CHAPTER XIX.
CAST ASHORE.
WHEN Jack opened his eyes he lay for some time wondering where he wasand what had become of him. There were stars in the sky overhead, butthe light was stealing over it, and he felt that it was daybreak. Therewas a loud, dull, roaring sound in his ears--a sound he could notunderstand, for not even a breath of wind fanned his cheek. At lastslowly the facts came to his mind. There had been a great storm, thevessel was among the breakers, he had got into the long-boat with Arthurto put in the plugs, they had been lifted up and blown away--and thensuddenly Jack sat upright.
It was light enough for him to see that he was still in the boat, butits back was broken and its sides staved in. Around him was a mass oftangled foliage, and close beside him lay Arthur Hill, the blood slowlyoozing from a terrible gash in his forehead. Jack leaned over and raisedhim, and loudly shouted his name in his ear. With a sigh Arthur openedhis eyes.
"What is it, Jack?" he asked feebly.
"We are saved, old man. We have been blown right ashore in the boat, andwe have both got shaken and hurt a bit; but, thank God, we are bothalive."
"Where are we?" Arthur asked, looking round.
"As far as I can see," Jack replied, "we are in the middle of a grove oftrees that have been blown down by the gale, and the leaves and brancheshave broken our fall, otherwise we must have been smashed up. We musthave been lying here for the last ten hours. It was just about sixo'clock when we struck, for I looked at the clock in the cabin the lasttime we were down there; and as the sun will be up before long, it mustbe getting on for five now. Now, let us try to get out of this."
With the greatest difficulty, for they were still weak and terriblyshaken, the boys made their way through the tangle of trees andbranches, into which they had so providentially fallen. Both uttered anexclamation of surprise as they reached the edge of the wood: the seawas nearly half a mile away! A tremendous surf was still breaking, andfor a quarter of a mile out a band of white breakers extended along theshore. There were no signs of the _Wild Wave_.
Scarce speaking a word they made their way down to the shore, with thefaint hope that some of their comrades might have been thrown on thestrand alive. A few bits of broken timber alone showed that a wreck hadtaken place; the rest had probably been swept by the current up or downthe coast. They walked for half a mile and then stopped. The sea herehad made a clean breach over the land, and extended as far as the eyecould reach. Retracing their steps they were again stopped by a similarobstacle. Then they went inland, passed round the grove of fallen trees,and looked landward.
As far as they could see stretched a broad sheet of water, broken onlyby the branches of fallen trees. It was evident that a vast tract ofcountry had been submerged by the storm, and that what was now an islandupon which they stood had only been saved from a similar fate by being afew feet higher than the surrounding country. Every tree upon it hadbeen felled, and the very surface of the soil seemed to have been tornoff by the fury of the gale.
Scarcely a word had been spoken from the time they first reached theshore. The fate of their shipmates had depressed them profoundly, and asyet they could scarcely feel grateful for their own escape. Jack was thefirst to rouse himself from this state of despondency.
"Well, Arthur," he said, "things don't look very bright, but we musthope for the best. At any rate let us thank God for having rescued us insuch a marvellous manner. It seems almost a miracle."
Both the boys were bareheaded, their caps having been blown away at thecommencement of the gale, and they now stood with bended heads for someminutes silently thanking God for their preservation.
"Now, Arthur," Jack said cheerfully, "let us go down to the water andsee how fast it is sinking. It was running like a sluice into the sea atboth ends of this island, and I do not suppose that it will be manyhours before it is gone. As soon as it is we must set out and make ourway across to the land beyond it. We are sure to find some villagesthere and to get some sort of food after we've been down to the water. Ivote we go back to the wood and lie down in the shade there. The sunwill soon be unpleasantly hot, and as there is no chance of our gettinga drink the sooner we are out of it the better."
The day passed slowly; the boys talked but little, and when they did sotheir conversation turned entirely upon their lost shipmates, for thatsubject occupied their thoughts far more than their present situation.Before night the water had so far sunk that only some glistening poolsappeared where a broad sheet of water had before spread. Arthur wassuffering much from thirst and would have started at once, but Jackpersuaded him to wait until the next morning.
"We may tumble into deep holes full of mud," he said, "and should get onvery slowly. Let us have a good night's sleep and start with the firstgleam of daylight. We shall be able to get along fast then."
They found, however, that it was not very fast work; for the country hadbeen cultivated and the soil was now converted into a soft mud, in whichthey sank up to their knees. Here and there as they went on they sawpiles of mud and sunburnt bricks, with timbers projecting, and knew thatthese marked the site where villages or houses had stood. Among theclumps of fallen trees they saw bits of colour, and knew that these werethe bodies of some of the natives. Here and there, too, they saw thecarcass of a bullock. At last they found the ground under their feetmuch firmer.
"This has been a road," Jack said. "The flood as it went down has leftthree or four inches of mud on it, but it is fairly firm underneath. Ifwe can manage to keep on this we shall get on well."
For six hours they plodded on, sometimes losing the path and flounderingin the deep mud, at others regaining it and going along briskly. At theend of that time the mud was less deep, and in half an hour they werebeyond the range of the inundation. Here and there a tree was stillstanding, and after an hour's walking they came to a village. All thehouses were unroofed and many of them levelled to the ground, but thewalls of a few were still erect; some natives were moving about, and afew were digging at the ruined houses, apparently searching for theremains of those buried there. They evinced no interest in the arrivalof the two shipwrecked white boys, being too utterly cowed and broken tothink of anything but their own misery.
"There is a well, Arthur; at least I expect it is that," Jack said,pointing to a post upon which was a long pole with a rope hanging fromthe end in the air.
They hurried to the spot, for both were suffering severely, and Arthurwas scarcely able to speak. They found to their delight that Jack'ssurmise was a correct one, and hauling up the rope a bucket full ofwater came to the surface. Arthur was about to seize it, when Jack said,"You had better take this thing, Arthur; the natives might make a row ifyou drank from their bucket." Arthur seized the half gourd that Jack hadpicked up, dipped it into the bucket, and handed it to Jack.
"Fire away, man; you are worse than I am," Jack replied.
The gourd had to be refilled two or three times before they were bothsatisfied, then they went back into the village. Jack pointed to hismouth, and made signs that they wanted something to eat. The nativesshook their heads apathetically and proceeded with their work. At lastthey went up to an old woman sitting in a chair, and rocking herselfbackwards and forwards. She paid no attention when Jack addressed her,but upon his holding out a shilling to her her manner at once changed.She hobbled into the house and returned with a pile of flat cakes madefrom some native grain.
"We shall do now," Jack said, as, munching away at the bread, theytramped on. "We must get to some place sooner or later where there issomebody who can talk English. How much money have you got, Arthur?"
"I have got two pounds," Arthur said. "I took it out of my chest whilethe gale was going on. I thought if we were wrecked and did get to shoreit might be useful."
"I wish I had done the same," Jack said. "I have luckily got a sovereignin my pocket, for I was going to pay Joe Scales for those six lightcanvas trousers he made me. Well, three pounds between us is not bad;and I have got four or five shillings loose
, which will do, I hope,until we get to some place where we can change our gold."
They walked on till sunset, passing several other villages by the way.All of these had suffered more or less severely by the storm, but it wasevident that as they got further inland the work of destruction had beenless complete. At sunset they sat down in a grove of trees stillstanding, the first they had passed, and there spent the night.
"That looks a good-sized place," Jack said, as late on the followingafternoon they came in sight of what was evidently a town of some size."We shall probably find someone there who can speak English."
After crossing a bridge over a river they entered the town. Theyaddressed several people, but these shook their heads and pointedforward.
"What do they mean, Jack?"
"I am sure I don't know, unless they mean there is somebody farther onwho speaks English." Presently they came to a large house. Severalpeople were passing in and out. Jack spoke to one of these, but he shookhis head and pointed indoors, "This must be the right place, Arthur."
They went into a large room, where two or three natives were sittingwriting. They looked up in surprise at the two travel-stained Englishlads.
"Can any of you speak English?" Jack asked. One of them at once left hisdesk and came forward.
"I can speak English. What do you want?"
"Thank goodness!" Jack exclaimed fervently. "We are two officersbelonging to an English ship that was wrecked in the storm two days ago.We believe all the rest have been drowned. We have made our way on footacross the country, and you are the first person we have met who canspeak English."
At the word "officer" the clerk had assumed a more respectful attitude."The collector-sahib went away yesterday to see what could be done andwhat supplies are needed; he will be back this evening. If you willfollow me I will take you to the memsahib, who will see after you."
Wondering whom they were going to see, the boys followed their conductorout at the back of the house into a large garden, in the centre of whichstood a pretty bungalow. In the shaded verandah a lady was sittingreading. Motioning the boys to remain where they were the clerk wentforward and addressed the lady, who at once rose. He beckoned to theboys, who advanced to her as she was coming forward to meet them.
"So you have been shipwrecked, I hear?" she said. "It was a terriblegale. We did not feel it so much here, but I hear the destruction on thecoast has been awful, and they say thousands of lives have been lost.Pray, come in. My husband is away, but he will be back this evening."
The boys soon found themselves seated in easy-chairs in the verandah,while white-robed servants brought them refreshments. "Now," the ladysaid, "tell me all about yourselves. You belong to a ship that waswrecked; whereabout did she come ashore?"
"We have not the least idea," Jack said. "We had been hours runningbefore the gale before we were cast ashore. We have been walking for twodays, and have not found a soul who could speak English until now, sothat we have not the least idea where we are."
"This is Cuttack," the lady said. "It is just outside the MadrasPresidency. We are only separated from it by the river Mahanuddy. Youmust have been wrecked somewhere between the mouth of the river andPalmyras."
"How far are we away from Calcutta, ma'am?"
"About two hundred miles," she replied. "It is a low swampy unhealthycountry all the way, but you will have no difficulty in taking a passagefrom here in a native craft. My husband will see about that for you.Where are your companions? You surely cannot be the only two saved fromthe wreck?"
"I am greatly afraid we are," Jack replied; "and we were saved almostby a miracle. I hardly expect you to believe me when I tell you." Hethen related the events of the storm, and the manner in which they hadreached land.
"It is certainly extraordinary," the lady said; "but it does not seem tome by any means impossible, for I have heard that in these terriblecyclones houses have been taken up and carried long distances, and I canquite understand the same thing happening to a boat."
An hour later Mr. Darcy the collector returned, and after hearing theboys' story said he would at once cause inquiries to be made along thecoast whether any white men had been thrown up alive.
"I fear that there is but little hope," he said, "for the surf on thecoast in a cyclone like that we have had is tremendous, and even wereanyone to float in on a spar he would probably be dashed to pieces whenhe approached the shore, and if he escaped that would be carried outagain by the under tow. However, I will cause every inquiry to be made.The destruction has been terrible: numbers of villages have been sweptaway, and I hear that a great number of native craft are missing. Ofcourse you will stop here for a few days with us to recover from yourfatigue. I will rig you out until you can get fresh clothes made."
The lads stopped for a week under the hospitable roof of Mr. Darcy. Nonews came of any Europeans having been washed ashore alive, thoughseveral dead bodies were reported as having been cast up at variouspoints. At the end of the week they were rigged up afresh, and Mr. Darcyprocured passages for them in a dhow, bound for Calcutta. He laughed atthe idea of the boys paying for their clothes or passage, and said hewas only too pleased that he and his wife should have been of service tothem.
They arrived at Calcutta without adventure, and at once reportedthemselves to the agent of the _Wild Wave_ and told the story of herloss. Here again they experienced the warm-hearted hospitality which isso general in India, the agent taking them out to his house andinstalling them there until the next steamer was to sail for England. Hehad telegraphed upon the day of their arrival to Mr. Godstone, andreceived an answer requesting him to take passages home for them toEngland, where they duly arrived without any exciting incident.
Seven years have passed away, and Jack Robson is now second mate in oneof Mr. Godstone's ships, and will be his first officer on next voyage.He has gone through many adventures since, but none approaching ininterest and excitement to those which occurred on his two voyages inthe _Wild Wave_. His mother still lives at Dulwich, and Lily is engagedto be married to Arthur Hill as soon as the latter attains the rank ofcaptain. Jack is neither engaged nor married, but his mother has astrong idea that before very long he and Mildred Godstone will come toan understanding with each other.
Jack is always at the house when at home, and is treated by Mr. Godstoneand his wife as one of the family. Indeed, Mrs. Godstone has as much ashinted to Jack's mother that she and her husband will offer no objectionto the young sailor, but that, of course, they will wish theirson-in-law to leave the sea and settle as one of the firm in London.Each time he is at home Jack makes a point of running down to Leigh andspending a few days there. "Sea-life is all very well, uncle," he says,"but for downright good sailing there is nothing in the world that to mymind beats a bawley."
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Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Page 112, the edge of the print was not visible, the following wordswere filled in:
"arrival of tl" changed to "arrival of the" "of the ric" changed to "of the riot," "and alarmed t" changed to "and alarmed to"
Page 167, last letter on edge missing: "o" changed to "of" (greatmountain of)
Page 184, "did'nt" changed to "didn't" (We didn't much care)
Pages 122 and 169, "dozed" spelled "dosed" in this text (dosed off)
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