CHAPTER II.
TO WHAT EXTENT WILLIS THE PILOT HAD IDEAS ON CERTAIN SUBJECTS--THEKNIGHTS OF THE OCEAN.
The storm continued to rage without intermission for three entiredays. During this interval, not only was it impossible to send thecanoe or pinnace to sea, but even to venture a step beyond thethreshold, so completely had the tempest broken up the burning soil,the thirst of which the great Disposer of all things had proportionedto the deluges that were destined to assuage it.
All had at length yielded to bodily fatigue and mental anxiety, forthe seeming eternity of these three days and three nights had beenpassed in prayer, and in the most fearful apprehensions as to the fateof the _Nelson_ and her crew.
Nothing in the horizon as yet indicated that the thunders were tiredof roaring, the clouds of rending themselves asunder, the winds ofhowling, or the waves of frantically beating on the cliffs.
Towards evening the ladies had retired to the sick-room with a view ofseeking some repose. Becker, Willis, and the young men bivouacked inthe hall, where some mattresses and bear-skins had been laid down.Here it was arranged that, for the common safety, each during thenight should watch in turn. But about two in the morning, Ernest hadno sooner relieved Fritz than, fatigue overcoming his sense of duty,the poor fellow fell comfortably asleep, and he was soon perfectlyunconscious of all that was passing around him.
Becker awoke first--it was broad daylight. "Where is Willis?" hecried, on getting up.
"Holloa!" exclaimed Fritz, running towards the magazine, "the canoehas disappeared!"
In an instant all were on their feet.
"Some one of you has fallen asleep then," said Becker to his children;"for when the pilot watched I watched with him, and never lost sightof him for a moment."
"I am the culprit," said Ernest; "and if any mischief arises out ofthis imprudence, I shall never forgive myself. But who could havedreamt of any one being foolhardy enough to attempt the rescue of aship in a nutshell that scarcely holds two persons?"
"I pray Heaven that your sleepy-headedness may not result in the lossof human life! You see, my son, that there is no amount of duty, be itever so trifling in importance, that can be neglected with impunity.It is the concurrent devotion of each, and the sacrifices of one foranother, that constitutes and secures the mutual security. Society ona small, as on a large scale, is a chain of which each individual is alink, and when one fails the whole is broken."
"I will go after him," said Ernest.
"Fritz and I will go with you," added Frank.
"No," said Ernest; "I alone am guilty, and I wish alone to remedy myfault--that is, as far as possible."
"I could not hide the canoe," observed Fritz, "but I hid the oars, andI find them in their place."
"That, perhaps, will have prevented him embarking," remarked one ofthe boys.
"A man like Willis," replied Becker, "is not prevented carrying outhis intentions by such obstacles; he will have taken the first thingthat came to hand; but let us go."
"What, father, am I not then to go alone, and so bear the penalty ofmy own fault?"
"No, Ernest, that would be to inflict two evils upon us instead ofone; it is sufficient that you have shown your willingness to do so.Besides, three will not be over many _to convince_ Willis, even if yetin time."
"And mother? and the ladies?" inquired Fritz.
"I shall leave Frank and Jack to see to them; a mere obstinate freak,or a catastrophe, it will be time enough, when over, to inform them ofthis new idea of the Pilot's."
"It is something more than an idea this time," remarked Jack.
Just as Becker and his two sons were issuing from the grotto, thereport of a cannon-shot resounded through the air.
Awoke and startled by the explosion, Becker's wife and Mrs. Wolstoncame running towards them. As for the girls, their guardian angel hadtoo closely enveloped them in its wings to admit of their sleep beingdisturbed.
"The sloop on the coast!" said Frank; "for the sound is too distinctto come from a distance."
"Unless Willis has got upon Shark's Island," objected Fritz, runningtowards the terrace, armed with a telescope. "Just so; he is there, Isee him distinctly; he is recharging our four-pounder."
"God be praised! you relieve my conscience of a great burden," saidErnest, placing his hand on his breast.
"He is going to discharge it," cried Fritz--boom. Then a second shotreverberated in the air.
"If Captain Littlestone be within hearing of that signal, he will besure to reply to it." said Becker. "Listen!"
They hushed themselves in silence, each retaining his respiration, asif their object had been to hear the sound of a fly's wing rather thanthe report of a cannon.
"Nothing!" said Becker sadly, at the expiration of a few minutes.
"Nothing!" reiterated successively all the voices.
"How in all the world did Willis contrive to get transported toShark's Island?" inquired Mrs. Becker.
"Simply, wife, by watching when asleep, whilst one of our gentlemenslept when he watched."
"Yes, mother," said Ernest, "and if you would not have me blush beforeMrs. Wolston, you will not insist upon an explanation of the mystery."
"Mrs. Wolston," she replied, "is not so exacting as you seem to think,Master Ernest--the only difference that her presence here should makeamongst you is that you have two mothers instead of one."
"That is," said Mrs. Wolston smiling, "if Mrs. Becker has noobjections to dividing the office with me."
"Shall I not have compensation in your daughters?" said Mrs. Becker,taking her by the hand.
"Still," interrupted Fritz, "I cannot yet conceive how Willis managedto reach Shark's Island in a wretched canoe, without oars, throughwaves that ought to have swallowed him up over and over again."
"Bah!" exclaimed Jack; "what use has a pilot for oars?"
"There is a question! You, who modestly call yourself the besthorseman on the island, how would you do, if you had nothing to rideupon?"
"I could at least fall back upon broomsticks," retorted theimperturbable Jack. "Besides, in Willis's case, the canoe was thesteed, the oars the saddle--nothing more."
"We shall not stay here to solve the riddle," said Becker; "the stormseems disposed to abate; and the more that it was unreasonable to facecertain destruction in a vain endeavor to assist a problematicalshipwreck, the more it is incumbent upon us now to go in quest of the_Nelson_."
"But the sea will still be very terrible!" quickly added Mrs. Becker.
"If all danger were over, wife, the enterprise would do us littlecredit. It is our duty to do the best we can, according to thestrength and means at our command. Fritz, Ernest, and Jack, go and puton your life-preservers--we shall take up Willis in passing."
"I must not insist," said Mrs. Becker; "the sacrifice would, indeed,be no sacrifice, if it could be easily borne; and yet--"
"Remember the time, wife, when I was obliged, in order to secure theprecious remains of our ship, to venture with our eldest sons on afloat of tubs, leaving you exposed, alone with a child of seven, tothe chance of eternal isolation!"
"That is very true, husband: I am unjust towards Providence, which hasnever ceased blessing us; but I am only a weak woman, and my heartoften gets the better of my head."
"To-day I leave Frank with you; but, instead of your being hisprotector, as was the case fifteen years ago, he will be yours. Thenthere is Mrs. Wolston, her daughters, and husband, quite a new worldof sympathies and consolations, by which our island has been somiraculously peopled."
"Go then, husband, and may God bring back in safety both the pinnaceand the _Nelson_!"
"By the way, Mrs. Wolston, how does our worthy invalid get on? We livein such a turmoil of events and consternations, that I must beg athousand pardons for not having asked after him before."
"His sleep appears untroubled; and, notwithstanding all the terrors ofthe last few days, I entertain sanguine hopes of his immediaterecovery."
"You will at
least return before night?" said Mrs. Becker to herhusband.
"Rely upon my not prolonging my stay beyond what the exigencies of theexpedition imperiously require."
"Good gracious! what are these?" exclaimed Mrs. Wolston as the threebrothers entered, equipped in seal-gut trowsers, floating stays of thesame material, and Greenland caps.
"The Knights of the Ocean," replied Jack gravely, "who, like theheroes of Cervantes, go forth to redress the wrongs done by thetempest, and to break lances--oars, I mean--in favor of persecutedsloops."
Mrs. Becker herself could scarcely refrain from smiling.
Such is the power of the smile that, in season or out of season, itoften finds its way to the most pallid lips, in the midst of thegreatest disasters and the deepest grief. It appears as if alwayslistening at the door ready to take its place on the slightest notice.This diversion had the good effect of mixing a little honey with--ifthe expression may be used--the bitterness of the parting adieus.Becker took the lead in hiding his sorrow; the three youngGreenlanders tore themselves from the maternal embrace, andaffectionately kissed the hand held out to them by Mrs. Wolston.
Then, between those that departed and those that remained behind,there was nothing more than the ties of recollection, the commonsadness, and the endless links of mutual affection.