CHAPTER XVII.
WHERE THERE'S A WILL THERE'S A WAY--MUCIUS SCAEVOLA--WHAT'S TO BEDONE?--BRUTUS TORQUATUS AND PETER THE GREAT--AUSTRALIA, BOTANY BAY,AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN--NEW GUINEA AND THE BUCCANEER--VANCOUVER'SISLAND--WHITE SKINS--DANGER OF LANDING ON A WAVE--HANGED ORDROWNED--ROUTE TO HAPPINESS--OMENS.
The old saw, _Where there's a will there's a way_, means--if it meansanything--that a great deal may be effected by energy. A man withoutenergy is a helpless character, and invariably lags behind his fellowmortals in the stream of life; like a cork in an eddy, he is rebuffedhere and jostled there, and goes on travelling in a circle to the endof the chapter. Not so the man of action; no jostling thwarts him, norebuffs retard him; he breaks through all sorts of obstacles, andfloats along with the current.
Such a man was Becker. Though surrounded with dangers, and harassed bythe elements, almost alone he had converted a wilderness into fertilefields; he pursued the track that his judgment suggested, and followedit up with invincible resolution; he manfully resisted the severesttrials, and cheerfully bore the heaviest burdens; his reliance onTruth or Virtue and on God were unfaltering; but had he provided forevery emergency? Is mortal power capable of overcoming everydifficulty? We shall see.
A day or two after the entertainment at Rockhouse, Becker whispered tothe Pilot--
"Willis, take a rifle, and come along with me; I have something to sayto you."
They walked a quarter of an hour or so without uttering a word, whenWillis broke the silence.
"You seem sad, Mr. Becker."
"Yes, Willis, I am almost distracted."
"Still, you seem well enough; you are as hale and hearty as if youhad just been keel-hauled and got a new rig."
"It is not my body that is suffering, Willis; it is my mind."
"Whatever is the matter?"
"Willis, _my wife is dying_."
And so it was. For a long period Becker's wife had been a prey toracking pains, which, so to speak, she hid from herself, the better toconceal them from others, just as if suffering had been a crime. Afterhaving resisted for fourteen years the afflictions of exile, long andperilous expeditions, nights passed under tents, humid winters andfierce burning summers, her health had, at length, succumbed, not allat once, like fabrics sapped by gunpowder, but little by little, likethose that are demolished piecemeal with the pickaxe of the workman.Day by day she grew more and more feeble, without those who wereconstantly by her side observing the insidious workings of disease.Like Mucius Scaevola, who held his hands in a burning brazier withoututtering a word, she so effectually hid her griefs within the recessesof her own bosom, that no one even suspected her illness.
"But, Mr. Becker," said Willis, "I saw your wife this morning, and sheseemed as well as usual."
"Yes, _seemed_, Willis, that is true enough; not to give us pain, shehas concealed her illness from us all. It is only within the lasttwelve hours that I accidentally discovered that she has been longlaboring under some fearful malady."
"Do you know the nature of the disease?"
"No, that I have no means of ascertaining; it may be a distinct formof disease, or it may be a complication of disorders, which I knownot."
"It would not signify about the name if we only knew a remedy."
"True; but I dread some malady of a cancerous type, which could not beeradicated without surgical skill."
"I wish I had been born a doctor instead of a pilot," sighed Willis.
"I cannot see her perish before my eyes."
"Certainly not, Mr. Becker; it would never do to allow a ship to sinkif she can be saved."
"Well, what is to be done?"
"There lies the difficulty; had it been a question of anything thatfloats on the water, I might have suggested a remedy; but, in thiscase, I am fairly run aground."
"I know too well what must be done, Willis. In cases of ordinarymaladies, with care and due precaution, proper nourishment and time,Nature will generally effect a cure."
"Nature has no diploma, but she accomplishes more cures than thosethat have."
"Unfortunately this is not a malady that can be cured by such means;and, unless its progress be checked in time, it may ultimately assumea form that will render a cure impossible."
"Is death, then, inevitable?"
"A patient may retain a languishing life under such circumstances forsome time; but if the disease be cancer, a cure is hopeless withoutinstruments and scientific skill."
"I thought I was the only wretched being in the colony," said Willis,sighing, "but I find I am not alone."
"There are no hopes of the _Nelson_, are there?" inquired Becker.
"None now; for some time Mr. Wolston and yourself almost persuaded methat she had escaped; but had she reached the Cape, we should haveheard of her ere now."
"The probabilities of another vessel touching here are small, are theynot?"
"We are not in the direct track to anywhere; therefore, unless a shiphas been driven out of her course by a gale, there is not a chance."
"Unfortunate that I am!" exclaimed Becker, covering his face with hishands. "Brutus, Manlius Torquatus, and Peter the Great, condemnedtheir sons to death, but they were guilty; still the sacrifice must bemade."
Here Willis stared aghast, and began to fear Becker's intellect hadbeen affected by his troubles.
"I do not exactly understand you, Mr. Becker."
"Two of my sons have gone on before us; they were to embark in thecanoe for Shark's Island, and wait for us there. I must have courage,and you also, Willis."
This exordium did not tend to alter the Pilot's impression. Theywalked on for some time in silence towards the coast.
"Do you know the latitude and longitude of this coast, Willis?"
"Good!" thought the Pilot, "he has changed the subject."
"Yes; we are in the South Sea, and no great distance from the line."
"What continent is nearest us?"
"We cannot be very far off the south coast of New Holland, or, as itis named in some charts, Australia. You know that the _Nelson_ hailedfrom Botany Bay, or Sydney, as the convict colony which the EnglishGovernment has just founded there is called."
"How far do you suppose we are from Sydney?"
"Well, I should say, with a fair wind and a smart craft, Sydney is notabove two months' sail, if so much."
"Is the coast inhabited?"
"Yes."
"What character do the inhabitants bear?"
"According to the Dutch sailors, who have been on the coast, they arethe most plundering and lubberly set of rascals to be met withanywhere."
"They are not acquainted with the use of fire-arms, are they?"
"No not of fire-arms; but they have a machine of their own that theycall a waddy, or something of that sort, which they throw like aharpoon; but the thing takes a twist in the air, and strikes behindthem."
"Is the coast accessible?"
"No; it is fringed with reefs, and, in some places, the surf runs formiles out to sea."
"The navigation along shore, then, is extremely perilous?"
"Whatever can he be driving at?" thought Willis.
"Yes; such a lee shore in a gale would terrify the Flying Dutchmanhimself."
Here Becker shook his head dolefully, and they walked on a littlefurther in silence.
"What islands do you suppose are nearest us, Willis?"
"I should say we are in or near the group marked in the chartPapuasia; beyond them is the territory of New Guinea, and a point tonor'ard are a whole nest of islands discovered by the celebratedbuccaneer, Dampiere."
"And their inhabitants?"
"Oh, some of them are pretty fair; but, taking them in the lump, theyare a bad lot."
"The islands to the west are those discovered by Cook, Vancouver, andBougainville, are they not?"
"They are marked Polynesia in the charts."
"Do you know of any European settlements on these islands?"
"Well, there is a fort of the
Hudson's Bay Company on Vancouver'sIsland, but that is a long way north; and, I believe, a factory hasrecently been anchored in New Zealand, but that is a long way south."
"And what are the principal islands between?"
"There is New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, the Friendly Islands, theSocieties' Islands, the Marquesas, Tahite, and the Pelew Islands; buteach navigator gives them a new name, so that it is hard to say whichis which; all you can do is to say that there is an island in latitudeso and so and longitude so and so, but the name is almost out of thequestion."
"And the natives?"
"Some of them are remarkably tame, and trade freely with strangers;but others have strongly marked cannibal propensities, and dote upon awhite-skin feast when they can get one."
Here Becker shuddered, and uttered an exclamation of horror.
"That would be a terrible fate, Willis."
"Whatever can he mean?" thought the Pilot.
"Willis, to reach Europe from here, what course do you think would bebest?"
"Now I think I shall fix him at last," said the Pilot, levelling hisrifle at an imaginary bird.
"You will only waste gunpowder," said Becker; "I see nothing."
"You asked me just now what course I should steer for Europe, did younot?"
"Yes."
"Well, the most direct course would be to make the Straits ofMacassar, and then steer for Java."
"And when there?"
"You would then be fifteen or sixteen hundred leagues from the Cape."
"So much?"
"Yes, that is about the distance in a straight line across the IndianOcean. When at the Cape, another fifteen days' sail will bring you tothe line; five or six weeks after that St. Helena will heave in sight;then you fall in with the Island of Ascension; leaving which a week ortwo will bring you to the Straits of Gibraltar, where you get thefirst glimpse of Europe. But if you are bound for England, yourdaughter may commence working a pair of slippers for you; they will beready by the time you get there."
They had now arrived at the point of the Jackal River where thepinnace was moored.
"What do you think of this boat?" inquired Becker.
"The pinnace is well enough for fair weather; but it is not the sortof craft I should like to command in a storm at sea."
"So that to venture to sea in it would be to incur imminent danger?"
"There is no denying that, Mr. Becker; if she shipped a moderatelyheavy sea, down she must go to the bottom, like a four and twentypound shot; and if she should spring a leak, you cannot land to puther to rights; the waves are by no means solid."
"Just as I thought!" exclaimed Becker; "I was right in judging that itwould be a sacrifice. It is almost certain death; but they must go."
"Where?" inquired Willis.
"To Europe if need be, if God in his mercy spares the pinnace."
"What for?"
"I have the means of purchasing surgical skill, and I must use all thesacrifices at my command to obtain it."
"Avast heaving, Mr. Becker," cried Willis; "now I understand; thething is as clear as the tackle of the best bower, and when aresolution is once formed, nothing like paying it out at the word ofcommand. When shall we start?"
"I am not talking of either you or myself, Willis."
"Of whom then, may I ask?"
"Fritz and Jack. Fritz knows something of navigation; and if theysucceed, they will have saved their mother; if they perish, they willhave died to save her."
"Fritz, as you say, does know something of navigation, particularly asregards coasting; but here you have a pilot, accustomed to salt water,quite handy, why not engage him also?"
"Willis, you have yourself said that the undertaking is perilous inthe extreme, and your life is not bound up like theirs in that oftheir mother."
"True; but do you not see that I am sick of dry land, and that I amgetting rusty for the want of a little sea air?"
"I felt ashamed to ask you to share in so desperate an enterprise,otherwise I would have proposed it to you, Willis."
"But you might have seen that I was growing thin, absolutely piningaway, and drying up on land. There are ducks that can live withoutwater, but I am not one of them."
"Am I, then, to understand that you offer to risk your life in thisforlorn hope?"
"Certainly, Mr. Becker; a man condemned to be hanged, running the riskof being drowned is no great sacrifice."
"Willis, I accept your offer, to share in the dangers of thisenterprise, most gratefully. I thank you in the name of my sons and oftheir mother, and trust that God may enable me to recompense you foryour devotion to them and to myself."
"You forget," added Willis, wiping a tear from the corner of hiseye, that he ascribed to a grain of dust, "you forget that I was onthe point of venturing out to sea in the canoe, had you yourself andMr. Wolston not prevented me. There is work to be done, I admit; andit is not impossible to cross even the Indian Ocean in the pinnace.But we may find a doctor, perhaps, at some of the settlements--forinstance, at Manilla, in the Philippines."
"That is not to be hoped for, Willis; there is, probably, only oneskilful medical man in each colony, and he will be prevented leavingby Government engagements."
"True; then we had better hoist sail for Europe direct, and trust tofalling in with a ship now and then."
"Alas!" sighed Becker, "in a path so wide as the ocean, it would beunwise to trust to such chances; you will have to rely, I fear,entirely upon the resources of the pinnace alone."
"Well, I dare say, though we may have to put up with half rations, weshall not starve on the voyage, at all events."
They had unmoored the pinnace, and were on their way to Shark'sIsland.
"You are about to announce to your sons their departure?" said Willis,inquiringly.
"Yes; but my heart almost fails me."
"The iron must be struck while it is hot. Will you commission me towhisper a few words in their ear?"
"Thanks, Willis; but what right have I to expect courage from them, ifI exhibit weakness myself? No, my friend, I may shed tears in yourpresence, but not before them."
"A man ought never to allow his feelings to get the better of hiscourage," said Willis, in whose eyes, however, the dust was evidentlyplaying sad havoc.
"These boys have almost never been absent from me. I have watched themgrow up from infancy to adolescence, and from adolescence to manhood;they have always been dutiful and obedient, and with gratitude I haveblessed them every night of their lives. But stern are the decrees ofFate; I must command them to depart from me--perhaps for ever!"
"There are evils that lead to good," said Willis, "even though theseevils be the Straits of Magellan or the storms of the Indian Ocean."
Here the pinnace reached the offing of Shark's Island, where Fritz andJack, leaning on the battery, watched the progress of the boat.
"Do you observe how downcast my father looks?" said Fritz.
"Willis does not look much gayer," remarked Jack.
"Do you believe in omens, Jack?"
"Now and then."
"Well, mark me, there is a screw loose somewhere, or I am no oracle."