CHAPTER XI.
THE ISLAND.
"Oh! had we some bright little isle of our own, In a blue summer ocean, far off and alone."
Though the United Sea Urchins were still very faithful to their cricketground under the cliffs, the older and more daring spirits were alwaysready to ramble farther afield in quest of new scenes and adventures.Every day seemed to bring with it some fresh delight, whether it were ashrimping expedition among the green sea-weedy pools of the rocks on thefar shore, or a cockle gathering on the gleaming banks left by theebb-tide, where the breath of the salt wind on their faces or the feelof the wet, oozing sand under their bare feet was a joy to be garneredup and held in memory. Sometimes it was a scramble over the moors,between thickets of golden gorse and stretches of heather so deep andlong that to lie in it was to bury oneself like a bee in a bed of purplefragrance, or a hard climb would take them to the summit of someneighbouring hill, where, watching the sun sink from a primrose sky intoa pearly, shimmering sea, they would all grow a little silent and quiet,even the roughest spirits restrained in spite of themselves by the sightof that indescribable majesty and calm which marks the parting of theday. It is hours such as these--glad, exhilarating, glorious hours, whenthe world seems as young as ourselves, and merely to live and breathe isa delight--that lay up in our hearts a store of sunshine to be drawnupon in after life as from a treasure-house of the mind, and to brightendark days to come with the rapture of the remembrance.
It was, perhaps, somewhat against her natural tastes that Belle foundherself included in the many and various excursions of the Sea Urchins.She was no country lover, and the stir of a promenade in a fashionablewatering-place gave her more pleasure than the dash of waves or thescent of wild flowers. She did not enjoy splashing her pretty clotheswith sea-water among the rocks, or tearing them in search ofblackberries on the hedgerows; and it was only her love of society, anda dislike of being left behind, which induced her to follow where theothers led. The rough walks and hard scrambles were often a real trialto her, though with Isobel to tow her up steep hills, help her acrossstiles, disentangle her laces from insistent brambles, jump her overpools, and take her hand in dangerous spots, she managed to keep upfairly well. Isobel, to whom these excursions were the topmost summit ofbliss, and who was apt to measure others' standards by her own, neversuspected for a moment that Belle was beginning to grow tired of it, andreceived an occasional outburst of petulance or fretful complaint withsuch amazement that the latter would, for very shame, desist, and for atime the friendship continued to remain at high-water mark. That Bellewas selfish and exacting never once crossed Isobel's mind, and thoughshe could not help frequently detecting in her certain littlemeannesses, exaggeration, or even occasional wanderings from the truth,there always seemed to be some exonerating circumstance which would in ameasure either clear her from blame or give her the benefit of a doubt.It is often so difficult to find fault with those for whom we care verydearly: we are ready to make excuses, condone their mistakes, overlooktheir shortcomings, anything but allow to ourselves the unfortunate andyet unmistakable fact that our idol has feet of clay; and so Isobel wenton from day to day blinding her eyes with her adoration for hernamesake, and investing Belle with a halo of virtues and attractionswhich certainly did not exist except in her own imagination.
Apart from Belle, I think that among the various members of the SeaUrchins' Club Isobel found the Chesters the most congenial. They had allthe dash and daring of the Rokebys without the over-boisterous mannerswhich characterized that rough-and-tumble family, whose friendship attimes was apt to prove a trifle wearing. Little Hilda had taken a greataffection for Isobel, and Charlie, since the adventure in the _StormyPetrel_, was disposed to consider her in the light of a chum, and tocultivate her acquaintance. As knowing Isobel meant including Belle, thefour children therefore might often be found in each other's company,and it was at Charlie's suggestion that they determined one afternoon topay a visit to a certain small island which lay a short distance alongthe coast, at the other side of the rocky headland that jutted out atthe far side of the bay.
"I've not been close to," said Charlie, "but you can see it very wellfrom the top of the Scar. It looks a regular Robinson Crusoe desertisland kind of a place, just given up to sea-gulls and rabbits. I don'tbelieve a soul ever goes there."
"It would be grand if we were the first to set foot on it," said Isobel."It would be our own island, and we'd claim it in the name of the club,like travellers do in Central Africa when they run up the Union Jack,and then mark the place pink on the map, to show it's a Britishpossession."
"And then all the others could be settlers," added Hilda, "and we'dlight a fire and cook fish and have _such_ fun!"
"It would be exactly like the coral island in 'The Young Pioneers,'"said Belle. "Perhaps I might become the queen, like the mysterious whitelady they found living among the natives, and have a throne made out ofsand and shells, and wear a garland of flowers for a crown."
"Oh, we won't go in for nonsense like that!" declared Charlie, who wasnot romantic, and, moreover, enjoyed squashing Belle on occasion. "Butwe might build a hut there, and rig up a sort of camp, and then, if thewhole lot of us came, we could have a regular ripping time. It's worthwhile going to see, at any rate."
Armed with a mariner's compass, a tin pail full of biscuits, Isobel'sbotanical case for specimens, and a stout stick apiece, the four friendsset out on their pioneering expedition with all the enthusiasm of a bandof explorers penetrating into the heart of an unknown continent, or aRoman legion bent on the conquest of some distant Albion. As thegeography books determine an island to be "a piece of land surrounded bywater," the particular spot in question could only claim to justify itsname at high tide, since at low water it was joined to the mainland, andby scrambling over the rocks and jumping a few channels which the seahad left behind, any one could reach it quite easily dry shod. Thechildren marched sturdily along over the wet sands, with a pause hereand there to dive after a particularly interesting crab, or to float ajelly-fish left stranded by the tide, in the deeper water. Charlie,however, would not allow many digressions, and hurried them as fast aspossible towards the object of their journey. The island, on a nearerview, proved to be a bare, craggy spot, about half a mile in length by aquarter in breadth, bounded by steep cliffs which supported a rockyplateau covered with short rough grass and sea pinks, and honeycombed inevery direction with rabbit burrows. It seemed the haunt of innumerablegulls, guillemots, and puffins, for whole flocks of them flew away,wheeling overhead in wide circles, and uttering loud, piercing cries inprotest at the invasion of their rocky stronghold.
"We'd better do the thing thoroughly. Suppose we start from this bigrock and walk right round the island," suggested Isobel. "I have a pieceof paper and a pencil in my pocket, and I'll draw a map of it as we goalong, and we'll give names to all the capes and bays and headlands."
"Stunning!" agreed Charlie. "This rock can be 'Point Set-Off,' and wecan take it in turns to christen the other places. I don't believe theisland itself has a name; we shall each have to suggest something, andthen put it to the vote. I'm for 'Craggy Holme' myself, but we won'tdecide anything yet until we have been completely over it."
Thrilled with the excitement of the occasion, the pioneers started ontheir tour of inspection, noting with approval that the pools at thefoot of the cliff were full of sea anemones, star-fishes, hermit crabs,periwinkles, whelks, pink sea-weed, and a wealth of desirable treasures;that the brambles which grew on the slopes above were already coveredwith fast ripening blackberries; that there were flukes quite seveninches long in the narrow channel on the north shore; and that the sandsbeyond showed a perfect harvest of cockles and other shells. They hadgone perhaps halfway round the coast, and were on the south side, facingthe open sea, when suddenly, turning a corner, they found themselves ina spot which made them stand still and look at one another with littlegasps of delight. Surely it was the ideal place for a camp. They were ina small
creek between two great overhanging crags, where brambles andwood vetch hung down in delightful tangled masses, the fine white sandunder their feet alternated with soft green turf, spangled with tinysea-flowers, and there was quite a bank of small delicate shells left bythe high spring tides. Close under the rocks lay the wreck of aschooner, driven ashore by winter storms, and stranded upon the shingle,the broken spars and a fragment of the hull lying half buried in thesilvery sand, surrounded by a forest of sea-weed and drift-wood.
"Why, it just beats 'The Swiss Family Robinson' or 'The Boy Explorers'hollow!" said Charlie, turning to his companions with something of thelook that Christopher Columbus may have worn when he stepped with hisfollowers on to the shores of the New World. "Here's the very place wewere hoping for! We'd soon get that old trail tilted out of the sand;she only needs propping against the cliff, and she'd make a regularUncle Tom's cabin. With the Wrights and the Rokebys to help, we'd haulher up in a jiffy. Some of these spars and planks would do for seats andtables, and we could light fires with the drift-wood. It's a campalmost ready made for us, I declare."
"And look!" cried Hilda, pointing to a sand-bank which lay at the mouthof the creek; "the tide seems to have thrown up a great many things downthere." And she hurried to the water's edge, where the drifting currenthad lodged a variety of miscellaneous articles--walking-sticks, tincans, a child's boat, a straw hat, several baskets, glass bottles, andeven a lady's parasol, all lying tangled among the sea-weed, washedacross the bay no doubt from the beach at Ferndale. "I've fished out alittle horse and cart, and there's something here that looks like theremains of a gentleman's top hat. We can use the tins for the cabin.They'll do for flower-pots. O Charlie! aren't you glad we came?"
"It's quite romantic," said Belle, sitting down on a spar, and twistingsome pink bindweed round her hat. "We could have tea here, and get up adance on the sands afterwards. I've found such a pretty pencil-caseamong the drift-wood. I mean to keep it."
"I don't think any one else has discovered the island," said Isobel. "Sowe've quite a right to take possession, haven't we?"
"It's the very thing we want, and we'll annex it at once," said Charlie;and drawing the empty shell of a sea urchin from his pocket, he slippedit on to the top of a stick, which he planted firmly in the sand as anensign; then climbing on to the summit of a rock close by, he waved hishandkerchief to north, south, east, and west, exclaiming, "We herebytake solemn possession of this island in the name of the United SeaUrchins' Recreation Society, and are prepared to hold the same in legalright against all comers. If any one has just cause or impediment tooffer why the said society should not occupy this territory in peace andprosperity, let him speak now, or hereafter for ever hold his peace.Rule, Britannia! God save the King!"
With a burst of cheers the others unanimously declared themselveswitnesses to the deed, and decided that possession being nine-tenths ofthe law, the island, for the time at any rate, was undoubtedly theirown, and until any one appeared to dispute their claim they would makewhat they pleased of it.
"To-morrow we'll rig out a real pioneer party of settlers, and come withhammers and nails and axes and all the rest of it," said Charlie. "Thenwe can put up a flag and decide on names and everything. We haven't timeto explore the top now, though it looks jolly upon those cliffs; wemust get back before the tide turns. It's a ripping place, but it wouldbe no joke, all the same, to be surrounded and have to spend the nighthere."
The Sea Urchins took to the idea of a camp on a desert island with thegreatest enthusiasm, and next day the elder portion of them started offwith any tools which they could buy, beg, or borrow, anxious to set towork at once upon the task of constructing a dwelling from the wreck ofthe old schooner. By fastening a rope to the hull, they contrived to tugit out of the sand and tilt it on end against a rock; then with the aidof the broken planks which were lying near they propped it up securelyand repaired any damaged or broken pieces, so that it made the mostsuccessful hut, a kind of combination of a Viking's hall with apirate's cave or an Indian wigwam. The face of the cliff which formedthe wall on one side was full of ledges and crevices which servedadmirably for cupboards, a few nails driven into the boards answered forhat pegs, and it was no difficult matter to put up shelves from oddpieces of drift-wood.
It was amazing how the work brought out the varying capacities of thesettlers. To every one's surprise, Arthur Wright developed a perfectgenius for carpentry. He had borrowed a few tools from a friendlyjoiner in the town, and constructed quite a tidy little table, formingthe legs from broken masts; and he managed to make a door for thefortress of the best portions of three rotten planks, fastening it onwith hinges cut from an old leather strap, and even putting a latchwhich would open with a string pulled from the outside.
While the boys did the harder part of the work, the girls contentedthemselves with the more feminine element of artistic decoration. Theythatched the roof elaborately with masses of brown bladder-wracksea-weed, tying it securely with pieces of cord; they fixed a row oftwenty-one sea urchins, with the spines on, over the door as a coat ofarms, one to represent each member of the club; and pink and white fanshells were nailed alternately round the window, with yellow periwinkleswedged between. A little garden was carefully laid out, a wall beingmade of stones and sand, and a path of fine gravel leading up to thedoor. Green sea-weed was put down to represent grass, the most wonderfularrangements in the way of cockles, mussels, and limpets took the placeof flower-beds, and a few sea-pinks and harebells planted in tinsrescued from the sand-bank adorned the window-sill. Inside, a fireplacehad been built with stones at the rocky end, a hole being made in theroof to let out the smoke, and seats were dug from the sand sufficientto accommodate the whole party. A tin kettle and a frying-pan, purchasedby subscription, constituted the cooking utensils of the camp, and themembers waxed so eager over the domestic arrangements of their hut thatthey spent all their pennies at the cheap stalls in the market on tinmugs and plates and other articles likely to be of service to thecommunity. Eric Wright denied himself toffee or caramels for three wholedays--a heroic effort on his part--that he might contribute a certaingorgeous scarlet tea-tray on which he had set his young affections; theRokebys clubbed together to buy muslin for window curtains; Bellepresented a looking-glass as a suitable offering; and Mrs. Barrington,who was always generous when it was not a question of diet, allowed Ruthand Edna to purchase a dozen pewter teaspoons, a bright blue enamelledteapot, and a bread-and-butter plate with a picture of the Promenade atFerndale upon it. The sand-bank was rummaged for anything that wouldcome in handy, and though it did not yield such wonderful treasures asthe wrecked ship generally contains in desert-island stories, they foundseveral empty bottles, an old lantern, a dripping-tin, a wooden spoon,and a battered bird-cage, all of which they decided might come inuseful in course of time and were carefully put by in a safe place amongthe rocks.
Isobel, who toiled away at the camp with untiring zeal, had drawn andpainted a very nice map of the island on a sheet of cardboard, all thevarious places being neatly marked, and had nailed it on the wallinside. After a good deal of discussion it had been decided to call thedomain "Rocky Holme," the crag on the extreme summit was "PointLook-Out," the tall cliff to the north, "Sea-Birds' Cape," while the oneon the south was "Welcome Head." The creek where they had establishedtheir headquarters was christened by the appropriate name of "SandyCove," and the hut bore the more romantic title of "Wavelet Hall." Theyhad fixed a broken mast at the end of the little garden for a flagstaff,and ran up an ensign specially designed and executed for them by Mrs.Stewart, consisting of a large sea urchin cut out of white calico, andstitched upon a ground of turkey-red twill, with the initials"U.S.U.R.S." below; so that, with their colours floating in the breezeand the smoke of their fire rising in a thin white column among therocks, no band of colonists could have felt that the country was morereally and truly their own.