The Coral Island - Robert Michael Ballantyne (little readers txt) 📗
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not the rudder been torn away. Within the lagoon were several
pretty, low coral islands, just opposite our encampment; and,
immediately beyond these, out at sea, lay about a dozen other
islands, at various distances, from half a mile to ten miles; all
of them, as far as we could discern, smaller than ours and
apparently uninhabited. They seemed to be low coral islands,
raised but little above the sea, yet covered with cocoa-nut trees.
All this we noted, and a great deal more, while we sat on the top
of the mountain. After we had satisfied ourselves we prepared to
return; but here again we discovered traces of the presence of man.
These were a pole or staff and one or two pieces of wood which had
been squared with an axe. All of these were, however, very much
decayed, and they had evidently not been touched for many years.
Full of these discoveries we returned to our encampment. On the
way we fell in with the traces of some four-footed animal, but
whether old or of recent date none of us were able to guess. This
also tended to raise our hopes of obtaining some animal food on the
island, so we reached home in good spirits, quite prepared for
supper, and highly satisfied with our excursion.
After much discussion, in which Peterkin took the lead, we came to
the conclusion that the island was uninhabited, and went to bed.
CHAPTER VII.
Jack’s ingenuity - We get into difficulties about fishing, and get
out of them by a method which gives us a cold bath - Horrible
encounter with a shark.
FOR several days after the excursion related in the last chapter we
did not wander far from our encampment, but gave ourselves up to
forming plans for the future and making our present abode
comfortable.
There were various causes that induced this state of comparative
inaction. In the first place, although everything around us was so
delightful, and we could without difficulty obtain all that we
required for our bodily comfort, we did not quite like the idea of
settling down here for the rest of our lives, far away from our
friends and our native land. To set energetically about
preparations for a permanent residence seemed so like making up our
minds to saying adieu to home and friends for ever, that we tacitly
shrank from it and put off our preparations, for one reason and
another, as long as we could. Then there was a little uncertainty
still as to there being natives on the island, and we entertained a
kind of faint hope that a ship might come and take us off. But as
day after day passed, and neither savages nor ships appeared, we
gave up all hope of an early deliverance and set diligently to work
at our homestead.
During this time, however, we had not been altogether idle. We
made several experiments in cooking the cocoa-nut, most of which
did not improve it. Then we removed our goods, and took up our
abode in the cave, but found the change so bad that we returned
gladly to the bower. Besides this we bathed very frequently, and
talked a great deal; at least Jack and Peterkin did, - I listened.
Among other useful things, Jack, who was ever the most active and
diligent, converted about three inches of the hoop-iron into an
excellent knife. First he beat it quite flat with the axe. Then
he made a rude handle, and tied the hoop-iron to it with our piece
of whip-cord, and ground it to an edge on a piece of sandstone.
When it was finished he used it to shape a better handle, to which
he fixed it with a strip of his cotton handkerchief; - in which
operation he had, as Peterkin pointed out, torn off one of Lord
Nelson’s noses. However, the whip-cord, thus set free, was used by
Peterkin as a fishing line. He merely tied a piece of oyster to
the end of it. This the fish were allowed to swallow, and then
they were pulled quickly ashore. But as the line was very short
and we had no boat, the fish we caught were exceedingly small.
One day Peterkin came up from the beach, where he had been angling,
and said in a very cross tone, “I’ll tell you what, Jack, I’m not
going to be humbugged with catching such contemptible things any
longer. I want you to swim out with me on your back, and let me
fish in deep water!”
“Dear me, Peterkin,” replied Jack, “I had no idea you were taking
the thing so much to heart, else I would have got you out of that
difficulty long ago. Let me see,” - and Jack looked down at a
piece of timber on which he had been labouring, with a peculiar
gaze of abstraction, which he always assumed when trying to invent
or discover anything.
“What say you to building a boat?” he inquired, looking up hastily.
“Take far too long,” was the reply; “can’t be bothered waiting. I
want to begin at once!”
Again Jack considered. “I have it!” he cried. “We’ll fell a large
tree and launch the trunk of it in the water, so that when you want
to fish you’ve nothing to do but to swim out to it.”
“Would not a small raft do better?” said I.
“Much better; but we have no ropes to bind it together with.
Perhaps we may find something hereafter that will do as well, but,
in the meantime, let us try the tree.”
This was agreed on, so we started off to a spot not far distant,
where we knew of a tree that would suit us, which grew near the
water’s edge. As soon as we reached it Jack threw off his coat,
and, wielding the axe with his sturdy arms, hacked and hewed at it
for a quarter of an hour without stopping. Then he paused, and,
while he sat down to rest, I continued the work. Then Peterkin
made a vigorous attack on it, so that when Jack renewed his
powerful blows, a few minutes cutting brought it down with a
terrible crash.
“Hurrah! now for it,” cried Jack; “let us off with its head.”
So saying he began to cut through the stem again, at about six
yards from the thick end. This done, he cut three strong, short
poles or levers from the stout branches, with which to roll the log
down the beach into the sea; for, as it was nearly two feet thick
at the large end, we could not move it without such helps. With
the levers, however, we rolled it slowly into the sea.
Having been thus successful in launching our vessel, we next shaped
the levers into rude oars or paddles, and then attempted to embark.
This was easy enough to do; but, after seating ourselves astride
the log, it was with the utmost difficulty we kept it from rolling
round and plunging us into the water. Not that we minded that
much; but we preferred, if possible, to fish in dry clothes. To be
sure, our trousers were necessarily wet, as our legs were dangling
in the water on each side of the log; but, as they could be easily
dried, we did not care. After half an hour’s practice, we became
expert enough to keep our balance pretty steadily. Then Peterkin
laid down his paddle, and having baited his line with a whole
oyster, dropt it into deep water.
“Now, then, Jack,” said he, “be cautious; steer clear o’ that sea-weed. There; that’s it; gently, now, gently. I see a fellow at
least a foot long down there, coming to - ha! that’s it! Oh!
bother, he’s off.”
“Did he bite?” said Jack, urging the log onwards a little with his
paddle.
“Bite? ay! He took it into his mouth, but the moment I began to
haul he opened his jaws and let it out again.”
“Let him swallow it next time,” said Jack, laughing at the
melancholy expression of Peterkin’s visage.
“There he’s again,” cried Peterkin, his eyes flashing with
excitement. “Look out! Now then! No! Yes! No! Why, the brute
WON’T swallow it!”
“Try to haul him up by the mouth, then,” cried Jack. “Do it
gently.”
A heavy sigh and a look of blank despair showed that poor Peterkin
had tried and failed again.
“Never mind, lad,” said Jack, in a voice of sympathy; “we’ll move
on, and offer it to some other fish.” So saying, Jack plied his
paddle; but scarcely had he moved from the spot, when a fish with
an enormous head and a little body darted from under a rock and
swallowed the bait at once.
“Got him this time, - that’s a fact!” cried Peterkin, hauling in
the line. “He’s swallowed the bait right down to his tail, I
declare. Oh what a thumper!”
As the fish came struggling to the surface, we leaned forward to
see it, and overbalanced the log. Peterkin threw his arms round
the fish’s neck; and, in another instant, we were all floundering
in the water!
A shout of laughter burst from us as we rose to the surface like
three drowned rats, and seized hold of the log. We soon recovered
our position, and sat more warily, while Peterkin secured the fish,
which had well-nigh escaped in the midst of our struggles. It was
little worth having, however; but, as Peterkin remarked, it was
better than the smouts he had been catching for the last two or
three days; so we laid it on the log before us, and having re-baited the line, dropt it in again for another.
Now, while we were thus intent upon our sport, our attention was
suddenly attracted by a ripple on the sea, just a few yards away
from us. Peterkin shouted to us to paddle in that direction, as he
thought it was a big fish, and we might have a chance of catching
it. But Jack, instead of complying, said, in a deep, earnest tone
of voice, which I never before heard him use, -
“Haul up your line, Peterkin; seize your paddle; quick, - it’s a
shark!”
The horror with which we heard this may well be imagined, for it
must be remembered that our legs were hanging down in the water,
and we could not venture to pull them up without upsetting the log.
Peterkin instantly hauled up the line; and, grasping his paddle,
exerted himself to the utmost, while we also did our best to make
for shore. But we were a good way off, and the log being, as I
have before said, very heavy, moved but slowly through the water.
We now saw the shark quite distinctly swimming round and round us,
its sharp fin every now and then protruding above the water. From
its active and unsteady motions, Jack knew it was making up its
mind to attack us, so he urged us vehemently to paddle for our
lives, while he himself set us the example. Suddenly he shouted
“Look out! - there he comes!” and in a second we saw the monstrous
fish dive close under us, and turn half over on his side. But we
all made a great commotion with our paddles, which no doubt
frightened it away for that time, as we saw it immediately after
circling round us as before.
“Throw the fish to him,” cried Jack, in a quick, suppressed voice;
“we’ll make the shore in time yet if we can keep him off for a few
minutes.”
Peterkin stopped one instant to obey the
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