The Boats of the Glen Carrig (17 page)

Now at this, as I have made mention, we were astonished, for it appeared
like a miracle to us to see so cumbrous a thing fly with so much grace
and persistence, and further, we were mightily surprised at the manner in
which it pulled upon the rope, tugging with such heartiness that we were
like to have loosed it in our first astonishment, had it not been for the
warning which Jessop called to us.

And now, being well assured of the properness of the kite, the bo'sun
bade us to draw it in, the which we did only with difficulty, because of
its bigness and the strength of the breeze. And when we had it back again
upon the hilltop, Jessop moored it very securely to a great piece of
rock, and, after that, having received our approbation, he turned-to with
us upon the making of the sennit.

Presently, the evening drawing near, the bo'sun set us to the building of
fires about the hill-top, and after that, having waved our goodnights to
the people in the hulk, we made our suppers, and lay down to smoke, after
which, we turned-to again at our plaiting of the sennit, the which we
were in very great haste to have done. And so, later, the dark having
come down upon the island, the bo'sun bade us take burning weed from the
center fire, and set light to the heaps of weed that we had stacked
round the edges of the hill for that purpose, and so in a few minutes the
whole of the hill-top was very light and cheerful, and afterwards, having
put two of the men to keep watch and attend to the fires, he sent the
rest of us back to our sennit making, keeping us at it until maybe about
ten of the clock, after which he arranged that two men at a time should
be on watch throughout the night, and then he bade the rest of us
turn-in, so soon as he had looked to our various hurts.

Now, when it came to my turn to watch, I discovered that I had been
chosen to accompany the big seaman, at which I was by no means
displeased; for he was a most excellent fellow, and moreover a very lusty
man to have near, should anything come upon one unawares. Yet, we were
happy in that the night passed off without trouble of any sort, and so at
last came the morning.

So soon as we had made our breakfast, the bo'sun took us all down to the
carrying of fuel; for he saw very clearly that upon a good supply of this
depended our immunity from attack. And so for the half of the morning we
worked at the gathering of weed and reeds for our fires. Then, when we
had obtained a sufficiency for the coming night, he set us all to work
again upon the sennit, and so until dinner, after which we turned-to once
more upon our plaiting. Yet it was plain that it would take several days
to make a sufficient line for our purpose, and because of this, the
bo'sun cast about in his mind for some way in which he could quicken its
production. Presently, as a result of some little thought, he brought out
from the tent the long piece of hemp rope with which we had moored the
boat to the sea anchor, and proceeded to unlay it, until he had all three
strands separate. Then he bent the three together, and so had a very
rough line of maybe some hundred and eighty fathoms in length, yet,
though so rough, he judged it strong enough, and thus we had this much
the less sennit to make.

Now, presently, we made our dinner, and after that for the rest of the
day we kept very steadily to our plaiting, and so, with the previous
day's work, had near two hundred fathoms completed by the time that the
bo'sun called us to cease and come to supper. Thus it will be seen that
counting all, including the piece of hemp line from which the bridle had
been made, we may be said to have had at this time about four hundred
fathoms towards the length which we needed for our purpose, this having
been reckoned at five hundred fathoms.

After supper, having lit all the fires, we continued to work at the
plaiting, and so, until the bo'sun set the watches, after which we
settled down for the night, first, however, letting the bo'sun see to
our hurts. Now this night, like to the previous, brought us no trouble;
and when the day came, we had first our breakfast, and then set-to upon
our collecting of fuel, after which we spent the rest of the day at the
sennit, having manufactured a sufficiency by the evening, the which the
bo'sun celebrated by a very rousing tot of the rum. Then, having made
our supper, we lit the fires, and had a very comfortable evening, after
which, as on the preceding nights, having let the bo'sun attend our
wounds, we settled for the night, and on this occasion the bo'sun let
the man who had lost his fingers, and the one who had been bitten so
badly in the arm, take their first turn at the watching since the night
of the attack.

Now when the morning came we were all of us very eager to come to the
flying of the kite; for it seemed possible to us that we might effect
the rescue of the people in the hulk before the evening. And, at the
thought of this, we experienced a very pleasurable sense of excitement;
yet, before the bo'sun would let us touch the kite, he insisted that we
should gather our usual supply of fuel, the which order, though full of
wisdom, irked us exceedingly, because of our eagerness to set about the
rescue. But at last this was accomplished, and we made to get the line
ready, testing the knots, and seeing that it was all clear for running.
Yet, before setting the kite off, the bo'sun took us down to the further
beach to bring up the foot of the royal and t'gallant mast, which
remained fast to the topmast, and when we had this upon the hill-top, he
set its ends upon two rocks, after which he piled a heap of great pieces
around them, leaving the middle part clear. Round this he passed the
kite line a couple or three times, and then gave the end to Jessop to
bend on to the bridle of the kite, and so he had all ready for paying
out to the wreck.

And now, having nothing to do, we gathered round to watch, and,
immediately, the bo'sun giving the signal, Jessop cast the kite into
the air, and, the wind catching it, lifted it strongly and well, so
that the bo'sun could scarce pay out fast enough. Now, before the kite
had been let go, Jessop had bent to the forward end of it a great
length of the spun yarn, so that those in the wreck could catch it as
it trailed over them, and, being eager to witness whether they would
secure it without trouble, we ran all of us to the edge of the hill to
watch. Thus, within five minutes from the time of the loosing of the
kite, we saw the people in the ship wave to us to cease veering, and
immediately afterwards the kite came swiftly downwards, by which we
knew that they had the tripping-line, and were hauling upon it, and at
that we gave out a great cheer, and afterwards we sat about and smoked,
waiting until they had read our instructions, which we had written upon
the covering of the kite.

Presently, maybe the half of an hour afterwards, they signaled to us to
haul upon our line, which we proceeded to do without delay, and so,
after a great space, we had hauled in all of our rough line, and come
upon the end of theirs, which proved to be a fine piece of three-inch
hemp, new and very good; yet we could not conceive that this would stand
the stress necessary to lift so great a length clear of the weed, as
would be needful, or ever we could hope to bring the people of the ship
over it in safety. And so we waited some little while, and, presently,
they signaled again to us to haul, which we did, and found that they had
bent on a much greater rope to the bight of the three-inch hemp, having
merely intended the latter for a hauling-line by which to get the heavier
rope across the weed to the island. Thus, after a weariful time of
pulling, we got the end of the bigger rope up to the hill-top, and
discovered it to be an extraordinarily sound rope of some four inches
diameter, and smoothly laid of fine yarns round and very true and well
spun, and with this we had every reason to be satisfied.

Now to the end of the big rope they had tied a letter, in a bag of
oilskin, and in it they said some very warm and grateful things to us,
after which they set out a short code of signals by which we should be
able to understand one another on certain general matters, and at the end
they asked if they should send us any provision ashore; for, as they
explained, it would take some little while to get the rope set taut
enough for our purpose, and the carrier fixed and in working order. Now,
upon reading this letter, we called out to the bo'sun that he should ask
them if they would send us some soft bread; the which he added thereto a
request for lint and bandages and ointment for our hurts. And this he
bade me write upon one of the great leaves from off the reeds, and at the
end he told me to ask if they desired us to send them any fresh water.
And all of this, I wrote with a sharpened splinter of reed, cutting the
words into the surface of the leaf. Then, when I had made an end of
writing, I gave the leaf to the bo'sun, and he enclosed it in the oilskin
bag, after which he gave the signal for those in the hulk to haul on the
smaller line, and this they did.

Presently, they signed to us to pull in again, the which we did, and so,
when we had hauled in a great length of their line, we came to the little
oilskin bag, in which we found lint and bandages and ointment, and a
further letter, which set out that they were baking bread, and would send
us some so soon as it was out from the oven.

Now, in addition to the matters for the healing of our wounds, and the
letter, they had included a bundle of paper in loose sheets, some quills
and an inkhorn, and at the end of their epistle, they begged very
earnestly of us to send them some news of the outer world; for they had
been shut up in that strange continent of weed for something over seven
years. They told us then that there were twelve of them in the hulk,
three of them being women, one of whom had been the captain's wife; but
he had died soon after the vessel became entangled in the weed, and along
with him more than half of the ship's company, having been attacked by
giant devil-fish, as they were attempting to free the vessel from the
weed, and afterwards they who were left had built the superstructure as a
protection against the devil-fish, and the
devil-men
, as they termed
them; for, until it had been built, there had been no safety about the
decks, neither day nor night.

To our question as to whether they were in need of water, the people in
the ship replied that they had a sufficiency, and, further, that they
were very well supplied with provisions; for the ship had sailed from
London with a general cargo, among which there was a vast quantity of
food in various shapes and forms. At this news we were greatly pleased,
seeing that we need have no more anxiety regarding a lack of victuals,
and so in the letter which I went into the tent to write, I put down
that we were in no great plentitude of provisions, at which hint I
guessed they would add somewhat to the bread when it should be ready. And
after that I wrote down such chief events as my memory recalled as having
occurred in the course of the past seven years, and then, a short account
of our own adventures, up to that time, telling them of the attack which
we had suffered from the weed men, and asking such questions as my
curiosity and wonder prompted.

Now whilst I had been writing, sitting in the mouth of the tent, I had
observed, from time to time, how that the bo'sun was busied with the men
in passing the end of the big rope round a mighty boulder, which lay
about ten fathoms in from the edge of the cliff which overlooked the
hulk. This he did, parceling the rope where the rock was in any way
sharp, so as to protect it from being cut; for which purpose he made use
of some of the canvas. And by the time that I had the letter completed,
the rope was made very secure to the great piece of rock, and, further,
they had put a large piece of chafing gear under that part of the rope
where it took the edge of the cliff.

Now having, as I have said, completed the letter, I went out with it to
the bo'sun; but, before placing it in the oilskin bag he bade me add a
note at the bottom, to say that the big rope was all fast, and that they
could heave on it so soon as it pleased them, and after that we
dispatched the letter by means of the small line, the men in the hulk
hauling it off to them so soon as they perceived our signals.

By this, it had come well on to the latter part of the afternoon, and the
bo'sun called us to make some sort of a meal, leaving one man to watch
the hulk, perchance they should signal to us. For we had missed our
dinner in the excitement of the day's work, and were come now to feel the
lack of it. Then, in the midst of it, the man upon the lookout cried out
that they were signaling to us from the ship, and, at that, we ran all of
us to see what they desired, and so, by the code which we had arranged
between us, we found that they waited for us to haul upon the small line.
This did we, and made out presently that we were hauling something across
the weed, of a very fair bulk, at which we warmed to our work, guessing
that it was the bread which they had promised us, and so it proved, and
done up with great neatness in a long roll of tarpaulin, which had been
wrapped around both the loaves and the rope, and lashed very securely at
the ends, thus producing a taper shape convenient for passing over the
weed without catching. Now, when we came to open this parcel, we
discovered that my hint had taken very sound effect; for there were in
the parcel, besides the loaves, a boiled ham, a Dutch cheese, two bottles
of port well padded from breakage, and four pounds of tobacco in plugs.
And at this coming of good things, we stood all of us upon the edge of
the hill, and waved our thanks to those in the ship, they waving back in
all good will, and after that we went back to our meal, at which we
sampled the new victuals with very lusty appetites.