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When the boat had made a fair start, we all sat down on the deck, with Jane in our midst, while Fritz told his tale to the end. |
Jane Rose was born in IN-DI-A. She was the child of one Cap-tain Rose, whose wife died when Jane was but a babe in arms. When ten years of age he sent her to a first class school, where she was taught all that was fit for the child of a rich man to know. In course of time she could ride a horse with some skill, and she... |
The ship had been some weeks at sea, when one day a storm broke over it, and the wind drove it for days out of its course. The crew did their best to steer clear of the rocks, but she struck on a reef and sprung a leak. The boats then put off from the wreck, but a wave broke over the one in which Jane left, and she was... |
When she had strength to walk, she found some birds' eggs and shell fish, which she ate, and then went in search of some safe place where she could rest for the night. By good chance she had a flint and a knife; with these she set light to some dry twigs, and made a fire, which she did not once let out till the day she... |
She built a hut to sleep in, and made snares to catch birds. Some of them she made use of for food, and some she let go with bits of cloth tied to their legs, on which she wrote words, in the hope that they might meet the eye of some one who could help her. This, as we knew, had led Fritz to make his search, the end of... |
When Fritz had told us this, and much more, we came in sight of Safe Bay. He then took Ernest with him in his small boat, and left us to go up the stream as fast as he could to Rock House, so as to make the place look neat by the time we brought home our guest. The two boys -- for to us they were still boys -- met us o... |
"I shall tell no more than the truth," she said, "when I say that what you have shown me is of far more worth than all the wealth I have seen in the East, and that I feel more joy this day than I have felt in all the days of my life. I can use no terms less strong than these to show how much I thank you." |
This was just the kind of speech to please the boys, for there had been no one to praise their work till now. When the meal was done, my wife brought out some of her best wine, and we drank to the health of our guest in great state, and with loud cheers. We then made a tour of our house and grounds, that Jane might see... |
The next day we all went to The Nest, and when the rainy season came round, Jane knew the place quite as well as we did. My wife found in her a true friend, for she soon took a large share of the work off her hands, and did it with so much skill, and with so strong a wish to please us, that we grew to love her as if sh... |
When the time came for us to keep in doors from the rain, the boys would oft lay by their work, and sit to hear Jane talk of what she had seen in the East, and Ernest and Fritz would read to her by turns such books as she might choose. I was glad to see that this wrought a great change in my sons, whose mode of life ha... |
When the spring came, the boys went in our boat to the spot where they had found Jane, which we now knew by the name of "Jane's Isle," and brought back some beans, which were new to them. These we found to be COF-FEE. Jane told us that they were by no means scarce, but that she had not made use of them, as she knew no ... |
"Do you think," said my wife, "that the plant would grow here?" |
I then thought for the first time how fond she was of it. There had been some bags on board the ship, but I had not brought them from the wreck; and my wife had once said that she would like to see the plant in our ground. Now that we knew where to get it, she told me that it was one of the few things that she felt the... |
All these were brought to Rock, House, and I may tell you that Fritz set great store by them. There were all sorts of odd clothes, which she had made of the skin of the sea calf; fish lines wrought out of the hair of her head; pins made from the bones of fish; a lamp made out of a shell, with a wick of the threads whic... |
My wife, who had now a friend of her own sex to talk with, did not feel dull when the boys left us for a time, so they had leave to roam where their wish led them, and to stay as long as they chose. In the course of time they knew the whole of the isle on which we dwelt. Ernest drew a map of it to scale, so that we cou... |
I will not dwell on what took place now for some time, for I find that each year was very much like the last. We had our fields to sow, our crops to reap, our beasts to feed and train; and these cares kept our hands at work, and our minds free from the least thought of our lone mode of life. |
I turn to my log as I write this, and on each page my eye falls on some thing that brings back to my mind the glad time we spent at Rock House. |
Chapter XV. |
IN the spring time of the year, when the rain was past, Fritz and Jack set off on a trip in their boat to Shark Isle. The day was fine, the sky clear, and there was no wind, yet the waves rose and fell as in a storm. |
"See!" cried Jack, "here comes a shoal of whales. They will eat us up." |
"There is no fear of that," said Fritz; "whales will do us no harm, if we do not touch them." This proved to be the case. Though any one of them might have broken up the boat with a stroke of its tail, they did not touch it, but swam by in a line, two by two, like a file of troops. |
On Shark Isle, near the shore, we had thrown up a mound, and built a fort, on which were set two of the ship's guns. These the boys made a rule to fire off, with a view to let us know that they were safe, and to try if the guns were still fit for use. This time they found their charge quite dry, and the guns went off w... |
They had just put a plug in the hole of one of the guns, to keep out the wet, when they heard a sound roll through the air. |
"Did you bear that?" said Jack. "I am sure that noise must have come from some ship at sea. Let us fire once more." |
But Fritz thought they ought to go home at once and tell me what they had heard. They both ran to the boat with all speed, and put out their strength to reach home ere the sun went down. |
The day was fine, and as the rain had kept us in doors for two months, we were glad to go down on the beach for a change. All at once I saw the boys come up the stream in their boat, at a great speed, and the way they used their sculls led me to think that all was not right. |
"What have you seen, that should thus put two brave youths to flight?" said I. |
Then they told me what had brought them back so soon. I had heard the sound of the two guns which they had fired off, but no more. I told them I thought their ears must be at fault, and that the sounds they had heard were no more than those of their own guns, which the hills had sent back through the air. This view of ... |
"It will be a strange thing," said I, "if the hope to which I have so long clung should at last come to be a fact; but we must have a care that we do not hail a ship the crew of which may rob and kill us for the sake of our wealth. I feel that we have as much cause to dread a foe as we have grounds of hope that we may ... |
Our first course was to make the cave quite safe, and then to mount guard where we could see a ship if one should come near the coast. That night the rain came down in a flood, and a storm broke over us, and we were thus kept in doors for two days and two nights. |
On the third day I set out with Jack to Shark Isle, with a view to seek for the strange ship which he said he knew must be in some place not far from the coast. I went to the top of a high rock, but though my eye swept the sea for miles round, I could see no signs of a sail. I then made Jack fire three more shots, to t... |
There was now no room for doubt that, though I could not see it, there must be a ship near Shark's Isle. Jack heard me say this with great glee, and cried out, "What can we now do to find it?" |
We had brought a flag with us, and I told Jack to haul this up twice to the top of the staff, by means of which sign those who saw it would know that we had good news to tell them. |
I then left Jack on the fort with the guns, and told him to fire as soon as a ship hove in sight. I bent my way at once back to Rock House, to talk with my wife, Jane, and the boys, as to what steps we should now take. They all met me on the beach, and made me tell them the news while I was still in the boat. |
"We know no more," said I, "than the fact that there is still a ship on the coast. You must all now keep in doors, while Fritz and I go in search of it." |
We set off at noon, and went straight to the west part of the coast, where we thought the sound must have come from. We knew a cape there from which we could get a good view of the sea, and by the side of which lay a small bay. |
When we got round the cape, great was our joy to find a fine ship in the bay. It was not far off from us, for we could see the ENG-LISH flag float in the breeze from one of its masts. I seek in vain to find words by means of which I can set forth in print what I then felt. Both Fritz and I fell on our knees and gave th... |
"Stay," said I, "till we are quite sure what they are. There are bad men on the seas who put up false flags to lure ships out of their course, and then rob and kill the crew." |
We could now see all that took place on board. Two tents had been set up on the shore, in front of which was a fire; and we could see that men went to and fro with planks. There were two men left on guard on the deck of the ship, and to these we made signs. When they saw us they spoke to some one who stood near, and wh... |
We did not at first like to go too near, but kept our boat some way off. Fritz said he could see that the faces of the men were not so dark as our own. |
"If that be the case," said I, "we are safe, and we may trust their flag." |
We both sang a Swiss song, and then I cried out at the top of my voice these words: "Ship ahoy! good men!" But they made no sign that they heard us. Our song, our boat, and, more than all, our dress, made them no doubt guess that we were wild men of the wood; for at last one of the crew on board held up knives and glas... |
We then gave a shout and a wave of the hand, and shot off round the cape as fast as our boat would take us. We soon got back to Rock House, where our dear ones were on the look-out for us. My wife said we had done quite right to come back, but Jane thought we should have found out who they were. |
That night none of us slept well; our guest thought there might now be a chance for her to reach her home, and she dreamed she heard the well-known voice of her sire call her to come to him. The boys were half crazed with vague hopes, and lay for hours ere they went to sleep. My wife and I sat up late to think and talk... |
At break of day we put on board our boat a stock of fruit and fresh food of all kinds, such as we thought the crew of the ship would like to have, and Fritz and I set sail for the bay. We took with us all the arms we could find, so as not to be at a loss should the crew prove false to their flag, and turn out to be a s... |
As we drew near the ship I fired a gun, and told Fritz to hoist a flag like theirs to the top of our mast, and as we did so the crew gave a loud cheer. I then went on board, and the mate of the ship led me to his chief, who soon put me at my ease by a frank shake of the hand. I then told him who we were, and how we cam... |
"It was then," he said, "that we first heard your guns; and when on the third day the same sound came to our ears, we knew that there must be some one on the coast, and this led us to put up our tents and wait till the crew should search the land round the bay." |
I then made the crew a gift of what we had brought in our boat, and said to Captain Stone, for that was his name: "I hope, sir, that you will now go with me to Rock House, the place where we live, and where you will see Miss Rose, who will be glad to hear some news of home." |
"To be sure I will, and thank you much," said he; "and I have no doubt that Mr. West would like to go with us." This Mr. West was on his way, with his wife and two girls, to New South Wales, where he meant to build a house and clear a piece of land. |
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