because we did not trust them, and partly because there was no room for them to live decently until the new house was built. I may say here that we never did permit Hoggett and the other two to reside on the island. Wabberley was incorrigibly lazy, and did as little work as he could; Hoggett always sullen, and once or twice he flung down his tools and refused to work any more, and kept his word until he was brought to his senses by having his food cut off. As for Chick, he was extremely obliging, and did all he could to persuade me to let him remain on the island, and admit him to the select company of the sheep; but I did not trust him, and with reason, for Clums told Billy that when they were working Chick would often revile us in the bitterest way, and say that he and Hoggett would get even with us some time or other.

The new house was finished in about two months, and then we brought all the men to live on the island except the three I have mentioned. The bread-fruit season was now come, so that we had plenty of food, and the men made great vats in the ground for the storage of the pulp, being still ignorant of the storehouse beneath our hut. When other work failed, I set them to make more pots and pans, and bows and arrows, and we had many shooting contests at our running man, though there were half-a-dozen of the men whom I would never permit to handle a weapon of any kind until close observation a.s.sured me that they were to be trusted. We also went on fis.h.i.+ng expeditions, and smoked a great quant.i.ty of the fish we caught, and purposed to do the same with our pigs as soon as they should increase. In order that we might enlarge still more our reserve of food, I caused some new plantations of cocoa-nut palms to be made at different parts of the island. There was no need for planting when Billy and I were alone, because the trees bore enough fruit for our use; nor was there any need for planting the bread-fruit tree, because this had a remarkable way of propagating itself on all sides by shoots that sprang from the roots; but I had seen that several of the cocoa-nut palms had lately died, from what cause I never knew, for they seemed to be uninjured,[1] and I did not know but that a similar blight might fall on the bread-fruit trees also; and so I planted cocoa-nuts to provide against a possible failure of the bread-fruit.

[Sidenote: A Little History]

Thus I found myself at the head of a very thriving community. Our active and open-air life kept us in good health, and the little diversions which we mingled with our work--shooting and fis.h.i.+ng, quoits and skittles and Aunt Sally, performed with rough things of our own making--these helped to keep us cheerful, and we had no troubles beyond the storms and cyclones, no savages appearing to molest us, and Old Smoker never showing more than a light crown of vapour, and sometimes not even that. Billy and I lived alone in our hut, with Little John, and we were, I am sure, happier than we were before the men came, for we had more to think about and a great deal more to do. Billy said once that I was now a king indeed, and asked whether I wouldn't like a crown, though it would be made of leaves, there being no metal to be had. I told him that I was quite content as I was, and besides, if I was to be a king I must have a t.i.tle, and I thought Harry must be an ill-starred name, for Harry the First was the king that never smiled again, and Harry the last (that is, the Eighth) was not a very estimable character; and then Billy must needs hear all I remembered about those monarchs, and when I spoke of the six wives he looked very serious, and remained very quiet and thoughtful for a long time. I asked him what he was thinking about, and he said, "Why, a king ain't much good without a queen, and it's no good being Harry the First (which you would be, this being a new kingdom) if there ain't no chance of Harry the Second, or perhaps Billy the First, to come after. But there, you wouldn't like a wife same as my mother-in-law, so it's all one."

[1] Probably from the depredations of the _phasma_, or spectre insect, a deadly foe to cocoa-nuts.--H.S.

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND

OF OUR DEPARTURE FROM PALM TREE ISLAND; OF THOSE WHO WON THROUGH, AND OF THOSE WHO FELL BY THE WAY

For several days after this conversation I observed that Billy was not near so cheerful as he was wont to be, and when I spoke to him about it, and asked what ailed him, he returned me only evasive answers. One night when we were abed, but not asleep, he sighed so often and so heavily that I said I would and must know what was the matter, and then he surprised me beyond measure by saying, in a sort of mumble, "I'm only thinking of my little girl." I thought his wits were wandering, but I asked him, "What little girl?" and he said, "Her name's Elizabeth Jane." I asked him what on earth he meant, and then, unbosoming himself, he told me that Clums' mention of _his_ little girl, and our talk about Henry the Eighth's wives, had set him thinking of a little girl he used to play with at home, when his own mother was alive--a neighbour's child, who used to come into the smithy at all hours, and whom his father used to call "Billy's little sweetheart."