Adrift in Pacific and Other Great Adventures – 17 Titles in One Volume (Illustrated Edition). Jules VerneЧитать онлайн книгу.

      CHAPTER II.

      Cast Adrift

       Table of Contents

      At the time of our story, Charman's boarding-school was one of the largest in Auckland, New Zealand. It boasted about a hundred pupils belonging to the best families in the colony, and the course of study and the management were the same as in high-class schools at home.

      The archipelago of New Zealand has two principal islands, the North Island and the Middle Island, separated by Cook Strait. It lies between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth parallels of south latitude—a position equivalent to that part of the northern hemisphere occupied by France and Northern Africa. The North Island is much cut into at its southern end, and forms an irregular trapezium prolonged at its northwestern angle and terminated by the North Cape and Cape Van Diemen. Just where the curve begins, and where the peninsula is only a few miles across, the town of Auckland is situated. Its position is similar to that of Corinth in Greece, and to that fact is due its name of the Corinth of the South. It has two harbours, one on the west, one on the east, the latter on Hauraki Gulf being rather shallow, so that long piers have had to be built into it where the smaller vessels can unload. One of these piers is Commercial Pier at the foot of Queen Street; and about half way up Queen Street was Charman's school.

      On the 15th of February, 1880, in the afternoon a crowd of boys and their relatives came out of the school-house into Queen Street, merry and happy as birds just escaped from their cage. It was the beginning of the holidays. Two months of independence; two months

      of liberty! And for some of the boys there was the prospect of a sea voyage which had been talked about in school for months. How the others envied those who , were to go on this cruise in which New Zealand was to be circumnavigated ! The schooner had been chartered by the boys' friends, and fitted out for a voyage of six weeks. She belonged to the father of one of the boys, Mr. William H. Garnett, an old merchant captain in whom every confidence was felt. A subscription had been raised among the parents to cover the expenses; and great was the joy of the young folks, who would have found it difficult to spend their holidays better.

      The fortunate boys came from all of the first forms of the school, and as we have seen, were of all ages from eight to fourteen. With the exception of the Briants who were French, and Gordon who was an American, they were all English.

      Donagan and Cross were the sons of rich landholders, who occupy the highest social rank in New Zealand. They were cousins; both were a little over thirteen and both were in the fifth form. Donagan was somewhat of a dandy, and was undoubtedly the most prominent pupil in the school. He was clever and hardworking, and by his fondness for study and his desire to excel, he easily maintained his position. A certain aristocratic arrogance had gained him the nickname of Lord Donagan, and his imperious character led him to strive to command wherever he was placed. Hence between him and Briant there had sprung up this rivalry which had become keener than ever since circumstances had increased Briant's influence over his companions. Cross was a very ordinary sort of boy, distinguished by a constant admiration for everything his cousin said or did.

      Baxter was also a fifth-form boy. He was thirteen years of age, a cool, thoughtful, ingenious fellow, who could do almost anything with his hands. He was the son of a merchant who was not particularly well off.

      Webb and Wilcox, who were both about twelve and a half, were in the fourth form. They were not particularly bright, and were rather inclined to be quarrelsome. On one thing they prided themselves; that was their intimate knowledge of faggism in all its branches. Every information on the fag, and how to treat him, was to be obtained gratis from Messrs. Webb and Wilcox. Their fathers were wealthy men, and held high rank among the magistracy of the colony.

      Garnett and Service were in the third form. They were both twelve years old. One was the son of a retired merchant captain, the other's father was a well-to-do colonist living on the North Shore, on the upper coast of Waitemata Harbour. The families were very intimate, and Service and Garnett were almost inseparable. They were good-hearted boys, not over fond of work, and if they had been given the key of the fields, they would not have let it rest idle in their pockets. Garnett had an over-mastering passion—he loved an accordion I And he took it with him on board the yacht, to occupy his spare time in a way befitting a sailor's son. Service was the school wag, the liveliest and noisiest of the lot, a devourer of traveller's tales, and a worshipper of Robinson Crusoe and the Swiss Family Robinson, which he knew by heart.

      Among the boys were two of nine years old. The first of these was Jenkins, the son of the secretary of the New Zealand Royal Society; the other was Iverson, whose father was the minister of the church of St. Paul. Jenkins was in the third form, Iverson in the second; but both were good boys. Dole and Costar were each a year younger than Iverson, and were the sons of military officers at Onehunga, six miles from Auckland, in Manukau Harbour. They were both little fellows. Dole was very obstinate, and Costar very greedy. Both were in the first form, and both knew how to read and write, and that is all we need say about them.

      Of the three we have left to the last, Gordon, the American, was about fourteen, and, in his somewhat angular build, already betrayed his Yankee origin. Slightly awkward, and a little heavy, he was far and away, the steadiest boy in the fifth form; and although there was nothing very brilliant about him, he had a clear head and a strong fund of common sense. His tastes ran in a serious direction, and he was of an observant character and cool temperament. He was methodic even to the slightest detail, classifying his ideas in his head as he arranged the things in his desk, where everything was classified, docketed, and entered in its special note-book. His companions liked him, and recognized his good qualities. He was a native of Boston, but having neither father nor mother, he had been taken care of by his guardian, a consular agent who had made his fortune and settled in New Zealand. For some years he had lived in one of those pretty villas scattered on the heights near the village of Mount St. John.

      Briant and his brother were the sons of a French engineer, who, for two years and a half, had been employed in charge of the works for draining a marsh in the centre of the North Island. Briant was thirteen, an intelligent lad with no particular liking for hard work, and figuring with undesirable frequency at the wrong end of the fifth form. When he made up his mind, however, he speedily rose in the class, thanks to his facility of assimilation and his remarkable memory. He was bold, enterprising, active, quick at repartee, and good-natured. He was generally liked, and when the schooner was in difficulties his companions with a few exceptions, did as he told them, principally, as we know, from his having gained some nautical knowledge on his way out from Europe.

      His young brother, Jack, was the funny boy of the third form, who would have been the school jester had it not been for Service. He spent his time chiefly in inventing new modes of mischief for the benefit of his schoolfellows, and being consequently in frequent hot water; but for some reason his conduct on the yacht differed very much from what it had been at school

      Such were the schoolboys whom the storm had cast ashore in the Pacific. During the cruise round New Zealand the schooner was to be commanded by Garnett's father, who was one of the best yachtsmen in Australasia. Many times had the schooner appeared on the coast of Australia from the southernmost cape of Tasmania to Torres Straits, and even in the seas of the Moluccas and the Philippines, which are so dangerous to vessels of greater tonnage. But she was a well-built boat, handy, weatherly, and fit to keep the sea in all weathers.