Books: The Little Savage

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I strained my eyes in vain in every direction; the line of the
horizon stretched out uninterrupted by a single break of any kind all
around. Where could we be? I often asked myself; but except that we
were on the wide ocean, neither myself nor my companion had the
slightest idea of our geographical position. We must have been blown
a considerable distance during the storm: much farther than the
current had taken us from the island.

I calculated that we must have passed it by many a mile if we had
continued the same course; but the wind had shifted several times,
and it might be that we were not so very long a sail from it, could
we gain the slightest knowledge of the direction in which it was to
be found. But this was hopeless. I felt assured that we must abandon
all idea of seeing it again.

In the midst of these painful reflections, my companion directed my
attention to an object at a very considerable distance, and intimated
her impression that it was a ship. Luckily, I had brought my glass
with me, and soon was anxiously directing it to the required point.
It was a ship: but at so great a distance that it was impossible, as
Mrs Reichardt said, for any person on board to distinguish our boat.
I would have sailed in that direction, but the wind was contrary: I
had, therefore, no alternative but to wait till the ship should
approach near enough to make us out; and I passed several hours of
the deepest anxiety in watching the course of the distant vessel.

She increased in size, so that I could observe that she was a large
ship by the unassisted eye; but as we were running before the wind in
a totally different direction, there seemed very little chance of our
communicating, unless she altered her course.

Mrs Reichardt mentioned that signals were made by vessels at a
distance to attract each other's attention, and described the various
ways in which they communicated the wishes of their respective
captains. The only signal I had been in the habit of making was
burning quantities of wood on the shore and pouring water on it to
make it smoke--this was impossible in our boat.

My companion at last suggested that I should tie a table-cloth to
the mast; its peculiar whiteness might attract attention. The sail
was presently taken in, and the table-cloth spread in its place; but,
unfortunately, it soon afterwards came on a dead calm--the breeze
died away, and the cloth hung in long folds against the mast.

No notice whatever was taken of us. We now took to our oars and
pulled in the direction of the ship; but after several hours' hard
rowing, our strength had so suffered from our previous fatigues, that
we seemed to have made very little distance.

In a short time the sun set, and we watched the object of all our
hopes with most anxious eyes, till night set in and hid her from our
sight. Shortly afterwards a light breeze again sprung up; with
renewed hope we gave our sail to the wind, but it bore us in a
contrary direction, and when morning dawned we saw no more of the ship.

The wind had now again shifted, and bore us briskly along. But
where? I had fallen asleep during the preceding night, wearied out
with labour and anxiety, and I did not wake till long after daybreak.
Mrs Reichardt would not disturb me. In sleep I was insensible to the
miseries and dangers of my position. She could not bring herself to
disturb a repose that was at once so necessary to mind and body; and
I fell into a sweet dream of a new home in that dear England I had
prayed so often to see; and bright faces smiled upon me, and voices
welcomed me, full of tenderness and affection.

I fancied that in one of those faces I recognised my mother, of
whose love I had so early been deprived, and that it was paler than
all the others, but infinitely more tender and affectionate: then the
countenance seemed to grow paler and paler, till it took upon itself
the likeness of the fair creature I had buried in the guano, and I
thought she embraced me, and her arms were cold as stone, and she
pressed her lips to mine, and they gave a chill to my blood that made
me shake as with an ague.

Suddenly I beheld Jackson with his sightless orbs groping towards me
with a knife in his hand, muttering imprecations, and he caught hold
of me, and we had a desperate struggle, and he plunged a long knife
into my chest, with a loud laugh of derision and malice; and as I
felt the blade enter my flesh, I gave a start and jumped up, and
alarmed Mrs Reichardt by the wild cry with which I awoke.

How strongly was that dream impressed upon my mind; and the features
of the different persons who figured in it--how distinctly they were
brought before me! My poor mother was as fresh in my recollection as
though I had seen her but yesterday, and the sweetness of her looks
as she approached me--how I now tried to recall them, and feasted on
their memory as though it were a lost blessing.

Then the nameless corpse that had been washed from the wreck, how
strange it seemed, that after this lapse of time she should appear to
me in a dream, as though we had been long attached to each other, and
her affections had been through life entirely my own. Poor girl!
Perhaps even now some devoted lover mourns her loss; or hopes at no
distant date to be able to join her in the new colony, to attain
which a cruel destiny had forced her from his arms. Little does he
dream of her nameless grave under the guano. Little does he dream
that the only colony in which he is likely to join her is that
settlement in the great desert of oblivion, over which Death has
remained governor from the birth of the world.

But the most unpleasant part of the vision was the appearance of
Jackson; and it was a long time before I could bring myself to
believe that I had not beheld his well known features--that I had not
been stabbed by him, and that I was not suffering from the mortal
wound he had inflicted. I however at last shook off the delusion, and
to Mrs Reichardt's anxious inquiries replied only that I had had a
disagreeable dream.

In a short time I began to doubt whether the waking was more
pleasant than the dreaming--the vast ocean still spread itself before
me like a mighty winding sheet, the fair sky, beautiful as it
appeared in the rays of the morning sun, I could only regard as a
pall--and our little bark was the coffin in which two helpless human
beings, though still existing, were waiting interment.

"Has God abandoned us?" I asked my companion, "or has He forgotten
that two of his creatures are in the deepest peril of their lives,
from which He alone can save them?"

"Hush! Frank Henniker," exclaimed Mrs Reichardt solemnly; "this is
impious. God never abandons those who are worthy of His protection.
He will either save them at His own appointed time--or if He think it
more desirable, will snatch them from a scene where so many dangers
surround them, and place them where there prevails eternal
tranquillity, and everlasting bliss.

"We should rather rejoice," she added, with increasing seriousness,
"that we are thought worthy of being so early taken from a world in
which we have met with so many troubles."

"But to die in this way," I observed gloomily; "to be left to linger
out days of terrible torture, without a hope of relief--I cannot
reconcile myself to it."

"We must die sooner or later," she said, "and there are many
diseases which are fatal after protracted suffering of the most
agonising description. These we have been spared. The wretch who
lingers in torment, visited by some loathsome disorder, would envy
us, could he see the comparatively easy manner in which we are
suffered to leave existence.

"But I do not myself see the hopelessness of our case," she added.
"It is not yet impossible that we may be picked up by a ship, or
discover some friendly shore whence we might obtain a passage for
England."

"I see no prospect of this," said I; "we are apparently out of the
track of ships, and if it should be our chance to discover one, the
people on board are not likely to observe us. I wish I had never left
the island."

Mrs Reichardt never reproached me--never so much as reminded me that
it was my own fault. She merely added, "It was the will of God."

We ate and drank our small rations--my companion always blessing the
meal, and offering a thanksgiving for being permitted to enjoy it. I
noticed what was left. We had been extremely economical, yet there
was barely enough for another day. We determined still further to
reduce the trifling portion we allowed ourselves, that we might
increase our chance of escape.

Chapter XLVII

Five days and nights had we been drifting at the mercy of the winds
and waves; all our small stock of food had been devoured--though we
had hoarded every crumb, as the miser hoards his gold. Even the rain
water, as well as the water we had brought with us, we had drained to
the last drop.

The weather continually alternated from a dead calm to a light
breeze: the wind frequently shifted, but I had no strength left to
attend to the sail--the boat was abandoned to its own guidance, or
rather to that of the wind. When becalmed we lay still--when the
breeze sprang up we pursued our course till the sail no longer felt
its influence.

Five long days and nights--days of intolerable suffering, nights of
inexpressible horror. From sunrise to sunset I strained my eyes along
the line of the horizon, but nothing but sky and wave ever met my
gaze. When it became dark, excited by the deep anxiety I had endured
throughout the day, I could not sleep. I fancied I beheld through the
darkness monstrous forms mocking and gibbering, and high above them
all was reared the head of the enormous python I had combated in the
Happy Valley. And he opened his tremendous jaws, as though to swallow
me, and displayed fold upon fold of his immense form as if to involve
and crush the boat in its mighty involutions.

I was always glad when the day dawned, or if the night happened to
be fair and starlight; for the spectres vanished when the sun shone,
and the tranquil beauty of the stars calmed my soul.

I was famishing for want of food--but I suffered most from want of
water, for the heat during the day was tremendous, and I became so
frantic from thirst, that nothing but the exhortations of Mrs
Reichardt would have prevented me from dashing myself into the sea,
and drinking my fill of the salt water that looked so tempting and
refreshing.

My companion sought to encourage me to hope, long after all hope had
vanished--then she preached resignation to the Divine Will, and in
her own nature gave a practical commentary on her text.

I perceived that her voice was getting more and more faint--and that
she was becoming hourly more feeble. She was not able to move from
her seat, and at last asked me to assist her to lie down at the
bottom of the boat. Then I noticed that she prayed fervently, and I
could often distinguish my name in these petitions to the throne of
Grace.

I felt a strange sensation in my head, and my tongue became in my
mouth as a dry stick--from this I was relieved by chewing the sleeve
of my shirt; but my head grew worse. My eyes too were affected in a
strange manner. I continually fancied that I saw ships sailing about
at a little distance from me, and I strove to attract their attention
by calling to them. My voice was weak and I could create only a kind
of half stifled cry. Then I thought I beheld land: fair forests and
green pastures spread before me--bright flowers and refreshing fruits
grew all around--and I called to my companion to make haste for we
were running ashore and should presently be pulling the clustering
grapes and should lay ourselves down among the odorous flowers.

Mrs Reichardt opened her eyes and gazed at me with a more painful
interest. She knew I was haunted by the chimeras created by famine
and thirst; but she seemed to have lost all power of speech. She
motioned me to join her in prayer; I, however, was too much occupied
with the prospect of landing, and paid no attention to her signs.

Presently the bright landscape faded away, and I beheld nothing but
the wide expanse of water, the circle of which appeared to expand and
spread into the sky, and the sky seemed lost and broken up in the
water, and for a few minutes they were mixed together in the wildest
and strangest confusion. Subsequently to this I must have dropt
asleep, for after a while I found myself huddled up in a corner of
the boat, and must have fallen there from my seat. I stared about me
for some time, unconscious where I was. The bright sun still shone
over my head; the everlasting sea still rolled beneath my feet.

I looked to the bottom of the boat, and met the upturned gaze of my
fellow voyager--the pale face had grown paler, and the expression of
the painful eye had become less intelligent. I thought she was as I
had seen her in my dream, when she changed from her own likeness to
that of the poor drowned girl we buried in the guano.

I turned away my gaze--the sight was too painful to look upon. I
felt assured that she was dying, and that in a very short space of
time, that faithful and affectionate nature I must part from forever.

I thought I would make a last effort. Though faint and trembling,
burning with fever, and feeling deadly sick, I managed by the support
of the awning to crawl to the mast, and embracing it with one arm I
raised the glass with the other hand, and looked carefully about. My
hand was very unsteady and my eyes seemed dim. I could discern
nothing but water.

I should have sunk in despair to the bottom of the boat, had I not
been attracted at the moment by a singular appearance in the sky. A
cloud was approaching of a shape and appearance I had never observed
before. I raised the glass again, and after observing this cloud for
some time with great attention, I felt assured that what I considered
to be long lines of vapour was an immense flock of birds.

This discovery interested me--I forgot the intensity of my
sufferings in observing the motions of this apparently endless flock.
As the first file approached, I looked again, to see if I could make
out what they were. God of heaven! They were gannets.

I crawled back to my companion as rapidly as my feeble limbs would
allow, to inform her of the discovery I had made. Alas! I found that
I was unheeded. I could not believe that her fine spirit had fled;
no, she moved her hand; but the dull spiritless gaze seemed to warn
me that her dissolution was fast approaching. I looked for the spirit
flask, and found a few drops were still left there; I poured these
into her mouth, and watched the result with the deepest anxiety I had
ever known since the day of my birth.

In a few minutes I found that she breathed more regularly and
distinctly--presently her eyes lost that fixedness which had made
them so painful to look upon. Then she recognised me, and took hold
of my hand, regarding me with the sweet smile with which I was so
familiar.

As soon as I found that consciousness had returned, I told her of
the great flock of gannets that were evidently wending their way to
their customary resting place, and the hope I entertained that if
they could be kept in sight, and the wind remained in the same
quarter, the boat might be led by them to the place where they laid
their eggs.

She listened to me with attention, and evidently understood what I
said. Her lips moved, and I thought she was returning thanks to God
--accepting the flight of the birds as a manifest proof that He was
still watching over us. In a few minutes she seemed so much better
that she could sit up. I noticed her for some time watching the
gannets that now approached in one vast cloud that threatened to shut
us out from the sky--she then turned her gaze in an opposite
direction, and with a smile of exultation that lit up her wan face as
with a glory, stretched her arm out, pointing her hand to a distant
portion of the sea. My gaze quickly followed hers, and I fancied I
discovered a break in the line of the horizon; but it did not look
like a ship. I pointed the glass in that direction, and felt the
joyful assurance that we were within sight of land.

This additional discovery gave me increased strength: or rather hope
now dawning upon us, gave me an impulse I had not felt before. I in
my turn became the consoler. I encouraged Mrs Reichardt, with all the
arguments of which I was master, to think that we should soon be in
safety. She smiled, and something like animation again appeared in
her pale features.

If I could save her, I felt I should be blessed beyond measure. Such
an object was worth striving for; and I did strive. I know not how it
was that I gained strength to do what I did on that day; but I felt
that I was supported from On High, and as the speck of land that she
had first discovered gradually enlarged itself as we approached it,
my exertions to secure a speedy rescue for my companion from the jaws
of death, continued to increase.

The breeze remained fair and we scudded along at a spanking rate,
the gannets keeping us company all the way--evidently bound to the
same shore. I kept talking to Mrs Reichardt, and endeavouring to
raise her spirits with the most cheering description of what we
should do when we got ashore, for God would be sure to direct us to
some place where we might without difficulty recover our strength.

Hitherto she had not spoken, but as soon as we began to distinguish
the features of the shore we were approaching she unclosed her lips,
and again the same triumphant smile played around them.

"Frank Henniker, do you know that rock?"

"No!--yes!--can it be possible? O what a gracious Providence has
been watching over us!"

It was a rock of a remarkable shape that stood a short distance from
the fishing-pool. It could not be otherwise, the gannets had led us
to their old haunts. We were approaching our island. I looked at my
companion--she was praying. I immediately joined with her in thanks
-giving for the signal mercy that had been vouchsafed to us, and in
little more than an hour had the priceless satisfaction of carrying
her from the shore to the cottage, and then we carefully nursed
ourselves till we recovered the effects of this dreadful cruise.

Chapter XLVIII

My numerous pursuits, as I stated in a preceding chapter obliging me
to constant occupation, kept me from useless repining about my
destiny, in being obliged to live so many years on this far-distant
corner of the earth, I had long ceased to look for passing ships--I
scarcely ever thought about them, and had given up all speculations
about my grandfather's reception of me. I rarely went out to sea,
except to fish, and never cared to trouble myself about anything
beyond the limited space which had become my inheritance.

The reader, then, may judge of my surprise when, one sultry day, I
had been busily engaged for several hours cutting down a field of
wheat, Mrs Reichardt came running to me with the astounding news that
there was a ship off the island, and a boat full of people had just
left her, and were rowing towards the rocks. I hastily took the glass
she had brought with her, and as soon as I could get to a convenient
position, threw myself on the ground on the rock, and reconnoitred
through the glass the appearance of the new comers.

I soon noticed that a part were well armed, which was not the case
with the rest, for they were pinioned in such a manner that they
could scarcely move hand or foot. We concealed ourselves by lying our
lengths on the grass. As the boat approached, I could discern that
the unarmed party belonged to a superior class of men, while many of
the others had countenances that did not prepossess me at all in
their favour.

We lay hid in the long grass, from which we could command a view of
our approaching visitors.

"I think I understand this," whispered Mrs Reichardt. "There is
mischief here."

"Had I not better run home and get arms?" I asked.

"No," she replied, "you had better not. If we are able to do any
good, we must do it by stratagem. Let us watch their movements, and
act with great caution."

My companion's advice was, I saw, the wisest that could be pursued;
and therefore we remained in our hiding places, narrowly observing
our visitors as they approached. They entered the fishing-pool, and I
could then distinctly not only see but hear them. To my extreme
surprise, one of the first men who jumped out of the boat was John
Gough, who had brought Mrs Reichardt to the island. He looked older,
but I recognised him in a moment, and so did my companion. Her
admonitory "Hush!" kept me from betraying the place of our
concealment--so great was my astonishment--having long believed him
and all his lawless associates to have been lost at sea.

He was well armed, and evidently possessed some authority;
nevertheless, I thought I could detect an air of concern in his
features, as he offered to help one of the captives out of the boat.
The latter, however, regarded him with an air of disdain, and, though
his hands were tied behind him, leaped ashore without assistance. He
was a man of commanding stature, with a well bronzed face, and a look
of great energy of character. He wore a band of gold lace round his
cap, and had on duck trousers, and a blue jacket and waistcoat.

"Come, captain!" exclaimed John Gough, "I bear you no malice. Though
you have been rather hard upon us, we won't leave you to starve."

"He's a deuced deal better off than he desarves to be," cried a man
from the boat, whom I at once recognised as the fellow on whom I had
drawn my knife for hurting Nero. "If we had made him walk the plank,
as I proposed, I'm blowed if it wouldn't have been much more to the
purpose than putting him on this here island, with lots o' prog, and
everything calkilated to make him and his domineering officers
comfortable for the rest of their days."

"Hold your tongue, you mutineering rascal," exclaimed the captain
angrily. "A rope's end at the yard-arm will be your deserts before
long."

"Thank ye kindly, captain," replied the fellow, touching his hat in
mockery. "But you must be pleased to remember I ain't caught yet; and
we means to have many a jolly cruise in your ship, and get no end o'
treasure, before I shall think o' my latter end; and then I means to
die like a Christian, and repent o' my sins, and make a much more
edifying example than I should exhibit dangling at the end of a rope."

The men laughed, the captain muttered something about "pirates and
mutineers," but the rest of the officers wisely held their tongues.

I now noticed an elderly man of very respectable appearance, who was
not pinioned like the rest. His hair was quite white, his complexion
very pale, and he looked like one oppressed with deep sorrow and
anxiety. He rose from his seat in the boat, and was assisted out by
John Gough.

"I'm very sorry that we are obliged to leave you here, Mr Evelyn,"
said Gough, "but you see, sir, we have no alternative. We couldn't
keep you with us, for many reasons; and therefore we have been
obliged to make you a sharer in the fate of our officers."

"And werry painful this is to our feelings, sir, you may believe,"
said another of the mutineers mockingly. "I'm quite moloncholy as I
thinks on it."

The men again laughed; but the person so addressed walked to the
side of the captain without making any observation. The other
captives also left the boat in silence. They were eight in all, but
four of them were evidently common seamen by their dress--the others
were officers. All were well-made, strong men.

"What a precious pretty colony you'll make, my hearties!" exclaimed
one of the mutineers, jeeringly, as he helped to land a cask, and
some other packages, that they had brought with them. "It's a
thousand pities you ain't got no female associates, that you might
marry, and settle, and bring up respectable families."

"Talking of women," cried the one who had first spoken, "I wonder
what became of the one we left here so cleverly when we was wrecked
at this here place six years ago."

John Gough looked uneasy at this inquiry, as if the recollection was
not agreeable to him.

"And the Little Savage," continued the fellow, "what was agoing to
send his knife into my ribs for summat or other--I forget what. They
must have died long ago, I ain't no doubt, as we unfortnitely left
'em nothin' to live upon."

"No doubt they died hand in hand, like the Babes in the Wood," said
another.

I still observed John Gough; he seemed distressed at the turn the
conversation had taken.

"Now, mates," he said hurriedly, "let us return to the ship. We have
done what we came to do."

"I votes as we shall go and see arter the Missionary's woman and the
Little Savage," cried the fourth. "I should like, somehow, to see
whether they be living or not, and a stroll ashore won't do any on us
any harm."

"I shall remain here till you return," said John Gough; and he threw
himself on the grass with his back towards me, and only a few yards
from the place in which we were concealed. The rest, after making
fast the boat, started off on an exploring expedition, in the
direction of the old hut.

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