The Cruise of the Mary Rose Part 5

"What say you, Mr Bent; would you like to make the attempt?"

Bent casts his eyes on the deck, and does not answer. Golding looks at me. "I'll tell you my opinion," I reply. "If man alone had to accomplish the work, I would say, it is impossible. But man works not alone. G.o.d's Holy Spirit is on his side. We are all by nature vile; we have all gone astray. All our natural hearts are of stone. G.o.d's grace can alone soften our stony hearts, can alone bring us back to Himself, and as He surely is all-powerful, to my mind He can just as easily shed His grace on the hearts of these black heathen cannibals, and soften them, and bring them to love and wors.h.i.+p Him, as He can work the same change in any white man; and so I see no reason to doubt that if the gospel is put before them some will hear it gladly and accept it."

The captain, as I speak, begins to grow angry. Golding bursts into a fit of laughter.

"You're talking Greek to me," says he. "How could these black savages, who have never seen a book in their lives, understand the Bible, even if you gave it them? It's hard enough for civilised white people to comprehend, eh, Captain Fuller! You find it a tough job? I'm sure I do."

"As to that, I don't pretend to much learning in that line--like my second mate here, but I always leave such matters to the parson."

What the captain meant I cannot tell. On looking up, I see Bent's eyes full of tears, and he says nothing. I do not press the subject now as it will only provoke hostility, but I resolve to speak privately to Bent whenever I can. Yes, I am sure, by G.o.d's grace, and through the instrumentality of human ministers and His book, these dark heathens may become enlightened wors.h.i.+ppers of Him.

We hear that there is a port at the great island of Vanua Levu, where sandal-wood is to be procured, and we accordingly forthwith sail there.

Truly it is dangerous work navigating these seas among coral banks in every direction, some just above water, others three, four, and fifteen feet below it. It is only when the sun is s.h.i.+ning and the sea blue that we can distinguish the coral, which gives a green tinge to it, under water. One of us is always stationed aloft to pilot the s.h.i.+p. We have hitherto escaped. I pray we may, for if we were to wreck the good s.h.i.+p, these savages would spare the lives of none of us.

Once more we drop our anchor, and canoes come off to us. We make known that we have come for sandal-wood, and have axes, and knives, and nails, to give in exchange. The natives seem so ready to trade that Golding is quite enamoured of them, but the captain wisely will allow no one to go on sh.o.r.e. We keep a careful watch as before. The natives, however, seem very peaceable. They tell Taro that they wish to trade with us, and be our friends, and tempt us to come back again. The first mate, Tony Hinks, and others, declare that the captain's regulations are too strict, and that they ought to be allowed to go on sh.o.r.e.

Two days pa.s.s by, and we are almost ready once more to sail. I am below talking with Bent and the doctor. Most of the men are forward at their dinner, the captain, and the first mate, and the watch only being on deck. There is a loud sound like a blow given on the deck, then a shout and a piercing shriek. Something is the matter. We seize cutla.s.ses and pistols, and any weapons we can lay hands on, and spring on deck.

Upwards of a dozen savages are collected there with heavy clubs in their hands uplifted, and our men are righting desperately with them, but almost overpowered. The first mate lies dead on the deck near the companion, and further forward are Tony Hinks and a seaman with their heads beaten in. The supercargo is defending himself with a capstan-bar against several savages, while the captain stands in one of the quarter boats, which has been lowered partly down, pointing a telescope at the savages, who look at it as if they think it some sort of firearm. Most of the cannibals turn upon us, and advance furiously with their heavy clubs. We have, I deem, but little chance of contending with numbers so overpowering. I hand a cutla.s.s and a pistol to the captain, who springs out of the boat on deck. Bent stands wonderfully cool, and levelling his pistols kills two of our a.s.sailants almost at the same moment. The rest hesitate; they have not thought of putting on the hatches, and to our great relief we see the crew springing up from the forepeak armed with axes, knives, and harpoons. With loud shouts and threats of vengeance they rush at the savages, some of whom they cut down, others they hurl overboard; we from aft join in the onslaught, till the savages take fright, and in another instant our decks are clear. The guns are always kept loaded--the captain orders them to be depressed and fired at the canoes, towards which our late a.s.sailants are swimming. Many are struck, and several of the canoes are knocked to pieces. The greater number of the people swim to the sh.o.r.e with the greatest ease, diving when they see the guns fired, or the levelling of the muskets. We make sail and stand out of the harbour to the west, intending to bury our chief mate and boatswain in deep water, out of sight of these cannibal regions.

Truly it makes me sad to think of these two men thus suddenly cut off, utterly unprepared to go into the presence of a holy G.o.d. They trusted not to Him who alone could washed them clean. They were good seamen, but they were nothing else. The captain comes on deck, as their bodies lie near the gangway, lashed in their hammocks, with that of the other man killed, and covered up with flags. We read a portion of the burial service, and commit them to the deep, till "the sea shall give up her dead."

The next island we make, sailing north, is Tutuila, one of the Navigators', or Samoan group. The harbour we enter is Pango Pango. It is the most curious we have seen. It runs deep into the land, and on either side are high precipices, some a thousand feet high, with two or three breaks, by which the waters of the harbour are approached from the sh.o.r.e. The people come off to us with great confidence in their large dug-out canoes. They are a brown race, like those of Tahiti. They are evidently a better disposed people than those we have just left. We have no fear about going on sh.o.r.e, and meet with civil treatment. Yet they are great thieves and beggars--the greatest chiefs asking for anything to which they take a fancy. They are also debased idolaters; and Taro says they wors.h.i.+p fish, and eels, and all sorts of creeping things. They are also savage and cruel, and constantly fighting among each other. As to their morals, they are undoubtedly superior to the people of Tahiti, yet, from the style of their dances, we cannot argue much in their favour.

There is much wild and beautiful scenery in the islands of this group, and as far as we are able to judge, the climate is good. We keep as usual on our guard, and from what we hear, not without reason, for numerous articles of dress, and carpenters tools, and iron work, and chests, and parts of a vessel, have been seen among the people, which leaves no doubt that some unfortunate s.h.i.+p's company have been wrecked on their sh.o.r.es or put off by them. Indeed, it is worthy of remark that, with the exception of Tahiti, there is not a single group at which we have touched where we have not had evidence that s.h.i.+ps had been attacked or wrecked, and a part, if not the whole, of the s.h.i.+p's company cut off. In some, only boats' crews have been destroyed, as was the fate of Captain Cook and his companions, but at several of the islands several s.h.i.+ps' crews have been captured, and the greater number of the people killed and eaten. Indeed, such is the barbarous heathen and debased condition of the countless inhabitants of this island-world of the Pacific, that the navigation of these seas is indeed an undertaking of great peril. No man can tell when he is safe, or at what moment the treacherous islanders may not turn round and destroy him, just as they did Captain Cook, and just as they have treated many other unfortunate Englishmen since his time. Truly, it may be said, that these islands lie in darkness and in the shadow of death. There is but one means by which they can be changed--the sending to them the gospel. Yet my brother seamen and the traders laugh at such a notion, and people at home, who ought to know better, call it fanatical nonsense. I do not wish to set my opinion up against that of others, but there are certain points where a man can feel that he is right and others wrong, and this is one of them. The gospel has power to change the evil heart. Nothing else can do it. That never fails if accepted. G.o.d has said it. Why should we doubt?

We hear that the people of this place are carrying on war with those of another island. Some of the chiefs come and invite Captain Fuller to help them, but he replies, that if they wish to fight, they must fight among themselves. I would rather he had tried to dissuade them not to fight at all. We make sail out of the harbour, and are becalmed not far off a fortress on the summit of a high cliff which is to be attacked.

It is crowded with the whole population of the island. With our gla.s.ses we can see clearly what is taking place. Soon the canoes from Pango Pango, and of other tribes, their allies, appear. The people land, and begin to scale the rock. Numbers are hurled down and killed, but others climb up. Higher and higher they get. They seem determined to conquer.

I tremble for the fate of the hapless defenders if they succeed. We can hear their shouts and cries. Some of the a.s.sailants have gone round on the land side. We observe the mult.i.tude inside rus.h.i.+ng here and there. Those scaling the rock on our side have reached the summit; several fall, but now the rest break through the stockade, and rush with their clubs and spears against the shrieking crowd. The rest of the invaders have succeeded in gaining an entrance on the opposite side.

The work of death goes on. All are indiscriminately slaughtered--men, women, and children. The warriors hold together, and fight despairingly. One by one they fall before the victors' clubs. A breeze springs up, and we stand clear of the reefs and once more out to sea.

In the last glimpse we obtain of the fort the fighting is still going on, and thus it continues till the scene fades in the distance.

"Such is the warfare carried on among these savages," observes Bent.

"Those who are victorious to-day will be attacked by other tribes before long, and in like manner cut to pieces. In a few years not one of these numberless tribes will remain. War kills many; but in war, crops are destroyed, and famine ensues, and kills many more; and disease, with no sparing hand, destroys numberless others also. A few years hence, those navigating these seas will find none alive to welcome them."

The carpenters declare the s.h.i.+p in such good condition that the captain and supercargo resolve to explore the Loyalty and New Hebrides, and other groups in that direction, before seeking our final port. These islands are especially rich in sandal-wood, with which it is resolved we shall fill up. The first land we make is Mare--one of the Loyalty Islands--a low coral island, about seventy miles in circ.u.mference. The inhabitants are almost black, and a more brutalised savage race we have not yet seen. There are four tribes constantly at war with each other-- the victors always eating their captives.

Hence we steer north, and bring up in a fine harbour in the island of Fate, or Sandwich Island. It is a large, mountainous, and fertile island, with great beauty of scenery. The inhabitants are tall, fine-looking people, but most debased savages and terrible cannibals.

Here sandal-wood is to be had in abundance, and very fine, so that Golding is highly delighted, and declares that it is the finest country he has yet been in. More than once, however, our suspicions are aroused with regard to the natives, who are, we think, meditating an attack on us on board, or when we go on sh.o.r.e to bring off the wood. While here I will write down a brief account of some of these numberless islands in the Western Pacific, among which we are cruising.

The largest is New Guinea, to the north of Australia, the inhabitants of which resemble the negroes of Africa, but are more barbarous. Next, to the south-east of it, is New Caledonia, also a very large island, with barbarous inhabitants. To the south-east is the Isle of Pines, and to the north-east is the Loyalty group, of which Mare is one, and Livu, and Uea. North-east again, we come to the considerable islands of Aneiteum, Tana, Eromanga, and Fate. North again, we fall in with the Shepherds'

Islands and the New Hebrides, of which Malicolo and Espiritu Santo are the largest; and then there are the Northern New Hebrides and the Santa Cruz group, and the Solomon Islands, and New Britain, and New Ireland, between where we now are and New Guinea. Then there are the Caroline group--the isles as thick as the stars in the milky way; and the Ladrone Islands, and Gilbert Islands, and many others, too many indeed to write down. I do not say, however, that the countless inhabitants of these islands do not differ from each other in appearance, and manners, and customs. Some are almost jet black, and others only of a dark brown, but in one thing they are similar--they are all equally fierce heathen savages, and mostly cannibals.

We have now a full cargo, and Golding rejoicingly calculates that he will make several hundreds per cent, on the original outlay. He does not, methinks, reckon the lives of those who have been lost in the adventure. Having laid in a supply of yams, taro, bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, and other roots, fruits, and vegetables, we raise our anchor for the last time we hope till our voyage is over. The captain and Golding can talk of nothing but their plans for the future--how they will return and load the s.h.i.+p with sandal-wood and other valuables.

Whether the captain is thinking more of his speculations than of our reckoning I know not. He has insisted that we are clear of all danger, and we are running on at night under all sail before a fresh breeze, when the cry of "breakers ahead" makes me spring from my berth. Before the s.h.i.+p can be rounded to she strikes heavily. Again and again she strikes, and I can hear the coral grinding through the bottom; the masts go by the board, and the s.h.i.+p lies a helpless wreck on the reef. The wind has fallen, and, being sheltered by another part of the reef, we have no fear of her yet going to pieces. We wait anxiously for day, not knowing whether we may not be near one of those cannibal islands from whose inhabitants we may expect little mercy.

Another day has pa.s.sed. We find a sand-bank some eighty yards across, close inside the reef. On this, having saved one small boat, we are landing our stores, and provisions, and arms.

We set to work to build a small vessel. The men labour diligently, though they grumble. We, the officers, keep watch over the spirit casks. Our great want is water. We dig deep, but the little we find is brackish.

The schooner is finished, and Captain Fuller proposes steering for Port Jackson, where there is a convict settlement.

The schooner is launched, but when we search for a pa.s.sage to take her over the reef, none is to be found. In vain we make the attempt.

Everywhere we are baffled. Some of our people almost go mad with despair. I propose building a large flat-bottomed punt from the deck of the s.h.i.+p, which can pa.s.s over the reef. All agree.

Our punt is almost completed. We see three objects in the distance, which prove to be canoes. We are discovered, for they approach. They are filled with black savages, who keep at a little distance, shouting and flouris.h.i.+ng their spears. We make signs of friends.h.i.+p, but they still come on. We stand to our arms, and as they begin to hurl their spears at us, we are compelled to fire; several fall. With loud howls they paddle off to a distance, watching us. We have little doubt that they will return.

The punt is completed and provisioned. We get her over the reef, and try again to get the schooner across. In vain. We abandon her on the reef. It is time to be away, for we see a fleet of canoes approaching from the north. We hoist sail. The sea is smooth, and we glide rapidly over it, but on come the canoes still faster. They may overwhelm us with their numbers. Much of our powder has got wet. The men do not know it though. Happily the savages catch sight of the schooner and our tent left on the sand-bank. Their eagerness to secure the plunder from the wreck overcomes every other consideration, and they dash over the reef, and allow us to proceed unmolested.

We have been many days at sea; frequent calms and little progress made.

The men are becoming discontented, and several are sick. We have avoided nearing any land. Several islands have been seen, but were we to touch the sh.o.r.e, our prospect of escape would be small indeed. Far better, we agree, to trust to the fickle ocean. No, strange as it may seem, there is not among all these rich and lovely islands one on which we dare set foot.

Several of our men have died; the rest are in a state of insubordination. We are on a short allowance of water, and we fear that our provisions will not hold out. Our frail punt has been so damaged by a gale that we can never cease baling.

[Port Jackson.] When almost despairing that one of our company would escape to tell the tale of our disasters, a s.h.i.+p hove in sight, took us on board, and brought us. .h.i.ther. Thus ends our voyage, and all the bright antic.i.p.ations of wealth enjoyed so long by Golding and our old captain--not a log of sandal-wood, not a string of pearls preserved. ...

Bent has told me his history. He feels his heart warmed with grat.i.tude to the Almighty, who by His grace has preserved him from death of body and soul, and his whole mind is bent on going home with me forthwith, and returning to carry the gospel of salvation to the peris.h.i.+ng heathen of the wide-spreading islands we have visited. Surely he could not devote his strength and life to a more glorious purpose.

CHAPTER NINE.

A n.o.bLE RESOLVE.

I must ask the reader to return to the scene described in the introductory chapter, where we commenced hearing the extracts from the sea journal of old John Harvey. It will be remembered that at our family gathering at my father's house my brother John was the reader.

"Father," said my brother John, pausing awhile after he had finished reading our uncle's journal, "G.o.d willing, and with your permission, I will go and preach the gospel to the heathen of those Pacific Islands."

"Go, my son," said our father, promptly. "You shall have my prayers that your preaching may not be in vain."

"What! go off at once, dear John, and leave us all?" exclaimed several of the younger members of the family in chorus.

"I think not," answered John, calmly, with that sweet smile and gentle voice which gained him so many hearts; "I have much to learn and much to do before I shall be fitted for the office of a missionary. It is not a task to be undertaken lightly and without consideration. When a man charges among a host of foes, he must be armed at all points. A missionary, too, should be like a light s.h.i.+ning amid the surrounding darkness; he should be able to show the heathen how to improve their moral and physical, as well as their spiritual condition. He should be fairly versed in the most useful mechanical arts, and possess especially some knowledge of medicine and surgical skill."

"Well, it will take you a good many years before you can do all that, and perhaps you will change your mind before the time comes," said one of the younger ones, who did not, as indeed they could not be expected to do, enter into John's thoughts and feelings on the subject.

I may say from that very moment John devoted all the energies of his mind and body to preparing himself for the high and holy calling he had undertaken. Long, I know, that night he knelt in prayer for grace, and wisdom, and strength to direct, fit, and support him for the work.

Besides giving much time to his studies at the theological college, he gained a considerable knowledge of medicine and surgery, and was to be seen now with saw and plane labouring with a carpenter,--at the blacksmith's anvil, with hammer in hand, forming a bolt, or hinge, or axe,--and now at the gardener's, with hoe or spade, planting or digging, or pruning. Many wondered how his mind could take in so many new things, or his slight frame undergo so much labour. Few could comprehend the spirit which sustained him. He grew indeed stronger and more robust than any one would have supposed he would become.

I had since my childhood wished to go to sea, and my father allowed me to follow the bent of my inclinations. I now and then thought that I ought to go forth as a missionary also; but when I compared myself with John, and considered his great superiority to me, I gave up the idea, which I had mentioned to no one, as preposterous. My first two voyages were to India and China, and when I came back from the second John was still at college. I remember thinking that he was losing a great deal of time in preparation. He, however, said that he was gaining time. "A blunt tool can never properly perform the work. I am getting sharpened, that I may be used to advantage," was his remark.

On my return home from my third voyage, he had gone to the Pacific.

Where he was to be stationed was not known. He had not gone alone, for he had taken a wife to support and solace him. I had never seen her; but I was told that her heart was bound up with his in the work in which he was engaged.