Jules Verne (17 page)

A few trees crowned a succession of low cliffs, which were then clearly
defined under the sky. But it was evident, the geographical character
of the country being given, that the high mountain chain of the Andes
formed their background.

Moreover, no habitation in sight, no port, no river mouth, which might
serve as a harbor for a vessel.

At that moment the "Pilgrim" was running right on the land. With the
reduced sail which she carried, the winds driving her to the coast,
Dick Sand would not be able to set off from it.

In front lay a long band of reefs, on which the sea was foaming all
white. They saw the waves unfurl half way up the cliffs. There must be
a monstrous surf there.

Dick Sand, after remaining on the forecastle to observe the coast,
returned aft, and, without saying a word, he took the helm.

The wind was freshening all the time. The schooner was soon only a mile
from the shore.

Dick Sand then perceived a sort of little cove, into which he resolved
to steer; but, before reaching it, he must cross a line of reefs, among
which it would be difficult to follow a channel. The surf indicated
that the water was shallow everywhere.

At that moment Dingo, who was going backwards and forwards on the deck,
dashed forward, and, looking at the land, gave some lamentable barks.
One would say that the dog recognized the coast, and that its instinct
recalled some sad remembrance.

Negoro must have heard it, for an irresistible sentiment led him out of
his cabin; and although he had reason to fear the dog, he came almost
immediately to lean on the netting.

Very fortunately for him Dingo, whose sad barks were all the time being
addressed to that land, did not perceive him.

Negoro looked at that furious surf, and that did not appear to frighten
him. Mrs. Weldon, who was looking at him, thought she saw his face
redden a little, and that for an instant his features were contracted.

Then, did Negoro know this point of the continent where the winds were
driving the "Pilgrim?"

At that moment Dick Sand left the wheel, which he gave back to old Tom.
For a last time he came to look at the cove, which gradually opened.
Then:

"Mrs. Weldon," said he, in a firm voice, "I have no longer any hope of
finding a harbor! Before half an hour, in spite of all my efforts, the
'Pilgrim' will be on the reefs! We must run aground! I shall not bring
the ship into port! I am forced to lose her to save you! But, between
your safety and hers, I do not hesitate!"

"You have done all that depended on you, Dick?" asked Mrs. Weldon.

"All," replied the young novice.

And at once he made his preparations for stranding the ship.

First of all, Mrs. Weldon, Jack, Cousin Benedict and Nan, must put on
life-preservers. Dick Sand, Tom and the blacks, good swimmers, also
took measures to gain the coast, in case they should be precipitated
into the sea.

Hercules would take charge of Mrs. Weldon. The novice took little Jack
under his care.

Cousin Benedict, very tranquil, however, reappeared on the deck with
his entomologist box strapped to his shoulder. The novice commended him
to Bat and Austin. As to Negoro, his singular calmness said plainly
enough that he had no need of anybody's aid.

Dick Sand, by a supreme precaution, had also brought on the forecastle
ten barrels of the cargo containing whale's oil.

That oil, properly poured the moment the "Pilgrim" would be in the
surf, ought to calm the sea for an instant, in lubricating, so to say,
the molecules of water, and that operation would perhaps facilitate the
ship's passage between the reefs. Dick Sand did not wish to neglect
anything which might secure the common safety.

All these precautions taken, the novice returned to take his place at
the wheel.

The "Pilgrim" was only two cables' lengths from the coast, that is,
almost touching the reefs, her starboard side already bathed in the
white foam of the surf. Each moment the novice thought that the
vessel's keel was going to strike some rocky bottom.

Suddenly, Dick Sand knew, by a change in the color of the water, that a
channel lengthened out among the reefs. He must enter it bravely
without hesitating, so as to make the coast as near as possible to the
shore.

The novice did not hesitate. A movement of the helm thrust the ship
into the narrow and sinuous channel. In this place the sea was still
more furious, and the waves dashed on the deck.

The blacks were posted forward, near the barrels, waiting for the
novice's orders.

"Pour the oil—pour!" exclaimed Dick Sand.

Under this oil, which was poured on it in quantities, the sea grew
calm, as by enchantment, only to become more terrible again a moment
after.

The "Pilgrim" glided rapidly over those lubricated waters and headed
straight for the shore.

Suddenly a shock took place. The ship, lifted by a formidable wave, had
just stranded, and her masting had fallen without wounding anybody.

The "Pilgrim's" hull, damaged by the collision, was invaded by the
water with extreme violence. But the shore was only half a cable's
length off, and a chain of small blackish rocks enabled it to be
reached quite easily.

So, ten minutes after, all those carried by the "Pilgrim" had landed at
the foot of the cliff.

So then, after a voyage long delayed by calms, then favored by winds
from the northwest and from the southwest—a voyage which had not
lasted less than seventy-four days—the "Pilgrim" had just run aground!

However, Mrs. Weldon. and her companions thanked Providence, because
they were in safety. In fact, it was on a continent, and not on one of
the fatal isles of Polynesia, that the tempest had thrown them. Their
return to their country, from any point of South America on which they
should land, ought not, it seemed, to present serious difficulties.

As to the "Pilgrim," she was lost. She was only a carcass without
value, of which the surf was going to disperse the
débris
in a few
hours. It would be impossible to save anything. But if Dick Sand had
not that joy of bringing back a vessel intact to his ship-owner, at
least, thanks to him, those who sailed in her were safe and sound on
some hospitable coast, and among them, the wife and child of James W.
Weldon.

As to the question of knowing on what part of the American coast the
schooner had been wrecked, they might dispute it for a long time. Was
it, as Dick Sand must suppose, on the shore of Peru? Perhaps, for he
knew, even by the bearings of the Isle of Paques, that the "Pilgrim"
had been thrown to the northeast under the action of the winds; and
also, without doubt, under the influence of the currents of the
equatorial zone. From the forty-third degree of latitude, it had,
indeed, been possible to drift to the fifteenth.

It was then important to determine, as soon as possible, the precise
point of the coast where the schooner had just been lost. Granted that
this coast was that of Peru, ports, towns and villages were not
lacking, and consequently it would be easy to gain some inhabited
place. As to this part of the coast, it seemed deserted.

It was a narrow beach, strewed with black rocks, shut off by a cliff of
medium height, very irregularly cut up by large funnels due to the
rupture of the rock. Here and there a few gentle declivities gave
access to its crest.

In the north, at a quarter of a mile from the stranding place, was the
mouth of a little river, which could not have been perceived from the
offing. On its banks hung numerous
rhizomas
, sorts of mangroves,
essentially distinct from their congeners of India.

The crest of the cliff—that was soon discovered—was overhung by a
thick forest, whose verdant masses undulated before the eyes, and
extended as far as the mountains in the background. There, if Cousin
Benedict had been a botanist, how many trees, new to him, would not
have failed to provoke his admiration.

There were high baobabs—to which, however, an extraordinary longevity
has been falsely attributed—the bark of which resembles Egyptian
syenite, Bourbon palms, white pines, tamarind-trees, pepper-plants of a
peculiar species, and a hundred other plants that an American is not
accustomed to see in the northern region of the New Continent.

But, a circumstance rather curious, among those forest productions one
would not meet a single specimen of that numerous family of palm-trees
which counts more than a thousand species, spread in profusion over
almost the whole surface of the globe.

Above the sea-shore a great number of very noisy birds were flying,
which belonged for the greater part to different varieties of swallows,
of black plumage, with a steel-blue shade, but of a light chestnut
color on the upper part of the head. Here and there also rose some
partridges, with necks entirely white, and of a gray color.

Mrs. Weldon and Dick Sand observed that these different birds did not
appear to be at all wild. They approached without fearing anything.
Then, had they not yet learned to fear the presence of man, and was
this coast so deserted that the detonation of a firearm had never been
heard there?

At the edge of the rocks were walking some pelicans of the species of
"pelican minor," occupied in filling with little fish the sack which
they carry between the branches of their lower jaw. Some gulls, coming
from the offing, commenced to fly about around the "Pilgrim."

Those birds were the only living creatures that seemed to frequent this
part of the coast, without counting, indeed, numbers of interesting
insects that Cousin Benedict would well know how to discover. But,
however little Jack would have it, one could not ask them the name of
the country; in order to learn it, it would be necessary to address
some native. There were none there, or at least, there was not one to
be seen. No habitation, hut, or cabin, neither in the north, beyond the
little river, nor in the south, nor finally on the upper part of the
cliff, in the midst of the trees of the thick forest. No smoke ascended
into the air, no indication, mark, or imprint indicated that this
portion of the continent was visited by human beings. Dick Sand
continued to be very much surprised.

"Where are we? Where can we be?" he asked himself. "What! nobody to
speak to?"

Nobody, in truth, and surely, if any native had approached, Dingo would
have scented him, and announced him by a bark. The dog went backward
and forward on the strand, his nose to the ground, his tail down,
growling secretly—certainly very singular behavior—but neither
betraying the approach of man nor of any animal whatsoever.

"Dick, look at Dingo!" said Mrs. Weldon.

"Yes, that is very strange," replied the novice. "It seems as if he
were trying to recover a scent."

"Very strange, indeed," murmured Mrs. Weldon; then, continuing, "what
is Negoro doing?" she asked.

"He is doing what Dingo is doing," replied Dick Sand. "He goes, he
comes! After all, he is free here. I have no longer the right to
control him. His service ended with the stranding of the Pilgrim.'"

In fact, Negoro surveyed the strand, turned back, and looked at the
shore and the cliff like a man trying to recall recollections and to
fix them. Did he, then, know this country? He would probably have
refused to reply to that question if it had been asked. The best thing
was still to have nothing to do with that very unsociable personage.
Dick Sand soon saw him walk from the side of the little river, and when
Negoro had disappeared on the other side of the cliff, he ceased to
think of him.

Dingo had indeed barked when the cook had arrived on the steep bank,
but became silent almost immediately.

It was necessary, now, to consider the most pressing wants. Now, the
most pressing was to find a refuge, a shelter of some kind, where they
could install themselves for the time, and partake of some nourishment.
Then they would take counsel, and they would decide what it would be
convenient to do.

As to food, they had not to trouble themselves. Without speaking of the
resources which the country must offer, the ship's store-room had
emptied itself for the benefit of the survivors of the shipwreck. The
surf had thrown here and there among the rocks, then uncovered by the
ebb-tide, a great quantity of objects. Tom and his companions had
already picked up some barrels of biscuit, boxes of alimentary
preserves, cases of dried meat. The water not having yet damaged them,
food for the little troop was secured for more time, doubtless, than
they would require to reach a town or a village. In that respect there
was nothing to fear. These different waifs, already put in a safe
place, could no longer be taken back by a rising sea.

Neither was sweet water lacking. First of all Dick Sand had taken care
to send Hercules to the little river for a few pints. But it was a cask
which the vigorous negro brought back on his shoulder, after having
filled it with water fresh and pure, which the ebb of the tide left
perfectly drinkable.

As to a fire, if it were necessary to light one, dead wood was not
lacking in the neighborhood, and the roots of the old mangroves ought
to furnish all the fuel of which they would have need. Old Tom, an
ardent smoker, was provided with a certain quantity of German tinder,
well preserved in a box hermetically closed, and when they wanted it,
he would only have to strike the tinder-box with the flint of the
strand.

It remained, then, to discover the hole in which the little troop would
lie down, in case they must take one night's rest before setting out.

And, indeed, it was little Jack who found the bedroom in question,
While trotting about at the foot of the cliff, he discovered, behind a
turn of the rock, one of those grottoes well polished, well hollowed
out, which the sea herself digs, when the waves, enlarged by the
tempest, beat the coast.