The Coral Island by Robert Michael Ballantyne (top rated books of all time .txt) 📕

taste.

Again at this time Jack and I pondered the formation of the large

coral islands. We could now understand how the low ones were

formed, but the larger islands cost us much consideration, yet we

could arrive at no certain conclusion on the subject.

Having satisfied our curiosity and enjoyed ourselves during the

whole day, in our little boat, we returned, somewhat wearied, and,

withal, rather hungry, to our bower.

“Now,” said Jack, “as our boat answers so well, we will get a mast

and sail made immediately.”

“So we will,” cried Peterkin, as we all assisted to drag the boat

above high-water mark; “we’ll light our candle and set about it

this very night. Hurrah, my boys, pull away!”

As we dragged our boat, we observed that she grated heavily on her

keel; and, as the sands were in this place mingled with broken

coral rocks, we saw portions of the wood being scraped off.

“Hallo!” cried Jack, on seeing this. “That won’t do. Our keel

will be worn off in no time at this rate.”

“So it will,” said I, pondering deeply as to how this might be

prevented. But I am not of a mechanical turn, naturally, so I

could conceive no remedy save that of putting a plate of iron on

the keel, but as we had no iron I knew not what was to be done.

“It seems to me, Jack,” I added, “that it is impossible to prevent

the keel being worn off thus.”

“Impossible!” cried Peterkin, “my dear Ralph, you are mistaken,

there is nothing so easy - “

“How?” I inquired, in some surprise.

“Why, by not using the boat at all!” replied Peterkin.

“Hold your impudent tongue, Peterkin,” said Jack, as he shouldered

the oars, “come along with me and I’ll give you work to do. In the

first place, you will go and collect cocoa-nut fibre, and set to

work to make sewing twine with it - “

“Please, captain,” interrupted Peterkin, “I’ve got lots of it made

already, - more than enough, as a little friend of mine used to be

in the habit of saying every day after dinner.”

“Very well,” continued Jack; “then you’ll help Ralph to collect

cocoa-nut cloth, and cut it into shape, after which we’ll make a

sail of it. I’ll see to getting the mast and the gearing; so let’s

to work.”

And to work we went right busily, so that in three days from that

time we had set up a mast and sail, with the necessary rigging, in

our little boat. The sail was not, indeed, very handsome to look

at, as it was formed of a number of oblong patches of cloth; but we

had sewed it well by means of our sail-needle, so that it was

strong, which was the chief point. Jack had also overcome the

difficulty about the keel, by pinning to it a FALSE keel. This was

a piece of tough wood, of the same length and width as the real

keel, and about five inches deep. He made it of this depth because

the boat would be thereby rendered not only much more safe, but

more able to beat against the wind; which, in a sea where the

trade-winds blow so long and so steadily in one direction, was a

matter of great importance. This piece of wood was pegged very

firmly to the keel; and we now launched our boat with the

satisfaction of knowing that when the false keel should be scraped

off we could easily put on another; whereas, should the real keel

have been scraped away, we could not have renewed it without taking

our boat to pieces, which Peterkin said made his “marrow quake to

think upon.”

The mast and sail answered excellently; and we now sailed about in

the lagoon with great delight, and examined with much interest the

appearance of our island from a distance. Also, we gazed into the

depths of the water, and watched for hours the gambols of the

curious and bright-coloured fish among the corals and sea-weed.

Peterkin also made a fishing line, and Jack constructed a number of

hooks, some of which were very good, others remarkably bad. Some

of these hooks were made of iron-wood, which did pretty well, the

wood being extremely hard, and Jack made them very thick and large.

Fish there are not particular. Some of the crooked bones in fish-heads also answered for this purpose pretty well. But that which

formed our best and most serviceable hook was the brass finger-ring

belonging to Jack. It gave him not a little trouble to manufacture

it. First he cut it with the axe; then twisted it into the form of

a hook. The barb took him several hours to cut. He did it by

means of constant sawing with the broken penknife. As for the

point, an hour’s rubbing on a piece of sandstone made an excellent

one.

It would be a matter of much time and labour to describe the

appearance of the multitudes of fish that were day after day drawn

into our boat by means of the brass hook. Peterkin always caught

them, - for we observed that he derived much pleasure from fishing,

- while Jack and I found ample amusement in looking on, also in

gazing down at the coral groves, and in baiting the hook. Among

the fish that we saw, but did not catch, were porpoises and sword-fish, whales and sharks. The porpoises came frequently into our

lagoon in shoals, and amused us not a little by their bold leaps

into the air, and their playful gambols in the sea. The sword-fish

were wonderful creatures; some of them apparently ten feet in

length, with an ivory spear, six or eight feet long, projecting

from their noses. We often saw them darting after other fish, and

no doubt they sometimes killed them with their ivory swords. Jack

remembered having heard once of a sword-fish attacking a ship, -

which seemed strange indeed; but, as they are often in the habit of

attacking whales, perhaps it mistook the ship for one. This sword-fish ran against the vessel with such force, that it drove its

sword quite through the thick planks; and when the ship arrived in

harbour, long afterwards, the sword was found still sticking in it!

Sharks did not often appear; but we took care never again to bathe

in deep water without leaving one of our number in the boat to give

us warning, if he should see a shark approaching. As for the

whales, they never came into our lagoon, but we frequently saw them

spouting in the deep water beyond the reef. I shall never forget

my surprise the first day I saw one of these huge monsters close to

me. We had been rambling about on the reef during the morning, and

were about to re-embark in our little boat, to return home, when a

loud blowing sound caused us to wheel rapidly round. We were just

in time to see a shower of spray falling, and the flukes or tail of

some monstrous fish disappear in the sea a few hundred yards off.

We waited some time to see if he would rise again. As we stood,

the sea seemed to open up at our very feet; an immense spout of

water was sent with a snort high into the air, and the huge blunt

head of a sperm whale arose before us. It was so large that it

could easily have taken our little boat, along with ourselves, into

its mouth! It plunged slowly back into the sea, like a large ship

foundering, and struck the water with its tail so forcibly as to

cause a sound like a cannon shot. We also saw a great number of

flying fish, although we caught none; and we noticed that they

never flew out of the water except when followed by their bitter

foe, the dolphin, from whom they thus endeavoured to escape. But

of all the fish that we saw, none surprised us so much as those

that we used to find in shallow pools after a shower of rain; and

this not on account of their appearance, for they were ordinary-looking and very small, but on account of their having descended in

a shower of rain! We could account for them in no other way,

because the pools in which we found these fish were quite dry

before the shower, and at some distance above high-water mark.

Jack, however, suggested a cause which seemed to me very probable.

We used often to see water-spouts in the sea. A water-spout is a

whirling body of water, which rises from the sea like a sharp-pointed pillar. After rising a good way, it is met by a long

tongue, which comes down from the clouds; and when the two have

joined, they look something like an hour-glass. The water-spout is

then carried by the wind, sometimes gently, sometimes with

violence, over the sea, sometimes up into the clouds, and then,

bursting asunder, it descends in a deluge. This often happens over

the land as well as over the sea; and it sometimes does much

damage, but frequently it passes gently away. Now, Jack thought

that the little fish might perhaps have been carried up in a water-spout, and so sent down again in a shower of rain. But we could

not be certain as to this point; yet we thought it likely.

During these delightful fishing and boating excursions we caught a

good many eels, which we found to be very good to eat. We also

found turtles among the coral rocks, and made excellent soup in our

iron kettle. Moreover, we discovered many shrimps and prawns, so

that we had no lack of variety in our food; and, indeed, we never

passed a week without making some new and interesting discovery of

some sort or other, either on the land or in the sea.

CHAPTER XVII.

A monster wave and its consequences - The boat lost and found -

Peterkin’s terrible accident - Supplies of food for a voyage in the

boat - We visit Penguin Island, and are amazed beyond measure -

Account of the penguins.

ONE day, not long after our little boat was finished, we were

sitting on the rocks at Spouting Cliff, and talking of an excursion

which we intended to make to Penguin Island the next day.

“You see,” said Peterkin, “it might be all very well for a stupid

fellow like me to remain here and leave the penguins alone, but it

would be quite inconsistent with your characters as philosophers to

remain any longer in ignorance of the habits and customs of these

birds; so the sooner we go the better.”

“Very true,” said I; “there is nothing I desire so much as to have

a closer inspection of them.”

“And I think,” said Jack, “that you had better remain at home,

Peterkin, to take care of the cat; for I’m sure the hogs will be at

it in your absence, out of revenge for your killing their great-grandmother so recklessly.”

“Stay at home?” cried Peterkin; “my dear fellow, you would

certainly lose your way, or get upset, if I were not there to take

care of you.”

“Ah, true,” said Jack, gravely, “that did not occur to me; no doubt

you must go. Our boat does require a good deal of ballast; and all

that you say, Peterkin, carries so much weight with it, that we

won’t need stones if you go.”

Now, while my companions were talking, a notable event occurred,

which, as it is not generally known, I shall be particular in

recording here.

While we were talking, as I