Adrift in Pacific and Other Great Adventures – 17 Titles in One Volume (Illustrated Edition). Jules VerneЧитать онлайн книгу.
a good deal of the crockery had been smashed when the yacht ran ashore on the reef, yet enough remained at the service of the table. And these things were not absolutely necessary. There were more valuable things, such as garments of flannel, cloth, cotton, and linen in sufficient quantity to give a change for each change of climate. And if the land was in the same latitude as Auckland, which was likely, as the vessel had run before a westerly wind all the time, the boys might expect a hot summer and very cold winter. Fortunately there were on board a whole heap of clothes ready for an excursion of many weeks. In the seamen's chests there were trousers, linen frocks, waterproof coats, and thick jerseys, that could be made to fit big or little, and enable them to defy the rigours of the winter. If circumstances obliged them to abandon the schooner, each could take away with him a complete set of bedding, for the bunks were well supplied with mattresses, sheets, blankets, pillows, and quilts, and with care these things would last a long time.
A long time I That might mean for ever. In Gordon's note-book there was also a list of the instruments on board; two aneroid barometers, a spirit thermometer, two chronometers, several copper speaking-trumpets, three telescopes of short and long range, a binnacle compass, and two smaller ones, a storm-glass indicating the approach of tempestuous weather, several British ensigns and jacks, and a set of signalling flags. And there was also a Halkett boat—a little India-rubber canoe which folds up like a bag, and is large enough to take a person across a river or lake.
There were plenty of tools in the carpenter's chest, bags of nails, turrels, screws, and iron nuts and bands of all sorts for repairing the yacht. Thread and needles were not wanting, for the mothers had prepared for frequent mendings. There was no risk of being deprived of fire, for without reckoning matches there were enough tinder-boxes and tinder to last for a long time.
There were some large scale charts, but only for the coast of New Zealand, and consequently useless for the part where they had been wrecked; but luckily Gordon had brought with him a general atlas, and the yacht's library included several good works of travel and manuals of science, to say nothing of " Robinson Crusoe," and the " Swiss Family Robinson," which Service had saved from the wreck as did Camoens his " Lusiad." And of course Garnett had taken good care that his famous accordion had come off safe and sound. When the reading materials had been disposed of, the writing materials were noted down. There were pens and pencils, and ink and paper, and an almanack far 1880, which was at once handed over to Baxter for him to cancel each day as it elapsed.
" It was on the 10th of March," said he, " that we came ashore. Well, out goes the 10th of March and all the days before it."
In the strong box of the yacht there was from 150l. in gold, which might come in useful if the boys reached some port from which they could get home.
Gordon took careful stock of the casks stowed in the hold. Many of them, containing spirits, ale, or wine, had been stove while the yacht was being dashed about on the reef. But there were still a hundred gallons of claret and sherry, fifty gallons of gin, brandy, and whisky, and forty hogsheads of ale, besides thirty bottles of different liqueurs in straw envelopes which had not been broken.
So that for some time at least, the fifteen survivors of the schooner were in no fear of starvation. It remained to be seen if the country would yield anything to allow of their provisions being economized. If it was an island on which the storm had thrown them, they could hardly hope to get away from it, unless a ship were to appear and make out their signals. To repair the yacht and make good the damage to the hull, would be a task beyond their power, and require tools they did not possess. To build a new boat out of the ruins of the old one did not enter their minds; and as they knew nothing of navigation, how were they to cross the Pacific to get back to New Zealand? In the schooner's boats, they might have got away, perhaps; but the boats had gone, except the yawl, and that at the outside was only fit for sailing along the coast.
About noon, the youngsters, headed by Moko, returned. They had after a time quieted down and set seriously to work, and they had brought back a good store of shellfish, which the cabin-boy undertook to get ready. As to eggs, there ought to be a great quantity, for Moko had noted the presence of innumerable rock pigeons of an edible kind nestling on the higher ledges of the cliff.
" That is all right," said Briant. " One of these mornings we will go out after them, and get a lot."
" We are sure to do that," said Moko. " Three or four shots will give us pigeons by the dozen. It will be easy to get to the nests if we let ourselves down with a rope."
" Agreed ! " said Gordon. " Suppose, Donagan, you go to-morrow ? "
" That will suit me very well," said Donagan. " Webb, Cross, and Wilcox, will you come too ? "
" Rather! " said they; only too well pleased at the idea of blazing away into such a bird crowd.
"But don't kill too many pigeons," said Briant. " We know now where to find them when we want them. Don't waste powder and shot—"
" All right! " said Donagan, who did not like advice —particularly from Briant. " It is not the first time we have had a gun."
An hour afterwards Moko announced that dinner was ready, and the boys hurried up the ladder on to the schooner and took their seats in the dining saloon. Owing to the yacht heeling over so much, the table sloped considerably; but that made little difference to those accustomed to the rolling of the ship. The shellfish, particularly the mussels, were declared to be excellent, although their seasoning left something to be desired; but at that age hunger is the best sauce. A biscuit and piece of corned beef and fresh water from the stream, taken when the tide was at the lowest so as to avoid its being brackish, made an acceptable meal.
The afternoon was spent in arranging the things that had been entered on the list; Jenkins and his companions going off to fish in the river and having fair sport among the finny crowd that swarmed about its mouth. After supper all were glad to get to bed, except Baxter and Wilcox, whose turn it was to keep guard.
CHAPTER IV.
The View From The Cape
Was it an island, or a continent? That was the question constantly occupying the minds of Briant, Gordon, and Donagan, who by their character and intelligence were the chiefs of this little world. Thinking of the future when the youngsters only thought of the present, they often talked together on the subject. Whether it was insular or continental, the land was evidently not in the tropics. That could be seen by the vegetation—oaks, beeches, birches, alders, pines, and firs of different sorts, and several of the myrtaceae and saxifragaceae which are neither shrubs nor trees. It seemed as though the country must be nearer the southern pole than New Zealand, and if so, a severe winter might be anticipated. Already a thick carpet of dead leaves covered the ground in the wood near the cliff; the pines and firs alone retaining their foliage.
" That is why," said Gordon, " the morning after the wreck I thought it best not to look out for a permanent settlement hereabouts."
" That is what I think," said Donagan. " If we wait for the bad season, it will be too late to get to some inhabited part, for we may have to go hundreds of miles."
" But we are only in the first half of March," said Briant.
" Well," said Donagan. " The fine weather may last till the end of April, and in six weeks we might get well on the road—"
" If there is a road ! "
" And why shouldn't there be ? "
" Quite so," said Gordon. " But if there is, do you know where it leads ? "
" I know one thing," said Donagan. " It will be absurd not to have left the schooner before the cold and rainy season, and to do that, we need not see only difficulties at each step."
" Better see them than start off like fools across a country we know nothing about."
" It is easy to call people fools when they don't think the same as you do."
Donagan's