The Royal Handmaid (16 page)

“It would be a long walk.”

“We might want to move the camp here. Fresh water is essential.”

****

After three hours of hard walking, Rena found herself panting for breath.

“We’ll take a rest here,” Travis told her. “And look, there’s some kind of berries over there. I hope they’re not poisonous.”

Rena was alarmed. “You’re not going to eat them, are you, without knowing?”

“I’ll tell you what,” Travis said and went to the bush to pull off some dark purple berries. “You eat one, and if you don’t die, I’ll know they’re safe.”

Rena glared at him indignantly and then saw his eyes were dancing with good humor. “I don’t see how you can be so cheerful.”

“Why not? We’re alive, and we’ve just found lunch, I think.” Travis put one of the berries in his mouth and chewed it thoughtfully. “Good,” he said. “Real sweet. I was afraid they might be bitter. Here, have some.”

Rena watched as Travis moved around the clump of bushes, pulling off berries, and she finally joined him. She found they tasted stronger than blackberries with a tangy essence. “These are good!”

“We’ll have to remember this spot too. I wonder if you could dry these things and eat ’em like raisins.”

The two ate their fill of berries, then found themselves
thirsty again. “We’ll watch for another spring or maybe even a stream.”

Rena sat down and rested against a huge tree trunk. She ran her eyes around the surroundings and said, “This looks like a picture from
National Geographic.
”

“It does at that,” Travis agreed. He sat down across from her at another tree, laying the rifle down and stretching his legs out. He rolled his head around as if easing his neck muscles. “We could have had things a lot worse. Shep says some of these islands are nothing but coral. We’d have had no chance of survival on one of those.”

“I think we’ll be off of here soon enough,” she said.

“I hope so.”

“You don’t sound very optimistic, Travis.”

“I just don’t know, Rena. We’re way off the shipping lanes, but a ship might come by tomorrow. That’s another thing. We’ve got to build up a huge supply of wood for signal fires. Three of them so that a ship will recognize it’s not natural and that somebody is signaling.” He rolled his head around again. “Why don’t you take a little nap? I’d like to go farther if you can make it. But you need to rest first.”

“I’m fine.” Rena surveyed the rising terrain before them. The trees here were not as tall as those along the shore, and she noticed they had straight trunks. “Travis, would it be possible to build a raft with these?”

“Float ourselves back to civilization?” Travis shrugged. “I couldn’t do it. But the captain and the sailors might know how to do it. It would be hard. You’d have to carry lots of water, and we don’t have anything to carry it in.”

“Robinson Crusoe made himself a boat, didn’t he? How’d he carry water?”

“He grew gourds, I think, then dried them out to make containers.”

“Well, it’d be nice to have some gourd seed. I doubt if there’s anything like that on this island.”

The sun had climbed high in the sky by now, and for the
first time since the wreck, Rena found herself growing warm. This did not make her any more comfortable, however, for she ached in places she had never ached before, and her arms, legs, and face stung from the numerous scratches she’d acquired on their hike through the dense foliage. Their clothes were stiff and crusty with salt, and for a moment she wondered how they would wash out the salt without moving closer to a source of fresh water. She leaned back against the tree and closed her eyes, trying not to think of their plight, but that was impossible. Finally she opened her eyes and saw that Travis was still leaning on his tree, resting.

“We could build a ship, though, couldn’t we?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Travis murmured, not opening his eyes. “We might stay here the rest of our lives.”

“You give up too easily. Come on. Let’s go.”

Travis grinned as he got to his feet. He picked up his rifle, and they started west toward the high mountains ahead of them. They hiked steadily for almost an hour without speaking, and suddenly Travis threw his arm up. Rena whispered, “What is it?”

“Look over there.”

Rena followed the direction of his gesture. At first she saw nothing, and then something moved. She strained to see what it was. “It’s a goat,” she whispered.

“That’s right. A wild goat.”

“Could you shoot it from here?”

“I doubt it.”

“Maybe you can sneak up on it.”

“It’d be too far to carry it back to camp. But it’s good news. It proves there’s water here. See, there are more. There’s a whole bunch of them.”

The two stood and watched, and Rena felt better. If there were animals, there was food.

“We’d better keep moving,” Travis said, “but those goats make me feel better. You know, we could capture a male and a female and raise our own herd.”

“That’s what Robinson Crusoe did. He had milk and cheese too.”

“Say, that’s right.”

After watching the goats for a few minutes, Travis decided they’d better get back to the others.

“You don’t have to turn back on my account,” Rena said.

“I’m already hungry, and we’ll be plenty more hungry by the time we get back. That turtle soup sounds better all the time.”

“All right. I’m getting thirsty again too.”

The two turned and hiked back in the same general direction they had come. Rena was troubled that they had seen no sign whatsoever of human life. No smoke from a village, no well-traveled paths, no other sign.

As if reading her mind, Travis said, “There could still be people here.”

“We don’t know how big this island is, Travis. It might be twenty miles or more to the other side. If there are people over there, it could take us a while to find them.”

“We’ll never know unless we try.”

The two scrambled back down the hill, and when the trees began to grow thicker, he said, “Look. There’s that big tree where the spring is.”

“I could use a drink of that water.”

“It’s odd how little things become so important in a situation like this,” Travis remarked as they moved quickly toward the big tree.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean like fresh water. We always took it for granted at home, and now I’m looking forward to a cool drink like my life depends on it and thanking God that there’s a spring here! Maybe many of them. We’ve got a lot to be thankful for, haven’t we?”

“Yes,” Rena said reluctantly, “but I’d be more thankful to see a ship anchored off shore when we get back.”

“I doubt that will happen, Rena, but it would be a good thing to pray for.”

Rena sighed disconsolately and shook her head. It was true she had been glad to find fresh water and goats, which meant a prolonged existence on the island would be possible. But how long could she endure that kind of existence? Who would want to live like Robinson Crusoe for the rest of their lives? She said nothing as the two hurried now, both anxious to reach the spring for a refreshing drink.

****

Maggie was sitting on the beach looking out at the wreck of the
Mary Anne.
It swayed slightly each time the waves broke against it, but it had not completely broken apart. She wondered if the men could go back and get more things. She had slept poorly all night and felt dirty and gritty. Hearing a voice, she turned and saw that Shep was coming along the beach carrying something slung over his back. Getting to her feet, she felt a moment’s gladness. Shep always made her feel better. “What have you got, Shep?”

“Coconuts. How ’bout some nice fresh coconut milk?”

“Oooh, that sounds good!” Maggie watched as Shep undid the rope net. “Where’d you get the net?”

Looking at her with surprise, Shep grinned, “I made it, of course.”

“All those little knots? I couldn’t do that.”

“You’re not a sailor like I am. Sailors do know how to tie knots. Here, I’ll get you a drink.” He pulled a huge knife from his back pocket and used it to hack away at the coconut until he had worn away a jagged hole. “Try this.”

Maggie raised the coconut and took several swallows of the liquid on the inside. “My, that’s good!”

“Well, we won’t starve, anyway. We may just have to live on coconut pie and coconut soup for the rest of our lives.”

“Did you find any sign of life that way along the beach?”

Shep was hacking away at another coconut. “Not a thing,”
he said. “Captain didn’t say it, but I don’t think he expects to find anything. Not people anyway.”

Shep’s word disappointed Maggie. She lifted the coconut again and drained the last of the fluid. “I’m frightened, Shep.”

Surprise flared in the sailor’s eyes. “Well, there’s nothin’ to be afraid of. I don’t think there’s any wild animals here, and we’re not gonna starve.”

“But to think of staying here forever . . .”

“Well, maybe a ship will come along sooner or later.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Sure. Why not?” He took a drink of coconut milk himself. “What have you been doing all morning?”

“Nothing really.”

“I’ve got a job you can help me with.”

“What can I do?”

“I don’t really like sleeping on the ground. Too many land crabs.”

Maggie shivered. “They give me the creeps,” she said. “But what can we do about it?”

“We can make cots to get ourselves off the ground. We get one of the axes and go out and cut some saplings. We’ve got enough heavy cord and rope to make a framework, and then we’ll take a canvas and sew it together and stuff it with leaves or moss or whatever we can find for a mattress.”

“Oh, that sounds wonderful! I’ll help, but you’ll have to show me how.”

“No problem.”

Maggie felt better as Shep walked beside her, the load of coconuts slung over his shoulder. She looked down and a troubling thought came to her. “I wish I weren’t—”

Maggie broke off suddenly, and Shep looked at her. “You wish you weren’t what?”

“I wish I weren’t so fat.”

He laughed. “You don’t have to worry about that now. You won’t be fat for long!”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean this kind of living will wear us all down. In a few weeks you’ll be wishing you had some of those pounds back again.”

“Never! I’ve always hated being fat, yet I never manage to stop eating so much.”

“Well, just trust Dr. Shep Riggs on this one. I guarantee you in two weeks you’ll have to take that dress in because you’ll be lost in it.”

Maggie laughed too. “I’ve tried all my life to lose weight and never could. If I could just be like other women, I wouldn’t care if I
was
on a desert island.”

Shep hoisted the coconuts off his back and put the bundle by the other supplies. He turned to face Maggie. “Why, you’re a fine-looking lady, and like I say, before long you won’t have to worry about extra pounds. You’ll be able to eat all you want.”

“All the coconuts anyway. Shep, you make me feel better.”

Shep was embarrassed. He had been intimidated by this group of highly educated missionaries, but he saw now that this woman was just a person after all. She was frightened, just like most of the others were. Shep was a simple enough man that he thought mostly of survival for one day at a time. He had lived that way his whole life, and now it gave him pleasure to realize that he would be able to help this woman who was so much above him in other ways. “C’mon. We’ll make
your
cot first. You’ll sleep like a baby tonight.”

****

As Rena and Travis arrived back at camp, Dalton met them, his mouth drawn tight in an expression she had learned to recognize. “Where have you been, Rena?”

“Travis and I wanted to see what was inland.”

“You shouldn’t have gone,” Dalton said angrily. “It’s dangerous.”

Travis was watching Dalton carefully. “Nothing more dangerous than getting tired, but we did find a spring of fresh water and some wild goats. So that’s good news.”

Dalton did not relax, however, and as soon as Travis was out of earshot, he said to Rena, “That wasn’t thoughtful of you.”

“What wasn’t?”

“Going off like that without telling anyone.”

Rena looked up quickly. “You mean without telling
you.
What’s wrong, Dalton? You’re not really angry, are you?”

“I was worried. Don’t do that again.”

Suddenly Rena grinned. “Why, Dalton Welborne, I believe you are jealous.”

“Of Travis? Don’t be ridiculous! I know you’d never have anything to do with a roughneck like that.”

The words struck Rena as being wrong, although she herself had had exactly the same thought. Not wanting to quarrel with Dalton, however, she quickly apologized. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to trouble you. But it is good news about the water and the goats, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” he conceded.

“Did you find anything farther down the beach?”

“Not a thing. We ran into a promontory that we couldn’t walk around. The plan now is to row around it in the cutter, but we’re all pretty well agreed that it’s a small island.”

The two made their way over to the cooking tent, where an enormous pot of turtle soup was waiting for them. Oscar said, “If I had some herbs, it would taste better, but I done the best I could. Here, somebody help me dish it out.”

“I’ll do that,” Meredith offered. She took the ladle and filled the bowls as the others gathered around. “We’re lucky to have bowls and spoons and knives,” she said. “Who’ll ask the blessing?”

“You do it, Meredith,” the professor said.

She bowed her head, and the others followed suit. Even the crew did the same. “Lord, we thank you for this food and for this provision. We recognize that as a maiden looks to the hand of her mistress, so we look to your hand for everything we have. Never before have we realized, Lord, how dependent
we are on you. So we thank you for this meal and ask you to provide others. We ask this in the name of Jesus.”

Amen
s went around from the missionaries, and they all found some place to sit.

“This is really delicious!” Meredith said. “It couldn’t be any better.”