The Cruise of the Make-Believes
CHAPTER XVI
THE AMAZING PRINGLE
JUST so surely as had come about the division of the little companyinto its several parts, socially speaking--that necessary "drawingof the line" insisted upon in all things by Mr. Jordan Tant--so didit come about that the party he represented withdrew itself more andmore from the rest of the islanders. It might have been thought thattheir common difficulties would have drawn them together; but the factremains that the shabbier Mrs. Ewart-Crane and her daughter becamethe more urgent was it that their real position in the greater worldshould be firmly impressed upon those with whom they had been thrown incontact.
Much tramping about over sand and rocks, and the necessity for sleepingon a bed of dry leaves and brushwood, to say nothing of a nightjourney in an open boat, had brought Mrs. Ewart-Crane's one dress to acondition of which a London charwoman would have been ashamed; whileEnid was in no better plight. But although Mrs. Ewart-Crane was wellaware that Mrs. Stocker was in the same lamentable condition, sheresolutely declined to make common ground of complaint with her on thatscore; in other words, Mrs. Ewart-Crane wore her shabbiness with anair.
The same condition of things ruled with the men. Mr. Jordan Tant hadhitherto been a slave to nice detail concerning collars and ties, andneat shoes and socks; but those details, in his present case, werethings to blush at. The neat suit he usually wore in the mornings, andin which he had taken that mad journey to the yacht, was creased andsoiled and stained; his hat had been flung to the laughing waves by awind more boisterous than discreet; and he had been compelled perforceto grow a beard, which he felt did not suit his type of face. True,there were improvements in the man, in the sense of an added colour inhis cheeks, and more alert movements in his limbs; but such things hescorned.
Mr. Daniel Meggison, in a moment of forgetfulness, had gone to hisimprovised couch with his silk hat on his head, and thereafter hadgrown careless in regard to its appearance; it had become a meredilapidated head covering, with no dignity about it at all. Contactwith thorns and brambles had made shipwreck of the immaculatefrock-coat; his linen was non-apparent. In fact, to put the mattershortly, the little company had suffered from the fact that they hadat the beginning but one suit of clothing apiece, and no means ofreplenishing it.
The difficulty about food had been overcome by a sheer gift fromProvidence. There had come a night when they had sat about their fire,and when with discretion, and yet firmness, Gilbert Byfield had toldthem of the condition of the larder. The matter had to be broachedsomehow, because Aubrey Meggison had picked up his small portion offood from his tin plate disdainfully, and had muttered something about"stinginess."
"I think the time has come," said Gilbert solemnly, "when we shouldunderstand clearly--all of us--the exact position. We have beenremarkably careful with the few things we were able to bring away--butwe have found nothing on the island----"
"Beggin' your pardon, sir--except water," said Pringle, with deference.
"I had forgotten the water," replied Gilbert, with a smile. "Our casewould indeed have been hopeless had we not been fortunate enough tofind the spring. But our tinned provisions have gone, and we have nomeans of replacing them; and even with the utmost care we have had togo on short rations for the last day or two. To-morrow's breakfast isprovided; after that we face starvation."
"Do you mean to suggest, my dear Gilbert, that we are to look at eachother with the certain knowledge that we are to shrink day by day, withno hope of relief?" demanded Mrs. Ewart-Crane.
"In the name of the ladies under my charge, I protest," said Mr. JordanTant. "It was not by our wish that we were brought to this place atall; it will certainly not be by our wish that we starve here. I entera solemn protest against it."
"I have been shuttle-cocked about from one place to another--despite myprotests," said Daniel Meggison. "I make the common demand that eachman has a right to make; I insist upon being fed. Look to it, someone,that the matter receives attention before to-morrow. My position inthe world has hitherto been framed upon that common and ordinary basis;being in the world, I demand to be fed."
"Seems to me that the real point is--what is generally done in thesecases?" demanded Aubrey. "There must be a rule about these matters--alaw, or something of that sort. I've read the newspapers prettyconsistently since I've moved about the world; what's the exactprocedure? I should like to say that my father--(with whom, mind you,I'm not going to say that I generally agree)--my father has voiced myopinion to what I might call a T. To put it simply: what happens?"
"I should imagine, for my own part, that one member of our pleasantlittle party will be missing after to-morrow--and the rest will feedsumptuously," said Simon Quarle, with a perfectly serious face.
Mrs. Ewart-Crane rose, and stretched out a hand for her daughter."Enid," she said, in accents of considerable dignity--"I desire that wewithdraw. There are certain questions which cannot be discussed in thispublic manner, if one has any desire to retain one's natural feelingsof delicacy. And I should like to add," she went on, waving Mr. Tantto his feet with an imperious movement of her hand--"I should reallylike to add that in the event of any casting of lots, or any othersuch barbarous procedure, Mr. Tant will be our protector, and will nothesitate to sell his life dearly. Mr. Tant--Enid--let us go, before Ifeel called upon to express myself more strongly."
Simon Quarle and Gilbert walked long upon the shore that night, talkingearnestly. Gilbert was disposed to be hopeful; a ship might heave insight at any moment--or all sorts of things might happen that thenseemed improbable. Simon Quarle pointed out that no ship had yet beenseen, and that nothing else was likely to happen; incidentally hementioned the one course open to them.
"We must launch the boat to-morrow, and start off in the hope offinding some other land near at hand," he said. "If those who go in theboat don't come back, then the others must starve, or find a way outfor themselves; in any case there's nothing else to be done. Let's getto sleep, and forget our troubles for one night at least."
After all, it was Pringle who was the direct agent of Providence. Iwould not have you think that in that respect Providence passed overbetter men; in all probability it was because Pringle had a habit ofgetting up early in the morning, and lighting that open-air fire, andgenerally preparing what food there was for the early meal. And in thatway it came about that Pringle brought deliverance to the islanders ina quite miraculous fashion.
Gilbert Byfield had not slept during that anxious night; in a sense hefelt that, by reason of the mad impulse that had started him on thatwild journey from Newhaven, he was responsible for the lives of thoseconcerned with him in the venture. Dawn was breaking, with the promiseof a perfect day to follow, when he stepped over the legs of thesleeping Jordan Tant, and went down the hill to find Simon Quarle.
Simon was sleeping peacefully in his self-appointed quarters in theboat; he roused himself sleepily when Gilbert laid a hand on hisshoulder. "Oh--you needn't remind me," he said, with a grim nod; "I'vebeen dreaming that I was a starving loafer in the streets of London,and that all the workhouses and casual wards were shut. I believe wehave breakfast--don't we?"
"And a meagre one at that," replied Gilbert, sitting on the edge of theboat. "And after that a council of war, and a decision as to what is tobe done."
"You're not the only one that's awake early, my friend," said SimonQuarle, pointing in the direction of the north of the island. "Who'sthat coming in the distance?"
"It looks like Pringle," said Gilbert--"and he's carrying something."
They waited while the unconscious Pringle drew nearer. As a matter offact he was staggering under a load poised upon his shoulders; as hecame within hail of them it seemed that the load was a heavy squarepacking-case. Evidently he had not expected anyone to be awake at thathour; as he trudged through the sand he was humming a jaunty tunejerkily to himself as though to encourage himself in his efforts. Beinghailed suddenly by the deep voice of Simon Quarle, he stopped, andstared, and then let the packing-case d
own plump into the sand. And itmust be confessed that at that moment he wore a curiously guilty air.
"Why--what have you got there, Pringle?" demanded Gilbert, advancingtowards him. "Where did you get that from?"
"This, sir," asked the innocent Pringle. "Oh--this, sir? Washed ashore,sir."
"Washed ashore!" exclaimed Simon Quarle, looking at the case curiously."Do you know what's in it?"
"Not the least notion in the world, sir," said Pringle, sitting uponthe case, and looking down at it between his legs. "Out for an earlymorning stroll, sir, there it was, knockin' about just on the shore;in fact while I was lookin' at it--stupid like, you'll understand,sir--the sea give it a shove, and pushed it up at my very feet. Ishouldn't be surprised, sir, if it didn't hold food."
"Do you think it's come from the yacht?" asked Gilbert.
"I should think so, sir," said Pringle. "Now I come to think of it,sir, there was one or two cases on board the very identical of this.Food, sir, I should think--and perhaps other things. Washed ashore,sir--that's what this was."
"It doesn't seem to have been knocked about much," said Gilbert,walking round it curiously. "It's a frail sort of case to have beentossing about in the sea for so long a time. I hope the contents arenot damaged."
"We'll hope not, sir," replied Pringle cheerfully, as he stooped topick up the case. "Bit of luck I call this, sir," he added, as with theassistance of Simon Quarle he got it onto his shoulders. "Not that I'llpromise anything about the contents, sir; it might be almost anything."
"Where exactly did it come ashore?" demanded Quarle.
"Just by the rocks, sir," said Pringle. "It was lucky, in a way, that Ihappened to be there, sir; what you might call a yard or two furtheron it would have missed the island altogether, and missed us. Great bitof luck, sir."
The case, on being wrenched open, was found to contain a considerablequantity of tinned food, together with some that was not tinned, andthat was remarkably fresh. There were tins of biscuits; there was teaand sugar and other things, as wonderful in that place as they wereunexpected. Pringle, for his part, was very modest about it all; hedescribed again and again to the wondering people who presently seatedthemselves about the fire exactly how the considerate sea had tossedthe case at his very feet, and how he had picked it up.
Mrs. Ewart-Crane, relieved from the fear that her life might be indanger, made some advances to Mrs. Stocker, and even consented tolisten with gravity to an account by that lady of the difficulties ofrearing chickens in the neighbourhood of Clapham; "there was somethingin the air," according to Mrs. Stocker.
In a sense it may be said that among some of them at least a betterfeeling of comradeship sprang up. The fear of actual starvation wasgone; the weather was superb, and they were all in excellent bodilyhealth. It grew to be a sort of great picnic on the island, and thosewho had been at first inclined to grumble were now in a minority, andbegan to feel that for their own sakes they had best take what the godssent them with an approach to smiling faces. Perhaps for the changeBessie Meggison was in a sense directly responsible; because thatnew happiness that had come to her had painted even this small anduncomfortable world in rosy colours.
There grew to be a sort of competition among them as to who shoulddiscover the next bit of wreckage to be cast ashore. Mr. Meggisonvisited the neighbourhood of the rocks more than once, and peeredfrowningly out to sea; but he never discovered anything. AubreyMeggison listlessly wandered round the shore--perhaps in the hope offinding something of actual use to himself; but he was as unsuccessfulas his father. It came at last to this: that the only one of them allto do any real salvage work was Pringle. At intervals Pringle was ableto bring to them the most astonishing things that had been washedashore conveniently for his picking up.
Strangely, too, the things he found were always useful. It was no merematter of broken woodwork, such as might be expected to come from thewrecked yacht; again and again he discovered in the most miraculous wayarticles for which a wish had actually been expressed by some memberof the community. Food tumbled upon the shore almost in abundance; andalways food that was wanted. The various articles that had been in useon the yacht must have been curiously packed; for tinned foods actuallyarrived more than once accompanied by articles of clothing that weredistinctly useful to the shipwrecked party.
Thus it happened one day that some coarse strong flannel shirts wereflung at the feet of Pringle in the early morning, and were distributedto the male members of the party soon afterwards. Gilbert examined oneof them with a thoughtful frown, and then took Pringle aside.
"I can't understand this, Pringle," he said, looking at the garment.
"No, sir?"
"No. I don't see how these things could have been on board the yacht;who could possibly have bought them."
"You're forgettin' the crew, sir. Sailors ain't as delicate in theirfeelings as gentlemen, sir; take my word for it, I shouldn't be a bitsurprised if they hadn't belonged somehow to the crew."
So the shirts were accepted, and worn with gratitude; even Pringleadmitted how astonishing it was that they should have been flung onto the island just when they were most wanted. Emboldened by hissuccess, he smilingly predicted that he shouldn't be a bit surprised ifsomething else equally useful turned up within a day or two; and sureenough a considerable quantity of cheap strong print, with a pleasingdesign of pink rosebuds upon it, arrived one morning, and was broughtin triumph to the ladies. On this occasion it seemed that the box inwhich the material had been contained had burst upon the shore, and thewood had been carried out to sea. The print was a little damp in oneplace; but Pringle seemed to have been amazingly clever in snatching itout of the reach of the waves.
The making of dresses for the ladies was left to a large extent toBessie, with the assistance of Mrs. Stocker. Bessie--careful littlesoul!--had needles and cottons and a tiny pair of scissors and othernecessary things in a little case in her pocket; and although Mrs.Ewart-Crane at first expressed herself strongly as to why print of asuperior pattern had not been found for her daughter and herself, sheultimately accepted, even with some show of gratitude, the uniformprovided for her. It was a curious sight at first to see them allarrayed alike; but that created some laughter, and was not in the endreally resented.
The packages arrived in no particular order; it was always possiblethat when they sat down to their open-air breakfast Pringle wouldhave a surprise for them--or, on the other hand, it was possible thathe would respectfully shake his head, as a sign that the sea had notbeen kindly disposed. Now and then some of the things flung up seemedto require some explanation; but Pringle always evaded any directreference to them, and murmured something about being grateful toProvidence. It was only when the new timber arrived, and was smilinglyannounced by Pringle as he handed round the tea, that Gilbert Byfieldand Simon Quarle stared at the man, open-mouthed and wondering.
"I can't quite understand it myself, sir," said Pringle, keeping hiseyes fixed upon the cup he was holding. "Nice clean boards, sir--andall about the same length. Rather handy, I should think, sir, forbuilding an extra shelter for the ladies."
In a solemn silence Gilbert and Quarle walked down to the shore, withPringle a step or two behind. There lay a pile of boards stacked neatlyout of the reach of the sea; Pringle scratched his chin thoughtfully ashe looked at them.
"These haven't come from the yacht," said Gilbert. "There was no loosetimber there."
"No, sir,--of course not, sir," said Pringle. "Some unfortunate timbership, I should think, sir. P'r'aps I ought to say, sir, that it didn'tcome all at once--just a board or two at a time. I didn't thinkanything of the first one; I only mentioned it this morning because Ithought it might come in useful, sir. Such a lot of things have washedon shore that I haven't noticed very much about them."
"It seems rather a pity that we haven't a hammer and nails," said SimonQuarle, after a pause.
"Oh--didn't I tell you, sir?" Pringle looked round innocently at hismaster. "There was a few tools came i
n the last package, sir--and somenails and things. I dare say some building work might be managed, sir."
"You certainly didn't mention it," said Gilbert, staring at him.
"Very careless of me, sir," said Pringle.
So a fresh hut was built, with trees for its main support; and intothis Mrs. Ewart-Crane and her daughter were induced to go. Mrs.Ewart-Crane, indeed, seemed quite pleased with her new abode, and wasalmost on the point of giving herself airs again in regard to it. SimonQuarle also was induced at last to leave the boat, and to take up hisquarters in the cave-like place vacated by the ladies; this he sharedwith Mr. Jordan Tant. The supplies that had so miraculously come tothem had given them confidence, and they had practically ceased tothink of the future, or of what it might hold for them, beyond thatplace to which they had been so strangely brought.
Nor did those supplies cease; from time to time other packagesarrived--always to be discovered by the industrious Pringle; so thatin time the wonder of the thing ceased, and it never occurred to anyone of them to ask from whence the things came, or how long the yachtwas to take in breaking up and in delivering itself of the many usefulthings it evidently contained. The weeks went by, and it was altogethera very happy and contented little band of people, albeit queerlydressed.
The inevitable discovery was made one morning quite early by Gilbert.The beauty of the morning had tempted him, and he had come out to tastethe pure air, and to feel the warmth of the coming day. He found thatPringle, as usual, had been early astir; but he took no notice of that.Pringle was ever an early riser, and there was much to be done each daybefore the little company gathered round the fire for breakfast.
Gilbert strode away down the hill until he came to the eastern shoreof the island; waited there a moment, as though undecided in whichdirection to turn. Then suddenly he became aware of a figure marchingsteadily towards the rocks at the north of the island; and, gazing moreintently, discovered that figure to be Pringle, moving steadily and asthough with a set purpose.
"What's the fellow up to now?" Gilbert asked himself, inwardly amused.
He decided to follow; and, keeping a safe distance between his servantand himself, presently saw that servant come to the great line of rockswhich bounded the island to the north. But strangely enough Pringledid not stop there; in the mist of the morning he stepped as it seemedstraight out into the sea, and disappeared.
Greatly amazed, Gilbert broke into a run, and did not stop until he hadcome to the very edge of the rocks where, as he had seen them before,they jutted into the sea. But now there was a clean, clear stretch ofsand round the base of them, and it was along this stretch of sand thatPringle had gone. Without a moment's hesitation Gilbert Byfield ranround the high wall of rock--and so stepped at once into the heart ofthe mystery.
Pringle was hurrying ahead of him--not into a watery grave, butstraight along a little spit of land that had been left dry by thereceding tide. As in a dream, Byfield followed; and presently foundhimself climbing a path on to another land, and seeing before him ashe went evidences of civilization, in the shape of cultivated fields,and decent stone walls and gates. And still Pringle went ahead, lookingneither to right nor left nor backwards.
It was only when Gilbert had topped the rise, and had come to a littleold-fashioned bridge, that he stopped and let Pringle go ahead, andlooked about him. Below lay a prosperous-looking little village, withalready early morning smoke rising from many chimneys; about him in alldirections were cultivated fields. He seated himself on the parapet ofthe bridge, and watched the hurrying figure of Pringle dipping downinto civilization; and then all in a moment he understood for the firsttime the fraud that had been practised upon him. To his credit be itsaid he sat upon the bridge, looking after Pringle (now a mere dotupon the landscape), and shouted with laughter.
He sat there for a long time, until presently the black dot appearedagain out of the intricacies of the village, and began to climb thehill. When presently Pringle reappeared, he bore upon his shoulders yetanother of those mysterious packages with which he had so thoughtfullyprovided the islanders. Toiling up the hill, singing cheerfully tohimself, he stopped only when the long shadow of Gilbert fell acrosshis path; paused for a moment to look at this surprising strangerwatching him; and dropped his burden in the dust of the road.
"Morning, sir," said Pringle, a little nervously. And then, looking atthe packing-case that lay between them, he added more nervously still,and yet with a dawning smile about his lips--"Washed ashore, sir!"