Divine wisdom has commanded us to “Honour your
father and your mother.” Observant travellers affirm that
less respect is paid to parents in America, than is usual in
Christian nations—we say Christian nations; for many of
the heathen, the Chinese for instance, worship them, though
probably with an allegorical connection that we do not
understand. That the parental tie is more loose in this
country than in most others we believe, and there is a reason
to be found for it in the migratory habits of the people,
and in the general looseness in all the ties that connect
men with the past. The laws on the subject of matrimony,
moreover, are so very lax, intercourse is so simple and has
so many facilities, and the young of the two sexes are left
so much to themselves, that it is no wonder children form
that connection so often without reflection and contrary to

[figure description] Page 023.[end figure description]

the wishes of their friends. Still, the law of God is there,
and we are among those who believe that a neglect of its
mandates is very apt to bring its punishment, even in this
world, and we are inclined to think that much of that
which Mark and Bridget subsequently suffered, was in
consequence of acting directly in the face of the wishes
and injunctions of their parents.

The scene which had taken place under the roof of
Doctor Yardley was soon known under that of Doctor
Woolston. Although the last individual was fully aware
that Bridget was what was then esteemed rich, at Bristol,
he cared not for her money. The girl he liked well enough,
and in secret even admired her as much as he could find
it in his heart to admire anything of Doctor Yardley's; but
the indignity was one he was by no means inclined to overlook,
and, in his turn, he forbade all intercourse between
the girls. These two bitter pills, thus administered by the
village doctors to their respective patients, made the young
people very miserable. Bridget loved Anne almost as
much as she loved Mark, and she began to pine and alter
in her appearance, in a way to alarm her father. In order
to divert her mind, he sent her to town, to the care of an
aunt, altogether forgetting that Mark's ship lay at the
wharves of Philadelphia, and that he could not have sent
his daughter to any place, out of Bristol, where the young
man would be so likely to find her. This danger the good
doctor entirely overlooked, or, if he thought of it at all, he
must have fancied that his sister would keep a sharp eye
on the movements of the young sailor, and forbid him her
house, too.

Everything turned out as the Doctor ought to have expected.
When Mark joined his ship, of which he was now
the first officer, he sought Bridget and found her. The
aunt, however, administered to him the second potion of
the same dose that her brother had originally dealt out,
and gave him to understand that his presence in Front
street was not desired. This irritated both the young
people, Bridget being far less disposed to submit to her
aunt than to her father, and they met clandestinely in the
streets. A week or two of this intercourse brought matters
to a crisis, and Bridget consented to a private

[figure description] Page 024.[end figure description]

marriage. The idea of again going to sea, leaving his betrothed
entirely in the hands of those who disliked him for
his father's sake, was intolerable to Mark, and it made him
so miserable, that the tenderness of the deeply enamoured
girl could not withstand his appeals. They agreed to get
married, but to keep their union a secret until Mark should
become of age, when it was hoped he would be in a condition,
in every point of view, openly to claim his wife.

A thing of this sort, once decided on, is easily enough
put in execution in America. Among Mark's college
friends was one who was a few years older than himself,
and who had entered the ministry. This young man was
then acting as a sort of missionary among the seamen of
the port, and he had fallen in the way of the young lover
the very first day of his return to his ship. It was an easy
matter to work on the good nature of this easy-minded
man, who, on hearing of the ill treatment offered to his
friend, was willing enough to perform the ceremony.
Everything being previously arranged, Mark and Bridget
were married, early one morning, during the time the latter
was out, in company with a female friend of about her own
age, to take what her aunt believed was her customary
walk before breakfast. Philadelphia, in 1796, was not the
town it is to-day. It then lay, almost entirely, on the
shores of the Delaware, those of the Schuylkill being completely
in the country. What was more, the best quarters
were still near the river, and the distance between the
Rancocus—meaning Mark's ship, and not the creek of
that name—and the house of Bridget's aunt, was but trifling.
The ceremony took place in the cabin of the vessel
just named, which, now that the captain was ashore in his
own house, Mark had all to himself, no second-mate having
been shipped, and which was by no means an inappropriate
place for the nuptials of a pair like that which our young
people turned out to be, in the end.

The Rancocus, though not a large, was a very fine,
Philadelphia-built ship, then the best vessels of the country.
She was of a little less than four hundred tons in
measurement, but she had a very neat and commodious
poop-cabin. Captain Crutchely had a thrifty wife, who
had contributed her full share to render her husband

[figure description] Page 025.[end figure description]

comfortable, and Bridget thought that the room in which she
was united to Mark was one of the prettiest she had ever
seen. The reader, however, is not to imagine it a cabin
ornamented with marble columns, rose-wood, and the maples,
as so often happens now-a-days. No such extravagance
was dreamed of fifty years ago; but, as far as judicious
arrangements, neat joiner's work, and appropriate
furniture went, the cabin of the Rancocus was a very respectable
little room. The circumstance that it was on
deck, contributed largely to its appearance and comfort,
sunken cabins, or those below decks, being necessarily
much circumscribed in small ships, in consequence of
being placed in a part of the vessel that is contracted in
its dimensions under water, in order to help their sailing
qualities.

The witnesses of the union of our hero and heroine were
the female friend of Bridget named, the officiating clergyman,
and one seaman who had sailed with the bridegroom
in all his voyages, and who was now retained on board the
vessel as a ship-keeper, intending to go out in her again,
as soon as she should be ready for sea. The name of this
mariner was Betts, or Bob Betts as he was commonly
called; and as he acts a conspicuous part in the events to
be recorded, it may be well to say a word or two more of
his history and character. Bob Betts was a Jerseyman;—
or, as he would have pronounced the word himself, a Jarseyman—
in the American meaning of the word, however,
and not in the English. Bob was born in Cape May
county, and in the State of New Jersey, United States of
America. At the period of which we are now writing, he
must have been about five-and-thirty, and seemingly a confirmed
bachelor. The windows of Bob's father's house
looked out upon the Atlantic Ocean, and he snuffed sea
air from the hour of his birth. At eight years of age he
was placed, as cabin-boy, on board a coaster; and from
that time down to the moment when he witnessed the marriage
ceremony between Mark and Bridget, he had been a
sailor. Throughout the whole war of the revolution Bob
had served in the navy, in some vessel or other, and with
great good luck, never having been made a prisoner of
war. In connection with this circumstance was one of

[figure description] Page 026.[end figure description]

the besetting weaknesses of his character. As often happens
to men of no very great breadth of views, Bob had a
notion that that which he had so successfully escaped, viz.
captivity, other men too might have escaped had they been
equally as clever. Thus it was that he had an ill-concealed,
or only half-concealed contempt for such seamen as suffered
themselves, at any time or under any circumstances, to fall
into the enemies' hands. On all other subjects Bob was
not only rational, but a very discreet and shrewd fellow,
though on that he was often harsh, and sometimes absurd.
But the best men have their weakness, and this was Bob
Bett's.

Captain Crutchely had picked up Bob, just after the
peace of 1783, and had kept him with him ever since. It
was to Bob that he had committed the instruction of Mark,
when the latter first joined the ship, and from Bob the
youth had got his earliest notions of seamanship. In his
calling Bob was full of resources, and, as often happens
with the American sailor, he was even handy at a great
many other things, and particularly so with whatever related
to practical mechanics. Then he was of vast physical
force, standing six feet two, in his stockings, and was
round-built and solid. Bob had one sterling quality—he
was as fast a friend as ever existed. In this respect he
was a model of fidelity, never seeing a fault in those he
loved, or a good quality in those he disliked. His attachment
to Mark was signal, and he looked on the promotion
of the young man much as he would have regarded preferment
that befel himself. In the last voyage he had told
the people in the forecastle “That young Mark Woolston
would make a thorough sea-dog in time, and now he had
got to be Mr. Woolston, he expected great things of him.
The happiest day of my life will be that on which I can
ship in a craft commanded by Captain Mark Woolston.
I teached him, myself, how to break the first sea-biscuit he
ever tasted, and next day he could do it as well as any on
us! You see how handy and quick he is about a vessel's
decks, shipmates; a ra'al rouser at a weather earin'—well,
when he first come aboard here, and that was little more
than two years ago, the smell of tar would almost make
him swound away.” The latter assertion was one of Bob's

[figure description] Page 027.[end figure description]

embellishments, for Mark was never either lackadaisical
or very delicate. The young man cordially returned Bob's
regard, and the two were sincere friends without any
phrases on the subject.

Bob Betts was the only male witness of the marriage
between Mark Woolston and Bridget Yardley, with the
exception of the officiating clergyman; as Mary Bromley
was the only female. Duplicate certificates, however, were
given to the young couple, Mark placing his in his writing-desk,
and Bridget hers in the bosom of her dress.
Five minutes after the ceremony was ended, the whole
party separated, the girls returning to their respective residences,
and the clergyman going his way, leaving the
mate and the ship-keeper together on the vessel's deck.
The latter did not speak, so long as he saw the bridegroom's
eyes fastened on the light form of the bride, as the
latter went swiftly up the retired wharf where the ship was
lying, on her way to Front street, accompanied by her
young friend. But, no sooner had Bridget turned a corner,
and Bob saw that the attraction was no longer in view,
than he thought it becoming to put in a word.

“A trim-built and light-sailing craft, Mr. Woolston,”
he said, turning over the quid in his mouth; “one of these
days she 'll make a noble vessel to command.”

“She is my captain, and ever will be, Bob,” returned
Mark. “But you 'll be silent concerning what has
passed.”

“Ay, ay, sir. It is not my business to keep a log for
all the women in the country to chatter about, like so many
monkeys that have found a bag of nuts. But what was
the meaning of the parson's saying, `with all my worldly
goods I thee endow'—does that make you any richer, or
any poorer, sir?”

“Neither,” answered Mark, smiling. “It leaves me
just where I was, Bob, and where I am likely to be for
some time to come, I fear.”

“And has the young woman nothing herself, sir? Sometimes
a body picks up a comfortable chest-full with these
sort of things, as they tell me, sir.”

“I believe Bridget is as poor as I am myself, Bob, and
that is saying all that can be said on such a point.

[figure description] Page 028.[end figure description]

However, l 've secured her now, and two years hence I 'll claim
her, if she has not a second gown to wear. I dare say the
old man will be for turning her adrift with as little as possible.”

All this was a proof of Mark's entire disinterestedness.
He did not know that his young bride had quite thirty
thousand dollars in reversion, or in one sense in possession,
although she could derive no benefit from it until she was
of age, or married, and past her eighteenth year. This
fact her husband did not learn for several days after his
marriage, when his bride communicated it to him, with a
proposal that he should quit the sea and remain with her
for life. Mark was very much in love, but this scheme
scarce afforded him the satisfaction that one might have
expected. He was attached to his profession, and scarce
relished the thought of being dependent altogether on his
wife for the means of subsistence. The struggle between
love and pride was great, but Mark, at length, yielded to
Bridget's blandishments, tenderness and tears. They could
only meet at the house of Mary Bromley, the bride's-maid,
but then the interviews between them were as frequent as
Mark's duty would allow. The result was that Bridget
prevailed, and the young husband went up to Bristol and
candidly related all that had passed, thus revealing, in less
than a week, a secret which it was intended should remain
hid for at least two years.

Doctor Woolston was sorely displeased, at first; but the
event had that about it which would be apt to console a
parent. Bridget was not only young, and affectionate, and
beautiful, and truthful; but, according to the standard of
Bristol, she was rich. There was consolation in all this,
notwithstanding professional rivalry and personal dislikes.
We are not quite certain that he did not feel a slight gratification
at the thought of his son's enjoying the fortune
which his rival had received from his wife, and which, but
for the will of the grandfather, would have been enjoyed
by that rival himself. Nevertheless, the good Doctor did
his duty in the premises. He communicated the news of
the marriage to Doctor Yardley in a very civilly-worded
note, which left a fair opening for a settlement of all difficulties,
had the latter been so pleased. The latter did not

[figure description] Page 029.[end figure description]

so please, however, but exploded in a terrible burst of passion,
which almost carried him off in a fit of apoplexy.

Escaping all physical dangers, in the end, Doctor Yardley
went immediately to Philadelphia, and brought his
daughter home. Both Mark and Bridget now felt that
they had offended against one of the simplest commands
of God. They had not honoured their father and their
mother, and even thus early came the consciousness of
their offence. It was in Mark's power, however, to go and
claim his wife, and remove her to his father's house, notwithstanding
his minority and that of Bridget. In this last
respect, the law offered no obstacle; but the discretion of
Doctor Woolston did. This gentleman, through the agency
of a common friend, had an interview with his competitor,
and they talked the matter over in a tolerably composed
and reasonable temper. Both the parents, as medical men,
agreed that it would be better that the young couple should
not live together for two or three years, the very tender
age of Bridget, in particular, rendering this humane, as
well as discreet. Nothing was said of the fortune, which
mollified Doctor Yardley a good deal, since he would be
left to manage it, or at least to receive the income so long
as no legal claimant interfered with his control. Elderly
gentlemen submit very easily to this sort of influence.
Then, Doctor Woolston was exceedingly polite, and spoke
to his rival of a difficult case in his own practice, as if indirectly
to ask an opinion of his competitor. All this contributed
to render the interview more amicable than had
been hoped, and the parties separated, if not friends, at
least with an understanding on the subject of future proceedings.

It was decided that Mark should continue in the Rancocus
for another voyage. It was known the ship was to
proceed to some of the islands of the Pacific, in quest of
a cargo of sandal-wood and bêche-lê-mar, for the Chinese
market, and that her next absence from home would be
longer, even, than her last. By the time the vessel returned,
Mark would be of age, and fit to command a ship
himself, should it be thought expedient for him to continue
in his profession. During the period the vessel still remained
in port, Mark was to pay occasional visits to his

[figure description] Page 030.[end figure description]

wife, though not to live with her; but the young couple
might correspond by letter, as often as they pleased. Such
was an outline of the treaty made between the high contracting
parties.

In making these arrangements, Doctor Yardley was
partly influenced by a real paternal interest in the welfare
of his daughter, who he thought altogether too young to
enter on the duties and cares of the married life. Below
the surface, however, existed an indefinite hope that something
might yet occur to prevent the consummation of this
most unfortunate union, as he deemed the marriage to be,
and thus enable him to get rid of the hateful connection
altogether. How this was to happen, the worthy doctor
certainly did not know. This was because he lived in
1796, instead of in 1847. Now-a-days, nothing is easier
than to separate a man from his wife, unless it be to obtain
civic honours for a murderer. Doctor Yardley, at the
present moment, would have coolly gone to work to get
up a lamentable tale about his daughter's fortune, and
youth, and her not knowing her own mind when she married,
and a ship's cabin, and a few other embellishments
of that sort, when the worthy and benevolent statesmen
who compose the different legislatures of this vast Union
would have been ready to break their necks, in order to
pass a bill of divorce. Had there been a child or two, it
would have made no great difference, for means would
have been devised to give the custody of them to the mother.
This would have been done, quite likely, for the
first five years of the lives of the dear little things, because
the children would naturally require a mother's care; and
afterwards, because the precocious darlings, at the mature
age of seven, would declare, in open court, that they really
loved `ma' more than they did `pa!' To write a little
plainly on a very important subject, we are of opinion that
a new name ought to be adopted for the form of government
which is so fast creeping into this country. New
things require new names; and, were Solomon now living,
we will venture to predict two things of him, viz. he would
change his mind on the subject of novelties, and he would
never go to congress. As for the new name, we would
respectfully suggest that of Gossipian, in lieu of that of

[figure description] Page 031.[end figure description]

Republican, gossip fast becoming the lever that moves
everything in the land. The newspapers, true to their
instincts of consulting the ruling tastes, deal much more
in gossip than they deal in reason; the courts admit it as
evidence; the juries receive it as fact, as well as the law;
and as for the legislatures, let a piteous tale but circulate
freely in the lobbies, and bearded men, like Juliet when a
child, as described by her nurse, will “stint and cry, ay!”
In a word, principles and proof are in much less esteem
than assertions and numbers, backed with enough of which,
anything may be made to appear as legal, or even constitutional.

But neither of our doctors entered into all these matters.
It was enough for them that the affair of the marriage was
disposed of, for a time at least, and things were permitted
to drop into their ancient channels. The intercourse between
Bridget and Anne was renewed, just as if nothing
had happened, and Mark's letters to his virgin bride were
numerous, and filled with passion. The ship was `taking
in,' and he could only leave her late on Saturday afternoons,
but each Sunday he contrived to pass in Bristol. On such
occasions he saw his charming wife at church, and he
walked with her in the fields, along with Anne and a facoured
admirer of hers, of an afternoon, returning to town
in season to be at his post on the opening of the hatches,
of a Monday morning.

In less than a month after the premature marriage between
Mark Woolston and Bridget Yardley, the Rancocus
cleared for the Pacific and Canton. The bridegroom
found one day to pass in Bristol, and Doctor Yardley so
far pitied his daughter's distress, as to consent that the
two girls should go to town, under his own care, and see
the young man off. This concession was received with
the deepest gratitude, and made the young people momentarily
very happy. The doctor even consented to visit the
ship, which Captain Crutchely, laughing, called St. Mark's
chapel, in consequence of the religious rite which had
been performed on board her. Mrs. Crutchely was there,
on the occasion of this visit, attending to her husband's
comforts, by fitting curtains to his berth, and looking after
matters in general in the cabin; and divers jokes were

[figure description] Page 032.[end figure description]

ventured by the honest ship-master, in making his comments
on, and in giving his opinion of the handy-work of
his own consort. He made Bridget blush more than once,
though her enduring tenderness in behalf of Mark induced
her to sit out all the captain's wit, rather than shorten a
visit so precious, one moment.

The final parting was an hour of bitter sorrow. Even
Mark's young heart, manly, and much disposed to do his
duty as he was, was near breaking; while Bridget almost
dissolved in tears. They could not but think how long
that separation was to last, though they did not anticipate
by what great and mysterious events it was to be prolonged.
It was enough for them that they were to live asunder two
whole years; and two whole years appear like an age, to
those who have not yet lived their four lustrums. But the
final moment must and did arrive, and the young people
were compelled to tear themselves asunder, though the
parting was like that of soul and body. The bride hung
on the bridegroom's neck, as the tendril clings to its support,
until removed by gentle violence.

Bridget did not give up her hold upon Mark so long as
even his vessel remained in sight. She went with Anne,
in a carriage, as low as the Point, and saw the Rancocus
pass swiftly down the river, on this its fourth voyage, bearing
those in her who as little dreamed of their fate, as the
unconscious woods and metals, themselves, of which the
ship was constructed. Mark felt his heart beat, when he
saw a woman's handkerchief waving to him from the shore,
and a fresh burst of tenderness nearly unmanned him,
when, by the aid of the glass, he recognised the sweet
countenance and fairy figure of Bridget. Ten minutes
later, distance and interposing objects separated that young
couple for many a weary day!

A few days at sea restored the equanimity of Mark's
feelings, while the poignant grief of Bridget did not fail to
receive the solace which time brings to sorrows of every
degree and nature. They thought of each other often, and
tenderly; but, the pain of parting over, they both began
to look forward to the joys of meeting, with the buoyancy
and illusions that hope is so apt to impart to the bosoms
of the young and inexperienced. Little did either dream

[figure description] Page 033.[end figure description]

of what was to occur before their eyes were to be again
gladdened with the sight of their respective forms.

Mark found in his state-room—for, in the Rancocus,
the cabin was fitted with four neat little state-rooms, one
for the captain, and two for the mates, with a fourth for
the supercargo—many proofs of Bridget's love and care.
Mrs. Crutchely, herself, though so much longer experienced,
had scarcely looked after the captain's comfort with more
judgment, and certainly not with greater solicitude, than
this youthful bride had expended on her bridegroom's
room. In that day, artists were not very numerous in
America, nor is it very probable that Doctor Yardley would
have permitted his daughter to take so decided a step as
to sit for her miniature for Mark's possession; but she had
managed to get her profile cut, and to have it framed, and
the mate discovered it placed carefully among his effects,
when only a week out. From this profile Mark derived
the greatest consolation. It was a good one, and Bridget
happened to have a face that would tell in that sort of
thing, so that the husband had no difficulty in recognising
the wife, in this little image. There it was, with the very
pretty slight turn of the head to one side, that in Bridget
was both natural and graceful. Mark spent hours in gazing
at and in admiring this inanimate shadow of his bride,
which never failed to recall to him all her grace, and nature,
and tenderness and love, though it could not convey
any direct expression of her animation and spirit.

It is said ships have no Sundays. The meaning of this
is merely that a vessel must perform her work, week-days
and sabbaths, day and night, in fair or foul. The Rancocus
formed no exception to the rule, and on she travelled,
having a road before her that it would require months ere
the end of it could be found. It is not our intention to
dwell on the details of this long voyage, for two reasons.
One is the fact that most voyages to the southern extremity
of the American continent are marked by the same incidents;
and the other is, that we have much other matter
to relate, that must be given with great attention to minuti
æ, and which we think will have much more interest
with the reader.

Captain Crutchely touched at Rio for supplies, as is

[figure description] Page 034.[end figure description]

customary; and, after passing a week in that most delightful
of all havens, went his way. The passage round the
Horn was remarkable neither way. It could not be called
a very boisterous one, neither was the weather unusually
mild. Ships do double this cape, occasionally, under their
top-gallant-sails, and we have heard of one vessel that did
not furl her royals for several days, while off that formidable
head-land; but these cases form the exception and not
the rule. The Rancocus was under close-reefed topsails
for the better part of a fortnight, in beating to the southward
and westward, it blowing very fresh the whole time;
and she might have been twice as long struggling with the
south-westerly gales, but for the fortunate circumstance of
the winds veering so far to the southward as to permit her
to lay her course, when she made a great run to the westward.
When the wind again hauled, as haul it was almost
certain to do, Captain Crutchely believed himself in a meridian
that would admit of his running with an easy bowline,
on the larboard tack. No one but a sailor can understand
the effect of checking the weather-braces, if it be
only for a few feet, and of getting a weather-leach to stand
without `swigging out' on its bowline. It has much the
same influence on the progress of a ship, that an eloquent
speech has on the practice of an advocate, a great cure or
a skilful operation on that of a medical man, or a lucky
hit in trade on the fortunes of the young merchant. Away
all go alike, if not absolutely with flowing sheets, easily,
swiftly, and with less of labour than was their wont. Thus
did it now prove with the good ship Rancocus. Instead
of struggling hard with the seas to get three knots ahead,
she now made her six, and kept all, or nearly all, she
made. When she saw the land again, it was found there
was very little to spare, but that little sufficed. The vessel
passed to windward of everything, and went on her way
rejoicing, like any other that had been successful in a hard
and severe struggle. A fortnight later, the ship touched
at Valparaiso.

The voyage of the Rancocus may now be said to have
commenced in earnest. Hitherto she had done little but
make her way across the endless waste of waters; but
now she had the real business before her to execute. A
considerable amount of freight, which had been brought

[figure description] Page 035.[end figure description]

on account of the Spanish government, was discharged,
and the vessel filled up her water. Certain supplies of food
that was deemed useful in cases of scurvy, were obtained,
and after a delay of less than a fortnight, the ship once
more put to sea.

In the year 1796 the Pacific Ocean was by no means as
familiar to navigators as it is to-day. Cooke had made his
celebrated voyages less than twenty years before, and the
accounts of them were then before the world; but even
Cooke left a great deal to be ascertained, more especially
in the way of details. The first inventor, or discoverer of
anything, usually gains a great name, though it is those
who come after him that turn his labours to account. Did
we know no more of America to-day than was known to
Columbus, our knowledge would be very limited, and the
benefits of his vast enterprise still in their infancy.

Compared with its extent, perhaps, and keeping in view
its ordinary weather, the Pacific can hardly be considered
a dangerous sea; but he who will cast his eyes over its
chart, will at once ascertain how much more numerous are
its groups, islands, rocks, shoals and reefs, than those of
the Atlantic. Still, the mariners unhesitatingly steered out
into its vast waters, and none with less reluctance and
fewer doubts than those of America.

For nearly two months did Captain Crutchely, after
quitting Valparaiso, hold his way into the depths of that
mighty sea, in search of the islands he had been directed
to find. Sandal-wood was his aim, a branch of commerce,
by the way, which ought never to be pursued by any Christian
man, or Christian nation, if what we hear of its uses
in China be true. There, it is said to be burned as incense
before idols, and no higher offence can be committed by
any human being than to be principal, or accessary, in any
manner or way, to the substitution of any created thing for
the ever-living God. In after-life Mark Woolston often
thought of this, when reflection succeeded to action, and
when he came to muse on the causes which may have led
to his being the subject of the wonderful events that occurred
in connection with his own fortunes. We have
now reached a part of our narrative, however, when it becomes
necessary to go into details, which we shall defer to
the commencement of a new chapter.

CHAPTER III.

“God of the dark and heavy deep!
The waves lie sleeping on the sands,
Till the fierce trumpet of the storm
Hath summon'd up their thundering bands;
Then the white sails are dashed like foam,
Or hurry trembling o'er the seas,
Till calmed by thee, the sinking gale
Serenely breathes, Depart in peace.”
Peabody.

[figure description] Page 036.[end figure description]

The day that preceded the night of which we are about
to speak, was misty, with the wind fresh at east-south-east.
The Rancocus was running off, south-west, and consequently
was going with the wind free. Captain Crutchely
had one failing, and it was a very bad one for a ship-master;
he would drink rather too much grog, at his dinner.
At all other times he might have been called a sober man;
but, at dinner, he would gulp down three or four glasses
of rum and water. In that day rum was much used in
America, far more than brandy; and every dinner-table,
that had the smallest pretension to be above that of the
mere labouring man, had at least a bottle of one of these
liquors on it. Wine was not commonly seen at the cabin-table;
or, if seen, it was in those vessels that had recently
been in the vine-growing countries, and on special occasions.
Captain Crutchely was fond of the pleasures of the
table in another sense. His eating was on a level with his
drinking; and for pigs, and poultry, and vegetables that
would keep at sea, his ship was always a little remarkable.

On the day in question, it happened to be the birthday
of Mrs. Crutchely, and the captain had drunk even a little
more than common. Now, when a man is in the habit of
drinking rather more than is good for him, an addition of
a little more than common is very apt to upset him. Such,
in sober truth, was the case with the commander of the

[figure description] Page 037.[end figure description]

Rancocus, when he left the dinner-table, at the time to
which there is particular allusion. Mark, himself, was
perfectly sober. The taste of rum was unpleasant to him,
nor did his young blood and buoyant spirits crave its effects.
If he touched it at all, it was in very small quantities, and
greatly diluted with water. He saw the present condition
of his superior, therefore, with regret; and this so much
the more, from the circumstance that an unpleasant report
was prevailing in the ship, that white water had been seen
ahead, during a clear moment, by a man who had just
come from aloft. This report the mate repeated to the
captain, accompanying it with a suggestion that it might
be well to shorten sail, round-to, and sound. But Captain
Crutchely treated the report with no respect, swearing
that the men were always fancying they were going ashore
on coral, and that the voyage would last for ever, did he
comply with all their conceits of this nature. Unfortunately,
the second-mate was an old sea-dog, who owed his
present inferior condition to his being a great deal addicted
to the practice in which his captain indulged only a little,
and he had been sharing largely in the hospitality of the
cabin that afternoon, it being his watch below. This man
supported the captain in his contempt for the rumours and
notions of the crew, and between them Mark found himself
silenced.

Our young officer felt very uneasy at the account of the
sailor who had reported white water ahead, for he was one
of the best men in the ship, and altogether unlikely to say
that which was not true. It being now six o'clock in the
evening, and the second-mate having taken charge of the
watch, Mark went up into the fore-top-gallant cross-trees
himself, in order to get the best look ahead that he could
before the night set in. It wanted but half an hour, or so,
of sunset, when the young man took his station in the
cross-trees, the royal not being set. At first, he could
discern nothing ahead, at a distance greater than a mile,
on account of the mist; but, just as the sun went below
the waters it lighted up to the westward, and Mark then
plainly saw what he was perfectly satisfied must be breakers,
extending for several miles directly across the vessel's
track!

[figure description] Page 038.[end figure description]

Such a discovery required decision, and the young man
shouted out—

“Breakers ahead!”

This cry, coming from his first officer, startled even
Captain Crutchely, who was recovering a little from the
effect of his potations, though it was still treated with contempt
by the second-mate, who had never forgiven one as
young as Mark, for getting a berth that he fancied due to
his own greater age and experience. He laughed openly
at this second report of breakers, at a point in the ocean
where the chart laid down a clear sea; but the captain
knew that the charts could only tell him what was known
at the time they were made, and he felt disposed to treat
his first officer, young as he was, with more respect than
the second-mate. All hands were called in consequence,
and sail was shortened. Mark came down to assist in this
duty, while Captain Crutchely himself went aloft to look
out for the breakers. They passed each other in the top,
the latter desiring his mate to bring the ship by the wind,
on the larboard tack, or with her head to the southward,
as soon as he had the sail sufficiently reduced to do so with
safety.

For a few minutes after he reached the deck, Mark was
fully employed in executing his orders. Sail was shortened
with great rapidity, the men working with zeal and alarm,
for they believed their messmate when the captain had not.
Although the vessel was under top-mast studding-sails when
the command to take in the canvas was given, it was not
long before Mark had her under her three topsails, and
these with two reefs in them, and the ship on an easy
bowline, with her head to the southward. When all this
was done the young man felt a good deal of relief, for the
danger he had seen was ahead, and this change of course
brought it nearly abeam. It is true, the breakers were
still to leeward, and insomuch most dangerously situated;
but the wind did not blow strong enough to prevent the
ship from weathering them, provided time was taken by
the forelock. The Rancocus was a good, weatherly ship,
nor was there sufficient sea on to make it at all difficult
for her to claw off a lee shore. Desperate indeed is the
situation of the vessel that has rocks or sands under her

[figure description] Page 039.[end figure description]

lee, with the gale blowing in her teeth, and heavy seas
sending her bodily, and surely, however slowly, on the
very breakers she is struggling to avoid! Captain Crutchely
had not been aloft five minutes before he hailed the
deck, and ordered Mark to send Bob Betts up to the cross-trees.
Bob had the reputation of being the brightest look-out
in the vessel, and was usually employed when land
was about to be approached, or a sail was expected to be
made. He went up the fore-rigging like a squirrel, and
was soon at the captain's side, both looking anxiously to
leeward. A few minutes after the ship had hauled by the
wind, both came down, stopping in the top, however, to
take one more look to leeward.

The second-mate stood waiting the further descent of
the captain, with a sort of leering look of contempt on his
hard, well-dyed features, which seemed to anticipate that
it would soon be known that Mark's white water had lost
its colour, and become blue water once more. But Captain
Crutchely did not go as far as this, when he got down.
He admitted that he had seen nothing that he could very
decidedly say was breakers, but that, once or twice, when
it lighted up a little, there had been a gleaming along the
western horizon which a good deal puzzled him. It might
be white water, or it might be only the last rays of the
setting sun tipping the combs of the regular seas. Bob
Betts, too, was as much at fault as his captain, and a sarcastic
remark or two of Hillson, the second-mate, were
fast bringing Mark's breakers into discredit.

“Jest look at the chart, Captain Crutchely,” put in
Hillson—“a regular Tower Hill chart as ever was made,
and you 'll see there can be no white water hereabouts.
If a man is to shorten sail and haul his wind, at every dead
whale he falls in with, in these seas, his owners will have
the balance on the wrong side of the book at the end of
the v'y'ge!”

This told hard against Mark, and considerably in Hillson's
favour.

“And could you see nothing of breakers ahead, Bob?”
demanded Mark, with an emphasis on the `you' which
pretty plainly implied that the young man was not so much
surprised that the captain had not seen them.

[figure description] Page 040.[end figure description]

“Not a bit of it, Mr. Woolston,” answered Bob, hitching
up his trowsers, “and I 'd a pretty good look ahead,
too.”

This made still more against Mark, and Captain Crutchely
sent for the chart. Over this map he and the second-mate
pondered with a sort of muzzy sagacity, when they
came to the conclusion that a clear sea must prevail around
them, in all directions, for a distance exceeding a thousand
miles. A great deal is determined in any case of a dilemma,
when it is decided that this or that fact must be so.
Captain Crutchely would not have arrived at this positive
conclusion so easily, had not his reasoning powers been so
much stimulated by his repeated draughts of rum and
water, that afternoon; all taken, as he said and believed,
not so much out of love for the beverage itself, as out of
love for Mrs. John Crutchely. Nevertheless, our captain
was accustomed to take care of a ship, and he was not yet
in a condition to forget all his duties, in circumstances so
critical. As Mark solemnly and steadily repeated his own
belief that there were breakers ahead, he so far yielded to
the opinions of his youthful chief-mate as to order the deep-sea
up, and to prepare to sound.

This operation of casting the deep-sea lead is not done
in a moment, but, on board a merchant vessel, usually
occupies from a quarter of an hour to twenty minutes.
The ship must first be hove-to, and her way ought to be
as near lost as possible before the cast is made. Then the
getting along of the line, the stationing of the men, and
the sounding and hauling in again, occupy a good many
minutes. By the time it was all over, on this occasion, it
was getting to be night. The misty, drizzling weather
threatened to make the darkness intense, and Mark felt
more and more impressed with the danger in which the
ship was placed.

The cast of the lead produced no other result than the
certainty that bottom was not to be found with four hundred
fathoms of line out. No one, however, not even the
muzzy Hillson, attached much importance to this fact, inasmuch
as it was known that the coral reefs often rise like
perpendicular walls, in the ocean, having no bottom to be
found within a cable's-length of them. Then Mark did

[figure description] Page 041.[end figure description]

not believe the ship to be within three leagues of the
breakers he had seen, for they had seemed, both to him
and to the seaman who had first reported them, to be
several leagues distant. One on an elevation like that of
the top-gallant cross-trees, could see a long way, and the
white water had appeared to Mark to be on the very verge
of the western horizon, even as seen from his lofty look-out.

After a further consultation with his officers, during
which Hillson had not spared his hits at his less experienced
superior, Captain Crutchely came to a decision,
which might be termed semi-prudent. There is nothing
that a seaman more dislikes than to be suspected of extranervousness
on the subject of doubtful dangers of this sort.
Seen and acknowledged, he has no scruples about doing
his best to avoid them; but so long as there is an uncertainty
connected with their existence at all, that miserable
feeling of vanity which renders us all so desirous to be
more than nature ever intended us for, inclines most men
to appear indifferent even while they dread. The wisest
thing Captain Crutchely could have done, placed in the
circumstances in which he now found himself, would have
been to stand off and on, under easy canvas, until the return
of light, when he might have gone ahead on his course
with some confidence, and a great deal more of safety.
But there would have been an air of concession to the
power of an unknown danger that conflicted with his pride,
in such a course, and the old and well-tried ship-master
did not like to give the `uncertain' this advantage over
him. He decided therefore to stand on, with his topsails
reefed, keeping bright look-outs ahead, and having his
courses in the brails, ready for getting the tacks down to
claw off to windward, should it prove to be necessary.
With this plan Mark was compelled to comply, there being
no appeal from the decrees of the autocrat of the quarter-deck.

As soon as the decision of Captain Crutchely was made,
the helm was put up, and the ship kept off to her course.
It was true, that under double-reefed topsails, and jib,
which was all the canvas set, there was not half the danger
there would have been under their former sail; and, when

[figure description] Page 042.[end figure description]

Mark took charge of the watch, as he did soon after, or at
eight o'clock, he was in hopes, by means of vigilance, still
to escape the danger. The darkness, which was getting
to be very intense, was now the greatest and most immediate
source of his apprehensions. Could he only get a
glimpse of the sea a cable's-length ahead, he would have
felt vast relief; but even that small favour was denied him.
By the time the captain and second-mate had turned in,
which each did after going below and taking a stiff glass
of rum and water in his turn, it was so dark our young
mate could not discern the combing of the waves a hundred
yards from the ship, in any direction. This obscurity was
owing to the drizzle that filled the atmosphere, as well as
to the clouds that covered the canopy above that lone and
wandering ship.

As for Mark, he took his station between the knight-heads,
where he remained most of the watch, nearly straining
the eyes out of his head, in the effort to penetrate the
gloom, and listening acutely to ascertain if he might not
catch some warning roar of the breakers, that he felt so
intimately persuaded must be getting nearer and nearer at
each instant. As midnight approached, came the thought
of Hillson's taking his place, drowsy and thick-headed as
he knew he must be at that hour. At length Mark actually
fancied he heard the dreaded sounds; the warning,
however, was not ahead, but well on his starboard beam.
This he thought an ample justification for departing from
his instructions, and he instantly issued an order to put
the helm hard a-starboard, so as to bring the vessel up to
the wind, on the contrary tack. Unfortunately, as the
result proved, it now became his imperative duty to report
to Captain Crutchely what he had done. For a minute
or two the young man thought of keeping silence, to stand
on his present course, to omit calling the second-mate, and
to say nothing about what he had done, keeping the deck
himself until light should return. But reflection induced
him to shrink from the execution of this plan, which would
have involved him in a serious misunderstanding with both
his brother officers, who could not fail to hear all that had
occurred in the night, and who must certainly know, each
in his respective sphere, that they themselves had been

[figure description] Page 043.[end figure description]

slighted. With a slow step, therefore, and a heavy heart,
Mark went into the cabin to make his report, and to give
the second-mate the customary call.

It was not an easy matter to awaken either of those,
who slept under the influence of potations as deep as the
night-caps taken by Captain Crutchely and Mr. Hillson.
The latter, in particular, was like a man in a state of lethargy,
and Mark had half a mind to leave him, and make
his condition an excuse for not having persisted in the
call. But he succeeded in arousing the captain, who soon
found the means to bring the second-mate to a state of
semi-consciousness.

“Well, sir,” cried the captain, as soon as fairly awake
himself, “what now?”

“I think I heard breakers abeam, sir, and I have hauled
up to the southward.”

A grunt succeeded, which Mark scarce knew how to
interpret. It might mean dissatisfaction, or it might mean
surprise. As the captain, however, was thoroughly awake,
and was making his preparations to come out on deck, he
thought that he had done all that duty required, and he
returned to his own post. The after-part of the ship was
now the best situation for watching, and Mark went up on
the poop, in order to see and hear the better. No lower
sail being in the way, he could look ahead almost as well
from that position as if he were forward; and as for hearing,
it was much the best place of the two, in consequence
of there being no wash of the sea directly beneath him, as
was the case when stationed between the knight-heads.
To this post he soon summoned Bob Betts, who belonged
to his watch, and with whom he had ever kept up as great
an intimacy as the difference in their stations would allow.

“Bob, your ears are almost as good as your eyes,” said
Mark; “have you heard nothing of breakers?”

“I have, Mr. Woolston, and now own I did see something
that may have been white water, this arternoon, while
aloft; but the captain and second-mate seemed so awarse
to believing in sich a thing, out here in the open Pacific,
that I got to be awarse, too.”

“It was a great fault in a look-out not to let what he
had seen be known,” said Mark, gravely.

[figure description] Page 044.[end figure description]

“I own it, sir; I own how wrong I was, and have been
sorry for it ever since. But it 's going right in the wind's
eye, Mr. Woolston, to go ag'in captain and dickey!”

“But, you now think you have heard breakers—where
away?”

“Astarn first; then ahead; and, just as you called me
up on the poop, sir, I fancied they sounded off here, on the
weather bow.”

“Are you serious, Bob?”

“As I ever was in my life, Mr. Mark. This oversight
of the arternoon has made me somewhat conscientious, if
I can be conscientious, and my sight and hearing are now
both wide awake. It 's my opinion, sir, that the ship is in
the midst of breakers at this instant, and that we may go
on 'em at any moment!”

“The devil it is!” exclaimed Captain Crutchely, who
now appeared on the poop, and who caught the last part
of Bob Betts's speech. “Well, for my part, I hear nothing
out of the way, and I will swear the keenest-sighted man
on earth can see nothing.”

These words were scarcely out of the captain's mouth,
and had been backed by a senseless, mocking laugh from
Hillson, who was still muzzy, and quite as much asleep as
awake, when the deep and near roar of breakers was most
unequivocally heard. It came from to windward, too, and
abeam! This was proof that the ship was actually among
the breakers when Mark hauled up, and that she was now
passing a danger to leeward, that she must have previously
gone by, in running down on her course. The captain,
without waiting to consult with his cool and clear-headed
young mate, now shouted for all hands to be called, and
to “stand by to ware ship.” These orders came out so
fast, and in so peremptory a manner, that remonstrance
was out of the question, and Mark set himself at work to
obey them, in good earnest. He would have tacked in
preference to waring, and it would have been much wiser
to do so; but it was clearly expedient to get the ship on
the other tack, and he lent all his present exertions to the
attainment of that object. Waring is much easier done
than tacking, certainly; when it does not blow too fresh,
and there is not a dangerous sea on, no nautical manœuvre

[figure description] Page 045.[end figure description]

can be more readily effected, though room is absolutely
necessary to its success. This room was now wanting.
Just as the ship had got dead before the wind, and was
flying away to leeward, short as was the sail she was under,
the atmosphere seemed to be suddenly filled with a strange
light, the sea became white all around them, and a roar
of tumbling waters arose, that resembled the sound of a
small cataract. The ship was evidently in the midst of
breakers, and the next moment she struck!

The intense darkness of the night added to the horrors
of that awful moment. Nevertheless, the effect was to
arouse all that there was of manliness and seamanship in
Captain Crutchely, who from that instant appeared to be
himself again. His orders were issued coolly, clearly and
promptly, and they were obeyed as experienced mariners
will work at an instant like that. The sails were all clewed
up, and the heaviest of them were furled. Hillson was
ordered to clear away an anchor, while Mark was attending
to the canvas. In the mean time, the captain watched
the movements of the ship. He had dropped a lead alongside,
and by that he ascertained that they were still beating
ahead. The thumps were not very hard, and the white
water was soon left astern, none having washed on deck.
All this was so much proof that the place on which they
had struck must have had nearly water enough to float the
vessel, a fact that the lead itself corroborated. Fifteen
feet aft was all the Rancocus wanted, in her actual trim,
and the lead showed a good three fathoms, at times. It
was when the ship settled in the troughs of the sea that she
felt the bottom. Satisfied that his vessel was likely to beat
over the present difficulty, Captain Crutchely now gave
all his attention to getting her anchored as near the reef
and to leeward of it, as possible. The instant she went
clear, a result he now expected every moment, he was determined
to drop one of his bower anchors, and wait for
daylight, before he took any further steps to extricate himself
from the danger by which he was surrounded.

On the forecastle, the work went on badly, and thither
Captain Crutchely proceeded. The second-mate scarce
knew what he was about, and the captain took charge of
the duty himself. At the same time he issued an order to

[figure description] Page 046.[end figure description]

Mark to get up tackles, and to clear away the launch, preparatory
to getting that boat into the water. Hillson had
bent the cable wrong, and much of the work had to be
done over again. As soon as men get excited, as is apt
to be the case when they find serious blunders made at
critical moments, they are not always discreet. The precise
manner in which Captain Crutchely met with the
melancholy fate that befel him, was never known. It is
certain that he jumped down on the anchor-stock, the
anchor being a cock-bill, and that he ordered Mr. Hillson
off of it. While thus employed, and at an instant when
the cable was pronounced bent, and the men were in the
act of getting inboard, the ship made a heavy roll, breakers
again appeared all around her, the white foam rising nearly
to the level of her rails. The captain was seen no more.
There is little doubt that he was washed from the anchor-stock,
and carried away to leeward, in the midst of the
darkness of that midnight hour.

Mark was soon apprised of the change that had occurred,
and of the heavy responsibility that now rested on his young
shoulders. A feeling of horror and of regret came over
him, at first; but understanding the necessity of self-command,
he aroused himself, at once, to his duty, and gave
his orders coolly and with judgment. The first step was
to endeavour to save the captain. The jolly-boat was lowered,
and six men got in it, and passed ahead of the ship,
with this benevolent design. Mark stood on the bowsprit,
and saw them shoot past the bows of the vessel, and then,
almost immediately, become lost to view in the gloomy darkness
of the terrible scene. The men never re-appeared, a
common and an unknown fate thus sweeping away Captain
Crutchely and six of his best men, and all, as it might be,
in a single instant of time!

Notwithstanding these sudden and alarming losses, the
work went on. Hillson seemed suddenly to become conscious
of the necessity of exertion, and by giving his utmost
attention to hoisting out the launch, that boat was got
safely into the water. By this time the ship had beaten
so far over the reef, as scarcely to touch at all, and Mark
had everything ready for letting go his anchors, the instant
he had reason to believe she was in water deep enough to

[figure description] Page 047.[end figure description]

float her. The thumps grew lighter and lighter, and the
lead-line showed a considerable drift; so much so, indeed,
as to require its being hauled in and cast anew every minute.
Under all the circumstances, Mark expected each
instant, to find himself in four fathoms' water, and he intended
to let go the anchor the moment he was assured of
that fact. In the mean time, he ordered the carpenter to
sound the pumps. This was done, and the ship was reported
with only the customary quantity of water in the
well. As yet her bottom was not injured, materially at
least.

While Mark stood with the lead-line in his hand, anxiously
watching the drift of the vessel and the depth of
water, Hillson was employed in placing provisions in the
launch. There was a small amount of specie in the cabin,
and this, too, was transferred to the launch; everything
of that sort being done without Mark's knowledge, and by
the second-mate's orders. The former was on the forecastle,
waiting the proper moment to anchor; while all of the
after-part of the ship was at the mercy of the second-mate,
and a gang of the people, whom that officer had gathered
around him.

At length Mark found, to his great delight, that there
were four good fathoms of water under the ship's bows,
though she still hung abaft. He ascertained this fact by
means of Bob Betts, which true-hearted tar stood by him,
with a lantern, by swinging which low enough, the marks
were seen on the lead-line. Foot by foot the ship now
surged ahead, the seas being so much reduced in size and
power, by the manner in which they had been broken to
windward, as not to lift the vessel more than an inch or two
at a time. After waiting patiently a quarter of an hour,
Mark believed that the proper time had come, and he gave
the order to `let run.' The seaman stationed at the stopper
obeyed, and down went the anchor. It happened, opportunely
enough, that the anchor was thus dropped, just as
the keel cleared the bottom, and the cable being secured
at a short range, after forging ahead far enough to tighten
the latter, the vessel tended. In swinging to her anchor,
a roller came down upon her, however; one that had crossed
the reef without breaking, and broke on board her. Mark

[figure description] Page 048.[end figure description]

afterwards believed that the rush and weight of this sea,
which did no serious harm, frightened the men into the
launch, where Hillson was already in person, and that the
boat either struck adrift under the power of the roller, or
that the painter was imprudently cast off in the confusion
of the moment. He had got in as far as the windlass himself,
when the sea came aboard; and, as soon as he recovered
his sight after the ducking he received, he caught a
dim view of the launch, driving off to leeward, on the top
of a wave. Hailing was useless, and he stood gazing at
the helpless boat until it became lost, like everything else
that was a hundred yards from the ship, in the gloom of
night. Even then Mark was by no means conscious of
the extent of the calamity that had befallen him. It was
only when he had visited cabin, steerage and forecastle,
and called the crew over by name, that he reached the
grave fact that there was no one left on board the Rancocus
but Bob Betts and himself!

As Mark did not know what land was to be found to
leeward, he naturally enough hoped and expected that the
people in both boats might reach the shore, and be recovered
in the morning; but he had little expectation of ever
seeing Captain Crutchely again. The circumstances,
however, afforded him little time to reflect on these things,
and he gave his whole attention, for the moment, to the
preservation of the ship. Fortunately, the anchor held,
and, as the wind, which had never blown very heavily,
sensibly began to lessen, Mark was sanguine in the belief
it would continue to hold. Captain Crutchely had taken
the precaution to have the cable bitted at a short range,
with a view to keep it, as much as possible, off the bottom;
coral being known to cut the hempen cables that were altogether
in use, in that day, almost as readily as axes. In
consequence of this bit of foresight, the Rancocus lay at a
distance of less than forty fathoms from her anchor, which
Mark knew had been dropped in four fathoms' water. He
now sounded abreast of the main-mast, and ascertained
that the ship itself was in nine fathoms. This was cheering
intelligence, and when Bob Betts heard it, he gave it
as his opinion that all might yet go well with them, could
they only recover the six men who had gone to leeward in

[figure description] Page 049.[end figure description]

the jolly-boat. The launch had carried off nine of their
crew, which, previously to this night, had consisted of
nineteen, all told. This suggestion relieved Mark's mind
of a load of care, and he lent himself to the measures necessary
to the continued safety of the vessel, with renewed
animation and vigour.

The pump-well was once more sounded, and found to
be nearly empty. Owing to the nature of the bottom on
which they had struck, the lightness of the thumps, or the
strength of the ship herself, it was clear that the vessel
had thus far escaped without any material injury. For
this advantage Mark was deeply grateful, and could he
only recover four or five of the people, and find his way
out into open water, he might hope to live again to see
America, and to be re-united to his youthful and charming
bride.

The weather continued to grow more and more moderate,
and some time before the day returned the clouds
broke away, the drizzle ceased, and a permanent change
was to be expected. Mark now found new ground for
apprehensions, even in these favourable circumstances.
He supposed that the ship must feel the influence of the
tides, so near the land, and was afraid she might tail the
other way, and thus be brought again over the reef. In
order to obviate this difficulty, he and Bob set to work to
get another cable bent, and another anchor clear for letting
go. As all our readers may not be familiar with ships, it
may be well to say that vessels, as soon as they quit a coast
on a long voyage, unbend their cables and send them all
below, out of the way, while, at the same time, they stow
their anchors, as it is called; that is to say, get them from
under the cat-heads, from which they are usually suspended
when ready to let go, and where they are necessarily
altogether on the outside of the vessel, to positions
more inboard, where they are safer from the force of the
waves, and better secured. As all the anchors of the Rancocus
had been thus stowed, until Captain Crutchely got
the one that was down, off the gunwale, and all the cables
below, Mark and Bob had labour enough before them to
occupy several hours, in the job thus undertaken.

CHAPTER IV.

“Deep in the wave is a coral grove,
Where the purple mullet and gold fish rove,
Where the sea-flower spreads its leaves of blue,
That never are wet with falling dew,
But in bright and changeful beauty shine,
Far down in the green and grassy brine.”
Percival.

[figure description] Page 050.[end figure description]

Our young mate, and his sole assistant, Bob Betts, had
set about their work on the stream-cable and anchor, the
lightest and most manageable of all the ground-tackle in
the vessel. Both were strong and active, and both were
expert in the use of blocks, purchases, and handspikes;
but the day was seen lighting the eastern sky, and the anchor
was barely off the gunwale, and ready to be stoppered.
In the meanwhile the ship still tended in the right direction,
the wind had moderated to a mere royal-breeze, and
the sea had so far gone down as nearly to leave the vessel
without motion. As soon as perfectly convinced of the
existence of this favourable state of things, and of its being
likely to last, Mark ceased to work, in order to wait for
day, telling Bob to discontinue his exertions also. It was
fully time, for both of those vigorous and strong-handed
men were thoroughly fatigued with the toil of that eventful
morning.

The reader may easily imagine with what impatience
our two mariners waited the slow return of light. Each
minute seemed an hour, and it appeared to them as if the
night was to last for ever. But the earth performed its
usual revolution, and by degrees sufficient light was obtained
to enable Mark and Bob to examine the state of
things around them. In order to do this the better, each
went into a top, looking abroad from those elevations on
the face of the ocean, the different points of the reef, and
all that was then and there to be seen. Mark went up
forward, while Bob ascended into the main-top. The

[figure description] Page 051.[end figure description]

distance between them was so small, that there was no difficulty
in conversing, which they continued to do, as was
natural enough to men in their situation.

The first look that each of our mariners bestowed, after
he was in his top, was to leeward, which being to the
westward, was of course yet in the darkest point of the
horizon. They expected to obtain a sight of at least one
island, and that quite near to them, if not of a group. But
no land appeared! It is true, that it was still too dark to
be certain of a fact of this sort, though Mark felt quite
assured that if land was finally seen, it must be of no great
extent, and quite low. He called to Bob, to ascertain what
he thought of appearances to leeward, his reputation as a
look-out being so great.

“Wait a few minutes, sir, till we get a bit more day,”
answered his companion. “There is a look on the water,
about a league off here on the larboard quarter, that seems
as if something would come out of it. But, one thing can
be seen plain enough, Mr. Mark, and that 's the breakers.
There 's a precious line on 'em, and that too one within
another, as makes it wonderful how we ever got through
'em as well as we did!”

This was true enough, the light on the ocean to windward
being now sufficient to enable the men to see, in that
direction, to a considerable distance. It was that solemn
hour in the morning when objects first grow distinct, ere
they are touched with the direct rays from the sun, and
when everything appears as if coming to us fresh and renovated
from the hands of the Creator. The sea had so far
gone down as to render the breakers much less formidable
to the eye, than when it was blowing more heavily;
but this very circumstance made it impossible to mistake
their positions. In the actual state of the ocean, it was
certain that wherever water broke, there must be rocks or
shoals beneath; whereas, in a blow, the combing of an
ordinary sea might be mistaken for the white water of
some hidden danger. Many of the rocks, however, lay so
low, that the heavy, sluggish rollers that came undulating
along, scarce did more than show faint, feathery lines of
white, to indicate the character of the places across which
they were passing. Such was now the case with the reef

[figure description] Page 052.[end figure description]

over which the ship had beaten, the position of which could
hardly have been ascertained, or its danger discovered, at
the distance of half a mile. Others again were of a very
different character, the water still tumbling about them like
so many little cataracts. This variety was owing to the
greater depth at which some of the rocks lay than others.

As to the number of the reefs, and the difficulty in getting
through them, Bob was right enough. It often happens
that there is an inner and an outer reef to the islands
of the Pacific, particularly to those of coral formation; but
Mark began to doubt whether there was any coral at all
in the place where the Rancocus lay, in consequence of
the entire want of regularity in the position of these very
breakers. They were visible in all directions; not in continuous
lines, but in detached parts; one lying within
another, as Bob had expressed it, until the eye could not
reach their outer limits. How the ship had got so completely
involved within their dangerous embraces, without
going to pieces on a dozen of the reefs, was to him matter
of wonder; though it sometimes happens at sea, that dangers
are thus safely passed in darkness and fog, that no
man would be bold enough to encounter in broad daylight,
and with a full consciousness of their hazards. Such then
had been the sort of miracleby which the Rancocus had
escaped; though it was no more easy to see how she was
to be got out of her present position, than it was to see
how she had got into it. Bob was the first to make a remark
on this particular part of the subject.

“It will need a reg'lar branch here, Mr. Mark, to carry
the old Rancocus clear of all them breakers to sea again,”
he cried. “Our Delaware banks is just so many fools to
'em, sir!”

“It is a most serious position for a vessel to be in, Bob,”
answered Mark, sighing—“nor do I see how we are ever
to get clear of it, even should we get back men enough to
handle the ship.”

“I 'm quite of your mind, sir,” answered Bob, taking
out his tobacco-box, and helping himself to a quid. “Nor
would I be at all surprised should there turn out to be a
bit of land to leeward, if you and I was to Robinson Crusoe
it for the rest of our days. My good mother was always

[figure description] Page 053.[end figure description]

most awarse to my following the seas on account of that
very danger; most especially from a fear of the savages
from the islands round about.”

“We will look for our boats,” Mark gravely replied, the
image of Bridget, just at that instant, appearing before his
mind with a painful distinctness.

Both now turned their eyes again to leeward, the first
direct rays of the sun beginning to illumine the surface of
the ocean in that quarter. Something like a misty cloud
had been settled on the water, rather less than a league
from the ship, in the western board, and had hitherto prevented
a close examination in that part of the horizon.
The power of the sun, however, almost instantly dispersed
it, and then, for the first time, Bob fancied he did discover
something like land. Mark, however, could not make it
out, until he had gone up into the cross-trees, when he,
too, got a glimpse of what, under all the circumstances,
he did not doubt was either a portion of the reef that rose
above the water, or was what might be termed a low,
straggling island. Its distance from the ship, they estimated
at rather more than two leagues.

Both Mark and Bob remained aloft near an hour longer,
or until they had got the best possible view of which their
position would allow, of everything around the ship. Bob
went down, and took a glass up to his officer, Mark sweeping
the whole horizon with it, in the anxious wish to make
out something cheering in connection with the boats. The
drift of these unfortunate craft must have been towards the
land, and that he examined with the utmost care. Aided
by the glass, and his elevation, he got a tolerable view of
the spot, which certainly promised as little in the way of
supplies as any other bit of naked reef he had ever seen.
The distance, however, was so great as to prevent his obtaining
any certain information on that point. One thing,
however, he did ascertain, as he feared, with considerable
accuracy. After passing the glass along the whole of that
naked rock, he could see nothing on it in motion. Of
birds there were a good many, more indeed than from the
extent of the visible reef he might have expected; but no
signs of man could be discovered. As the ocean, in all
directions, was swept by the glass, and this single fragment

[figure description] Page 054.[end figure description]

of a reef, which was less than a mile in length, was the
only thing that even resembled land, the melancholy conviction
began to force itself on Mark and Bob, that all
their shipmates had perished! They might have perished
in one of several ways; as the naked reef did not lie precisely
to leeward of the ship, the boats may have driven
by it, in the deep darkness of the past night, and gone far
away out of sight of the spot where they had left the vessel,
long ere the return of day. There was just the possibility
that the spars of the ship might be seen by the wanderers,
if they were still living, and the faint hope of their regaining
the vessel, in the course of the day, by means of their
oars. It was, however, more probable that the boats had
capsized in some of the numerous fragments of breakers,
that were visible even in the present calm condition of the
ocean, and that all in them had been drowned. The best
swimmer must have hopelessly perished, in such a situation,
and in such a night, unless carried by a providential
interference to the naked rock to leeward. That no one
was living on that reef, the glass pretty plainly proved.

Mark and Bob Betts descended to the deck, after passing
a long time aloft making their observations. Both
were pretty well assured that their situation was almost
desperate, though each was too resolute, and too thoroughly
inbued with the spirit of a seaman, to give up while there
was the smallest shadow of hope. As it was now getting
past the usual breakfast hour, some cold meat was got out,
and, for the first time since Mark had been transferred to
the cabin, they sat down on the windlass and ate the meal
together. A little, however, satisfied men in their situation;
Bob Betts fairly owning that he had no appetite,
though so notorious at the ship's beef and a biscuit, as to
be often the subject of his messmates' jokes. That morning
even he could eat but little, though both felt it to be a
duty they owed to themselves to take enough to sustain
nature. It was while these two forlorn and desolate mariners
sat there on the windlass, picking, as it might be,
morsel by morsel, that they first entered into a full and
frank communication with each other, touching the realities
of their present situation. After a good deal had
passed between them, Mark suddenly asked—

[figure description] Page 055.[end figure description]

“Do you think it possible, Bob, for us two to take care
of the ship, should we even manage to get her into deep
water again?”

“Well, that is not so soon answered, Mr. Woolston,”
returned Bob. “We 're both on us stout, and healthy, and
of good courage, Mr. Mark; but 't would be a desperate
long way for two hands to carry a wessel of four hundred
tons, to take the old 'Cocus from this here anchorage, all
the way to the coast of America; and short of the coast
there 's no ra'al hope for us. Howsever, sir, that is a subject
that need give us no consarn.”

“I do not see that, Bob; we shall have to do it, unless
we fall in with something at sea, could we only once get
the vessel out from among these reefs.”

“Ay, ay, sir—could we get her out from among these
reefs, indeed! There 's the rub, Mr. Woolston; but I
fear 't will never be `rub and go.”'

“You think, then, we are too fairly in for it, ever to get
the ship clear?”

“Such is just my notion, Mr. Woolston, on that subject,
and I 've no wish to keep it a secret. In my judgment,
was poor Captain Crutchely alive and back at his post, and
all hands just as they was this time twenty-four hours since,
and the ship where she is now, that here she would have
to stay. Nothing short of kedging can ever take the wessel
clear of the reefs to windward on us, and man-of-war
kedging could hardly do it, then.”

“I am sorry to hear you say this,” answered Mark,
gloomily, “though I feared as much myself.”

“Men is men, sir, and you can get no more out on 'em
than is in 'em. I looked well at these reefs, sir, when
aloft, and they 're what I call as hopeless affairs as ever I
laid eyes on. If they lay in any sort of way, a body might
have some little chance of getting through 'em, but they
don't lay, no how. 'T would be `luff' and `keep her
away' every half minute or so, should we attempt to beat
up among 'em; and who is there aboard here to brace up,
and haul aft, and ease off, and to swing yards sich as
our'n?”

“I was not altogether without the hope, Bob, of getting
the ship into clear water; though I have thought it would

[figure description] Page 056.[end figure description]

be done with difficulty. I am still of opinion we had better
try it, for the alternative is a very serious matter.”

“I don't exactly understand what you mean by attorneytives,
Mr. Mark; though it 's little harm, or little good
that any attorney can do the old 'Cocus, now! But, as
for getting this craft through them reefs, to windward, and
into clear water, it surpasses the power of man. Did you
just notice the tide-ripples, Mr. Mark, when you was up
in the cross-trees?”

“I saw them, Bob, and am fully aware of the difficulty
of running as large a vessel as this among them, even with
a full crew. But what will become of us, unless we get
the ship into open water?”

“Sure enough, sir. I see no other hope for us, Mr.
Mark, but to Robinson Crusoe it awhile, until our times
come; or, till the Lord, in his marcy, shall see fit to have
us picked up.”

“Robinson Crusoe it!” repeated Mark, smiling at the
quaintness of Bob's expression, which the well-meaning
fellow uttered in all simplicity, and in perfect good faith—
“where are we to find even an uninhabited island, on
which to dwell after the mode of Robinson Crusoe?”

“There 's a bit of a reef to leeward, where I dare say a
man might pick up a living, arter a fashion,” answered
Bob, coolly; “then, here is the ship.”

“And how long would a hempen cable hold the ship in
a place like this, where every time the vessel lifts to a sea,
the clench is chafing on a rock? No, no, Bob—the ship
cannot long remain where she is, depend on that. We
must try and pass down to leeward, if we cannot beat the
ship through the dangers to windward.”

“Harkee, Mr. Mark; I thought this matter over in my
mind, while we was aloft, and this is my idee as to what
is best to be done, for a start. There 's the dingui on the
poop, in as good order as ever a boat was. She will easily
carry two on us, and, on a pinch, she might carry half a
dozen. Now, my notion is to get the dingui into the
water, to put a breaker and some grub in her, and to pull
down to that bit of a reef, and have a survey of it. I 'll
take the sculls going down, and you can keep heaving the
lead, by way of finding out if there be sich a thing as a

[figure description] Page 057.[end figure description]

channel in that direction. If the ship is ever to be moved
by us two, it must be by going to leeward, and not by attempting
to turn up ag'in wind and tide among them 'ere
rocks, out here to the eastward. No, sir; let us take the
dingui, and surwey the reef, and look for our shipmates;
a'ter which we can best tell what to undertake, with some
little hope of succeeding. The weather seems settled, and
the sooner we are off the better.”

This proposal struck Mark's young mind as plausible,
as well as discreet. To recover even a single man would
be a great advantage, and he had lingering hopes that some
of the people might yet be found on the reef. Then Bob's
idea about getting the ship through the shoal water, by
passing to leeward, in preference to making the attempt
against the wind, was a sound one; and, on a little reflection,
he was well enough disposed to acquiesce in it. Accordingly,
when they quitted the windlass, they both set
about putting this project in execution.

The dingui was no great matter of a boat, and they had
not much difficulty in getting it into the water. First by
slinging, it was swayed high enough to clear the rail, when
Bob bore it over the side, and Mark lowered away. It
was found to be tight, Captain Crutchely having kept it
half full of water ever since they got into the Pacific, and
in other respects it was in good order. It was even provided
with a little sail, which did very well before the
wind. While Bob saw to provisioning the boat, and filling
its breakers with fresh water, Mark attended to another
piece of duty that he conceived to be of the last importance.
The Rancocus carried several guns, an armament
prepared to repel the savages of the sandal-wood islands,
and these guns were all mounted and in their places.
There were two old-fashioned sixes, and eight twelve-pound
carronades. The first made smart reports when properly
loaded. Our young mate now got the keys of the magazine,
opened it, and brought forth three cartridges, with
which he loaded three of the guns. These guns he fired,
with short intervals between them, in hopes that the reports
would be carried to the ears of some of the missing people,
and encourage them to make every effort to return. The
roar of artillery sounded strangely enough in the midst of

[figure description] Page 058.[end figure description]

that vast solitude; and Bob Betts, who had often been in
action, declared that he was much affected by it. As no
immediate result was expected from the firing of these
guns, Mark had no sooner discharged them, than he joined
Betts, who by this time had everything ready, and prepared
to quit the ship. Before he did this, however, he made an
anxious and careful survey of the weather, it being all-important
to be certain no change in this respect was likely
to occur in his absence. All the omens were favourable,
and Bob reporting for the third time that everything was
ready, the young man went over the side, and descended,
with a reluctance he could not conceal, into the boat.
Certainly, it was no trifling matter for men in the situation
of our two mariners, to leave their vessel all alone, to be
absent for a large portion of the day. It was to be done,
however; though it was done reluctantly, and not without
many misgivings, in spite of the favourable signs in the
atmosphere.

When Mark had taken his seat in the dingui, Bob let go
his hold of the ship, and set the sail. The breeze was
light, and fair to go, though it was by no means so certain
how it would serve them on the return. Previously to
quitting the ship, Mark had taken a good look at the
breakers to leeward, in order to have some general notion
of the course best to steer, and he commenced his little
voyage, but entirely without a plan for his own government.
The breakers were quite as numerous to leeward
as to windward, but the fact of there being so many of
them made smooth water between them. A boat, or a ship,
that was once fairly a league or so within the broken lines
of rocks, was like a vessel embayed, the rollers of the open
ocean expending their force on the outer reefs, and coming
in much reduced in size and power. Still the uneasy
ocean, even in its state of rest, is formidable at the points
where its waters meet with rocks, or sands, and the breakers
that did exist, even as much embayed as was the dingui,
were serious matters for so small a boat to encounter. It
was necessary, consequently, to steer clear of them, lest
they should capsize, or fill, this, the only craft of the sort
that now belonged to the vessel, the loss of which would
be a most serious matter indeed.

[figure description] Page 059.[end figure description]

The dingui slided away from the ship with a very easy
movement. There was just about as much wind as so
small a craft needed, and Bob soon began to sound, Mark
preferring to steer. It was, however, by no means easy to
sound in so low a boat, while in such swift motion; and
Bob was compelled to give it up. As they should be
obliged to return with the oars, Mark observed that then
he would feel his way back to the ship. Nevertheless, the
few casts of the lead that did succeed, satisfied our mariners
that there was much more than water enough for the
Rancocus, between the reefs. On them, doubtless it would
turn out to be different.

Mark met with more difficulty than he had anticipated
in keeping the dingui out of the breakers. So very smooth
was the sort of bay he was in—a bay by means of the reefs
to windward, though no rock in that direction rose above
the surface of the sea—so very smooth, then, was the sort
of bay he was in, that the water did not break, in many
places, except at long intervals; and then only when a
roller heavier than common found its way in from the
outer ocean. As a consequence, the breakers that did
suddenly show themselves from a cause like this, were the
heaviest of all, and the little dingui would have fared badly
had it been caught on a reef, at the precise moment when
such a sea tumbled over in foam. This accident was very
near occurring once or twice, but it was escaped, more by
providential interference than by any care or skill in the
adventurers.

It is very easy to imagine the intense interest with which
our two mariners drew near to the visible reef. Their
observations from the cross-trees of the ship, had told them
this was all the land anywhere very near them, and if they
did not find their lost shipmates here, they ought not to
expect to find them at all. Then this reef, or island, was
of vast importance in other points of view. It might become
their future home; perhaps for years, possibly for
life. The appearances of the sunken reefs, over and among
which he had just passed, had greatly shaken Mark's hope
of ever getting the ship from among them, and he even
doubted the possibility of bringing her down, before the
wind, to the place where he was then going. All these

[figure description] Page 060.[end figure description]

considerations, which began to press more and more painfully
on his mind, each foot as he advanced, served to increase
the intensity of the interest with which he noted
every appearance on, or about, the reef, or island, that he
was now approaching. Bob had less feeling on the subject.
He had less imagination, and foresaw consequences
and effects less vividly than his officer, and was more accustomed
to the vicissitudes of a seaman's life. Then he
had left no virgin bride at home, to look for his return;
and had moreover made up his mind that it was the will
of Providence that he and Mark were to `Robinson Crusoe
it' awhile on `that bit of a reef.' Whether they should
ever be rescued from so desolate a place, was a point on
which he had not yet begun to ponder.

The appearances were anything but encouraging, as the
dingui drew nearer and nearer to the naked part of the reef.
The opinions formed of this place, by the examination made
from the cross-trees, turned out to be tolerably accurate,
in several particulars. It was just about a mile in length,
while its breadth varied from half a mile to less than an
eighth of a mile. On its shores, the rock along most of
the reef rose but a very few feet above the surface of the
water, though at its eastern, or the weather extremity, it
might have been of more than twice the usual height; its
length lay nearly east and west. In the centre of this
island, however, there was a singular formation of the rock,
which appeared to rise to an elevation of something like
sixty or eighty feet, making a sort of a regular circular
mound of that height, which occupied no small part of the
widest portion of the island. Nothing like tree, shrub, or
grass, was visible, as the boat drew near enough to render
such things apparent. Of aquatic birds there were a good
many; though even they did not appear in the numbers
that are sometimes seen in the vicinity of uninhabited
islands. About certain large naked rocks, at no great distance
however from the principal reef, they were hovering
in thousands.

At length the little dingui glided in quite near to the
island. Mark was at first surprised to find so little surf
beating against even its weather side, but this was accounted
for by the great number of the reefs that lay for

[figure description] Page 061.[end figure description]

miles without it; and, particularly, by the fact that one
line of rock stretched directly across this weather end,
distant from it only two cables' lengths, forming a pretty
little sheet of perfectly smooth water between it and the
island. Of course, to do this, the line of reef just mentioned
must come very near the surface; as in fact was the
case, the rock rising so high as to be two or three feet out
of water on the ebb, though usually submerged on the flood.
The boat was obliged to pass round one end of this lastnamed
reef, where there was deep water, and then to haul
its wind a little in order to reach the shore.

It would be difficult to describe the sensations with
which Mark first landed. In approaching the place, both
he and Bob had strained their eyes in the hope of seeing
some proof that their shipmates had been there; but no
discovery rewarded their search. Nothing was seen, on
or about the island, to furnish the smallest evidence that
either of the boats had touched it. Mark found that he
was treading on naked rock when he had landed, though
the surface was tolerably smooth. The rock itself was of
a sort to which he was unaccustomed: and he began to suspect,
what in truth turned out on further investigation to
be the fact, that instead of being on a reef of coral, he was
on one of purely volcanic origin. The utter nakedness of
the rock both surprised and grieved him. On the reefs, in
every direction, considerable quantities of sea-weed had
lodged, temporarily at least; but none of it appeared to
have found its way to this particular place. Nakedness
and dreariness were the two words which best described
the island; the only interruption to its solitude and desolation
being occasioned by the birds, which now came
screaming and flying above the heads of the intruders,
showing both by their boldness and their cries, that they
were totally unacquainted with men.

The mound, in the centre of the reef, was an object too
conspicuous to escape attention, and our adventurers approached
it at once, with the expectation of getting a better
look-out from its summit, than that they had on the lower
level of the surface of the ordinary reef. Thither then
they proceeded, accompanied by a large flight of the birds
Neither Mark nor Bob, however, had neglected to turn

[figure description] Page 062.[end figure description]

his eyes towards the now distant ship, which was apparently
riding at its anchor, in exactly the condition in
which it had been left, half an hour before. In that quarter
all seemed right, and Mark led the way to the mount,
with active and eager steps.

On reaching the foot of this singular elevation, our adventurers
found it would not be so easy a matter as they
had fancied, to ascend it. Unlike the rest of the reef
which they had yet seen, it appeared to be composed of a
crumbling rock, and this so smooth and perpendicular as to
render it extremely difficult to get up. A place was found
at length, however, and by lending each other a hand,
Mark and Bob finally got on the summit. Here a surprise
was ready for them, that drew an exclamation from each,
the instant the sight broke upon him. Instead of finding
an elevated bit of table-rock, as had been expected, a circular
cavity existed within, that Mark at once recognised
to be the extinct crater of a volcano! After the first astonishment
was over, Mark made a close examination of
the place.

The mound, or barrier of lava and scoriæ that composed
the outer wall of this crater, was almost mathematically
circular. Its inner precipice was in most places absolutely
perpendicular, though overhanging in a few; there being
but two or three spots where an active man could descend
in safety. The area within might contain a hundred acres,
while the wall preserved a very even height of about sixty
feet, falling a little below this at the leeward side, where
there existed one narrow hole, or passage, on a level with
the bottom of the crater; a sort of gateway, by which to
enter and quit the cavity. This passage had no doubt
been formed by the exit of lava, which centuries ago had
doubtless broken through at this point, and contributed to
form the visible reef beyond. The height of this hole was
some twenty feet, having an arch above it, and its width
may have been thirty. When Mark got to it, which he
did by descending the wall of the crater, not without risk
to his neck, he found the surface of the crater very even
and unbroken, with the exception of its having a slight
descent from its eastern to its western side; or from the
side opposite to the outlet, or gateway, to the gateway

[figure description] Page 063.[end figure description]

itself. This inclination Mark fancied was owing to the
circumstance that the water of the ocean had formerly entered
at the hole, in uncommonly high tides and tempests,
and washed the ashes which had once formed the bottom
of the crater, towards the remote parts of the plain. These
ashes had been converted by time into a soft, or friable
rock, composing a stone that is called tufa. If there had
ever been a cone in the crater, as was probably the case,
it had totally disappeared under the action of time and the
wear of the seasons. Rock, however, the bed of the crater
could scarcely be yet considered, though it had a crust
which bore the weight of a man very readily, in nearly
every part of it. Once or twice Mark broke through, as
one would fall through rotten ice, when he found his shoes
covered with a light dust that much resembled ashes. In
other places he broke this crust on purpose, always finding
beneath it a considerable depth of ashes, mingled with
some shells, and a few small stones.

That the water sometimes flowed into this crater was
evident by a considerable deposit of salt, which marked
the limits of the latest of these floods. This salt had probably
prevented vegetation. The water, however, never
could have entered from the sea, had not the lava which
originally made the outlet left a sort of channel that was
lower than the surface of the outer rocks. It might be
nearer to the real character of the phenomenon were we
to say, that the lava which had broken through the barrier
at this point, and tumbled into the sea, had not quite filled
the channel which it rather found than formed, when it
ceased to flow. Cooling in that form, an irregular crevice
was left, through which the element no doubt still occasionally
entered, when the adjacent ocean got a sufficient
elevation. Mark observed that, from some cause or other,
the birds avoided the crater. It really seemed to him that
their instincts warned them of the dangers that had once
environed the place, and that, to use the language of sailors,
“they gave it a wide berth,” in consequence. Whatever
may have been the cause, such was the fact; few even
flying over it, though they were to be seen in hundreds, in
the air all round it.

CHAPTER V.

“The king's son have I landed by himself;
Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs
In an odd angle of the isle, and sitting,
His arms in this sad knot.”
Tempest.

[figure description] Page 064.[end figure description]

Having completed this first examination of the crater,
Mark and Bob next picked their way again to the summit
of its wall, and took their seats directly over the arch.
Here they enjoyed as good a look-out as the little island
afforded, not only of its own surface, but of the surrounding
ocean. Mark now began to comprehend the character
of the singular geological formation, into the midst of
which the Rancocus had been led, as it might almost be
by the hand of Providence itself. He was at that moment
seated on the topmost pinnacle of a submarine mountain
of volcanic origin — submarine as to all its elevations,
heights and spaces, with the exception of the crater where
he had just taken his stand, and the little bit of visible and
venerable lava, by which it was surrounded. It is true
that this lava rose very near the surface of the ocean, in
fifty places that he could see at no great distance, forming
the numberless breakers that characterized the place; but,
with the exception of Mark's Reef, as Bob named the
principal island on the spot, two or three detached islets
within a cable's-length of it, and a few little more remote,
the particular haunts of birds, no other land was visible,
far or near.

As Mark sat there, on that rock of concrete ashes, he
speculated on the probable extent of the shoals and reefs
by which he was surrounded. Judging by what he then
saw, and recalling the particulars of the examination made
from the cross-trees of the ship, he supposed that the dangers
and difficulties of the navigation must extend, in an
east and west direction, at least twelve marine leagues;

[figure description] Page 065.[end figure description]

while, in a north and south, the distance seemed to be a
little, and a very little less. There was necessarily a good
deal of conjecture in this estimate of the extent of the volcanic
mountain which composed these extensive shoals;
but, from what he saw, from the distance the ship was
known to have run amid the dangers before she brought
up, her present anchorage, the position of the island, and
all the other materials before him to make his calculation
on, Mark believed himself rather to have lessened than to
have exaggerated the extent of these shoals. Had the
throes of the earth, which produced this submerged rock,
been a little more powerful, a beautiful and fertile island,
of very respectable dimensions, would probably have been
formed in its place.

From the time of reaching the reef, which is now to
bear his name in all future time, our young seaman had
begun to admit the bitter possibility of being compelled to
pass the remainder of his days on it. How long he and
his companion could find the means of subsistence in a
place so barren, was merely matter of conjecture; but so
long as Providence should furnish these means, was it
highly probable that solitary and little-favoured spot was
to be their home. It is unnecessary to state with what
bitter regrets the young bridegroom admitted this painful
idea; but Mark was too manly and resolute to abandon
himself to despair, even at such a moment. He kept his
sorrows pent up in the repository of his own bosom, and
endeavoured to imitate the calm exterior of his companion.
As for Bob, he was a good deal of a philosopher by nature;
and, having made up his mind that they were doomed to
`Robinson Crusoe it,' for a few years at least, he was already
turning over in his thoughts the means of doing so to
the best advantage. Under such circumstances, and with
such feelings, it is not at all surprising that their present
situation and their future prospects soon became the subject
of discourse, between these two solitary seamen.

“We are fairly in for it, Mr. Mark,” said Bob, “and
differ from Robinson only in the fact that there are two of
us; whereas he was obliged to set up for himself, and by
himself, until he fell in with Friday!”

“I wish I could say that was the only difference in our

[figure description] Page 066.[end figure description]

conditions, Betts, but it is very far from being so. In the
first place he had an island, while we have little more than
a reef; he had soil, while we have naked rock; he had
fresh water, and we have none; he had trees, while we
have not even a spear of grass. All these circumstances
make out a case most desperately against us.”

“You speak truth, sir; yet is there light ahead. We
have a ship, sound and tight as the day she sailed; while
Robinson lost his craft under his feet. As long as there
is a plank afloat, a true salt never gives up.”

“Ay, Bob, I feel that, as strongly as you can yourself;
nor do I mean to give up, so long as there is reason to
think God has not entirely deserted us. But that ship is
of no use, in the way of returning to our friends and home;
or, of no use as a ship. The power of man could scarcely
extricate her from the reefs around her.”

“It 's a bloody bad berth,” said Bob, squirting the saliva
of his tobacco half-way down the wall of the crater, “that
I must allow. Howsomever, the ship will be of use in a
great many ways, Mr. Mark, if we can keep her afloat,
even where she is. The water that 's in her will last us
two a twelvemonth, if we are a little particular about it;
and when the rainy season sets in, as the rainy season will
be sure to do in this latitude, we can fill up for a fresh
start. Then the ship will be a house for us to live in, and
a capital good house, too. You can live aft, sir, and I 'll
take my swing in the forecastle, just as if nothing had
happened.”

“No, no, Bob; there is an end of all such distinctions
now. Misery, like the grave, brings all upon a level.
You and I commenced as messmates, and we are likely to
end as messmates. There is a use to which the ship may
be put, however, that you have not mentioned, and to
which we must look forward as our best hope for this world.
She may be broken up by us, and we may succeed in
building a craft large enough to navigate these mild seas,
and yet small enough to be taken through, or over the
reefs. In that way, favoured by Divine Providence, we
may live to see our friends again.”

“Courage, Mr. Mark, courage, sir. I know it must be
hard on the feelin's of a married man, like yourself, that

[figure description] Page 067.[end figure description]

has left a perfect pictur' behind him, to believe he is never
to return to his home again. But I don't believe that such
is to be our fate. I never heard of such an end to a Crusoe
party. Even Robinson, himself, got off at last, and had a
desperate hard journey of it, after he hauled his land-tacks
aboard. I like that idee of the new craft 'specially well,
and will lend a hand to help you through with it with all
my heart. I 'm not much of a carpenter, it 's true; nor do
I suppose you are anything wonderful with the broad-axe
and adze; but two willing and stout men, who has got
their lives to save, can turn their hands to almost anything.
For my part, sir, since I was to be wrecked and to Robinson
it awhile, I 'm gratefully thankful that I 've got you for
a companion, that 's all!”

Mark smiled at this oblique compliment, but he felt well
assured that Bob meant all for the best. After a short
pause, he resumed the discourse by saying—

“I have been thinking, Bob, of the possibility of getting
the ship safely down as far as this island. Could we but
place her to leeward of that last reef off the weather end
of the island, she might lie there years, or until she fell to
pieces by decay. If we are to attempt building a decked
boat, or anything large enough to ride out a gale in, we
shall want more room than the ship's decks to set it up in.
Besides, we could never get a craft of those dimensions
off the ship's decks, and must, of necessity, build it in
some place where it may be launched. Our dingui would
never do to be moving backward and forward, so great a
distance, for it will carry little more than ourselves. All
things considered, therefore, I am of opinion we can do
nothing better to begin with, than to try to get the ship
down here, where we have room, and may carry out our
plans to some advantage.”

Bob assented at once to this scheme, and suggested one
or two ideas in approbation of it, that were new even to
Mark. Thus, it was evident to both, that if the ship herself
were ever to get clear of the reef, it must be by passing
out to leeward; and by bringing her down to the island so
much would be gained on the indispensable course. Thus,
added Bob, she might be securely moored in the little bay
to windward of the island; and, in the course of time it

[figure description] Page 068.[end figure description]

was possible that by a thorough examination of the channels
to the westward, and by the use of buoys, a passage
might be found, after all, that would carry them out to sea.
Mark had little hope of ever getting the Rancocus extricated
from the maze of rocks into which she had so blindly
entered, and where she probably never could have come
but by driving over some of them; but he saw many advantages
in this plan of removing the ship, that increased
in number and magnitude the more he thought on the
subject. Security to the fresh water was one great object
to be attained. Should it come on to blow, and the ship
drift down upon the rocks to leeward of her, she would
probably go to pieces in an hour or two, when not only all
the other ample stores that she contained, but every drop
of sweet water at the command of the two seamen, would
inevitably be lost. So important did it appear to Mark to
make sure of a portion of this great essential, at least, that
he would have proposed towing down to the reef, or island,
a few casks, had the dingui been heavy enough to render
such a project practicable. After talking over these several
points still more at large, Mark and Bob descended from
the summit of the crater, made half of its circuit, and returned
to their boat.

As the day continued calm, Mark was in no hurry, but
passed half an hour in sounding the little bay that was
formed by the sunken rocks that lay off the eastern, or
weather end of the Crater Reef, as, in a spirit of humility,
he insisted on calling that which everybody else now calls
Mark's Reef. Here he not only found abundance of water
for all he wanted, but to his surprise he also found a sandy
bottom, formed no doubt by the particles washed from the
surrounding rocks under the never-ceasing abrasion of the
waves. On the submerged reef there were only a few inches
of water, and our mariners saw clearly that it was possible
to secure the ship in this basin, in a very effectual manner,
could they only have a sufficiency of good weather in which
to do it.

After surveying the basin, itself, with sufficient care,
Bob pulled the dingui back towards the ship, Mark sounding
as they proceeded. But two difficulties were found
between the points that it was so desirable to bring in

[figure description] Page 069.[end figure description]

communication with each other. One of these difficulties
consisted in a passage between two lines of reef, that ran
nearly parallel for a quarter of a mile, and which were
only half a cable's-length asunder. There was abundance
of water between these reefs, but the difficulty was in the
course, and in the narrowness of the passage. Mark
passed through the latter four several times, sounding it,
as it might be, foot by foot, and examining the bottom with
the eye; for, in that pellucid water, with the sun near the
zenith, it was possible to see two or three fathoms down,
and nowhere did he find any other obstacle than this just
mentioned. Nor was any buoy necessary, the water breaking
over the southern end of the outer, and over the northern
end of the inner ledge, and nowhere else near by, thus
distinctly noting the very two points where it would be
necessary to alter the course.

The second obstacle was much more serious than that
just described. It was a reef with a good deal of water
over most of it; so much, indeed, that the sea did not
break unless in heavy gales, but not enough to carry a
ship like the Rancocus over, except in one, and that a very
contracted pass, of less than a hundred feet in width.
This channel it would be indispensably necessary to buoy,
since a variation from the true course of only a few fathoms
would infallibly produce the loss of the ship. All the rest
of the distance was easily enough made by a vessel standing
down, by simply taking care not to run into visible
breakers.

Mark and Bob did not get back to the Rancocus until
near three o'clock. They found everything as they had
left it, and the pigs, poultry and goat, glad enough to see
them, and beginning to want their victuals and drink.
The two first are to be found on board of every ship, but
the last is not quite so usual. Captain Crutchely had
brought one along to supply milk for his tea, a beverage
that, oddly enough, stood second only to grog in his favour.
After Bob had attended to the wants of the brute animals,
he and Mark again sat down on the windlass to make
another cold repast on broken meat—as yet, they had not
the hearts to cook anything. As soon as this homely meal
was taken Mark placed a couple of buoys in the dingui,

[figure description] Page 070.[end figure description]

with the pig-iron that was necessary to anchor them, and
proceeded to the spot on the reef, where it was proposed
to place them.

Our mariners were quite an hour in searching for the
channel, and near another in anchoring the buoys in a way
to render the passage perfectly safe. As soon as this was
done, Bob pulled back to the ship, which was less than a
mile distant, as fast as he could, for there was every appearance
of a change of weather. The moment was one,
now, that demanded great coolness and decision. Not
more than an hour of day remained, and the question was
whether to attempt to move the ship that night, when the
channel and its marks were all fresh in the minds of the
two seamen, and before the foul weather came, or to trust
to the cable that was down to ride out any blow that might
happen. Mark, young as he was, thought justly on most
professional subjects. He knew that heavy rollers would
come in across the reef where the vessel then lay, and was
fearful that the cable would chafe and part, should it come
on to blow hard for four-and-twenty hours continually.
These rollers, he also knew by the observation of that day,
were completely broken and dispersed on the rocks, before
they got down to the island, and he believed the chances
of safety much greater by moving the ship at once, than
by trying the fortune of another night out where she then
lay. Bob submitted to this decision precisely as if Mark
was still his officer, and no sooner got his orders than he
sprang from sail to sail, and rope to rope, like a cat playing
among the branches of some tree. In that day, spensers
were unknown, staysails doing their duty. Thus Bob
loosed the jib, main-topmast and mizen-staysails, and saw
the spanker clear for setting. While he was thus busied,
Mark was looking to the stopper and shank-painter of the
sheet-anchor, which had been got ready to let go, before
Captain Crutchely was lost. He even succeeded in getting
that heavy piece of metal a cock-bill, without calling
on Bob for assistance.

It was indeed time for them to be in a hurry; for the
wind began to come in puffs, the sun was sinking into a
bank of clouds, and all along the horizon to windward the
sky looked dark and menacing. Once Mark changed his

[figure description] Page 071.[end figure description]

mind, determining to hold on, and let go the sheet-anchor
where he was, should it become necessary; but a lull
tempted him to proceed. Bob shouted out that all was
ready, and Mark lifted the axe with which he was armed,
and struck a heavy blow on the cable. That settled the
matter; an entire strand was separated, and three or four
more blows released the ship from her anchor. Mark now
sprang to the jib-halliards, assisting Bob to hoist the sail.
This was no sooner done than he went aft to the wheel,
where he arrived in time to help the ship to fall off. The
spanker was next got out as well as two men could do it
in a hurry, and then Bob went forward to tend the jib-sheet,
and to look out for the buoys.

It was indispensable in such a navigation to make no
mistake, and Mark enjoined the utmost vigilance on his
friend. Twenty times did he hail to inquire if the buoys
were to be seen, and at last he was gratified by an answer
in the affirmative.

“Keep her away, Mr. Mark—keep her away, you may,
sir; we are well to windward of the channel. Ay, that 'll
do, Mr. Woolston—that 's your beauty, sir. Can't you get
a sight of them b'ys yourself, sir?”

“Not just yet, Bob, and so much the greater need that
you should look out the sharper. Give the ship plenty of
room, and I 'll let her run down for the passage, square for
the channel.”

Bob now ran aft, telling the mate he had better go on
the forecastle himself and conn the ship through the passage,
which was a place he did not like. Mark was vexed
that the change should be made just at that critical instant,
but bounding forward, he was between the knight-heads
in half a minute, looking out for the buoys. At first, he
could not see them; and then he most felt the imprudence
of Bob's quitting his post in such a critical instant. In
another minute, however, he found one; and presently the
other came in sight, fearfully close, as it now appeared to
our young mariner, to its neighbour. The position of the
ship, nevertheless, was sufficiently to windward, leaving
plenty of room to keep off in. As soon as the ship was far
enough ahead, Mark called out to Bob to put his helm
hard up. This was done, and away the Rancocus went,

[figure description] Page 072.[end figure description]

Mark watching her with the utmost vigilance, lest she
should sheer a little too much to the one side or to the
other. He hardly breathed as the vessel glided down upon
these two black sentinels, and, for an instant, he fancied
the wind or the current had interfered with their positions.
It was now too late, however, to attempt any change, and
Mark saw the ship surging onward on the swells of the
ocean, which made their way thus far within the reefs,
with a greater intensity of anxiety than he had ever before
experienced in his life. Away went the ship, and each
time she settled in the water, our young man expected to
hear her keel grating on the bottom, but it did not touch.
Presently the buoys were on her quarters, and then Mark
knew that the danger of this one spot was passed!

The next step was to find the southern end of the outer
ledge that formed the succeeding passage. This was not
done until the ship was close aboard of it. A change had
come over the spot within the last few hours, in consequence
of the increase of wind, the water breaking all
along the ledge, instead of on its end only; but Mark
cared not for this, once certain he had found that end.
He was now half-way between his former anchorage and
the crater, and he could distinguish the latter quite plainly.
But sail was necessary to carry the ship safely through the
channel ahead, and Mark called to Bob to lash the helm
a-midships after luffing up to his course, and to spring to
the main-topmast staysail halliards, and help him hoist the
sail. This was soon done, and the new sail was got up,
and the sheet hauled aft. Next followed the mizen staysail,
which was spread in the same manner. Bob then
flew to the wheel, and Mark to his knight-heads again.
Contrary to Mark's apprehensions, he saw that the ship
was luffing up close to the weather ledge, leaving little
danger of her going on to it. As soon as met by the helm,
however, she fell off, and Mark no longer had any doubt
of weathering the northern end of the inner ledge of this
passage. The wind coming in fresher puffs, this was soon
done, when the ship was kept dead away for the crater.
There was the northern end of the reef, which formed the
inner basin of all, to double, when that which remained to
do was merely to range far enough within the reef to get

[figure description] Page 073.[end figure description]

a cover, and to drop the anchor. In order to do this with
success, Mark now commenced hauling down the jib. By
the time he had that sail well in, the ship was off the end
of the sunken reef, when Bob put his helm a-starboard and
rounded it. Down came the main-topmast staysail, and
Mark jumped on the forecastle, while he called out to Bob
to lash the helm a-lee. In an instant Bob was at the young
man's side, and both waited for the ship to luff into the
wind, and to forge as near as possible to the reef. This
was successfully done also, and Mark let go the stopper
within twenty feet of the wall of the sunken reef, just as
the ship began to drive astern. The canvas was rolled up
and secured, the cable payed out, until the ship lay just
mid-channel between the island and the sea-wall without,
and the whole secured. Then Bob took off his tarpaulin
and gave three cheers, while Mark walked aft, silently
returning thanks to God for the complete success of this
important movement.

Important most truly was this change. Not only was
the ship anchored, with her heaviest anchor down, and
her best cable out, in good holding ground, and in a basin
where very little swell ever penetrated, and that entering
laterally and diminished in force; but there she was within
a hundred and fifty feet of the island, at all times accessible
by means of the dingui, a boat that it would not do to trust
in the water at all outside when it blew in the least fresh.
In short, it was scarcely possible to have a vessel in a safer
berth, so long as her spars and hull were exposed to the
gales of the ocean, or one that was more convenient to
those who used the island. By getting down her spars and
other hamper, the power of the winds would be much
lessened, though Mark felt little apprehension of the winds
at that season of the year, so long as the sea could not
make a long rake against the vessel. He believed the ship
safe for the present, and felt the hope of still finding a passage,
through the reef to leeward, reviving in his breast.

Well might Mark and Bob rejoice in the great feat they
had just performed. That night it blew so heavily as to
leave little doubt that the ship never could have been kept
at her anchor, outside; and had she struck adrift in the
darkness, nothing could have saved them from almost

[figure description] Page 074.[end figure description]

immediate destruction. The rollers came down in tremendous
billows, breaking and roaring on all sides of the island,
rendering the sea white with their foam, even at midnight;
but, on reaching the massive, natural wall that protected
the Rancocus, they dashed themselves into spray against
it, wetting the vessel from her truck down, but doing her
no injury. Mark remained on deck until past twelve
o'clock, when finding that the gale was already breaking,
he turned in and slept soundly until morning. As for Bob,
he had taken his watch below early in the evening, and
there he remained undisturbed until the appearance of
day, when he turned out of his own accord.

Mark took another look at the sea, reefs and islands,
from the main-topmast cross-trees of the ship, as she lay
in her new berth. Of course, the range of his vision was
somewhat altered by this change of position, and especially
did he see a greater distance to the westward, or towards
the lee side of the reefs. Nothing encouraging was made
out, however; the young man rather inclining more to the
opinion than he had ever done before, that the vessel could
not be extricated from the rocks which surrounded her.
With this conviction strongly renewed, he descended to
the deck, to share in the breakfast Bob had set about preparing,
the moment he quitted his cat-tails; for Bob insisted
on sleeping in the forecastle, though Mark had
pressed him to take one of the cabin state-rooms. This
time the meal, which included some very respectable ship's
coffee, was taken on the cabin-table, the day being cloudless,
and the sun's rays possessing a power that made it
unpleasant to sit long anywhere out of a shade. While
the meal was taken, another conversation was held touching
their situation.

“By the manner in which it blew last night,” Mark observed,
“I doubt if we should have had this comfortable
cabin to eat in this morning, and these good articles to
consume, had we left the ship outside until morning.”

“I look upon it as a good job well done, Mr. Mark,”
answered Bob. “I must own I had no great hopes of our
ever getting here, but was willing to try it; for them rollers
didn't mind half-a-dozen reefs, but came tumbling in over
them, in a way to threaten the old 'Cocus with being

[figure description] Page 075.[end figure description]

ground into powder. For my part, sir, I thank God, from
the bottom of my heart, that we are here.”

“You have reason to do so, Bob; and while we may
both regret the misfortune that has befallen us, we had
need remember how much better off we are than our shipmates,
poor fellows!—or how much better we are off than
many a poor mariner who loses his vessel altogether.”

“Yes, the saving of the ship is a great thing for us.
We can hardly call this a shipwreck, Mr. Mark, though
we have been ashore once; it is more like being docked,
than anything else!”

“I have heard, before, of vessels being carried over
reefs, and bars of rivers, into berths they could not quit,”
answered Mark. “But, reflect a moment, Bob, how much
better our condition is, than if we had been washed down
on this naked reef, with only such articles to comfort us,
as could be picked up along shore from the wreck!”

“I 'm glad to hear you talk in this rational way, Mr.
Mark; for it 's a sign you do not give up, or take things
too deeply to heart. I was afeard that you might be thinking
too much of Miss Bridget, and make yourself more
unhappy than is necessary for a man who has things so
comfortable around him.”

“The separation from my wife causes me much pain,
Betts, but I trust in God. It has been in his pleasure to
place us in this extraordinary situation, and I hope that
something good will come of it.”

“That's the right sentiments, sir—only keep such feelings
uppermost, and we shall do right down well. Why,
we have water, in plenty, until after the rainy season shall
be along, when we can catch a fresh supply. Then, there
is beef and pork enough betwixt decks to last you and me
five or six years; and bread and flour in good quantities,
to say nothing of lots of small stores, both forward and aft.”

“The ship is well found, and, as you say, we might live
a long time, years certainly, on the food she contains
There is, however, one thing to be dreaded, and to provide
against which shall be my first care. We are now fifty
days on salted provisions, and fifty more will give us both
the scurvy.”

“The Lord in his mercy protect me from that disease!”

[figure description] Page 076.[end figure description]

exclaimed Bob. “I had it once, in an old v'y'ge round
the Horn, and have no wish to try it ag'in. But there
must be fish in plenty among these rocks, Mr. Mark, and
we have a good stock of bread. By dropping the beef and
pork, for a few days at a time, might we not get shut of
the danger?”

“Fish will help us, and turtle would be a great resource,
could we meet with any of that. But, man requires mixed
food, meats and vegetables, to keep him healthy; and nothing
is so good for the scurvy as the last. The worst of
our situation is a want of soil, to grow any vegetables in.
I did not see so much as a rush, or the coarsest sea-plant,
when we were on the island yesterday. If we had soil,
there is seed in plenty on board, and this climate would
bring forward vegetation at a rapid rate.”

“Ay, ay, sir, and I'll tell you what I've got in the way
of seeds, myself. You may remember the delicious musk
and water-melons we fell in with last v'y'ge, in the east.
Well, sir, I saved some of the seed, thinking to give it to
my brother, who is a Jarsey farmer, you know, sir; and,
sailor-like, I forgot it altogether, when in port. If a fellow
could get but a bit of earth to put them melon-seeds in,
we might be eating our fruit like gentlemen, two months
hence, or three months, at the latest.”

“That is a good thought, Betts, and we will turn it over
in our minds. If such a thing is to be done at all, the
sooner it is done the better, that the melons may be getting
ahead while we are busy with the other matters. This is
just the season to put seed into the ground, and I think
we might make soil enough to sustain a few hills of melons.
If I remember right, too, there are some of the sweet potatoes
left.”

Bob assented, and during the rest of the meal they did
nothing but pursue this plan of endeavouring to obtain
half-a-dozen or a dozen hills of melons. As Mark felt all
the importance of doing everything that lay in his power
to ward off the scurvy, and knew that time was not to be
lost, he determined that the very first thing he would now
attend to, would be to get all the seed into as much ground
as he could contrive to make. Accordingly, as soon as
the breakfast was ended, Mark went to collect his seeds,

[figure description] Page 077.[end figure description]

while Bob set the breakfast things aside, after properly
cleaning them.

There were four shoats on board, which had been kept
in the launch, until that boat was put into the water, the
night the Rancocus ran upon the rocks. Since that time
they had been left to run about the decks, producing a
good deal of dirt, and some confusion. These shoats Bob
now caught, and dropped into the bay, knowing that their
instinct would induce them to swim for the nearest land.
All this turned out as was expected, and the pigs were
soon seen on the island, snuffing around on the rocks, and
trying to root. A small quantity of the excrement of these
animals still lay on the deck, where it had been placed
when the launch was cleaned for service, no one thinking
at such a moment of cleaning the decks. It had been
washed by the sea that came aboard quite across the deck,
but still formed a pile, and most of it was preserved. This
manure Mark was about to put in a half-barrel, in order
to carry it ashore, for the purpose of converting it into
soil, when Bob suddenly put an end to what he was about,
by telling him that he knew where a manure worth two of
that was to be found. An explanation was asked and
given. Bob, who had been several voyages on the western
coast of America, told Mark that the Peruvians and Chilians
made great use of the dung of aquatic birds, as a
manure, and which they found on the rocks that lined their
coast. Now two or three rocks lay near the reef, that
were covered with this deposit, the birds still hovering
about them, and he proposed to take the dingui, and go
in quest of a little of that fertilizing manure. A very little,
he said, would suffice, the Spaniards using it in small
quantities, but applying it at different stages in the growth
of the plant. It is scarcely necessary to say that Bob had
fallen on a knowledge of the use of the article which is
now so extensively known under the name of guano, in the
course of his wanderings, and was enabled to communicate
the fact to his companion. Mark knew that Betts was a
man of severe truth, and he was so much the more disposed
to listen to his suggestion. While our young mate was
getting the boat ready, therefore, Bob collected his tools,
provided himself with a bucket, passed the half-barrel, into

[figure description] Page 078.[end figure description]

which Mark had thrown the sweepings of the decks, into
the dingui, and descended himself and took the sculls.
The two then proceeded to Bob's rock, where, amid the
screams of a thousand sea-birds, the honest fellow filled his
bucket with as good guano as was ever found on the coast
of Peru.

While the boat was at the rock, Mark saw that the pigs
had run round to the western end of the island, snuffing at
everything that came in their way, and trying in vain to
root wherever one of them could insert his nose. As a
hog is a particularly sagacious animal, Mark kept his eyes
on them while Bob was picking out his guano, in the faint
hope that they might discover fresh water, by means of
their instinct. In this way he saw them enter the gate
way of the crater, pigs being pretty certain to run their
noses into any such place as that.

On landing, Mark took a part of the tools and the bucket
of guano, while Bob shouldered the remainder, and they
went up to the hole, and entered the crater together, having
landed as near to the gate-way as they could get, with
that object. To Mark's great delight he found that the
pigs were now actually rooting with some success, so far
as stirring the surface was concerned, though getting absolutely
nothing for their pains. There were spots on the
plain of the crater, however, where it was possible, by
breaking a sort of crust, to get down into coarse ashes that
were not entirely without some of the essentials of soil.
Exposure to the air and water, with mixing up with sea-weed
and such other waste materials as he could collect,
the young man fancied would enable him to obtain a sufficiency
of earthy substances to sustain the growth of plants.
While on the summit of the crater-wall, he had seen two
or three places where it had struck him sweet-potatoes and
beans might be made to grow, and he determined to ascend
to those spots, and make his essay there, as being the most
removed from the inroads of the pigs. Could he only succeed
in obtaining two or three hundred melons, he felt
that a great deal would be done in providing the means of
checking any disposition to scurvy that might appear in
Bob or himself. In this thoughtful manner did one so
young look ahead, and make provision for the future.

CHAPTER VI.

“— that done, partake
The season, prime for sweetest scents and airs;
Then commune how that day they best may ply
Their growing work; for much their work outgrew
The hands dispatch of two gard'ning so wide.”
Milton.

[figure description] Page 079.[end figure description]

Our two mariners had come ashore well provided with
the means of carrying out their plans. The Rancocus
was far better provided with tools suited to the uses of the
land, than was common for ships, her voyage contemplating
a long stay among the islands she was to visit. Thus, axes
and picks were not wanting, Captain Crutchely having had
an eye to the possible necessity of fortifying himself against
savages. Mark now ascended the crater-wall with a pick
on his shoulder, and a part of a coil of ratlin-stuff around
his neck. As he went up, he used the pick to make steps,
and did so much in that way, in the course of ten minutes,
as greatly to facilitate the ascent and descent at the particular
place he had selected. Once on the summit, he
found a part of the rock that overhung its base, and dropped
one end of his line into the crater. To this Bob attached
the bucket, which Mark hauled up and emptied. In this
manner everything was transferred to the top of the crater-wall
that was needed there, when Bob went down to the
dingui to roll up the half-barrel of sweepings that had been
brought from the ship.

Mark next looked about for the places which had seemed
to him, on his previous visit, to have most of the character
of soil. He found a plenty of these spots, mostly in detached
cavities of no great extent, where the crust had not
yet formed; or, having once formed, had been disturbed
by the action of the elements. These places he first picked
to pieces with his pick; then he stirred them well up with
a hoe, scattering a little guano in the heaps, according to

[figure description] Page 080.[end figure description]

the directions of Betts. When this was done, he sent
down the bucket, and hauled up the sweepings of the deck,
which Bob had ready for him, below. Nor was this all
Bob had done, during the hour Mark was at work, in the
sun, on the summit of the crater. He had found a large
deposit of sea-weed, on a rock near the island, and had
made two or three trips with the dingui, back and forth,
to transfer some of it to the crater. After all his toil and
trouble, the worthy fellow did not get more than a hogshead
full of this new material, but Mark thought it well
worth while to haul it up, and to endeavour to mix it with
his compost. This was done by making it up in bundles,
as one would roll up hay, of a size that the young man
could manage.

Bob now joined his friend on the crater-wall, and assisted
in carrying the sea-weed to the places prepared to
receive it, when both of the mariners next set about mixing
it up with the other ingredients of the intended soil. After
working for another hour in this manner, they were of
opinion that they might make the experiment of putting in
the seed. Melons, of both sorts, and of the very best
quality, were now put into the ground, as were also beans,
peas, and Indian-corn, or maize. A few cucumber-seeds,
and some onions were also tried, Captain Crutchely having
brought with him a considerable quantity of the common
garden seeds, as a benefit conferred on the natives of the
islands he intended to visit, and through them on future
navigators. This care proceeded from his owners, who
were what is called `Friends,' and who somewhat oddly
blended benevolence with the practices of worldly gain.

Mark certainly knew very little of gardening, but Bob
could turn his hand to almost anything. Several mistakes
were made, notwithstanding, more particularly in the use
of the seed, with which they were not particularly acquainted.
Mark's Reef lay just within the tropics, it is
true (in 21° south latitude), but the constant sea-breeze
rendered its climate much cooler than would otherwise
have been the case. Thus the peas, and beans, and even
the onions, did better, perhaps, on the top of the crater,
than they would have done in it; but the ochre, egg-plants,
melons, and two or three other seeds that they used, would

[figure description] Page 081.[end figure description]

probably have succeeded better had they been placed in
the warmest spots which could be found. In one respect
Mark made a good gardener. He knew that moisture was
indispensable to the growth of most plants, and had taken
care to put all his seeds into cavities, where the rain that
fell (and he had no reason to suppose that the dry season
had yet set in) would not run off and be wasted. On this
point he manifested a good deal of judgment, using his
hoe in a way to avoid equally the danger of having too
much or too little water.

It was dinner-time before Mark and Betts were ready
to quit the `Summit,' as they now began to term the only
height in their solitary domains. Bob had foreseen the
necessity of a shade, and had thrown an old royal into the
boat. With this, and two or three light spars, he contrived
to make a sort of canopy, down in the crater, beneath
which he and Mark dined, and took their siestas. While
resting on a spare studding-sail that had also been brought
along, the mariners talked over what they had done, and
what it might be best to undertake next.

Thus far Mark had been working under a species of
excitement, that was probably natural enough to his situation,
but which wanted the coolness and discretion that are
necessary to render our efforts the most profitable to ourselves,
or to others. Now, that the feverish feeling which
set him at work so early to make a provision against wants
which, at the worst, were merely problematical, had subsided,
Mark began to see that there remained many things
to do, which were of even more pressing necessity than
anything yet done. Among the first of these there was
the perfect security of the ship. So long as she rode at a
single anchor, she could not be considered as absolutely
safe; for a shift of wind would cause her to swing against
the `sea-wall,' as he called the natural breakwater outside
of her, where, if not absolutely wrecked, she might receive
material damage. Prudence required, therefore, that the
ship should be moored, as well as anchored. Nevertheless,
there was a good deal of truth in what Mark had said
touching the plants growing while he and Bob were busy
at other matters; and this thought, of itself, formed a sufficient
justification for what he had just done, much as it

[figure description] Page 082.[end figure description]

had been done under present excitement. As they lay
under the shade of the royal, our mariners discussed these
matters, and matured some plans for the future.

At two o'clock Mark and Bob resumed their work.
The latter suggested the necessity of getting food and
water ashore for the pigs, as an act that humanity imperiously
demanded of them; not humanity in the sense of
feeling for our kind, but in the sense in which we all ought
to feel for animal suffering, whether endured by man or
beast. Mark assented as to the food, but was of opinion
a thunder shower was about to pass over the reef. The
weather certainly did wear this aspect, and Bob was content
to wait the result, in order to save himself unnecessary
trouble. As for the pigs, they were still in the crater
rooting, as it might be for life or death, though nothing
edible had as yet rewarded them for their toil. Perhaps
they found it pleasant to be thrusting their noses into something
that resembled soil, after so long a confinement to
the planks of a ship. Seeing them at work in this manner,
suggested to Mark to try another experiment, which
certainly looked far enough ahead, as if he had no great
hopes of getting off the island for years to come. Among
the seeds of Captain Crutchely were those of oranges,
lemons, limes, shaddocks, figs, and grapes; all plants well
enough suited to the place, if there were only soil to nourish
them. Now, one of the hogs had been rooting, as
best he might, just under the wall, on the northern side of
the crater, making a long row of little hillocks, of earthy
ashes, at unequal distances it is true, but well enough disposed
for the nature of the different fruits, could they only
be got to grow. Along this irregular row of hillocks did
Mark bury his seeds, willing to try an experiment which
might possibly benefit some other human being, if it never
did any good to himself. When this was done, he and
Betts left the crater, driving the hogs out before them.

Having made his plantation, Mark felt a natural desire
to preserve it. He got the royal, therefore, and succeeded
in fastening it up as a substitute for a gate, in their natural
gate-way. Had the pigs met with any success in rooting,
it is not probable this slight obstacle would have prevented
their finding their way, again, into the cavity of the crater;

[figure description] Page 083.[end figure description]

but, as it was, it proved all-sufficient, and the sail was permitted
to hang before the hole, until a more secure gate
was suspended in its stead.

The appearances of the thunder-shower were so much
increased by this time, that our mariners hastened back to
the ship in order to escape a ducking. They had hardly
got on board before the gust came, a good deal of water
falling, though not in the torrents in which one sometimes
sees it stream down within the tropics. In an hour it was
all over, the sun coming out bright and scorching, after
the passage of the gust. One thing occurred, however,
which at first caused both of the seamen a good deal of
uneasiness, and again showed them the necessity there was
for mooring the ship. The wind shifted from the ordinary
direction of the trades, during the squall, to a current of
air that was nearly at right angles to the customary course.
This caused the ship to swing, and brought her so near the
sea-wall, that once or twice her side actually rubbed against
it. Mark was aware, by his previous sounding, that this
wall rather impended over its base, being a part of an old
crater, beyond a question, and that there was little danger
of the vessel's hitting the bottom, or taking harm in any
other way than by friction against the upper part; but this
friction might become too rude, and finally endanger the
safety of the vessel.

As soon as the weather became fine, however, the trades
returned, and the ship swung round to her old berth. Bob
now suggested the expediency of carrying out their heaviest
kedge ashore, of planting it in the rocks, and of running
out to it two or three parts of a hawser, to which a
line of planks might be lashed, and thus give them the
means of entering and quitting the ship, without having
recourse to the dingui. Mark approved of this plan, and,
it requiring a raft to carry ashore the kedge, the dingui
being so light they were afraid to trust it, it was decided
to commence that work in the morning. For the rest of
the present day nothing further was done, beyond light
and necessary jobs, and continuing the examination of the
island. Mark was curious to look at the effect of the
shower, both in reference to his plantations, and to the
quantity of fresh water that might have lodged on the reef.

[figure description] Page 084.[end figure description]

It was determined, therefore, to pass an hour or two ashore
before the night shut in again.

Previously to quitting the ship, Bob spoke of the poultry.
There were but six hens, a cock, and five ducks, left.
They were all as low in flesh and spirits, as it was usual
to find birds that have been at sea fifty days, and the honest
tar proposed turning them all adrift on the reef, to make
their own living in the best way they could. Now and
then a little food might be put in their way, but let them
have a chance for their lives. Mark assented at once, and
the coops were opened. Each fowl was carried to the taffrail,
and tossed into the air, when it flew down upon the
reef, a distance of a couple of hundred feet, almost as a
matter of course. Glad enough were the poor things to
be thus liberated. To Mark's surprise, no sooner did they
reach the reef, than to work they went, and commenced
picking up something with the greatest avidity, as if let
loose in the best supplied poultry-yard. Confident there
was nothing for even a hen to glean on the rocks when he
left there, the young man could not account for this, until
turning his eyes inboard, he saw the ducks doing the same
thing on deck. Examining the food of these last-mentioned
animals, he found there were a great number of minute
mucilaginous particles on the deck, which no doubt had
descended with the late rain, and which all the birds, as
well as the hogs, seemed eager to devour. Here, then,
was a supply, though a short-lived one, of a manna suited
to those creatures, which might render them happy for a
few hours, at least. Bob caught the ducks, and tossed
them overboard, when they floundered about and enjoyed
themselves in a way that communicated a certain pleasure
even to the desolate and shipwrecked men who had set
them at liberty. Nothing with life now remained in the
ship but the goat, and Mark thought it best not to turn
her ashore until they had greater facilities for getting the
necessary food to her than the dingui afforded. As she
was not likely to breed, there was no great use in keeping
this animal at all, to say nothing of the means of feeding
her, for any length of time; but Mark was unwilling to
take her life, since Providence had brought them all to
that place in company. Then he thought she might be a

[figure description] Page 085.[end figure description]

pretty object leaping about the cliffs of the crater, giving
the island a more lively and inhabited appearance, though
he foresaw she might prove very destructive to his plantations,
did his vegetables grow. As there was time enough
to decide on her final fate, it was finally settled she should
be put ashore, and have a comfortable fortnight, even
though condemned to die at the end of that brief period.

On landing, every hole in the face of the cliff was found
filled with fresh water. Betts was of opinion that the
water-casks might all be filled with the water which was
thus collected, the fluid having seemingly all flowed into
these receptacles, while little had gone into the sea. This
was encouraging for the future, at any rate; the want of
water, previously to this shower, appearing to Mark to be
a more probable occurrence than the want of food. The
sea might furnish the last, on an emergency, while it could
do nothing with the first. But the manner in which the
ducks were enjoying themselves, in these fresh pools, can
scarcely be imagined! As Mark stood looking at them, a
doubt first suggested itself to his mind concerning the propriety
of men's doing anything that ran counter to their
instincts, with any of the creatures of God. Pet-birds in
cages, birds that were created to fly, had always been disagreeable
to him; nor did he conceive it to be any answer
to say that they were born in cages, and had never known
liberty. They were created with an instinct for flight,
and intense must be their longings to indulge in the power
which nature had bestowed on them. In the cage in which
he now found himself, though he could run, walk, leap,
swim, or do aught that nature designed him to do, in the
way of mere animal exploits, young Mark felt how bitter
were the privations he was condemned to suffer.

The rain had certainly done no harm, as yet, to the
planting. All the hills were entire, as Mark and Bob had
left them, though well saturated with water. In a few,
there might be even too much of the element, perhaps, but
Mark observed that a tropical sun would soon remove that
objection. His great apprehension was that he had commenced
his gardening too late, and that the dry weather
might set in too soon for the good of his vegetables; if any
of them, indeed, ever came up at all. Here was one good

[figure description] Page 086.[end figure description]

soaking secured, at all events; and, knowing the power
of a tropical sun, Mark was of opinion that the fate of the
great experiment he had tried would soon be known. Could
he succeed in producing vegetation among the débris of
the crater, he and Bob might find the means of subsistence
during their natural lives; but, should that resource fail
them, all their hopes would depend on being able to effect
their escape in a craft of their own construction. In no
case, however, but that of the direst necessity, did Mark
contemplate the abandonment of his plan for getting back
to the inhabited world, his country, and his bride!

That night our mariners had a sounder sleep than they
had yet been blest with since the loss of their shipmates,
and the accident to the vessel itself. The two following
days they passed in securing the ship. Bob actually made
a very respectable catamaran, or raft, out of the spare
spars, sawing the topmasts and lower yards in two, for that
purpose, and fastening them together with ingenuity and
strength, by means of lashings. But Mark hit upon an
expedient for getting the two kedges ashore, that prevented
the necessity of having recourse to the raft on that occasion.
These kedges lay on the poop, where they were
habitually kept, and two men had no great difficulty in
getting them over the stern, suspended by stoppers. Now
Mark had ascertained that the rock of the Reef rose like
a wall, being volcanic, like all the rest of the formation,
and that the ship could float almost anywhere alongside of
it. Aided by the rake of the stern of an old-fashioned
Philadelphia-built ship, nothing was easier than to veer
upon the cable, let the vessel drop in to the island, until
the kedges actually hung over the rocks, and then lower
the last down. All this was done, and the raft was reserved
for other purposes. Notwithstanding the facility
with which the kedges were got ashore, it took Mark and
Bob quite half a day to plant them in the rock precisely
where they were wanted. When this was accomplished,
however, it was so effectually done as to render the hold
even greater than that of the sheet-anchor. The stocks
were not used at all, but the kedges were laid flat on the
rock, quite near to each other, and in such a manner that
the flukes were buried in crevices of the lava, giving a

[figure description] Page 087.[end figure description]

most secure hold, while the shanks came out through
natural grooves, leading straight towards the ship. Six
parts of a hawser were bent to the kedges, three to each, and
these parts were held at equal distances by pieces of spars
ingeniously placed between them, the whole being kept in
its place by regular stretchers that were lashed along the
hawsers at distances of ten feet, giving all the parts of the
ropes the same level. Before these stretchers were secured,
the ship was hove ahead by her cable, and the
several parts of the hawser brought to an equal strain.
This left the vessel about a hundred feet from the island,
a convenient, and if the anchor held, a safe position; though
Mark felt little fear of losing the ship against rocks that
were so perpendicular and smooth. On the stretchers
planks were next laid and lashed, thus making a clear passage
between the vessel and the shore, that might be used
at all times, without recourse to the dingui; besides mooring
the ship head and stern, thereby keeping her always
in the same place, and in the same position.

The business of securing the ship occupied nearly two
days, and was not got through with until about the middle
of the afternoon of the second day. It was Saturday, and
Mark had determined to make a good beginning, and keep
all their Sabbaths, in future, as holy times, set apart for the
special service of the Creator. He had been born and
educated an Episcopalian, but Bob claimed to be a Quaker,
and what was more he was a little stiff in some of his notions
on the opinion of his sect. The part of New Jersey
in which Betts was born, had many persons of this religious
persuasion, and he was not only born, but, in one
sense, educated in their midst; though the early age at
which he went to sea had very much unsettled his practice,
much the most material part of the tenets of these
good persons. When the two knocked off work, Saturday
afternoon, therefore, it was with an understanding that the
next day was to be one of rest in the sense of Christians,
and, from that time henceforth, that the Sabbath was to
be kept as a holy day. Mark had ever been inclined to
soberness of thought on such subjects. His early engagement
to Bridget had kept him from falling into the ways
of most mariners, and, time and again, had a future state

[figure description] Page 088.[end figure description]

of being been the subject of discourse between him and
his betrothed. As the seasons of adversity are those in
which men are the most apt to bethink them of their duties
to God, it is not at all surprising that one of this disposition,
thus situated, felt renewed demands on his gratitude
and repentance.

While Mark, in this frame of mind, went rambling
around his narrow domains, Bob got the dingui, and proceeded
with his fishing-tackle towards some of the naked
rocks, that lifted their caps above the surface of the sea,
in a north-westerly direction from the crater. Of these
naked rocks there were near twenty, all within a mile of
the crater, and the largest of them not containing more
than six or eight acres of dry surface. Some were less
than a hundred feet in diameter. The great extent and
irregular formation of the reefs all around the island, kept
the water smooth, for some distance, on all sides of it; and
it was only when the rollers were sent in by heavy gales,
that the dingui could not move about, in this its proper
sphere, in safety.

Betts was very fond of fishing, and could pass whole
days, at a time, in that quiet amusement, provided he had
a sufficient supply of tobacco. Indeed, one of the greatest
consolations this man possessed, under the present misfortune,
was the ample store of this weed which was to be
found in the ship. Every man on board the Rancocus,
Mark alone excepted, made use of tobacco; and, for so
long a voyage, the provision laid in had been very abundant.
On this occasion, Bob enjoyed his two favourite
occupations to satiety, masticating the weed while he
fished.

With Mark it was very different. He was fond of his
fowling-piece, but of little use was that weapon in his present
situation. Of all the birds that frequented the adjacent
rocks, not one was of a sort that would be eaten, unless
in cases of famine. As he walked over the island,
that afternoon, his companion was the goat, which had
been driven ashore on the new gangway, and was enjoying
its liberty almost as much as the ducks. As the animal
frisked about him, accompanying him everywhere in his
walks. Mark was reminded of the goats of Crusoe, and his

[figure description] Page 089.[end figure description]

mind naturally adverted to the different accounts of shipwrecks
of which he had read, and to a comparison between
his own condition and those of other mariners who had been
obliged to make their homes, for a time, on otherwise uninhabited
islands.

In this comparison, Mark saw that many things made
greatly against him, on the one hand; while, on the other,
there were many others for which he had every reason to
be profoundly grateful. In the first place, this island was,
as yet, totally without vegetation of every kind. It had
neither plant, shrub, nor tree. In this he suffered a great
privation, and it even remained to be proved by actual
experiment, whether he was master of what might be considered
the elements of soil. It occurred to him that
something like vegetation must have shown itself, in or
about the crater, did its débris contain the fertilizing principle,
Mark not being sufficiently versed in the new science
of chemical agriculture, to understand that the admixtures
of certain elements might bring to life forces that then
were dormant. Then the Reef had no water. This was
a very, very great privation, the most serious of all, and
might prove to be a terrible calamity. It is true that, just
at that moment, there was a shower every day, and sometimes
two or three of them; but it was then spring, and
there could be little reason to doubt that droughts would
come in the hot and dry season. As a last objection, the
Reef had no great extent, and no variety, the eye taking
it all in at a glance, while the crater was its sole relief
against the dullest monotony. Nor was there a bit of wood,
or fuel of any sort to cook with, after the supply now in
the ship should be exhausted. Such were the leading disadvantages
of the situation in which our mariners were
placed, as compared with those into which most other
shipwrecked seamen had been thrown.

The advantages, on the other hand, Mark, in humble
gratitude to God, admitted to be very great. In the first
place, the ship and all she contained was preserved, giving
them a dwelling, clothes, food and water, as well as fuel,
for a long time to come; possibly, aided by what might be
gleaned on even that naked reef, sufficient to meet all their
wants for the duration of a human life. The cargo of the

[figure description] Page 090.[end figure description]

Rancocus was of no great extent, and of little value in a
civilized country; but Mark knew that it included many
articles that would be of vast service where he was. The
beads and coarse trinkets with which it had been intended
to trade with the savages, were of no use whatever, it is
true; but the ship's owners were pains-taking and thoughtful
Quakers, as has been already intimated, who blended
with great shrewdness in the management of their worldly
affairs, a certain regard to benevolence in general, and a
desire to benefit their species. On this principle, they had
caused a portion of their cargo to be made up, sending, in
addition to all the ruder and commoner tools, that could
be used by a people without domestic animals, a small
supply of rugs, coarse clothes, coarse earthen-ware, and a
hundred similar things, that would be very serviceable to
any who knew how to use them. Most of the seeds came
from these thoughtful merchants.

If fresh water were absolutely wanting on the reef, it
rained a good deal; in the rainy season it must rain for a
few weeks almost incessantly, and the numerous cavities
in the ancient lava, formed natural cisterns of great capacity.
By taking the precaution of filling up the water-casks
of the ship, periodically, there was little danger of
suffering for the want of this great requisite. It is true,
the sweet, cool, grateful draught, that was to be got from
the gushing spring, must be forgotten; but rain-water collected
in clean rock, and preserved in well-sweetened
casks, was very tolerable drinking for seamen. Captain
Crutchely, moreover, had a filterer for the cabin, and
through it all the water used there was habitually passed.

In striking the balance between the advantages and disadvantages
of his own situation, as compared with that of
other shipwrecked mariners, Mark confessed that he had
quite as much reason to be grateful as to repine. The
last he was resolved not to do, if possible; and he pursued
his walk in a more calm and resigned mood than he had
been in since the ship entered among the shoals.

Mark, naturally enough, cast his eyes around him, and
asked himself the question what was to be done with the
domestic animals they had now all landed. The hogs
might, or might not be of the greatest importance to them,

[figure description] Page 091.[end figure description]

as their residence on the island was or was not protracted,
and as they found the means of feeding them. There was
still food enough in the ship to keep these creatures for
some months, and food that had been especially laid in for
that purpose; but that food would serve equally well for
the fowls, and our young man was of opinion, that eggs
would be of more importance to himself and Betts, than
hog's flesh. Then there was the goat; she would soon
cease to be of any use at all, and green food was not to be
had for her. A little hay, however, remained; and Mark
was fully determined that Kitty, as the playful little thing
was called, should live at least as long as that lasted. She
was fortunate in being content with a nourishment that no
other animal wanted.

Mark could see absolutely nothing on the rocks for a
bird to live on, yet were the fowls constantly picking up
something. They probably found insects that escaped his
sight; while it was certain that the ducks were revelling
in the pools of fresh water, of which there might, at that
moment, have been a hundred on the reef. As all these
creatures were, as yet, regularly fed from the supplies in
the ship, each seemed to be filled with the joy of existence;
and Mark, as he walked among them, felt how profound
ought to be his own gratitude, since he was still in a state
of being which admitted of a consciousness of happiness
so much beyond anything that was known to the inferior
animals of creation. He had his mind, with all its stores
gathered from study and observation, his love for God, and
his hopes of a blessed future, ever at command. Even his
love for Bridget had its sweets, as well as its sorrows. It
was grateful to think of her tenderness to himself, her
beauty, her constancy, of which he would not for a moment
doubt, and of all the innocent and delightful converse they
had had during a courtship that occupied so much of their
brief lives.

Just as the sun was setting, Bob returned from his fishing
excursion. To Mark's surprise, he saw that the dingui
floated almost with her gunwale-to, and he hastened down
to meet his friend, who came ashore in a little bay, quite
near the gate-way, and in which the rock did not rise as
much like a wall as it did on most of the exterior of the

[figure description] Page 092.[end figure description]

reef. Bob had caught about a dozen fish, some of which
were of considerable size, though all were of either species
or varieties that were unknown to them both. Selecting
two of the most promising-looking, for their own use, he
threw the others on the rocks, where the pigs and poultry
might give them a trial. Nor was it long before these
creatures were hard at work on them, disregarding the
scales and fins. At first the hens were a little delicate,
probably from having found animal food enough for their
present wants in the insects; but, long before the game
was demolished, they had come in for their full share.
This experiment satisfied the mariners that there would be
no difficulty in furnishing plenty of food for all their stock,
and for any length of time, Kitty excepted. It is true, the
pork and the poultry would be somewhat fishy; but that
would be a novelty, and should it prove disagreeable on
tasting it, a little clean feeding, at the proper moment,
would correct the flavour.

But the principal cargo of the dingui was not the dozen
fish mentioned. Bob had nearly filled the boat with a sort
of vegetable loam, that he had found lodged in the cavity
of one of the largest rocks, and which, from the signs
around the place, he supposed to have been formed by deposits
of sea-weed. By an accident of nature, this cavity
in the rock received a current, which carried large quantities
of floating weed into it, while every storm probably
had added to its stores since the mass had risen above the
common level of the sea, by throwing fresh materials on
to the pile, by means of the waves, nothing quitting it.
Bob reported that there were no signs of vegetation around
the rock, which circumstance, however, was easily enough
accounted for by the salt water that was incessantly moistening
the surface, and which, while it took with it the
principle of future, was certain to destroy all present, vegetable
life; or, all but that which belongs exclusively to
aquatic plants.

“How much of this muck do you suppose is to be found
on your rock, Bob?” asked Mark, after he had examined
the dingui's cargo, by sight, taste, and smell. “It is surprisingly
like a rich earth, if it be not actually so.”

“Lord bless you, Mr. Mark, there is enough on't to fill

[figure description] Page 093.[end figure description]

the old 'Cocus, ag'in and ag'in. How deep it is, I don't
pretend to know; but it 's a good hundred paces across it,
and the spot is as round as that there chimbly, that you
call a cr'ature.”

“If that be the case, we will try our hands at it next
week, and see what can be done with an importation. I
do not give up the blessed hope of the boat, Bob—that you
will always bear in mind—but it is best to keep an eye on
the means of living, should it please God to prevent our
getting to sea again.”

“To sea, Mr. Mark, neither you nor I, nor any mortal
man will ever get, in the old 'Cocus ag'in, as I know by
the looks of things outside of us. 'T will never do to plant
in my patch, however, for the salt water must wash it
whenever it blows; though a very little work, too, might
keep it out, when I come to think on it. Sparrowgrass
would grow there, as it is, desperately well; and Friend
Abraham White had both seeds and roots put up for the
use of the savages, if a body only know'd whereabouts to
look for them, among the lot of rubbish of that sort, that
he sent aboard.”

“All the seeds and roots are in two or three boxes, in
the steerage,” answered Mark. “I 'll just step up to the
crater and bring a shovel, to throw this loam out of the
boat with, while you can clean the fish and cook the supper.
A little fresh food, after so much salt, will be both
pleasant and good for us.”

Bob assented, and each went his way. Mark threw the
loam into a wheelbarrow, of which Friend Abraham had
put no less than three in the ship, as presents to the savages,
and he wheeled it, at two or three loads, into the crater,
where he threw it down in a pile, intending to make a
compost heap of all the materials of the sort he could lay
his hands on.

As for Bob he cleaned both fish, taking them on board
the ship to do so. He put the largest and coarsest into
the coppers, after cutting it up, mixing with it onions,
pork, and ship's bread, intending to start a fire beneath it
early in the morning, and cook a sort of chowder. The
other he fried, Mark and he making a most grateful meal
on it, that evening.

CHAPTER VII.

Be thou at peace!—Th' all-seeing eye,
Pervading earth, and air, and sky,
The searching glance which none may flee,
Is still, in mercy, turn'd on thee.”
Mrs. Hemans.

[figure description] Page 094.[end figure description]

The Sabbath ever dawns on the piously-inclined, with
hope and a devout gratitude to the Creator for all his mercies.
This is more apt to be the case in genial seasons,
and rural abodes, perhaps, than amidst the haunts of men,
and when the thoughts are diverted from the proper channels
by the presence of persons around us. Still greater
is the influence of absolute solitude, and that increased by
the knowledge of a direct and visible dependence on the
Providence of God, for the means of even prolonging existence.
In the world, men lose sight of this dependence,
fancying themselves and their powers of more account
than the truth would warrant, and even forgetting whence
these very boasted powers are derived; but man, when
alone, and in critical circumstances, is made to feel that
he is not sufficient for his own wants, and turns with humility
and hope to the divine hand that upholds him.

With feelings of this character, did Mark and Betts keep
their first Sabbath on the reef. The former read the
morning service, from beginning to end, while the latter
sat by, an attentive listener. The only proof given of any
difference in religious faith between our mariners, was of
so singular a nature as to merit notice. Notwithstanding
Bob's early familiarity with Mark, his greater age, and the
sort of community of feeling and interest created by their
common misfortune, the former had not ceased to treat the
last with the respect due to his office. This deference
never deserted him, and he had not once since the ship
was embayed, entered the cabin without pulling off his hat.
As soon as church commenced, however, Bob resumed his

[figure description] Page 095.[end figure description]

tarpaulin, as a sort of sign of his own orthodoxy in the
faith of his fathers; making it a point to do as they had
done in meeting, and slightly concerned lest his companion
might fall into the error of supposing he was a man likely
to be converted. Mark also observed that, in the course
of that Sabbath, Bob used the pronouns `thee' and `thou,'
on two or three occasions, sounding oddly enough in the
mouth of the old salt.

Well did both our mariners prove the efficacy of the
divine provision of a day of rest, in a spiritual sense, on
the occasion of this their first Sabbath on the reef. Mark
felt far more resigned to his fate than he could have believed
possible, while Betts declared that he should be
absolutely happy, had he only a better boat than the dingui;
not that the dingui was at all a bad craft of its kind, but
it wanted size. After the religious services, for which
both our mariners had shaved and dressed, they took a
walk together, on the reef, conversing of their situation
and future proceedings. Bob then told Mark, for the first
time, that, in his opinion, there was the frame and the
other materials of a pinnace, or a large boat, somewhere
in the hold, which it was intended to put together, when
the ship reached the islands, as a convenience for cruising
about among them to trade with the savages, and to transport
sandal-wood. The mate had never heard of this boat,
but acknowledged that a part of the hold had been stowed
while he was up at Bristol, and it might have been taken
in then. Bob confessed that he had never seen it, though
he had worked in the stevedore's gang; but was confident
he had heard Friend Abraham White and Captain Crutchely
talking of its dimensions and uses. According to his
recollection it was to be a boat considerably larger than
the launch, and to be fitted with masts and sails, and to
have a half-deck. Mark listened to all this patiently,
though he firmly believed that the honest fellow was deceiving
himself the whole time. Such a craft could scarcely
be in the ship, and he not hear of it, if he did not actually
see it; though he thought it possible that the captain and
owners may have had some such plan in contemplation,
and conversed together on it, in Betts's presence. As
there were plenty of tools on board, however, by using

[figure description] Page 096.[end figure description]

stuff of one sort or another, that was to be found in the
ship, Mark had strong hopes of their being able, between
them, to construct, in the course of time—though he believed
a long time might be necessary—a craft of some
sort, that should be of sufficient stability to withstand the
billows of that ordinarily mild sea, and enable them to return
to their homes and friends. In conversing of things
of this sort, in religious observances, and in speculating
on the probable fate of their shipmates, did our mariners
pass this holy day. Bob was sensibly impressed with the
pause in their ordinary pursuits, and lent himself to the
proper feelings of the occasion with a zeal and simplicity
that gave Mark great satisfaction; for, hitherto, while
aware that his friend was as honest a fellow as ever lived,
in the common acceptation of such a phrase, he had not
supposed him in the least susceptible of religious impressions.
But the world had suddenly lost its hold on Betts,
the barrier offered by the vast waters of the Pacific, being
almost as impassable, in his actual circumstances, as that
of the grave; and the human heart turns to God in its
direst distress, as to the only being who can administer
relief. It is when men are prosperous that they vainly
imagine they are sufficient for their own wants, and are
most apt to neglect the hand that alone can give durable
support.

The following morning our mariners resumed their more
worldly duties with renewed powers. While the kettle
was boiling for their tea, they rolled ashore a couple of
empty water-casks, and filled them with fresh water, at one
of the largest natural reservoirs on the reef; it having
rained hard in the night. After breakfast, Mark walked
round to examine his piles of loam, in the crater, while
Bob pulled away in the dingui, to catch a few fish, and to
get a new cargo of the earth; it being the intention of
Mark to join him at the next trip, with the raft, which required
some little arranging, however, previously to its
being used for such a purpose. The rain of the past night
had thoroughly washed the pile of earth, and, on tasting
it, Mark was convinced that much of the salt it contained
had been carried off. This encouraged him to persevere
in his gardening projects. As yet, the spring had only

[figure description] Page 097.[end figure description]

just commenced, and he was in hopes of being able to
prepare one bed, at least, in time to obtain useful vegetables
from it.

The Rancocus had a great many planks and boards in
her hold, a part of the ample provision made by her owners
for the peculiar voyage on which she had been sent.
Of real cargo, indeed, she had very little, the commerce
between the civilized man and the savage being ordinarily
on those great principles of Free Trade, of which so much
is said of late years, while so little is understood, and which
usually give the lion's share of the profit to them who need
it least. With some of these planks, Mark made a staging
for his raft. By the time he was ready, Bob returned with
a load of loam, and, on the next outward voyage, the raft
was taken as well as the dingui. Mark had fitted pins and
grummets, by which the raft was rowed, he and Bob impelling
it, when light, very easily at the rate of two miles
in the hour.

Mark found Bett's deposit of decayed vegetable matter
even larger and more accessible than he had hoped for.
A hundred loads might be got without even using a wheelbarrow;
and to all appearances there was enough of it to
give a heavy dressing to many acres, possibly to the whole
area of the crater. The first thing the young man did was
to choose a suitable place, dig it well up, mixing a sufficiency
of guano with it, agreeably to Betts's directions,
and then to put in some of his asparagus roots. After this
he scattered a quantity of the seed, raking the ground well
after sowing. By the time this was done, Bob had both
dingui and raft loaded, when they pulled the last back to
the reef, towing the boat. In this manner our two mariners
continued to work most of the time, for the next fortnight,
making, daily, more or less trips to the `loam-rock,'
as they called the place where this precious deposit had
been made; though they neglected none of their other necessary
duties. As the distance was short, they could
come and go many times in a day, transporting at each
trip about as much of the loam as would make an ordinary
American cart-load of manure. In the whole, by Mark's
computation, they got across about fifty of these cargoes,
in the course of their twelve days' work. The entire day,

[figure description] Page 098.[end figure description]

however, was on no occasion given up wholly to this pursuit.
On the contrary, many little odd tasks were completed,
which were set by their necessities, or by forethought
and prudence. All the empty water-casks, for one
thing, were rolled ashore, and filled at the largest pool;
the frequency of the rains admonishing them of the wisdom
of making a provision for the dry season. The Rancocus
had a good deal of water still left in her, some of it being
excellent Delaware river water, though she had filled up
at Valparaiso, after passing the Horn. Mark counted the
full casks, and allowing ten gallons a day for Bob and himself,
a good deal more than could be wanted, there remained
in the ship fresh water enough to last them two
years. It is true, it was not such water as the palate often
craved of a warm day; but they were accustomed to it, and
it was sweet. By keeping it altogether between decks, the
sun had no power on it, and it was even more palatable
than might have been supposed. Mark occasionally longed
for one good drink at some gushing spring that he remembered
at home, it is true; and Bob was a little in the habit
of extolling a particular well that, it would seem, his family
were reputed to have used for several generations. Notwithstanding
these little natural backslidings on this subject,
our mariners might be thought well off on the score
of water, having it in great abundance, and with no reasonable
fear of ever losing it altogether. The casks taken
ashore were filled for their preservation, as well as for convenience,
an old sail being spread over them, after they
were rolled together and chocked. As yet, no water was
given to any of the stock, all the animals finding it in
abundance, in the cavities of the lava.

Some of the time, moreover, Betts passed in fishing,
supplying not only Mark and himself, but the pigs and the
poultry, with as much food as was desired. Several of the
fish caught turned out to be delicious, while others were
of a quality that caused them to be thrown into the compost
heap. A cargo of guano was also imported, the rich
manure being mixed up in liberal quantities with the loam.
At the end of the first week of these voyages to `loam-rock,
' Betts went out to fish in a new direction, passing to
windward of the `sea-wall,' as they called the reef that

[figure description] Page 099.[end figure description]

protected the ship, and pulling towards a bit of naked rock,
a short distance beyond it, where he fancied he might find
a particular sort of little fish, that greatly resembled the
Norfolk Hog-fish, one of the most delicious little creatures
for the pan that is to be found in all the finny tribe. He
had been gone a couple of hours, when Mark, who was at
work within the crater, picking up the encrusted ashes that
formed its surface, heard Bob's shout outside, as if he
wished assistance. Throwing down the pick, our young
man ran out, and was not a little surprised to see the sort
of cargo with which Bob was returning to port. It would
seem that a great collection of sea-weed had formed to
windward of the rock where Bob had gone to fish, at which
spot it ordinarily gathered in a pile until the heap became
too large to lodge any longer, when, owing to the form of
the rock, it invariably broke adrift, and passed to the
southward of the Reef, floating to leeward, to fetch up on
some other rock, or island, in that direction. Bob had
managed to get this raft round a particular point in the
reef, when the wind and current carried it, as near as
might be, directly towards the crater. He was calling to
Mark to come to his assistance, to help get the raft into a
sort of bay, ahead of him, where it might be lodged; else
would there be the danger of its drifting past the Reef,
after all his pains. Our young man saw, at once, what
was wanted, got a line, succeeded in throwing it to Bob,
and by hauling upon it brought the whole mass ashore in
the very spot Betts wished to see it landed.

This sea-weed proved to be a great acquisition on more
accounts than one. There was as much of it in quantity
as would have made two good-sized loads of hay. Then,
many small shell-fish were found among it, which the pigs
and poultry ate with avidity. It also contained seeds, that
the fowls picked up as readily as if it had been corn. The
hogs moreover masticated a good deal of the weed, and
poor Kitty, the only one of the domestic animals on the
Reef that was not now living to its heart's content, nibbled
at it, with a species of half-doubting faith in its salubrity.
Although it was getting to be late in the afternoon, Mark
and Bob got two of Friend Abraham White's pitchforks
(for the worthy Quaker had sent these, among other

[figure description] Page 100.[end figure description]

implements of husbandry, as a peace-offering to the Fejee
savages), and went to work with a hearty good-will, landed
all this weed, loaded it up, and wheeled it into the crater,
leaving just enough outside to satisfy the pigs and the
poultry. This task concluded the first week of the labour
already mentioned.

At the termination of the second week, Mark and Betts
held a council on the subject of their future proceedings.
At this consultation it was decided that it would be better
to finish the picking up of a considerable plot of ground,
one of at least half an acre in extent, that was already
commenced, within the crater, scatter their compost over
it, and spade all up together, and plant, mixing in as much
of the sea-weed as they could conveniently spade under.
Nothwithstanding their success in finding the loam, and
this last discovery of a means of getting sea-weed in large
supplies to the Reef, Mark was not very sanguine of success
in his gardening. The loam appeared to him to be
cold and sour, as well as salt, though a good deal freshened
by the rain since it was put in the crater; and he
knew nothing of the effects of guano, except through the
somewhat confused accounts of Bob. Then the plain of
the crater offered nothing beside a coarse and shelly ashes.
These ashes were deep enough for any agricultural purpose,
it is true, for Mark could work a crowbar down into
them its entire length; but they appeared to him to be
totally wanting in the fertilizing principle. Nor could he
account for the absence of everything like vegetation, on
or about the reef, if the elements of plants of any sort were
to be found in the substances of which it was composed.
He had read, however, that the territory around active
volcanoes, and which was far enough removed from the
vent to escape from the destruction caused by lava, scoriæ
and heat, was usually highly fertile, in consequence of the
ashes and impalpable dust that was scattered in the air;
but seeing no proofs of any such fertility here, he supposed
that the adjacent sea had swallowed up whatever there
might have been of these bountiful gifts. With these impressions,
it is not surprising that Mark was disposed to
satisfy himself with a moderate beginning, in preference

[figure description] Page 101.[end figure description]

to throwing away time and labour in endeavouring to produce
resources which after all would fail them.

Mark's plan, as laid before his companion, on the occasion
of the council mentioned, was briefly this:—He proposed
to pass the next month in preparing the half-acre
they had commenced upon, and in getting in seed; after
which they could do no more than trust their husbandry
to Providence and the seasons. As soon as done with the
tillage, it was his idea that they ought to overhaul the ship
thoroughly, ascertain what was actually in her, and, if the
materials of the boat mentioned by Betts were really to be
found, to set that craft up as soon as possible, and to get
it into the water. Should they not find the frame and
planks of the pinnace, as Betts seemed to think they would,
they must go to work and get out the best frame they
could themselves, and construct such a craft as their own
skill could contrive. After building such a boat, it was
Mark's opinion that he and Bob could navigate her across
that tranquil ocean, until they reached the coast of South
America, or some of the islands that were known to be
friendly to the white man; for, fifty years ago, it will be
remembered, we did not possess the same knowledge of
the Pacific that we possess to-day, and mariners did not
trust themselves always with confidence among the natives
of its islands. With this plan pretty well sketched out,
then, our mariners saw the first month of their captivity
among the unknown reefs of this remote quarter of the
world, draw to its close.

Mark was a little surprised by a proposal that he received
from Bob, next morning, which was the Sabbath, of
course. “Friends have monthly meetings,” Betts observed,
“and he thought they ought to set up some such day on
the Reef. He was willing to keep Christmas, if Mark
saw fit, but rather wished to pay proper respect to all the
festivals and observances of Friends.” Mark was secretly
amused with this proposition, even while it pleased him.
The monthly meeting of the Quakers was for the secular
part of church business, as much as for the purposes of
religious worship; and Bob having all those concerns in
his own hands, it was not so easy to see how a stated day
was to aid him any in carrying out his church government.

[figure description] Page 102.[end figure description]

But Mark understood the feeling which dictated this request,
and was disposed to deal gently by it. Betts was
becoming daily more and more conscious of his dependence
on a Divine Providence, in the situation in which he
was thrown; and his mind, as well as his feelings, naturally
enough reverted to early impressions and habits, in
their search for present relief. Bob had not the clearest
notions of either the theory or practice of his sect, but he
remembered much of the last, and believed he should be
acting right by conforming as closely as possible to the
`usages of Friends.' Mark promised to take the matter
into consideration, and to come to some decision on it, at
an early day.

The following Monday it rained nearly the whole morning,
confining our mariners to the ship. They took that
occasion to overhaul the `'twixt-deck' more thoroughly
than had yet been done, and particularly to give the seed-boxes
a close examination. Much of the lumber, and most
of the tools too, were stowed on this deck, and something
like a survey was also made of them. The frame and
other materials of the pinnace were looked for, in addition,
but without any success. If in the ship at all, they were
certainly not betwixt decks. Mark was still of opinion no
such articles would ever be found; but Betts insisted on
the conversation he had overheard, and on his having
rightly understood it. The provision of tools was very
ample, and, in some respects, a little exaggerated in the
way of Friend White's expectations of civilizing the people
of Fejee. It may be well, here, to say a word concerning
the reason that the Rancocus contained so many of these
tributes to civilization. The voyage of the ship, it will
be remembered, was in quest of sandal-wood. This sandal-wood
was to be carried to Canton and sold, and a cargo
of teas taken in with the avails. Now, sandal-wood was
supposed to be used for the purposes of idolatry, being said
to be burned before the gods of that heathenish people.
Idolatry being one of the chiefest of all sins, Friend Abraham
White had many compunctions and misgivings of
conscience touching the propriety of embarking in the
trade at all. It was true, that our knowledge of the Chinese
customs did not extend far enough to render it

[figure description] Page 103.[end figure description]

certain that the wood was used for the purpose of burning
before idols, some pretending it was made into ornamental
furniture; but Friend Abraham White had heard the first,
and was disposed to provide a set-off, in the event of the
report's being true, by endeavouring to do something towards
the civilization of the heathen. Had he been a
Presbyterian merchant, of a religious turn, it is probable
a quantity of tracts would have been made to answer the
purpose; but, belonging to a sect whose practice was
generally as perfect as its theory is imperfect, Friend
Abraham White's conscience was not to be satisfied with
any such shallow contrivance. It is true that he expected
to make many thousands of dollars by the voyage, and
doubtless would so have done, had not the accident befallen
the ship, or had poor Captain Crutchely drank less
in honour of his wedding-day; but the investment in tools,
seeds, pigs, wheelbarrows, and other matters, honestly intended
to better the condition of the natives of Vanua
Levu and Viti Levu, did not amount to a single cent less
than one thousand dollars, lawful money of the republic.

In looking over the packages, Mark found white clover
seed, and Timothy seed, among other things, in sufficient
quantity to cover most of the mount of the crater. The
weather temporarily clearing off, he called to Bob, and
they went ashore together, Mark carrying some of the
grass seed in a pail, while Betts followed with a vessel to
hold guano. Providing a quantity of the last from a barrel
that had been previously filled with it, and covered to protect
it from the rain, they clambered up the side of the crater.
This was the first time either had ascended since the day
they finished planting there, and Mark approached his hills
with a good deal of freshly-revived interest in their fate.
From them he expected very little, having had no loam to
mix with the ashes; but, by dwelling so much of late on
the subject of tillage, he was not without faint hopes of
meeting with some little reward for the pains he had taken.
The reader will judge of the rapture then, as well as of the
surprise, with which he first saw a hill of melons, already
in the fourth leaf. Here, then, was the great problem
successfully solved. Vegetation had actually commenced
on that hitherto barren mount, and the spot which had lain

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—how long, Mark knew not, but probably for a thousand
years, if not for thousands of years, in its nakedness—was
about to be covered with verdure, and blest with fruitfulness.
The inert principles which, brought to act together,
had produced this sudden change from barrenness to fertility,
had probably been near neighbours to each other all
that time, but had failed of bringing forth their fruits, for
the want of absolute contact. So Mark reasoned, for he
nothing doubted that it was Betts's guano that had stimulated
the otherwise barren deposit of the volcano, and
caused his seed to germinate. The tillage may have aided,
as well as the admission of air, light and water; but something
more than this, our young gardener fancied, was
wanting to success. That something the manure of birds,
meliorated and altered by time, had supplied, and lo! the
glorious results were before his eyes.

It would not be easy to pourtray to the reader all thedelight
which these specks of incipient verdure conveyed
to the mind of Mark Woolston. It far exceeded the joy
that would be apt to be awakened by a relief from an apprehension
of wanting food at a distant day, for it resembled
something of the character of a new creation. He
went from hill to hill, and everywhere did he discover
plants, some just peeping through the ashes, others already
in leaf, and all seemingly growing and thriving. Fortunately,
Kitty had not been on the mount for the last fortnight,
her acquired habits, and the total nakedness of the
hills, having kept her below with the other animals, since
her first visits. Mark saw the necessity of keeping her
off the elevation, which she would certainly climb the instant
anything like verdure caught her eyes from below.
He determined, therefore, to confine her to the ship, until
he had taken the precautions necessary to prevent her ascending
the mount. This last was easily enough done.
On the exterior of the hills there were but three places
where even a goat could get up. This was owing to the
circumstance that the base of the ascent rose like a wall,
for some ten or twelve feet, everywhere but at the three
points mentioned. It appeared to Mark as if the sea had
formerly washed around the crater, giving this form to its
bottom, for so wall-like was the rock for these ten or twelve

[figure description] Page 105.[end figure description]

feet, that it would have defied the efforts of a man for a
long time, to overcome the difficulties of the ascent. At
two of the places where the débris had made a rough footing,
half an hour's work would remove the material, and
leave these spots as impassable as the others. At the third
point, it might require a good deal of labour to effect the
object. At this last place, Mark told Betts it would be
necessary, for the moment, to make some sort of a fence.
Within the crater, it was equally difficult to ascend, except
at one or two places; but these ascents our mariners
thought of improving, by making steps, as the animals
were effectually excluded from the plain within by means
of the sail which served for a curtain at the gateway, or
hole of entrance.

As soon as Mark had recovered a little from his first
surprise, he sent Bob below to bring up some buckets filled
with the earth brought from Loam Rock, or island. This
soil was laid carefully around each of the plants, the two
working alternately at the task, until a bucket-full had
been laid in each hill. Mark did not know it at the time,
but subsequent experience gave him reason to suspect, that
this forethought saved most of his favourites from premature
deaths. Seed might germinate, and the plants shoot
luxuriantly from out of the ashes of the volcano, under the
united influence of the sun and rains, in that low latitude;
but it was questionable whether the nourishment to be derived
from such a soil, if soil it could yet be called, would
prove to be sufficient to sustain the plants, when they got
to be of an age and size to demand all the support they
wanted. So convinced did Mark become, as the season
advanced, of the prudence of what he then did out of a
mere impulse, that he passed hours, subsequently, in raising
loam to the summit of the mount, in order to place it in
the different hills. For this purpose, Bob rigged a little
derrick, and fitted a whip, so that the buckets were whipped
up, sailor-fashion, after two or three experiments made in
lugging them up by hand had suggested to the honest fellow
that there might be a cheaper mode of attaining their
wishes.

When Mark was temporarily satisfied with gazing at his
new-found treasures, he went to work to scatter the

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grass-seed over the summit and sides of the crater. Inside, there
was not much motive for sowing anything, the rock being
so nearly perpendicular; but on the outside of the hill, or
`mountain,' as Bob invariably called it, the first ten or
twelve feet excepted, there could be no obstacle to the
seeds taking; though from the want of soil much of it, Mark
knew, must be lost; but, if it only took in spots, and gave
him a few green patches for the eye to rest on, he felt he
should be amply rewarded for his trouble. Bob scattered
guano wherever he scattered grass-seed, and in this way
they walked entirely round the crater, Mark using up at
least half of Friend Abraham White's provision in behalf
of the savages of Fejee, in the way of the grasses. A
genial, soft rain soon came to moisten this seed, and to embed
it with whatever there was of soil on the surface, giving
it every chance to take root that circumstances would
allow.

This preliminary step taken towards covering the face
of the mount with verdure, our mariners went to work to
lay out their garden, regularly, within the crater. Mark
manifested a good deal of ingenuity in this matter. With
occasional exceptions the surface of the plain, or the bottom
of the crater, was an even crust of no great thickness,
composed of concrete ashes, scoriæ, &c., but which
might have borne the weight of a loaded wagon. This
crust once broken, which it was not very difficult to do by
means of picks and crows, the materials beneath were found
loose enough for the purposes of agriculture, almost without
using the spade. Now, space being abundant, Mark drew
lines, in fanciful and winding paths, leaving the crust for
his walks, and only breaking into the loose materials beneath,
wherever he wished to form a bed. This variety
served to amuse him and Betts, and they worked with so
much the greater zeal, as their labours produced objects
that were agreeable to the eye, and which amused them
now, while they promised to benefit them hereafter. As
each bed, whether oval, winding or straight, was dug, the
loam and sea-weed was mixed up in it, in great abundance,
after which it was sown, or planted.

Mark was fully aware that many of Friend Abraham
White's seeds, if they grew and brought their fruits to

[figure description] Page 107.[end figure description]

maturity, would necessarily change their properties in that
climate; some for the worse, and others for the better.
From the Irish potato, the cabbage, and most of the more
northern vegetables, he did not expect much, under any
circumstances; but, he thought he would try all, and
having several regularly assorted boxes of garden-seeds,
just as they had been purchased out of the shops of Philadelphia,
his garden scarce wanted any plant that was then
known to the kitchens of America.

Our mariners were quite a fortnight preparing, manuring,
and sowing their parterre, which, when complete, occupied
fully half an acre in the very centre of the crater,
Mark intending it for the nucleus of future similar works,
that might convert the whole hundred acres into a garden.
By the time the work was done, the rains were
less frequent, though it still came in showers, and those
that were still more favourable to vegetation. In that fortnight
the plants on the mount had made great advances,
showing the exuberance and growth of a tropical climate.
It sometimes, nay, it often happens, that when the sun is
the most genial for vegetation, moisture is wanting to aid
its power, and, in some respects, to counteract its influence.
These long and periodical droughts, however, are
not so much owing to heat as to other and local causes.
Mark now began to hope, as the spring advanced, that his
little territory was to be exempt, in a great measure, from
the curse of droughts, the trades, and some other causes
that to him were unknown, bringing clouds so often that
not only shed their rain upon his garden, but which served
in a great measure to mitigate a heat that, without shade
of some sort or other, would be really intolerable.

With a view to the approaching summer, our mariners
turned their attention to the constructing of a tent within
the crater. They got some old sails and some spars ashore,
and soon had a spacious, as well as a comfortable habitation
of this sort erected. Not only did they spread a spacious
tent for themselves, within the crater, but they erected
another, or a sort of canopy rather, on its outside, for the
use of the animals, which took refuge beneath it, during
the heats of the day, with an avidity that proved how welcome
it was. This outside shed, or canopy, required a

[figure description] Page 108.[end figure description]

good deal of care in its construction, to resist the wind;
while that inside scarce ever felt the breeze. This want
of wind, or of air in motion, indeed, formed the most serious
objection to the crater, as a place of residence, in the
hot months; and the want of breeze that was suffered in
the tent, set Mark to work to devise expedients for building
some sort of tent, or habitation, on the mount itself,
where it would be always cool, provided one could get a
protection from the fierce rays of the sun.

After a good deal of search, Mark selected a spot on the
`Summit,' as he began to term the place, and pitched his
tent on it. Holes were made in the soft rocks, and pieces
of spars were inserted, to answer for posts. With a commencement
as solid as this, it was not difficult to make the
walls of the tent (or marquee would be the better word,
since both habitations had nearly upright sides) by means
of an old fore-course. In order to get the canvas up there,
however, it was found necessary to cut out the pieces below,
when, by means of the purchase at the derrick, it was
all hoisted to the Summit.

These several arrangements occupied Mark and Bob
another fortnight, completing the first quarter of a year
they had passed on the Reef. By this time they had got
accustomed to their situation, and had fallen into regular
courses of duty, though the increasing heats admonished
both of the prudence of not exposing themselves too much
beneath the fiery sun at noon-day.