CHAPTER SEVEN.
For some time after the boat had shoved off from the ship, old Readyremained with his arms folded, watching it in silence. Mr Seagravestood by him; his heart was too full for utterance, for he imagined thatas the boat increased her distance from the vessel, so did every ray ofhope depart, and that his wife and children, himself, and the old manwho was by his side were doomed to perish. His countenance was that ofa man in utter despair. At last old Ready spoke.
"They think that they will be saved and that we must perish, MrSeagrave; they forget that there is a Power above, who will himselfdecide that point--a power compared to which the efforts of weak man areas nought."
"True," replied Mr Seagrave, in a low voice; "but still what chance wecan have on a sinking ship, with so many helpless creatures around us, Iconfess I cannot imagine."
"We must do our best, and submit to His will," replied Ready, who thenwent aft, and shifted the helm, so as to put the ship again before thewind.
As the old man had foretold to the seamen before they quitted thevessel, the gale was now over, and the sea had gone down considerably.The ship, however, dragged but slowly through the water, and after ashort time Ready lashed the wheel, and went forward. On his return tothe quarter-deck, he found Mr Seagrave had thrown himself down(apparently in a state of despair) upon the sail on which Captain Osbornhad been laid after his accident.
"Mr Seagrave, do not give way," said Ready; "if I thought our situationhopeless, I would candidly say so; but there always is hope, even at thevery worst,--and there always ought to be trust in that God withoutwhose knowledge not a sparrow falls to the ground. But, Mr Seagrave, Ishall speak as a seaman, and tell you what our probabilities are. Theship is half-full of water, from her seams having opened by thestraining in the gale, and the heavy blows which she received; but, nowthat the gale has abated, she has recovered herself very much. I havesounded the well, and find that she has not made many inches within thelast two hours, and probably, as she closes her seams, will make less.If, therefore, it pleases God that the fine weather should continue,there is no fear of the vessel sinking under us for some time; and as weare now amongst the islands, it is not impossible, nay, it is veryprobable, that we may be able to run her ashore, and thus save ourlives. I thought of all this when I refused to go in the boat, and Ithought also, Mr Seagrave, that if you were to have been deserted by meas well as by all the rest, you would have been unable yourself to takeadvantage of any chances which might turn up in your favour, andtherefore I have remained, hoping, under God's providence, to be themeans of assisting you and your family in this sore position. I thinknow it would be better that you should go down into the cabin, and witha cheerful face encourage poor Mrs Seagrave with the change in theweather, and the hopes of arriving in some place of safety. If she doesnot know that the men have quitted the ship, do not tell her; say thatthe steward is with the other men, which will be true enough, and, ifpossible, leave her in the dark as to what has taken place. MasterWilliam can be trusted, and if you will send him here to me, I will talkto him."
"I hardly know what to think, Ready, or how sufficiently to thank youfor your self-devotion, if I may so term it, in this exigency. Thatyour advice is excellent and that I shall follow it, you may be assured;and, should we be saved from the death which at present stares us in theface, my gratitude--"
"Do not speak of that, sir; I am an old man with few wants, and whoselife is of little use now. All I wish to feel is, that I am trying todo my duty in that situation into which it has pleased God to call me.What can this world offer to one who has roughed it all his life, andwho has neither kith nor kin that he knows of to care about his death?"
Mr Seagrave pressed the hand of Ready, and went down without making anyreply. He found that his wife had been asleep for the last hour, andwas not yet awake. The children were also quiet in their beds. Junoand William were the only two who were sitting up.
William made a sign to his father that his mother was asleep, and thensaid in a whisper, "I did not like to leave the cabin while you were ondeck, but the steward has not been here these two hours: he went to milkthe goat for baby and has not returned. We have had no breakfast, noneof us."
"William, go on deck," replied his father; "Ready wishes to speak toyou."
William went on deck to Ready, who explained to him the position inwhich they were placed; he pointed out to him the necessity of his doingall he could to assist his father and him, and not to alarm his motherin her precarious state of health. William, who, as it may be expected,looked very grave, did, however, immediately enter into Ready's views,and proceeded to do his best. "The steward," said he, "has left withthe other men, and when my mother wakes she will ask why the childrenhave had no breakfast. What can I do?"
"I think you can milk one of the goats if I show you how, while I go andget the other things ready; I can leave the deck, for you see the shipsteers herself very nicely;--and, William, I have sounded the well justbefore you came up, and I don't think she makes much water; and,"continued he, looking round him, and up above, "we shall have fineweather, and a smooth sea before night."
By the united exertions of Ready and William the breakfast was preparedwhile Mrs Seagrave still continued in a sound sleep. The motion of theship was now very little: she only rolled very slowly from one side tothe other; the sea and wind had gone down, and the sun shone brightlyover their heads; the boat had been out of sight some time, and the shipdid not go through the water faster than three miles an hour, for shehad no other sail upon her than the main-topgallant sail hoisted up onthe stump of the foremast. Ready, who had been some time down in thecabin, proposed to Mr Seagrave that Juno and all the children should goon deck. "They cannot be expected to be quiet, sir; and, now that Madamis in such a sweet sleep, it would be a pity to wake her. After so muchfatigue she may sleep for hours, and the longer the better, for you knowthat (in a short time, I trust) she will have to exert herself." MrSeagrave agreed to the good sense of this proposal, and went on deckwith Juno and the children, leaving William in the cabin to watch hismother. Poor Juno was very much astonished when she came up the ladderand perceived the condition of the vessel, and the absence of the men;but Mr Seagrave told her what had happened, and cautioned her againstsaying a word to Mrs Seagrave. Juno promised that she would not; butthe poor girl perceived the danger of their position, and, as shepressed little Albert to her bosom, a tear or two rolled down hercheeks. Even Tommy and Caroline could not help asking where the mastsand sails were, and what had become of Captain Osborn.
"Look there, sir," said Ready, pointing out some floating sea-weed toMr Seagrave.
"I perceive it," said Mr Seagrave; "but what then?"
"That by itself would not be quite proof," replied Ready, "but wesailors have other signs and tokens. Do you see those birds hoveringover the waves?"
"I do."
"Well, sir, those birds never go far from land, that's all: and now,sir, I'll go down for my quadrant; for, although I cannot tell thelongitude just now, at all events I can find out the latitude we are in,and then by looking at the chart shall be able to give some kind ofguess whereabout we are, if we see land soon.
"It is nearly noon now," observed Ready, reading off his quadrant, "thesun rises very slowly. What a happy thing a child is! Look, sir, atthose little creatures playing about, and as merry now, and as unawareof danger, as if they were at home in their parlour. I often think,sir, it is a great blessing for a child to be called away early; andthat it is selfish in parents to repine."
"Perhaps it is," replied Mr Seagrave, looking mournfully at hischildren.
"It's twelve o'clock, sir. I'll just go down and work the latitude, andthen I'll bring up the chart."
Mr Seagrave remained on deck. He was soon in deep and solemn thought;nor was it to be wondered at--the ship a wreck and deserted--left aloneon the wide water with his wife and helpless family, with but one toassist him: had that one deserted as well as the
rest, what would havebeen his position then? Utter helplessness! And now what had they toexpect? Their greatest hopes were to gain some island, and, if theysucceeded, perhaps a desert island, perhaps an island inhabited bysavages--to be murdered, or to perish miserably of hunger and thirst.It was not until some time after these reflections had passed throughhis mind, that Mr Seagrave could recall himself to a sense ofthankfulness to the Almighty for having hitherto preserved them, orcould say with humility, "O Lord! thy will, not mine, be done." But,having once succeeded in repressing his murmurs, he then felt that hehad courage and faith to undergo every trial which might be imposed uponhim.
"Here is the chart, sir," said Ready, "and I have drawn a pencil linethrough our latitude: you perceive that it passes through this clusterof islands; and I think we must be among them, or very near. Now I mustput something on for dinner, and then look sharp out for the land. Willyou take a look round, Mr Seagrave, especially a-head and on the bows?"
Ready went down to see what he could procure for dinner, as the seamen,when they left the ship, had collected almost all which came first tohand. He soon procured a piece of salt beef and some potatoes, which heput into the saucepan, and then returned on deck.
Mr Seagrave was forward, looking over the bows, and Ready went there tohim.
"Ready, I think I see something, but I can hardly tell what it is: itappears to be in the air, and yet it is not clouds. Look there, where Ipoint my finger."
"You're right, sir," replied Ready, "there is something; it is not theland which you see, but it is the trees upon the land which arerefracted, as they call it, so as to appear, as you say, as if they werein the air. That is an island, sir, depend upon it; but I will go downand get my glass."
"It is the land, Mr Seagrave," said Ready, after examining it with hisglass--"yes, it is so," continued he, musing; "I wish that we had seenit earlier; and yet we must be thankful."
"Why so, Ready?"
"Only, sir, as the ship forges so slowly through the water, I fear thatwe shall not reach it before dark, and I should have wished to have haddaylight to have laid her nicely on it."
"There is very little wind now."
"Well, let us hope that there will be more," replied Ready; "if not, wemust do our best. But I must now go to the helm, for we must steerright for the island; it would not do to pass it, for, Mr Seagrave,although the ship does not leak so much as she did, yet I must now tellyou that I do not think that she could be kept more than twenty-fourhours above water. I thought otherwise this morning when I sounded thewell; but when I went down in the hold for the beef, I perceived that wewere in more danger than I had any idea of; however, there is the land,and every chance of escape; so let us thank the Lord for all hismercies."
"Amen!" replied Mr Seagrave.
Ready went to the helm and steered a course for the land, which was notso far distant as he had imagined, for the island was very low: bydegrees the wind freshened up, and they went faster through the water;and now, the trees, which had appeared as if in the air, joined on tothe land, and they could make out that it was a low coral island coveredwith groves of cocoa-nuts. Occasionally Ready gave the helm up to MrSeagrave, and went forward to examine. When they were within three orfour miles of it, Ready came back from the forecastle and said, "I thinkI see my way pretty clear, sir: you see we are to the windward of theisland, and there is always deep water to the windward of these sort ofisles, and reefs and shoals to leeward; we must, therefore, find somelittle cleft in the coral rock to dock her in, as it were, or she mayfall back into deep water after she has taken the ground, for sometimesthese islands run up like a wall, with forty or fifty fathom of waterclose to the weather-sides of them; but I see a spot where I think shemay be put on shore with safety. You see those three cocoa-nut treesclose together on the beach? Now, sir, I cannot well see them as Isteer, so do you go forward, and if I am to steer more to the right, putout your right hand, and if to the left, the same with your left; andwhen the ship's head is as it ought to be, then drop the hand which youhave raised."
"I understand, Ready," replied Mr Seagrave; who then went forward anddirected the steering of the vessel as they neared the island. Whenthey were within half a mile of it, the colour of the water changed,very much to the satisfaction of Ready, who knew that the weather-sideof the island would not be so steep as was usually the case: still itwas an agitating moment as they ran on to beach. They were now within acable's length, and still the ship did not ground; a little nearer, andthere was a grating at her bottom--it was the breaking off of thecoral-trees which grew below like forests under water--again she grated,and more harshly, then struck, and then again; at last she struckviolently, as the swell lifted her further on, and then remained fastand quiet. Ready let go the helm to ascertain the position of the ship.He looked over the stern and around the ship, and found that she wasfirmly fixed, fore and aft, upon a bed of coral rocks.