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CHAPTER V
A specimen of nautical oratory--Criticisms of the sailors--The starboard watch are given a holiday--The escape to the mountains.
Early the next morning the starboard watch were mustered upon thequarter-deck, and our worthy captain, standing in the cabin gangway,harangued us as follows:--
"Now, men, as we are just off a six month's cruise, and have got throughmost all our work in port here, I suppose you want to go ashore. Well, Imean to give your watch liberty to-day, so you may get ready as soon asyou please, and go; but understand this, I am going to give you libertybecause I suppose you would growl like so many old quarter gunners if Ididn't; at the same time, if you'll take my advice, every mother's son ofyou will stay aboard, and keep out of the way of the bloody cannibalsaltogether. Ten to one, men, if you go ashore, you will get into someinfernal row, and that will be the end of you; for if these tattooedscoundrels get you a little ways back into their valleys, they'll nabyou--that you may be certain of. Plenty of white men have gone ashore hereand never been seen any more. There was the old _Dido_, she put in hereabout two years ago, and sent one watch off on liberty; they never wereheard of again for a week--the natives swore they didn't know where theywere--and only three of them ever got back to the ship again, and one withhis face damaged for life, for the cursed heathens tattooed a broad patchclean across his figure head. But it will be no use talking to you, for goyou will, that I see plainly; so all I have to say is, that you need notblame me if the islanders make a meal of you. You may stand some chance ofescaping them though, if you keep close about the French encampment, andare back to the ship again before sunset. Keep that much in your mind, ifyou forget all the rest I've been saying to you. There, go forward: bear ahand and rig yourselves, and stand by for a call. At two bells the boatwill be manned to take you off, and the Lord have mercy on you!"
Various were the emotions depicted upon the countenances of the starboardwatch whilst listening to this address; but on its conclusion there was ageneral move towards the forecastle, and we soon were all busily engagedin getting ready for the holiday so auspiciously announced by the skipper.During these preparations, his harangue was commented upon in no verymeasured terms; and one of the party, after denouncing him as a lying oldson of a sea-cook who begrudged a fellow a few hours' liberty, exclaimedwith an oath, "But you don't bounce me out of my liberty, old chap, forall your yarns; for I would go ashore if every pebble on the beach was alive coal, and every stick a gridiron, and the cannibals stood ready tobroil me on landing."
The spirit of this sentiment was responded to by all hands, and weresolved that in spite of the captain's croakings we would make a gloriousday of it.
But Toby and I had our own game to play, and we availed ourselves of theconfusion which always reigns among a ship's company preparatory to goingashore, to confer together and complete our arrangements. As our objectwas to effect as rapid a flight as possible to the mountains, wedetermined not to encumber ourselves with any superfluous apparel; andaccordingly, while the rest were rigging themselves out with some idea ofmaking a display, we were content to put on new stout duck trousers,serviceable pumps, and heavy Havre frocks, which, with a Payta hat,completed our equipment.
When our shipmates wondered at this, Toby exclaimed, in his odd grave way,that the rest might do as they liked, but that he for one preserved hisgo-ashore traps for the Spanish main, where the tie of a sailor'sneckerchief might make some difference; but as for a parcel of unbreechedheathen, he wouldn't go to the bottom of his chest for any of them, andwas half disposed to appear among them in buff himself. The men laughed atwhat they thought was one of his strange conceits, and so we escapedsuspicion.
It may appear singular that we should have been thus on our guard with ourown shipmates; but there were some among us who, had they possessed theleast inkling of our project, would, for a paltry hope of reward, haveimmediately communicated it to the captain.
As soon as two bells struck, the word was passed for the liberty-men toget into the boat. I lingered behind in the forecastle a moment, to take aparting glance at its familiar features, and just as I was about to ascendto the deck, my eye happened to light on the bread-barge and beef-kid,which contained the remnants of our last hasty meal. Although I had neverbefore thought of providing anything in the way of food for ourexpedition, as I fully relied upon the fruits of the island to sustain uswherever we might wander, yet I could not resist the inclination I felt toprovide a luncheon from the relics before me. Accordingly I took a doublehandful of those small, broken, flinty bits of biscuit which generally goby the name of "midshipmen's nuts," and thrust them into the bosom of myfrock; in which same ample receptacle I had previously stowed away severalpounds of tobacco and a few yards of cotton cloth,--articles with which Iintended to purchase the good-will of the natives, as soon as we shouldappear among them after the departure of our vessel.
This last addition to my stock caused a considerable protuberance infront, which I abated in a measure by shaking the bits of bread around mywaist, and distributing the plugs of tobacco among the folds of thegarment.
Hardly had I completed these arrangements when my name was sung out by adozen voices, and I sprung upon the deck, where I found all the party inthe boat, and impatient to shove off. I dropped over the side, and seatedmyself, with the rest of the watch, in the stern sheets, while the poorlarboarders shipped their oars, and commenced pulling us ashore.
This happened to be the rainy season at the islands, and the heavens hadnearly the whole morning betokened one of those heavy showers which,during this period, so frequently occur. The large drops fell bubblinginto the water shortly after our leaving the ship, and by the time we hadeffected a landing, it poured down in torrents. We fled for shelter undercover of an immense canoe-house, which stood hard by the beach, and waitedfor the first fury of the storm to pass.
It continued, however, without cessation; and the monotonous beating ofthe rain overhead began to exert a drowsy influence upon the men, who,throwing themselves here and there upon the large war-canoes, afterchatting awhile, all fell asleep.
This was the opportunity we desired, and Toby and I availed ourselves ofit at once, by stealing out of the canoe-house, and plunging into thedepths of an extensive grove that was in its rear. After ten minutes'rapid progress, we gained an open space, from which we could just descrythe ridge we intended to mount looming dimly through the mists of thetropical shower, and distant from us, as we estimated, something more thana mile. Our direct course towards it lay through a rather populous part ofthe bay; but desirous as we were of evading the natives and securing anunmolested retreat to the mountains, we determined, by taking a circuitthrough some extensive thickets, to avoid their vicinity altogether.
The heavy rain that still continued to fall without intermission, favouredour enterprise, as it drove the islanders into their houses, and preventedany casual meeting with them. Our heavy frocks soon became completelysaturated with water, and by their weight, and that of the articles we hadconcealed beneath them, not a little impeded our progress. But it was notime to pause, when at any moment we might be surprised by a body of thesavages, and forced at the very outset to relinquish our undertaking.
Since leaving the canoe-house we had scarcely exchanged a single syllablewith one another, but when we entered a second narrow opening in the wood,and again caught sight of the ridge before us, I took Toby by the arm, andpointing along its sloping outline to the lofty heights at its extremity,said, in a low tone, "Now, Toby, not a word, nor a glance backward, tillwe stand on the summit of yonder mountain; so no more lingering, but letus shove ahead while we can, and in a few hours' time we may laugh aloud.You are the lightest and the nimblest, so lead on, and I will follow."
"All right, brother," said Toby, "quick's our play, only let's keep closetogether, that's all"; and so saying, with a bound like a young roe, hecleared a brook which ran across our path, and rushed forward with a quic
kstep.
When we arrived within a short distance of the ridge, we were stopped by amass of tall yellow reeds, growing together as thickly as they couldstand, and as tough and stubborn as so many rods of steel; and weperceived, to our chagrin, that they extended midway up the elevation weproposed to ascend.
For a moment we gazed about us in quest of a more practicable route; itwas, however, at once apparent that there was no resource but to piercethis thicket of canes at all hazards. We now reversed our order of march,I, being the heaviest, taking the lead, with a view of breaking a paththrough the obstruction, while Toby fell into the rear.
Two or three times I endeavoured to insinuate myself between the canes,and, by dint of coaxing and bending them, to make some progress; but abull-frog might as well have tried to work a passage through the teeth ofa comb, and I gave up the attempt in despair.
Half wild with meeting an obstacle we had so little anticipated, I threwmyself desperately against it, crushing to the ground the canes with whichI came in contact, and rising to my feet again, repeated the action withlike effect. Twenty minutes of this violent exercise almost exhausted me,but it carried us some way into the thicket; when Toby, who had beenreaping the benefit of my labours by following close at my heels, proposedto become pioneer in turn, and accordingly passed ahead with a view ofaffording me a respite from my exertions. As, however, with his slightframe he made but bad work of it, I was soon obliged to resume my oldplace again.
On we toiled, the perspiration starting from our bodies in floods, ourlimbs torn and lacerated with the splintered fragments of the brokencanes, until we had proceeded perhaps as far as the middle of the brake,when suddenly it ceased raining, and the atmosphere around us became closeand sultry beyond expression. The elasticity of the reeds quicklyrecovering from the temporary pressure of our bodies, caused them tospring back to their original position, so that they closed in upon us aswe advanced, and prevented the circulation of the little air which mightotherwise have reached us. Besides this, their great height completelyshut us out from the view of surrounding objects, and we were not certainbut that we might have been going all the time in a wrong direction.
Fatigued with my long-continued efforts, and panting for breath, I feltmyself completely incapacitated for any further exertion. I rolled up thesleeve of my frock, and squeezed the moisture it contained into my parchedmouth. But the few drops I managed to obtain gave me little relief, and Isank down for a moment with a sort of dogged apathy, from which I wasaroused by Toby, who had devised a plan to free us from the net in whichwe had become entangled.
He was laying about him lustily with his sheath-knife, lopping the canesright and left, like a reaper, and soon made quite a clearing around us.This sight reanimated me; and seizing my own knife, I hacked and hewedaway without mercy. But, alas! the farther we advanced the thicker andtaller, and apparently the more interminable, the reeds became.
I began to think we were fairly snared, and had almost made up my mindthat without a pair of wings we should never be able to escape from thetoils, when all at once I discerned a peep of daylight through the caneson my right, and, communicating the joyful tidings to Toby, we both fellto with fresh spirit, and speedily opening a passage towards it, we foundourselves clear of perplexities, and in the near vicinity of the ridge.
After resting for a few moments we began the ascent, and after a littlevigorous climbing found ourselves close to its summit. Instead, however,of walking along its ridge, where we should have been in full view of thenatives in the vales beneath, and at a point where they could easilyintercept us, were they so inclined, we cautiously advanced on one side,crawling on our hands and knees, and screened from observation by thegrass through which we glided, much in the fashion of a couple ofserpents. After an hour employed in this unpleasant kind of locomotion, westarted to our feet again, and pursued our way boldly along the crest ofthe ridge.
This salient spur of the lofty elevations that encompassed the bay, rosewith sharp angle from the valleys at its base, and presented, with theexception of a few steep acclivities, the appearance of a vast inclinedplane, sweeping down towards the sea from the heights in the distance. Wehad ascended it near the place of its termination, and at its lowestpoint, and now saw our route to the mountains distinctly defined along itsnarrow crest, which was covered with a soft carpet of verdure, and was inmany parts only a few feet wide.
Elated with the success which had so far attended our enterprise, andinvigorated by the refreshing atmosphere we now inhaled, Toby and I, inhigh spirits, were making our way rapidly along the ridge when suddenlyfrom the valleys below, which lay on either side of us, we heard thedistant shouts of the natives, who had just descried us, and to whom ourfigures, brought in bold relief against the sky, were plainly revealed.
Glancing our eyes into these valleys, we perceived their savageinhabitants hurrying to and fro, seemingly under the influence of somesudden alarm, and appearing to the eye scarcely bigger than so manypigmies, while their white thatched dwellings, dwarfed by the distance,looked like baby-houses. As we looked down upon the islanders from ourlofty elevation, we experienced a sense of security; feeling confidentthat, should they undertake a pursuit, it would, from the start we nowhad, proved entirely fruitless, unless they followed us into themountains, where we knew they cared not to venture.
However, we thought it was well to make the most of our time; andaccordingly, where the ground would admit of it, we ran swiftly along thesummit of the ridge, until we were brought to a stand by a steep cliff,which at first seemed to interpose an effectual barrier to our fartheradvance. By dint of much hard scrambling, however, and at some risk to ournecks, we at last surmounted it, and continued our flight with unabatedcelerity.
We had left the beach early in the morning, and after an uninterrupted,though at times difficult and dangerous ascent, during which we had neveronce turned our faces to the sea, we found ourselves, about three hoursbefore sunset, standing on the top of what seemed to be the highest landon the island, an immense overhanging cliff composed of basaltic rocks,hung round with parasitical plants. We must have been more than threethousand feet above the level of the sea, and the scenery viewed from thisheight was magnificent.
The lonely bay of Nukuheva, dotted here and there with the black hulls ofthe vessels composing the French squadron, lay reposing at the base of acircular range of elevations, whose verdant sides, perforated with deepglens, or diversified with smiling valleys, formed altogether theloveliest view I ever beheld, and were I to live a hundred years, I shallnever forget the feeling of admiration which I then experienced.