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King o' the Beach: A Tropic Tale, a fiction by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 7 |
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_ CHAPTER SEVEN. There was not much time for examination before darkness set in, but enough to prove to the two seekers that there was not the slightest cause for anxiety respecting provisions; for, without taking into consideration what the sea and shore might afford them upon being tried, there was the full run of the ample stores provided for about a hundred people, and the great tanks of fresh water. In short, as Bostock put it: "Why, there's enough for us three to live like fighting cocks for a whole year, sir, and to have company too. Then there's water ashore, as we saw plainly enough, and there's sure to be something or another to eat there, besides cocoanuts, which aren't bad if you drink 'em. Bound to say there's hysters too, while, as for fish, I know what these waters are. You've only got to put a bit o' bait on a hook and hold it out, and the fish are so hungry for it that they'll jump out o' water or rush ashore to catch it. Why, we're in luck, sir." "Luck, Bostock?" said the doctor, sadly. "Yes, sir, luck. It's an awful bad job for the old _Susan_ to be wrecked; but she's well insured, I've no doubt, and there must be disasters at sea sometimes." "And the passengers and crew, my man?" said the doctor, bitterly. "Saved, every one of 'em, we hope and pray, sir, and as I said afore, pitying us poor chaps as they think warn't. Beg pardon, sir, you're a gentleman and a scholar, while I'm only a poor uneddicated sort of a fellow as never had any time for schooling but I've larnt a deal in my time, not book larning, but useful stuff." "Well," said the doctor, smiling, for the old sailor had stopped short; "why don't you go on, Bostock?" "Thought I was getting too forrard, sir." "No, no, go on; what were you about to say just now?" "Well, sir, only this, that it's best to take things as they come and not grumble. Here we are, unfortunate, as you may say, but what a lot worse off we might be. Little while ago, as we thought, there was young Master Carey dying as fast as he could, and us just waiting to go to the bottom. Now here's that there dear lad asleep comf'table and getting better, and you and me with the pick o' the berths and the saloon all to ourselves, getting ready to have a reg'lar good, square meal. Aren't got so werry much to grumble at, have we?" Doctor Kingsmead gave the speaker a hearty slap on the shoulder. "Bostock," he said, "you're a philosopher. There, we'll make the best of things, and, in the hope that our poor friends are all saved, I will not murmur against our fate." "That's right, sir, and now if you don't mind my being a bit rough I'll be cook and stooard, and you'll soon have your bit to eat, and when you've done--" "You will have done too," said the doctor, "and we must drop distinctions now. So help me make the coffee, and then we'll have our meal, and afterwards we must make our plans." They made very few plans that night, for in spite of their long sleep that day the exhaustion they had gone through during the typhoon still told upon them so that, after seeing to Carey, who was sleeping peacefully enough, they took it in turns to keep watches of three hours' length, and passed the night sleeping or listening to the soft, low boom of the breakers on the reef. The morning broke gloriously, and the sunshine and soft air seemed to send a thrill of elasticity through the doctor, which grew into a feeling of joy as he examined his patient, who slept still as if he had not moved during the night. He stepped out of the cabin to hear Bostock whistling away cheerily in the steward's department: but the whistling ceased as soon as the doctor appeared. "Morning, sir. What do you make o' the young skipper?" "Sleeping still," said the doctor; "a beautiful, restful sleep, without a trace of fever." "Hooroar for that, sir. Best thing for him, aren't it?" "Yes, so long as we keep up his strength." "We, sir? You mean you." "I mean we, Bostock, for you will help." "All right, sir, ready _and_ willin'." "The sleep will be the best thing for him, and when we can move him we'll have him up on deck, and contrive a shade." "Oh, I can soon do that, sir. We couldn't rig up the old awning again, but there's plenty of canvas to set up a little un. Is he ready for some breakfast, do you think?" "I would not wake him on any consideration. Let him sleep." "Good, sir. There's a bit ready as soon as you like, and after that we can get to work." Carey still slept on whilst the doctor and old Bob made a hearty meal, and, taking advantage of the freedom thus afforded them, they examined their position in relation to the shore by naked eye and with one of the glasses from the captain's cabin. There it all was as they had partly seen overnight: the vessel firmly fixed in the rocky shallows of a great lagoon, whose waters were fast becoming of crystal-clearness and as smooth as a pond, while sea-ward there was the great sheltering reef with everlasting breakers thundering and fretting and throwing up a cloud of surf. On the other side, comparatively close at hand, was, as far as they could make out, the lovely shore of a beautiful island, bathed in sunshine and glorious in rich verdure and purple shade, while they could now clearly see the sparkling surface of the stream, which tumbled in rapids and falls down to the vivid blue waters of the lagoon. "Looks good enough for anything, sir, don't it?" "A perfect paradise, Bostock," said the doctor, who could hardly tear his eyes from the glorious scene. "It just is, sir," said the old sailor; "makes a man feel quite young again to see it. My word! won't that dear lad enjy hisself as soon as he's well enough to go ashore? I'm reckoning ongoing with him, sir. Won't be to-day, I suppose?" "No," said the doctor, smiling, as he closed the glass in its case; "nor yet this month, Bostock." "That's a long time, sir. I might pig-aback him if we got him ashore." "Let's get him well first." "Right, sir, you know best; but I don't want the poor young chap to be dull and moping. I might rig up some fishing-tackle for him, though, so's he could sit on deck here and fish." "Yes, by-and-by; but he will not be dull. We'll amuse him somehow." "That we will, sir; and now you must be skipper and take the lead, for I s'pose we shall have to live here a bit." "Is that likely to be the mainland?" said the doctor, by way of answer. "Not it, sir. One of the hundreds of islands out in these parts." "I see no sign of inhabitants." "That's right, sir. Men's scarce about here. We shan't see none, and I don't expect we shall see any ships go by. Skippers give these waters a wide berth on account of the coral reefs. Strikes me that we shall have to make ourselves comf'table and wait till something turns up. The _Susan's_ as safe as a house. Even if another storm comes, as there will some day, she can't move. She'll get to be more of a fixter as the years go by, with the coral growing up all round her." "Do you think it will?" "Think, sir? Why, it grows up just like as if it was so much moss in a wood." "Then you are ready to make up your mind to be here for years to come?" "Yes, sir; aren't you?" The doctor shrugged his shoulders. "We couldn't be better off, sir. Now, just you wait a bit, sir, and you'll see something. Directly that young chap's well enough, we shan't be able to hold him. He'll be 'bout half mad with delight. He won't want to go away--not for a long time, at all events." "Well, we shall see," said the doctor. "Now let's go below." "Right, sir. I wouldn't do anything till you come." They began a tour of inspection at once, making their way as far down as they could, to find that the lower hold was eight or ten feet deep in water, which covered the heavy cargo of railway iron, machinery, casks, and miscellaneous goods. "'Bout high water now, sir," said the old sailor. "It'll sink a good deal when the tide's out. We seem to have come on at high water." "Would it be possible to stop it out, and in the course of time pump the vessel clear?" "Not if we'd got fifty steam pumps, sir: that water'll flow in and out and be always sweet--I mean salt--for she's got plates below there ripped off like sheets of writing paper. But the water won't hurt us, and the stores such as we want are all above it. There's nothing to mind there." The doctor nodded in acquiescence, and they went on with their search, to find more and more how well they were provided for, old Bostock chuckling again and again as each advantage came home to him. "I don't believe no shipwrecked chaps was ever so well off before. Why, it's wonderful how little the _Susan's_ hurt. Look at the store of coals we've got, and at the cook's galley all ready for cooking a chicken--if we had one--or a mutton chop, if the last two sheep hadn't been drowned and washed away along with the cow. Now, that was bad luck, sir. Drop o' milk'd been a fine thing for that there boy if I could ha' squeezed it out. I never did try to milk, sir, but I'd ha' tried. Don't suppose it would ha' been so very hard, if the old cow would ha' stood still. Milk would be a fine thing for him, wouldn't it?" "Yes, excellent," said the doctor, with a peculiar smile; "but we have no cow, Bostock." "Tchah! Of course not, sir," said the old sailor, giving himself a slap on the mouth, "and me talking like that. But hi! Look here, sir," he continued, pointing shoreward. "What at?" said the doctor, who was startled by the man's energy. "What do you see--natives?" "No, no, sir; there, sir, in a row along beyond the sands. Noo milk for that there lad, sir. Vegetable cows--cocoanuts. Plenty for years to come." "Yes, we shall be in the midst of plenty," said the doctor, looking wistfully round. "Prisoners, perhaps, but happily provided for. Look yonder, Bostock." "What at, the birds, sir? I've seen 'em all the morning. Ducks and terns as well as gull things. They seem to be nesting about those rocks yonder. And of coarse that means noo-laid eggs for that there boy; yes, and roast duck. There's shooting tackle down below, isn't there, sir?" "Yes, the captain has arms, and I have a double gun in my cabin." "There, hark at that, sir," cried the old sailor. "Now what could one wish for more?" "What indeed?" said the doctor, smiling at his companion's enthusiasm. "Nothing, sir," cried Bostock. "Yes, there's something, sir, as we haven't got and we must have." "What's that?" "A boat, sir, to get ashore with. Now, that is a bit o' bad luck." "Ah, yes, we must have a boat to go ashore, and every one has gone." "Yes, sir, even the little dinghy. That must ha' been washed away, same as the gig, for that warn't launched. But all right, sir; there's other ways o' killing a cat besides hanging. We must make one." "Or a raft," said the doctor. "Raft'll do to begin with. Four bunged-up casks and some boards'll do first. That's easy to make on deck, for there's the carpenter's tools, and we can easily rig up tackle to hyste it over the side. It's the boat as'll bother us, but you never know what you can do till you try." "No, Bostock, you never do." "That's so, sir. A boat we want, and a boat we'll have. I say, sir, just think of it; won't that there dear lad just enjy having a boat to sail and fish about here in the lagoon, or out yonder across the reef on a calm day?" "Yes, we must get him well, Bostock," said the doctor, smiling. "Come along: we need not examine our position any more; let's see if he is awake." "And ready for a drop o' soup, sir. There's rows of them tins o' portable, as they call it, sir, in the store-room. Drop warmed up ought to be just the thing now, poor lad; he can't work his teeth as he should." "We'll see," said the doctor, and they made their way towards the saloon, but only to stop short and listen to the sounds which came softly through the cabin bulkheads--sounds which made the old sailor drop into the attitude of one with folded arms about to perform a hornpipe, and executing three or four steps, to end suddenly with a slap on the leg. "Hear that, sir?" he whispered, softly. "That's what I call real pluck in a lad with his upper works broke clean in half. Just think o' that!" _ |
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