Title: Men Against the Sea (1933)
Author: Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall
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Title: Men Against the Sea (1933)
Author: Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall


The Bounty Trilogy
Wyeth Edition

Comprising the Three Volumes:
Mutiny on the Bounty (1932)
Men Against the Sea (1933)
Pitcairn's Island (1934)

[This file contains only MEN AGAINST THE SEA]

by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall

Illustrations by N C Wyeth

Grosset and Dunlap, publishers: 1945

* * *


MEN AGAINST THE SEA (1933)


* * *


To the memory of
CAPTAIN JOSIAH MITCHELL
_of the Clipper Ship "Hornet"_

who, in the year 1866, after his vessel had been lost by fire,
in Lat. 2° N., 110° 10' W., safely carried fourteen of his men,
in a small open boat, to the Hawaiian Islands, a distance of
4000 miles, after a passage of 43 days and 8 hours


* * *


THE COMPANY OF THE _BOUNTY'S_ LAUNCH

Lieutenant William Bligh, _Captain_
John Fryer, _Master_
Thomas Ledward, _Acting Surgeon_
David Nelson, _Botanist_
William Peckover, _Gunner_
William Cole, _Boatswain_
William Elphinstone, _Master's Mate_
William Purcell, _Carpenter_

_Midshipmen:_
Thomas Hayward
John Hallet
Robert Tinkler

_Quartermasters:_
John Norton
Peter Lenkletter

George Simpson, _Quartermaster's Mate_
Lawrence Lebogue, _Sailmaker_
Mr. Samuel, _Clerk_
Robert Lamb, _Butcher_

_Cooks:_
John Smith
Thomas Hall



CONTENTS:

Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Epilogue
The Run of the Launch




CHAPTER I


This day my good friend William Elphinstone was laid to rest, in the
Lutheran churchyard on the east bank of the river, not five cable-lengths
from the hospital. Mr. Sparling, Surgeon-General of Batavia, helped me
into the boat; and two of his Malay servants were waiting on the bank,
with a litter to convey me to the grave.

Two others of our little company, worn out by the hardships of the
voyage, and easy victims to the climate of Java, have preceded
Elphinstone to the churchyard. They were men of humble birth, but
Elphinstone should be well content to lie beside them, for they were
Englishmen worthy of the name. Lenkletter was one of the _Bounty's_
quartermasters, and Hall a cook. Mr. Sparling had dosed them with bark
and wine, doing everything in his power to save their lives; but they had
been through too much. Mr. Fryer, the master, Cole, the boatswain, and
two midshipmen, Hayward and Tinkler, were rowed four miles up the river
to attend the funeral.

After we had paid our last respects to the master's mate, I was grieved
to learn that my friends had been informed by the Sabandar that they were
to sail for Europe on the morrow, with the last of the _Bounty's_ people,
aboard the _Hollandia_, a ship of the Dutch East India Company's fleet.
Grieved for myself, I must add, but glad for the sake of the others,
whose longing for England, after an absence of nearly two years, was as
great as my own. The deep ulcer on my leg, aggravated by the tropical
climate, renders it imprudent to take passage at this time; in Mr.
Sparling's opinion I shall be unable to travel for several months. I am
grateful for the friendship of my Dutch colleague and sensible of the
deep obligations he has placed me under, yet I am taking up my pen to
ward off the sense of loneliness already descending upon me in this
far-off place.

The seaman's hospital is a model of its kind: large, commodious, airy,
and judiciously divided into wards, each one a separate dwelling in which
the sick are accommodated according to their complaints. I am lodged with
the Surgeon-General, in his house at the extremity of one wing; he has
had a cot placed for me, on a portion of his piazza shaded by flowering
shrubs and vines, where I may pass the hours of the day propped up on
pillows--to read or write, if I choose, or to sit in idleness with my
bandaged leg extended upon a chair, gazing out on the rich and varied
landscape, steaming in the heat of the sun. But now that my shipmates
will no longer be able to visit me, the hours will drag sadly. My host is
the kindest of men, and the only person here with whom I can converse,
but the performance of his duties leaves little time for idle talk. His
lady, a young and handsome niece of M. Vander Graaf, the Governor of Cape
Town, has been more than kind to me. She is scarcely twenty, and the
Malay costumes she wears become her mightily: silk brocade and jewels,
and her thick flaxen hair dressed high on her head and pinned with a comb
of inlaid tortoise shell. Escorted by her Malay girls, she often comes of
an afternoon to sit with me. Her blue eyes express interest and
compassion as she glances at me and turns to speak with her servants, in
the Malay tongue. I have been so long without the pleasure of female
company that it is a satisfaction merely to look at Mme. Sparling; were I
able to converse with her, the hours would be short indeed.

When we had buried Mr. Elphinstone, and I had asked the Surgeon-General
for writing materials, it was his wife who brought me what I required.
She took leave of me soon after; and since night is still distant, I am
beginning to set my memories in order for the task with which I hope to
while the hours away until I am again able to walk.

Of the mutiny on board His Majesty's armed transport _Bounty_, I shall have
little to say. Captain Bligh has already written an account of how the
ship was seized; and Mr. Timotheus Wanjon, secretary to the governor at
Coupang, has translated it into the Dutch language so that the
authorities in these parts may be on the lookout for the _Bounty_ in the
unlikely event that she should be steered this way. He questioned each of
us fully as to what we had seen and heard on the morning of the mutiny; I
should be guilty of presumption were I to set down an independent
narrative based upon my own knowledge of what occurred. But of our
subsequent adventures in the ship's launch I feel free to write, the more
so since Mr. Nelson, the botanist, who informed me at Coupang that he
meditated the same task, died in Timor, the first victim of the
privations we had undergone.

Never, perhaps, in the history of the sea has a captain performed a feat
more remarkable than Mr. Bligh's, in navigating a small, open, and
unarmed boat--but twenty-three feet long, and so heavily laden that she
was in constant danger of foundering--from the Friendly Islands to Timor,
a distance of three thousand, six hundred miles, through groups of
islands inhabited by ferocious savages, and across a vast uncharted
ocean. Eighteen of us were huddled on the thwarts as we ran for forty-one
days before strong easterly gales, bailing almost continually to keep
afloat, and exposed to torrential rains by day and by night. Yet, save
for John Norton,--murdered by the savages at Tofoa,--we reached Timor
without the loss of a man. For the preservation of our lives we have
Captain Bligh to thank, and him alone. We reached the Dutch East Indies,
not by a miracle, but owing to the leadership of an officer of
indomitable will, skilled in seamanship, stern to preserve discipline,
cool and cheerful in the face of danger. His name will be revered by
those who accompanied him for as long as they may live.

On the morning of April 28, 1789, the _Bounty_ was running before a light
easterly breeze, within view of the island of Tofoa, in the Friendly
Archipelago. I was awakened a little after daybreak by Charles Churchill,
the master-at-arms, and John Mills, the gunner's mate, who informed me
that the ship had been seized by Fletcher Christian, the acting
lieutenant, and the greater part of the ship's company, and that I was to
go on deck at once. These men were of Christian's party. Churchill was
armed with a brace of pistols, and Mills with a musket. I dressed in
great haste and was then marched to the upper deck. It will be understood
with what amazement and incredulity I looked about me. To be aroused from
a quiet sleep to find the ship filled with armed men, and Captain Bligh a
prisoner in their midst, so shocked and stupefied me that, at first, I
could scarcely accept the evidence of my eyes.

There was nothing to be done. The mutineers were in complete possession
of the ship, and those who they knew would remain loyal to their
commander were so carefully guarded as to preclude all possibility of
resistance. I was ordered to stand by the mainmast with William
Elphinstone, master's mate, and John Norton, one of the quartermasters.
Two of the seamen, armed with muskets, the bayonets fixed, were stationed
over us; and I well remember one of them, John Williams, saying to me:
"Stand ye there, Mr. Ledward. We mean ye no harm, but, by God, we'll run
ye through the guts if ye make a move toward Captain Bligh!"

Elphinstone, Norton, and I tried to recall these men to their senses; but
their minds were so inflamed by hatred toward Captain Bligh that nothing
we could say made the least impression upon them. He showed great
resolution; and, although they threatened him repeatedly, he outfaced the
ruffians and dared them to do their worst.

I had been standing by the mainmast only a short time when Christian, who
had been chief of those guarding Mr. Bligh, gave this business into the
charge of Churchill and four or five others, that he might hasten the
work of sending the loyal men out of the ship. It was only then that we
learned what his plans were, and we had no time to reflect upon the awful
consequences to us of his cruelty and folly. The ship was in an uproar,
and it was a near thing that Bligh was not murdered where he stood. It
had been the plan of the mutineers to set us adrift in the small cutter;
but her bottom was so rotten that they were at last persuaded to let us
have the launch, and men were now set to work clearing her that she might
be swung over the side. Whilst this was being done, I caught Christian's
eye, and he came forward to where I stood.

"Mr. Ledward, you may stay with the ship if you choose," he said. "I
shall follow Captain Bligh," I replied.

"Then into the launch with you at once," he said.

"Surely, Mr. Christian," I said, "you will not send us off without
medical supplies, and I must have some cloathes for myself."

He called to Matthew Quintal, one of the seamen: "Quintal, take Mr.
Ledward to his cabin, and let him have what cloathing he needs. He is to
take the small medicine chest, but see to it that he takes nothing from
the large one."

He then left me abruptly, and that was my last word with this misguided
man who had doomed nineteen others to hardships and sufferings beyond the
power of the imagination to describe.

The small medicine chest was provided with a handle, and could easily be
carried by one man. Fortunately, I had always kept it fully equipped for
expeditions that might be made away from the ship; it had its own supply
of surgical instruments, sponges, tourniquets, dressings, and the like,
and a hasty examination assured me that, in the way of medicines, it
contained most of those specifics likely to be needed by men in our
position. Quintal watched me narrowly while I was making this
examination. I put into the chest my razors, some handkerchiefs, my only
remaining packet of snuff, and half a dozen wineglasses, which later
proved of great use to us. Having gathered together some additional
articles of cloathing, I was again conducted to the upper deck. The
launch was already in the water; Captain Bligh, John Fryer,--the
master,--the boatswain, William Cole, and many others had been sent into
her. Churchill halted me at the gangway to make an examination of the
medicine chest. He then ordered me into the boat, and the chest and my
bundle of cloathing were handed down to me.

I was among the last to go into the launch; indeed, there were but two
who followed me--Mr. Samuel, the captain's clerk, and Robert Tinkler, a
midshipman. The launch was now so low in the water that Mr. Fryer, as
well as Captain Bligh himself, begged that no more men should be sent
into her; yet there were, I believe, two midshipmen and three or four
seamen who would have come with us had there been room. Fortunately for
us and for them, they were not permitted to do so, for we had no more
than seven or eight inches of freeboard amidships. There were, in fact,
nineteen of us in the launch, which was but twenty-three feet long, with
a beam of six feet, nine inches. In depth she was, I think, two feet and
nine inches. Each man had brought with him his bundle of cloathing; and
with these, and the supplies of food allowed us by the mutineers, we were
dangerously overladen.

But there was no time, as yet, to think of the seriousness of our
situation. The launch was veered astern, and for another quarter of an
hour or thereabouts we were kept in tow. The mutineers lined the _Bounty's_
rail, aft, hooting and jeering at us; but it was to Mr. Bligh that most
of their remarks were addressed. As I looked up at them, I found myself
wondering how a mutiny into which well over half the ship's company had
been drawn could have been planned without so much as a hint of danger
having come to the knowledge of the rest of us. I personally had observed
no sign of disaffection in the ship's company. To be sure, I had
witnessed, upon more than one occasion, instances of the rigour of
Captain Bligh's disciplinary measures. He is a man of violent temper,
stern and unbending in the performance of what he considers to be his
duty; but the same may be said of the greater part of the ships' captains
in His Majesty's service. Knowing the necessity for strict discipline at
sea, and the unruly nature of seamen as a class, I by no means considered
that Captain Bligh's punishments exceeded in severity what the rules and
necessities of the service demanded; nor had I believed that the men
themselves thought so. But they now showed a passion of hatred toward him
that astonished me, and reviled him in abominable language.

I heard one of them shout, "Swim home, you old bastard!"

"Aye, swim or drown!" yelled another, "God damn you, we're well rid of
you!"

And another: "You'll flog and starve us no more, you..."

Then followed a string of epithets it may be as well to omit. However, I
must do their company the justice to say that most of the jeering and
vile talk came from four or five of the mutinous crew. I observed that
others looked down at us in silence, and with a kind of awe--as though
they had just realized the enormity of the crime they were committing.

They had given us nothing with which to defend ourselves amongst the
savages, and urgent requests were made for some muskets. These were met
with further abuse; but at length four cutlasses were thrown down to us,
and for all our pleading we were given nothing else. This so enraged
Captain Bligh that he stood in his place and addressed the ruffians as
they deserved. Two or three of the seamen leveled their pieces at him;
and it was only the superior force of his will, I believe, which
prevented them from shooting. We heard one of them cry out: "Bear off,
and give 'em a whiff of grape!" At this moment the painter of the launch
was cast off, and the ship drew slowly away from us. I cannot believe
that even the most hardened of the mutineers was so lost to humanity as
to have turned one of the guns upon a boatload of defenseless men, but
others of our number thought differently. The oars were at once gotten
out, and we pulled directly astern; but the ship was kept on her course,
and soon it was clear to all that we had nothing more to fear from those
aboard of her.

At this time the _Bounty_ was under courses and topsails; the breeze was of
the lightest, and the vessel had little more than steerageway. As she
drew off, we saw several of the men run aloft to loose the topgallant
sails. The shouting grew fainter, and soon was lost to hearing. In an
hour's time the vessel was a good three miles to leeward; in another hour
she was hull down on the horizon.

I well remember the silence that seemed to flow in upon our little
company directly we had been cast adrift--the wide silence of mid-ocean,
accentuated by the faint creaking of the oars against the tholepins. We
rowed six oars in the launch, but were so deeply laden that we made slow
progress toward the island of Tofoa, to the northeast of us and distant
about ten leagues. Fryer sat at the tiller. Captain Bligh, Mr. Nelson,
Elphinstone,--the master's mate,--and Peckover, the gunner, were all
seated in the stern sheets. The rest of us were crowded on the thwarts in
much the same positions as those we had taken upon coming into the
launch. Bligh was half turned in his seat, gazing sombrely after the
distant vessel; nor, during the next hour, I think, did he once remove
his eyes from her. He appeared to have forgotten the rest of us, nor did
any of us speak to remind him of our presence. Our thoughts were as
gloomy as his own, and we felt as little inclined to express them.

My sympathy went out to Mr. Bligh in this hour of bitter disappointment;
I could easily imagine how appalling the ruin of his plans must have
appeared to him at a time when he had every expectation of completing
them to the last detail. We had been homeward bound, the mission of our
long voyage--that of collecting breadfruit plants in Otaheite, to be
carried to the West Indies--successfully accomplished. This task,
entrusted to his care by His Majesty's Government through the interest of
his friend and patron, Sir Joseph Banks, had deeply gratified him, and
well indeed had he justified that trust. Now, in a moment, his sanguine
hopes were brought to nothing. His ship was gone; his splendid charts of
coasts and islands were gone as well; and he had nothing to show for all
the long months of careful and painstaking labour. He found himself cast
adrift with eighteen of his company in his own ship's launch, with no
more than a compass, a sextant, and his journal, in the midst of the
greatest of oceans and thousands of miles from any place where he could
look for help. Small wonder if, at that time, he felt the taste of dust
and ashes in his mouth.

For an hour we moved slowly on toward Tofoa, the most northwesterly of
the islands composing the Friendly Archipelago. This group had been so
christened by Captain Cook; but our experiences among its inhabitants,
only a few days before the mutiny, led us to believe that Cook must have
called them "friendly" in a spirit of irony. They are a virile race, but
we had found them savage and treacherous in the extreme, as different as
could be imagined from the Indians of Otaheite. Only the possession of
firearms had saved us from being attacked and overcome whilst we were
engaged in wooding and watering on the island of Annamooka. Tofoa we had
not visited, and as I gazed at the faint blue outline on the horizon I
tried, with little success, to convince myself that our experiences there
might be more fortunate.

Many an anxious glance was turned in Captain Bligh's direction, but for
an hour at least he remained in the same position, gazing after the
distant ship. When at length he turned away, it was never to look toward
her again. He now took charge of his new command with an assurance, a
quiet cheerfulness, that heartened us all. He first set us to work to
bring some order into the boat. We were, as I have said, desperately
crowded; but when we had stored away our supplies we had elbowroom at
least. Our first care was, of course, to take stock of our provisions. We
found that we had sixteen pieces of pork, each weighing about two pounds;
three bags of bread of fifty pounds each; six quarts of rum, six bottles
of wine, and twenty-eight gallons of water in three ten-gallon kegs. We
also had four empty barricos, each capable of holding eight gallons. The
carpenter, Purcell, had succeeded in fetching away one of his tool
chests, although the mutineers had removed many of the tools before
allowing it to be handed down. Our remaining supplies, outside of
personal belongings, consisted of my medicine chest, the launch's two
lugsails, some spare canvas, two or three coils of rope, and a copper
pot, together with some odds and ends of boat's gear which the boatswain
had had the forethought to bring with him.

To show how deeply laden we were, it is enough to say that my hand, as it
rested on the gunwale, was repeatedly wet with drops of water from the
small waves that licked along the sides of the boat. Fortunately, the sea
was calm and the sky held a promise of good weather, at least for a
sufficient time to enable us to reach Tofoa.

Reliefs at the oars were changed every hour, each of us taking his turn.
Gradually the blue outline of the island became more distinct, and by the
middle of the afternoon we had covered well over half the distance to it.
About this time the faint breeze freshened and came round to the
southeast, which enabled us to get up one of our lugsails. Captain Bligh
now took the tiller and we altered our course to fetch the northern side
of the island. Not eighteen hours before I had had, by moonlight, what I
thought was my last view of Tofoa, and Mr. Nelson and I were computing
the time that would be needed, if all went well, to reach the islands of
the West Indies where we were to discharge our cargo of young breadfruit
trees. Little we dreamed of the change that was to take place in our
fortunes before another sun, had set. I now cast about in my mind, trying
to anticipate what Captain Bligh's plan for us might be. Our only hope of
succour would lie in the colonies in the Dutch East Indies, but they were
so far distant that the prospect of reaching one of them seemed
fantastic. I thought of Otaheite, where we could be certain of kindly
treatment on the part of the Indians, but that island was all of twelve
hundred miles distant and directly to windward. In view of these
circumstances, Mr. Bligh would never attempt a return there.

Meanwhile we proceeded on our way under a sky whose serenity seemed to
mock at the desperate plight of the men in the tiny boat crawling beneath
it. The sun dipped into the sea behind us, and in the light that streamed
up from beyond the horizon the island stood out in clear relief. We
estimated the peak of its central mountain to be about two thousand feet
high. It was a volcano, and a thin cloud of vapour hung above it, taking
on a saffron colour in the afterglow. We were still too far distant at
sunset to have seen the smoke of any fires of its inhabitants. Mr. Bligh
was under the impression that the place was uninhabited. All eyes turned
toward the distant heights as darkness came on, but the only light to be
seen was the dull red glow from the volcano reflected upon the cloud
above it. When we were within a mile of the coast, the breeze died away
and the oars were again gotten out. We approached the rocky shore until
the thunder of the surf was loud in our ears; but in the darkness we
could see no place where a landing might be made. Cliffs, varying in
height from fifty to several hundred feet, appeared to fall directly to
the sea; but when we had coasted a distance of several miles we
discovered a less forbidding spot, where we might lie in comparative
safety through the night.

There was but little surf here, and the sound of it only served to make
deeper and more impressive the stillness of the night. Our voices sounded
strangely distinct in this silence. For all the fact that we had not
eaten since the previous evening, none of us had thought of food; and
when Bligh suggested that we keep our fast until morning, there was no
complaint from any of the company. He did, however, serve a ration of
grog to each of us, and it was at this time that I had reason to be glad
of putting the wineglasses into my medicine chest, for we discovered that
we had but one other drinking vessel, a horn cup belonging to the
captain. The serving of the grog put all of us in a much more cheerful
frame of mind--not, certainly, because of the spirits it contained, but
rather because it was a customary procedure and served to make us forget,
for the moment at least, our forlorn situation. Two men were set at the
oars to keep the boat off the rocks, and Captain Bligh commended the rest
of us to take what rest our cramped positions might afford. The light
murmur of talk now died away; but the silence that followed was that of
tired but watchful men drawn together in spirit by the coming of night
and the sense of common dangers.



CHAPTER II


Throughout the night the launch was kept close under the land. I had as
my near companions Elphinstone,--the master's mate,--and Robert Tinkler,
youngest of the _Bounty's_ midshipmen, a lad of fifteen. The forebodings of
the older part of our company were not shared by Tinkler, whose natural
high spirits had thus far been kept in check by his wholesome awe of
Captain Bligh. He had no true conception of our situation at this time,
and it speaks well for him that when, soon enough, he came to an
understanding of the dangers surrounding us, his courage did not fail
him.

He had slept during the latter part of the night, curled up in the bottom
of the boat with my feet and his bundle of cloathing for his pillow.
Elphinstone and I had dozed in turn, leaning one against the other, but
our cramped position had made anything more than a doze impossible. We
were all awake before the dawn, and as soon as there was sufficient light
we proceeded in a northeasterly direction along the coast. It was a
forbidding-looking place, viewed from the vantage point of a small and
deeply laden ship's boat. The shore was steep-to, and we found no place
where a landing might have been made without serious risk of wrecking the
launch. Presently we were out of the lee, and found the breeze so strong
and the sea so rough that we turned back to examine that part of the
coast which lay beyond the spot where we had spent the night. About nine
o'clock we came to a cove, and, as there appeared to be no more suitable
shelter beyond, we ran in and dropped a grapnel about twenty yards from
the beach.

We were on the lee side here, but this circumstance alone was in our
favour. The beach was rocky, and the foreshore about the cove had a
barren appearance that promised nothing to relieve our wants. It was shut
in on all sides by high, rocky cliffs, and there appeared to be no means
of entrance or exit save by the sea. Captain Bligh stood up in his seat,
examining the place carefully whilst the rest of us awaited his decision.
He turned to Mr. Nelson with a wry smile.

"By God, sir," he said, "if you can find us so much as an edible berry
here, you shall have my ration of grog at supper."

"I'm afraid the venture is safe enough," Mr. Nelson replied.
"Nevertheless, I shall be glad to try."

"That we shall do," said Bligh; then, turning to the master, "Mr. Fryer,
you and six men shall stay with the launch." He then told off those who
were to remain on board, whereupon they slackened away until we were in
shallow water and the rest of us waded ashore.

The beach was composed of heaps of stones worn round and smooth by the
action of the sea, and, although the surf was light, the footing was
difficult until we were out of the water. Robert Lamb, the butcher,
turned his ankle before he had taken half a dozen steps, and thus
provided me with my first task as surgeon of the _Bounty's_ launch. The man
had received a bad sprain that made it impossible for him to walk. He was
supported to higher ground, where Captain Bligh--quite rightly, I
think--gave him a severe rating. We were in no position to have helpless
men to care for, and Lamb's accident was the result of a foolish attempt
to run across a beach of loose stones.

The land about the cove was gravelly soil covered with coarse grass,
small thickets of bush, and scattered trees. The level ground extended
inland for a short distance, to the base of all but vertical walls
covered with vines and fern. Near the beach we found the remains of an
old fire, but we were soon convinced that the cove was used by the
Indians only as a place of occasional resort.

Mr. Bligh delegated his clerk Samuel, Norton, Purcell, Lenkletter, and
Lebogue as a party to attempt to scale the cliffs. Purcell carried one of
the cutlasses, the others provided themselves with stout sticks. Thus
armed, they set out; and were soon lost to view amongst the trees. They
carried with them the copper kettle and an Indian calabash we had found
hanging from a tree near the beach. The rest of us separated, some to
search for shellfish among the rocks, others to explore the foreshore.
Nelson and I bore off to the left side of the cove, where we discovered a
narrow valley; but we soon found our passage blocked by a smooth wall of
rock, thirty or forty feet high. Not a drop of water could we find, and
the arid aspect of the valley as a whole showed only too plainly that the
rainfall, on this side of the island at least, must be scant indeed.

Having explored with care that part of the cove which Bligh had asked us
to examine, we sat down to rest for a moment. Nelson shook his head with
a faint smile.

"Mr. Bligh was safe enough in offering me his tot of grog," he said. "We
shall find nothing here, Ledward--neither food nor water."

"How do you feel about our prospects?" I asked.

"I have not allowed myself to think of them thus far," he replied. "We
can, undoubtedly, find water on the windward side, and perhaps food
enough to maintain us for a considerable period. Beyond that..." He broke
off, leaving the sentence unfinished. Presently he added: "Our situation
is not quite hopeless. That is as much as we can say."

"But it is precisely the kind of situation Bligh was born to meet," I
said.

"It is; I grant that; but what can he do, Ledward? Where in God's name
can we go? We know only too well what treacherous savages these so-called
'Friendly Islanders' are: our experiences at Annamooka taught us that. I
speak frankly. The others I shall try to encourage as much as possible,
but there need be no play-acting between us two."

Nelson talked in a quiet, even voice which made his words all the more
impressive. He was not a man to look on the dark side of things; but we
had long been friends, and, as he had said, there was no need of anything
but frankness between us as we canvassed the possibilities ahead.

"What I think Bligh will do," he went on, "is to take us back to
Annamooka--either there or Tongataboo."

"There seems to be nothing else he can do," I replied, "unless we can
establish ourselves here."

"No. And mark my words--sooner or later we shall have such a taste of
Friendly Island hospitality as we may not live either to remember or
regret...Ledward, Ledward!" he said, with a rueful smile. "Think of our
happy situation a little more than twenty-four hours back, when we were
talking of home there by the larboard bulwarks! And think of my beautiful
breadfruit garden, all in such a flourishing state! What do you suppose
those villains will do with my young trees?"

"I've no doubt they have flung the lot overboard before this," I replied.

"I fear you are right. They jettisoned us; it is not likely that their
treatment of the plants will be any more tender. And I loved them as
though they were my own children!"

We returned to the beach, where we found that the others had been no more
successful than ourselves; but the exploring party had gotten out of the
cove, although how they had managed it no one knew. Captain Bligh had
found a cavern in the rocky wall, about one hundred and fifty paces from
the beach; and the hard, foot-trampled ground within showed that it had
been often used in the past. The cavern was perfectly dry; not so much as
a drop of water trickled from the rocks overhead. One find we made there
was not of a reassuring nature. On a shelf of rock there were ranged six
human skulls which, an examination convinced me, had been those of living
men not more than a year or two earlier. In one of these, the squamosal
section of the temporal bone had been crushed, and another showed a
jagged hole through the parietal bone. I was interested to observe the
splendid teeth in each of these skulls; there was not one in an imperfect
condition. These relics, gleaming faintly white in the dim light of the
cave, were eloquent in their silence; and I have no doubt that they might
have been more eloquent still, could they have conveyed to us information
as to how they came to be there.

Shortly after midday the exploring party returned, utterly weary, their
cloathing torn and their arms and legs covered with scratches and
bruises. In the kettle they had about six quarts of water, and three more
in the calabash. This they had found in holes amongst the rocks; but they
had discovered neither stream nor spring, nor any sign of people. They
had gone a distance of about two miles over rough ground where it was
plain, they said, that no one had lived or could live. It was the opinion
of all that the island was uninhabited. We then returned to the launch,
for there appeared to be no chance of bettering ourselves here.

Again on the boat, we broke our fast for the first time since leaving the
_Bounty_. Each man had a morsel of bread, a tasty bit of pork, and a glass
of water. It was a short repast, and as soon as the last man had been
served, we got in the grapnel and rowed out of the cove.

"We must try to get around to the windward side," said Bligh. "I fancy we
shall find water there. Do you agree, Mr. Nelson?"

"It seems likely," Nelson replied. "As we were approaching yesterday, I
observed that the vegetation appeared much greener to windward."

The wind was at E.S.E., and as we drew out of the shelter of the land it
blew strong, with a rough, breaking sea. Close-hauled on the starboard
tack, the launch heeled to the gusts, while water poured in over the lee
gunwale and the people worked hard with the bails. Bluff-bowed, and
deeply laden as she was, our boat buried her nose in each breaking wave,
sending up great sheets of spray. Even Mr. Bligh began to look anxious.

"Stand by to come about!" he shouted, and then: "Hard alee!"

The launch headed up into the seas, while the halyards were slacked away
and the gaffs passed around to the starboard sides of the masts. The
sails slatted furiously as we bore off on the other tack.

Then, perceiving the danger in the nick of time, Bligh roared: "Over the
side with you--those who can swim!"

It was no pleasant prospect, leaping into a sea so rough; but about half
of our number sprang into the water to fend for themselves. The launch
was so heavy that she answered her helm but sluggishly, and, though the
foresail was backed, she was slow in bearing off. Caught directly in the
trough of the sea, I am convinced that she would have foundered had we
not obeyed Bligh instantly.

By the grace of God and the captain's skill, she bore off without
filling. The swimmers scrambled in over the gunwales; the sails were
trimmed once more, and we ran back to the shelter of the land.

We proceeded for several miles beyond the cove, and were presently
rejoiced to see a clump of coconut palms standing out against the sky on
the cliffs above us; but they were at such a height that we despaired of
reaching them; furthermore, there was a high surf to make landing
difficult. But young Tinkler and Thomas Hall were eager to make the
attempt, and Bligh consented that they should try. We rowed as close to
the rocks as we dared, and the two, having removed their cloathes, sprang
into the sea, carrying with them each a rope that we might haul them back
in case they came to grief. We might have spared ourselves the anxiety.
They were as much at home in the water as the Indians themselves. We saw
them disappear in a smother of foam, and when next seen, they were well
out of danger and scrambling up the rocks. In less than an hour's time
they returned to the shore with about twenty coconuts, which they
fastened in clusters to the line, and we then hauled them to the boat.

We rowed farther along the coast, but, toward the middle, of the
afternoon, having found no shelter, nor any signs of water, Captain Bligh
deemed it best to return to the cove for the night. We reached our
anchorage about an hour after dark. It is hardly necessary to say that
every man of us was now ravenously hungry. Captain Bligh issued a coconut
to each person; and the meat of the nut, together with the cool liquid it
contained, proved a most welcome, but by no means a satisfying, meal.

The following morning we made our third unsuccessful attempt to get round
by sea to the windward side of the island. The sky was clear, but the
wind was not diminished, and we were set to bailing the moment we were
out of shelter of the land. This third experience made it only too clear
that we could not hope to go counter to a heavy sea in our deeply laden
boat, and we were thankful indeed that we had a refuge at hand. There was
nothing we could do but return to the cove.

Bligh was determined that we should keep our meagre supply of food and
water intact, and although, in view of the unsuccessful expedition of the
day before, we had little hope of finding anything on this side of the
island, we decided to try again. Therefore, Mr. Bligh, Nelson,
Elphinstone, Cole, and myself set out to examine the cliffs once more,
and we were so fortunate as to discover a way to and from the cove
evidently used by the Indians themselves. In a narrow gully which had
escaped earlier notice, we found some large, woody vines firmly attached
in clefts of the rock and to trees overhead. We could see in the walls of
the cliff footholds which the Indians had constructed to assist them in
making the ascent. We stood for a moment examining this crude ladder.

"Shall I try it, sir?" Elphinstone asked.

"You stand an excellent chance of breaking your neck, my lad," Bligh
replied; "but if the Indians can do it, we can."

Elphinstone climbed a little way until he could reach the vines, which
were of the thickness of a man's forearm. Finding that they could easily
support his weight, he proceeded, while we watched him from below. After
an all but vertical climb of forty or fifty feet, he reached a ledge of
rock that gave him a resting place, where he turned and called down to
us.

It was, in all truth, a perilous climb, particularly so for Cole, who was
a heavy man and encumbered with our copper kettle, which he carried over
his shoulder. A series of gigantic natural steps brought us at last to
the summit, between three and four hundred feet above the sea. The latter
part of the climb had been less difficult; but, for all that, we little
relished the thought of a return.

From this vantage point we had an excellent view of the volcano, which
appeared to rise from somewhere near the centre of the island. The
intervening country was much cut up by ridges and gullies, and had an
even more desolate look than when viewed from the sea. Nevertheless, we
set out in the direction of the central mountain, and presently entered a
deeper gully that appeared to offer a promise of water; but all that we
found were a few tepid pools amongst the rocks, so shallow that it was
tedious work scooping the water into the kettle with our coconut-shell
ladle. We collected in all three or four gallons. Leaving our kettle
here, we went on; and presently came to some abandoned huts, fallen to
ruin, and near them what had once been a plantain walk, but so concealed
by weeds and bushes that it was a near thing we had missed it. We got
three small bunches of plantains, which we slung to a pole, for carrying
in the Indian fashion. We continued inland for another mile, but the
country became more and more arid, covered in places by ashes and lava
beds where only a few hardy shrubs found nourishment. Evidently, we could
hope for nothing more in this direction, so we returned, taking up our
kettle on the way, and it was near noon before we reached the cliffs
above the cove. Bligh, Nelson, and myself had each a bunch of plantains,
fastened across our backs with pieces of rope. Elphinstone and Cole took
charge of the kettle of water, and I still wonder that they were able to
carry it down without, I believe, the loss of so much as a drop of the
precious supply.

It was but natural that the thought of food should by this time be
uppermost in every man's mind. Realizing the need of sustaining our
strength, Captain Bligh allowed us the most substantial meal we had yet
enjoyed, consisting of two boiled plantains per man, with an ounce of
pork and a wineglass of water. We had combed the beach all round the cove
for shellfish without finding so much as a sea snail. As it was
impossible to leave the cove on account of the heavy sea, another
exploring party was sent out after dinner, but they returned at sunset
without having had any success. There yet remained one direction in which
none of our parties had gone--toward the northwest--and the following
morning near half of our party, who had spent the night in the cavern
that they might have a more refreshing sleep, were sent out in a last
attempt to secure food and water. Mr. Fryer was in charge of the
expedition, and Captain Bligh ordered him not to return until he was
convinced that we had nothing to hope for in that direction.

They were gone a full five hours, returning about ten o'clock,
empty-handed, and with Robert Tinkler missing. He had become separated
from the others, Fryer said, shortly before the decision to return was
made. Bligh flew into a passion at this news.

"What, sir?" he roared at Fryer. "Do you mean to say that you, the ship's
master, cannot keep a party of seven together? Damn your eyes! Must I go
_everywhere_ with you? Get you back at once and find him! Go, the lot of
you, and don't come back without him!"

Silently the men set out; but they had not reached the foot of the cliffs
when they heard a shout from above--and presently came Tinkler, carrying
an Indian calabash containing about a gallon of water, and followed by an
Indian woman and two men. The men had a cluster of husked coconuts on a
pole between them.

This good fortune came at a time when it was needed, and I was glad to
see that Bligh, who had been cursing the lad during his absence, forgot
his anger and commended him warmly. Tinkler was pleased as only a boy can
be who has succeeded in a matter in which his elders have failed. He had
discovered the Indians near a hut in a small, hidden valley, and had made
them understand that they were to come with him, bringing food and water.

The men were strongly made, bold-looking fellows, and appeared not at all
surprised to find us there. They were unarmed, and naked except for a
kirtle of tapa about the middle. The woman was a handsome wench of about
twenty, and carried a child on her hip. They put down their load of
coconuts and squatted near by, looking at us without the least sign of
fear.

After our long sojourn at Otaheite, a good many of us had a fair
knowledge of the Indian language as spoken there. We had already found
that the speech of the natives of Annamooka, although allied to that of
the Otaheitians, differed greatly from it; nevertheless, we could, after
a fashion, converse with these people. Mr. Nelson was the best linguist
amongst us, and he now questioned the men, asking first about the number
of inhabitants on the island and the possibility of procuring food and
water. One of them replied at length. Much of what he said was
unintelligible, but we understood that there was a considerable
population on .the windward side of the island, and that little was to be
had in the way of refreshment on this side.

Presently they rose, giving us to understand that they would fetch others
of their countrymen. We were in no position to be lavish with gifts, but
Captain Bligh presented them with some buttons from his coat, which they
accepted stolidly and then departed.

As soon as they had gone, Mr. Bligh made a collection of whatever small
articles we could spare from our personal belongings, to be used in trade
with the Indians. We gave buttons, handkerchiefs, clasp knives, buckles,
and the like. Mr. Bligh also prepared us for defense. Fryer and five
others were to remain in the launch in readiness for any emergency. The
master had one of our cutlasses, and the others were to be carried by
Bligh, Purcell, and Cole, the strongest men of the shore party; the rest
of us cut clubs for ourselves, but these were to be kept hidden in the
cavern, and, if possible, our trading was to be done directly in front of
the cavern, so that we should always have the Indians before us.

There were, then, thirteen of us on shore, with six men in the launch at
a distance of one hundred and fifty yards. We should have been glad to
keep the parties closer together, but Mr. Bligh thought best to have the
shore party where it could not be surrounded, and we had the launch in
view so we could watch over the situation there. Thus prepared, we waited
with anxiety for the arrival of visitors.

They were not long in coming. I had often remarked, at Otaheite, with
what mysterious rapidity news spreads among the Indians. So it was here;
scarcely an hour had passed before twenty or thirty men had come down the
cliffs; others came by canoes which they carried up the beach, and by the
middle of the afternoon there were forty or fifty people in the cove.
They were like the natives we had seen at Annamooka, well-set-up,
hardy-looking men, with a somewhat insolent bearing; but we were relieved
to see that they were unarmed, and their intent appeared peaceable
enough. They were going back and forth continually, now squatting on the
beach looking at the launch, now returning to the cavern to look at us.
Of food and water they had little, but before evening we had bought a
dozen of breadfruit, and several gallons of water. By means of Captain
Bligh's magnifying glass we made a fire near the mouth of the cavern,
where we cooked some of the breadfruit for our immediate needs, the
natives looking on and commenting, in what appeared to be a derisive
manner, on our method of doing so. No women were amongst them, nor any of
their chief men, but they gave us to understand that one of these latter
would visit us the next day.

Shortly after sunset they began to leave the cove, and the last of them
had gone before darkness came on. This was an encouraging circumstance;
for had they intended mischief, we thought, they would certainly have
remained to attack us in the night. We supped upon a quarter of a
breadfruit per man, and a glass of water, in better spirits than we had
been at any time since the mutiny. A guard was set at the entrance of the
cavern, and the rest retired to sleep, comforted by Captain Bligh's
assurance that the morrow would be our last day in this dismal spot.



CHAPTER III


Captain Bligh had the enviable faculty of being able to compose his mind
for sleep under almost any conditions. I have known him to go without
rest for seventy-two hours together; but when a suitable occasion
offered, he could close his eyes and fall at once into a refreshing
slumber, though he knew that he must be awakened a quarter of an hour
later. On this night he could hope for an undisturbed rest, and scarcely
had he lain down when his quiet breathing assured me that he was asleep.
As for myself, I was never more wakeful, and presently left the cavern to
join the sentinels outside. They were stationed twenty or thirty yards
apart, so that they might command a view in whatever direction. It was a
beautiful night, and the cove, flooded with moonlight, seemed an
enchanted spot. To the north lay the open sea, at peace now, for the wind
had died away toward sunset. The long swells swept majestically in,
breaking first along the sides of the cove, the two waves advancing
swiftly toward each other and meeting near the centre of the beach, where
the silvery foam was thrown high in air.

As I looked about me I was reminded of certain lonely coves I had seen
along the Cornish coast, on just such nights, and I found it hard to
realize how vast an ocean separated us from home.

Mr. Cole was in charge of the guard; he stood in the deep shadow of a
tree not far from the cavern. I had a great liking for the boatswain; we
had been friends almost from the day the _Bounty_ left Spithead, and there
was no more competent and reliable seaman in the ship's company. He was a
devout man, with a childlike trust in God which only exceeded his trust
in Captain Bligh. He never for a moment doubted the captain's ability to
carry us safely through whatever perils might await us. It comforted me
to talk to him, and when I returned to the cave it was in a more hopeful
frame of mind.

I had a fixed belief in the treacherous nature of the misnamed Friendly
Islanders, and fully expected we should be attacked during the night. I,
of course, kept my misgivings to myself, and the following morning they
seemed a little absurd. We were astir at dawn, and there was a feeling of
hopefulness and good cheer throughout the company. We even looked forward
with pleasure to the return of the Indians; knowing now our needs, we
felt that they would supply them, and that we should be able to leave the
cove by early afternoon.

The sun was two hours high before the first of the natives came down the
cliffs at the back of the cove; and shortly afterwards two canoes
arrived, with a dozen or fifteen men in each. We were greatly
disappointed to find that they had brought only a meagre supply of
provisions; we were, however, able to purchase a little water and half a
dozen breadfruit. One of the canoe parties treated us with great
insolence. They had with them half a dozen calabashes filled with
water,--much more than enough for their own needs during the day,--but
they refused to trade for any part of it. They well knew that we were on
short rations of water, and taunted us by drinking deeply of their own
supply while we stood looking on. Fortunately it was Nelson and not Bligh
who was attempting to trade with this party. Bligh had little of the
diplomat in his character, and had he been present his temper might have
gotten the better of him; but Nelson remained cool and affable, and,
seeing that nothing was to be gotten from these men, soon left them to
themselves.

Upon returning to the cavern, we found Bligh trying to converse with a
party, headed by an elderly chief, which had just arrived from inland.
The chief was a stern-looking old man, well over six feet, whose robe of
tapa cloth, draped in graceful folds about his person, proclaimed his
rank; but had he been naked he could have been recognized at once as a
man of superior station. In one hand he carried a spear of ironwood,
barbed with bones of the stingray's tail, and tucked into a fold of his
robe at the waist was what appeared to be a comb with long wooden teeth.
Bligh looked around with relief at our approach.

"You have come in good time, Nelson; I was about to send for you. See
what you can make of this man's speech."

Nelson then addressed him in the Otaheitian language, while most of our
company and between thirty and forty of the natives stood looking on. The
chief replied with a natural grace and eloquence common to the Indians of
the South Sea, but there was a look of cruelty and cunning in his eye
that belied his manner. I gave him close attention, but although I
somewhat prided myself upon my knowledge of the Otaheitian tongue, I
found it of little use to me in listening to the Friendly Island speech.
Nelson, however, had a quick ear to detect affinities and an agile mind
to grasp at meanings, and it was plain that he and the chief could make
themselves fairly well understood. Presently he turned to Bligh.

"He has either seen us at Annamooka or had heard of our being there," he
said. "I can understand only about half of what he says, but he wishes to
know how we lost the ship, and where."

We were prepared for that question. Mr. Bligh had at first been undecided
how to account for our presence here, in case Indians should be met with.
We could not hope to be believed if we should say that the ship was at
hand, for they could see for themselves that she was not; therefore, he
instructed us to say that the vessel had been lost, and that we alone had
been saved from the wreck. This, we knew, was a dangerous confession to
make, but circumstances forced it upon us.

I watched the man's face while Nelson was relating the story, but he
remained impassive, showing neither interest in nor concern for our
plight. Nelson was puzzled for a time by the man's next inquiry, but at
length grasped the meaning of it.

"He wishes to see the thing with which you bring fire from the sun," he
said. Bligh was reluctant to bring forth his magnifying glass again, well
knowing how the Indians would covet such a precious instrument;
nevertheless, he thought it best to humour the chief. Some dry leaves
were gathered and crumbled into a powder. Our visitors gathered round,
looking on with intense interest whilst Bligh focused the rays of the sun
upon the tinder; and when they saw smoke emerge, and the small flame
appear, a murmur of astonishment ran through the crowd. The chief was
determined to possess this wonder worker, and when Bligh refused him, his
vexation and disappointment were only too apparent. He then asked for
nails, the most acceptable article of barter with the natives of the
South Sea, but the few parcels we possessed could not be parted with, and
Nelson was instructed to tell him that we had none.

Whilst this conversation was taking place, other Indians were arriving,
amongst them a chief whose rank appeared to be equal to, if not higher
than, that of the first; he showed no deference to the older man, and we
observed that the crowd of natives around us, immediately they saw him,
opened a lane through their ranks so that he and his followers might
approach. He was a man of about forty, of commanding presence. As he
entered the open space where we stood, he glanced keenly from one to
another of us. Then he walked up to Captain Bligh, but I noticed that he
omitted, as the older chief had done, the ceremony of rubbing noses--a
formal courtesy which had never been omitted heretofore, when we had the
_Bounty_ at our backs.

None of us could recollect having seen either of these chiefs at
Annamooka. We learned that the name of the elder man was
Maccaackavow,--at least, that is as near as I can come to the sound of
the name,--and the other was called Eefow. We gathered that both came
from the island of Tongataboo. When Bligh informed them that we proposed
to go either to that island or to Annamooka, Eefow offered to accompany
us as soon as the wind and sea should moderate. Bligh invited them into
the cavern, where he presented each with a knife and a shirt.

It was at this time that I took up one of the skulls we had found there,
and, bringing it to the chief Eefow, asked, in the Otaheitian dialect,
whence it came. His face lit up at the question, and he replied: "Feejee,
Feejee." He then went on, with great animation, to explain about them;
and we understood that he himself had been the slayer of two of these
victims. Captain Bligh was greatly interested in this narration, for when
he had visited the Friendly Islands with Captain Cook he had gathered
much information about a great archipelago, unknown to Europeans, called
"Feejee" by the Indians, and which was not far distant from the Friendly
Islands. He had Nelson question Eefow at length about Feejee, and was
told the group comprised a vast number of islands, the nearest of which
lay about a two days' sail from Tofoa. When we came out of the cavern,
Bligh had Eefow point out their direction, and the chief showed him what
bearings should be taken to sail toward them from Tofoa. The direction
was to the west-northwest, which confirmed what Bligh had already been
told.

This conference in the cavern had gone most prosperously, and we were
encouraged to hope that our fears were groundless with respect to the
Indians' intentions toward us. Another favourable incident occurred at
this time: A man named Nageete, whom Mr. Bligh remembered having seen at
Annamooka, came forward and greeted him in the most friendly manner.
Although not a chief, he appeared to be a personage of some importance,
and Bligh made much of him, taking care, however, to distinguish between
his attitude toward Nageete and that toward the chiefs. With this man's
help we were able to add considerably to our stock of water, enough for
our immediate needs, so that we could keep the launch's stock intact; and
we also purchased a few more breadfruit and a half-dozen large yams; but
our scant supply of articles for trade was soon exhausted. Thereafter
they would give us nothing; not so much as half a breadfruit would they
part with unless payment were made for it.

Under these circumstances, we were at a loss what to do; we had parted
with everything we could spare and were still in great need of food and
water. Bligh appealed to the chiefs, again explaining our predicament.
Nelson was as eloquent as possible, but the effect was negligible.

When he had finished, Macca-ackavow replied: "You say you have nothing
left, but you have the instrument for making fire. Let me have that and
my people here shall give you all they have."

But this request Bligh could not, of course, comply with; we had no flint
and steel amongst us, and none of us was able to kindle fire by friction,
in the Indian fashion. Macca-ackavow became sullen at our refusal to part
with the magnifying glass.

Eefow then said: "Let us see what you have in your boat." But again Bligh
refused, for the few tools and parcels of nails we had there were only
less necessary than food itself.

So matters went until toward midday.

For our dinner we had each a small piece of cooked breadfruit, and sliver
of pork. Bligh invited the chiefs to join our meal, which they did. It
was a most uncomfortable repast. We were all sensible of a change in the
attitude of the Indians: small groups conferred among themselves, and the
two chiefs, whilst eating with us, conversed in what appeared to be some
special and figurative speech, so that not even Nelson could understand a
word that was said.

Fifteen of our company were on shore at this time; Fryer, with three men,
remained with the launch, which still lay at a grapnel just beyond the
break of the surf. We estimated that there were well over two hundred
Indians around us, and not a woman amongst them. Fortunately, only the
chiefs and two or three of their immediate retainers were armed.

The chiefs now left us and went amongst their people. Bligh took the
occasion to inform us of his plans and to instruct us as to what our
behaviour toward the natives should be throughout the afternoon.

"It is not yet clear," he said, "that they have formed a design against
us, and we must act as though we had no suspicion of any such intent; but
be on your guard, every man of you...Mr. Peckover, you shall select three
men and carry what supplies we have to the launch; but perform this
business in a casual manner. Let there be no haste in your actions. We
shall leave the cove at sunset, whether or no Eefow accompanies us, and
make our way to Tongataboo, but I wish the Indians to be deceived on this
point until we are ready to embark."

We had a fire going near the cavern, and the breadfruit had been cooked
as we bought it. Peckover chose Peter Lenkletter, Lebogue, and young
Tinkler to assist him, and they now began carrying down the supplies, a
little at a time. This was dangerous work, for they had to run the
gantlet of many groups of savages collected between us and the launch,
and it was performed with a coolness deserving of high praise. Tinkler,
who was no more than a lad, behaved admirably, and he was immensely proud
that he had been chosen for the task over the other midshipmen.
Meanwhile, Bligh sat at the mouth of the cavern, keeping a watchful eye
upon all that went on and, at the same time, writing in his journal as
quietly as though he were in his cabin on the _Bounty_. The rest of us
busied ourselves with small matters, to make it appear that we expected
to spend the night ashore. Nageete, who had strolled away after our
midday meal, returned after a little time, apparently as well disposed as
ever. He asked what our intentions were, and was told that 'we should
wait until Eefow was ready to accompany us to Tongataboo, but that we
hoped, in case the weather favoured, he would consent to go on the
following day.

Nageete then said: "Eefow will go if you will give him the fire maker;
and you should let him have it, rather than Macca-ackavow, for he is the
greater chief."

Bligh might have resorted to guile, making a promise of the coveted
glass, but this he refused to do, telling Nageete that under no
circumstances could he part with it.

Presently the two chiefs rejoined us, and Bligh, with Nelson to
interpret, questioned them further about the Feejee Islands, doing
everything possible to keep our relations with them on a friendly and
casual footing.

Whilst this conversation was taking place, an incident occurred that
might easily have proved disastrous. There was a great crowd of Indians
along the beach. Of a sudden, a dozen or more of them rushed to the line
which held the launch to the shore and began to haul it in. We heard a
warning shout from Peckover, who was just then returning with his party.
Bligh, cutlass in hand, rushed for the beach, the rest of us, including
the chiefs, following. His courage and force of character never showed to
better advantage than on this occasion. We were vastly outnumbered, and
might easily have been attacked and slain; but Bligh so overawed them by
his manner that they immediately let go the rope, and Fryer and those
with him hauled the launch back to its former position. This move of the
Indians was made, I think, without the knowledge of the chiefs. However
that may be, they at least ordered the men away from that
vicinity,--Bligh having insisted upon this,--and all became quiet again.

It would have been well could we have embarked then and there; and Bligh
would have had us make a rush for it, I think, had it not been that Cole
and three others had been sent inland in the hope of finding a few more
quarts of water. They had not yet returned, so we made our way back to
the cavern to wait for them.

Then followed an anxious time. It became more and more apparent that we
were to be attacked, and that the savages were merely biding a favourable
opportunity. We were equally sure that the chiefs were of one mind about
this and that they had informed their followers that we were to be
destroyed.

"Keep well together, lads," said Bligh quietly. "See that none of them
comes behind us. Damn their eyes! What are they waiting for?"

"I believe they're afraid of us, sir," said Fryer. "Either that, or they
hope to take us by surprise."

We had not long to wait for evidence of their intentions. Savages,
although they invariably recognize and respect the authority of their
chiefs, lack discipline, and when a course of action is decided upon, are
impatient to put it into effect. So it was here. Shortly after this, we
heard, from a distance, an ominous sound: the knocking of stones
together, which we rightly supposed was a signal amongst them previous to
an attack. At first only a few of them did this, but gradually the sound
spread, increasing in volume, to all parts of the cove; at moments it
became all but deafening, and then would die away only to be resumed with
even greater insistence, as though the commoners were growing
increasingly impatient with their chiefs for withholding the signal for
slaughter. The effect upon our little band may be imagined. We believed
that our last hour had come; we stood together, a well-knit band, every
man resolved to sell his life as dearly as possible.

It was late afternoon when Cole and his party returned with about two
quarts of water which they had collected amongst the rocks. Mr. Bligh had
kept a record of everything we had been able to secure in the way of
provision, and the water we had either bought or found for ourselves had
been just sufficient for our needs. We had added nothing to our
twenty-eight gallons in the launch, but neither had we taken anything
from that supply. Now that the shore party was again united, we waited
only for a suitable opportunity before making an attempt to embark.
Meanwhile, the clapping of stones went on, now here, now there, and yet
it was necessary for us to keep up the pretense that we suspected
nothing.

Nageete, who had been with us during this time, was becoming increasingly
restless and was only seeking some pretext for getting away, but Bligh
kept him engaged in conversation. We were all gathered before the
entrance of the cavern in such a way that the Indians could not pass
behind us. For the most part, they were gathered in groups of twenty or
thirty, at some distance, and we saw the two chiefs passing from group to
group. Presently they returned to where we stood, and I must do them the
credit to say that they were masters at the art of dissembling. We asked
them the meaning of the stone clapping, and they gave us to understand
that it was merely a game in which their followers indulged to while away
the time. They then attempted to persuade Captain Bligh and Nelson to
accompany them away from the rest of us, as though they wished to confer
with them in private, but Bligh pretended not to understand. We were all
on our feet, in instant readiness to defend ourselves; nevertheless, I
believe that we did succeed by our actions--for a time at least--in
convincing the chiefs that we were ignorant of their intentions.
Immediately they returned to us the clapping of stones had ceased, and
the ensuing silence seemed the more profound.

Eefow then asked: "You will sleep on shore tonight?"

Captain Bligh replied: "No, I never sleep away from my boat; but it may
be that I shall leave a part of my men in the cavern." Our hope was, of
course, that we could persuade the Indians of an intention to remain in
the cove until the following day. I think there must have been a
difference of opinion between the two chiefs as to when the attack upon
us should be made, and that the elder one was for immediate action and
Eefow for a night attack. They again conversed together in their
figurative speech, of which we understood nothing.

Bligh said to us, very quietly: "Be ready, lads. If they make a hostile
move, we will kill them both and fight our way to the launch."

We were, of course, in the unfortunate position of not being able to
begin the attack, and yet we were almost at the point where action,
however desperate, would have seemed preferable to further delay.

Eefow now turned again to Nelson. "Tell your captain," he said, "that we
shall spend the night here. To-morrow I will go with you in your boat to
Tongataboo."

Nelson interpreted this message, and Bligh replied: "That is good." The
chiefs then left us; but when they had gone a distance of fifteen or
twenty paces, Macca-ackavow turned with an expression on his face that I
shall not soon forget.

"You will not spend the night ashore?" he again asked.

"What does he say, Nelson?" asked Bligh.

Nelson interpreted.

"God damn him, tell him no!" said Bligh.

Nelson conveyed this message at some length, and in a more diplomatic
manner than Bligh had used. The chief stood facing us, glancing, swiftly
from side to side amongst his followers. Then he again spoke, very
briefly; and having done so, strode swiftly away.

"What is it, Nelson?" asked Bligh.

Nelson smiled grimly. "'_Te mo mate gimotoloo_,'" he replied. "Their
intentions are clear enough now. It means: 'Then you shall die.'"

Bligh's actions at this time were beyond praise. To see him rise to a
desperate occasion was an experience to be treasured in the memory. He
was cool and clear-headed, and he talked quietly, even cheerfully, to us.

"It is now or never, lads," he said. "Halt, serve out quickly the water
Mr. Cole has brought in."

The calabash was passed rapidly from hand to hand, for we knew it would
be impossible to get the water to the launch; each man had a generous
sup, and it was needed, for we had been on short rations for three days.
All this while Bligh had kept a firm grip with his left hand on Nageete's
arm, holding his cutlass in his right. He was determined that, if we were
to die, Nageete should die with us. The man's face was a study. I have
not been able to determine in my own mind, to this day, whether he was
playing a part or was genuinely friendly towards us. I imagine, however,
that he had a heart as treacherous as those of his countrymen.

Bligh had already instructed us in what order we should proceed to the
beach. Cole, also armed with a cutlass, took his station with the captain
on the other side of Nageete; and the rest of us fell in behind, with
Purcell and Norton bringing up the rear.

"Forward, lads!" said Bligh. "Let these bastards see how Englishmen
behave in a tight place!"

We then proceeded toward the beach, everyone in a kind of silent horror.

I believe it was the promptness, the unexpectedness of our action alone
that saved us. Had we shown the least hesitation, we must have all been
slain; but Bligh led us straight on, directly toward one large group of
Indians who were between us and the launch. They parted to let us
through, and I well remember my feeling of incredulous wonder at finding
myself still alive when we had passed beyond them. Not a word was spoken,
nor was a hand lifted against us until we reached the beach.

Fryer had, of course, seen us coming, and had slacked away until the
launch was within half a dozen paces of the beach, in about four feet of
water.

"In with you, lads! Look alive!" Bligh shouted. "Purcell, stand by with
me--you and Norton!"

Within half a minute we were all in the boat, save Bligh and the two men
with him. Nageete now wrenched himself free from Bligh's grasp and ran up
the beach. The captain and Purcell made for the boat, wisely not
attempting to bring in the grapnel on shore; but Norton, who Bligh
thought was immediately behind him, ran back to fetch it. We shouted to
him to let it go; but either he did not or would not hear.

The Indians by this time had been roused to action, and they were upon
Norton in an instant, beating out his brains with stones. Meanwhile we
had hauled Bligh and Purcell into the boat and got out the oars. The
natives seized the line which held us to the shore; but Bligh severed it
with a stroke of his cutlass, and the men forward quickly hauled us out
to the other grapnel and attempted to pull it up. To our dismay, one of
the flukes had caught and two or three precious minutes were lost before
it was gotten clear. It was fortunate for us that the savages were
unarmed; had they been possessed of spears, or bows and arrows, the
chance of any man's escaping would have been small indeed. The only
spears amongst them were those carried by the two chiefs. Macca-ackavow
hurled his, which passed within a few inches of Peckover's head and fell
into the water a dozen yards beyond us.

But whilst they had no man-made weapons, the beach offered them an
inexhaustible supply of stones, and we received such a shower of these
that, had we not been a good thirty yards distant, a number of us might
have met Norton's fate. As it was, Purcell was knocked senseless by a
blow on the head, and various others were badly hurt. The speed and
accuracy with which they cast the stones were amazing. We protected
ourselves as well as we could with bundles of cloathing which we held
before us. Meanwhile the men forward were hauling desperately on the
grapnel, which at last gave way and came up with one fluke broken. Bligh,
at the tiller, was in the most exposed position of any; that he escaped
serious injury was due to the efforts of Elphinstone and Cole, who
shielded him with floor boards from the stern sheets.

We now began to pull away from them, but the treacherous villains were
not done with us yet. They got one of their canoes into the water, which
they loaded with stones, whereupon a dozen of them leaped into her to
pursue us. Our six men at the oars pulled with all their strength, but we
were so heavily laden that the savages gained swiftly upon us.
Nevertheless, we had got out of the cove and beyond view of the throng on
the beach before we were overtaken. They now had us at their mercy, and
began throwing stones with such deadly accuracy that it seemed a miracle
some of us were not killed. A few of the stones fell into the boat and
were hurled back at them; we had the satisfaction of seeing one of their
paddlers struck squarely in the face by a stone cast by the boatswain.
However, that was a chance shot: we should have been no match for them at
this kind of warfare even had we possessed a supply of ammunition.

In the hope of distracting their attention from us, Mr. Bligh threw some
articles of cloathing into the water; and to our joy they stopped to take
them in. It was now getting dark, and, as they could have had but a few
stones left in the canoe, they gave over the attack, and a moment later
disappeared past the headland at the entrance to the cove. We were by no
means sure that others would not attempt to come after us, so we pulled
straight out to sea until we caught the breeze. With our sails set, we
were soon past all danger of pursuit.

I was busy during the next hour caring for our wounded, of whom there
were nine in all. Purcell was badly hurt. He had been struck a glancing
blow on the head, which laid open his scalp and knocked him unconscious,
but, by the time I was able to attend to him, he was again sitting up,
apparently but little the worse for a blow that would have killed most
men. An examination of the wound assured me pretty well that the skull
had not been fractured. It was necessary to take half a dozen stitches in
the scalp. Elphinstone had had two fingers of his right hand broken while
protecting Captain Bligh, and Lenkletter had been deeply gashed across
the cheek bone. The other wounds were bruises, the worst being that of
Hall, who had been struck full on the right breast and nearly knocked out
of the launch.

It can be imagined with what feelings of gratitude to God we watched the
island of Tofoa dropping away astern. Now that we had time to reflect, a
truer sense of the horror of the situation from which we had so narrowly
escaped came home to us. The death of Norton cast a gloom upon all our
spirits, but we avoided speaking of him then; the manner of his death was
too clearly in mind, and it seemed that we could still hear the yells of
the savages who had murdered him. Captain Bligh took his loss very much
to heart and blamed himself that he had not thought to inform us,
beforehand, to give no heed to the grapnel on shore. But he was by no
means at fault. What the situation would be on the beach could not have
been foretold, and poor Norton himself should have seen the folly of
trying to save the grapnel. Nevertheless, his was an act of heroism such
as few men would have been capable of attempting.

The wind, from the east-southeast, freshened as we drew away from the
land; the darkness deepened, and soon Tofoa was lost to view save for the
baleful glare from its volcano, reflected on the clouds above. Meanwhile
we had gotten the boat in order and had taken the places Captain Bligh
had assigned to us for the night. With respect to food, we still had our
one hundred and fifty pounds of bread, short of a few ounces eaten at
Tofoa, twenty pounds of pork, thirty-one coconuts, sixteen breadfruit,
and seven yams; but both the breadfruit and the yams, which had been
cooked on shore, had been trampled under our feet during the attack.
Nevertheless, we salvaged the filthy mess and ate it during subsequent
days. As already related, we still had twenty-eight gallons of water--the
same amount we had carried away from the Bounty--but we had left only
three bottles of wine, and five quarts of rum.

I am not likely to forget the conference we then held to determine our
future course of action. We were running, of necessity, before the wind,
in a direction almost the opposite to that of Annamooka or Tongataboo,
and Fryer, who was the first to speak, earnestly begged Captain Bligh to
continue this course--to proceed with us in the direction of home.

"We know what we have to expect of the savages, sir," he said. "Without
arms, our experience at Tofoa will only be repeated on other islands, and
we could not hope to come off so fortunate again."

Other voices were joined to the master's; there was no doubt as to the
general desire of our company to brave the perils of the sea rather than
those certain to be met with on land. Bligh was willing to be persuaded;
in fact, I am sure that he himself would have proposed this change of
plan had no one else spoken of it. Nevertheless, he wished us to be fully
aware of the dangers ahead of us.

"Do you know, Mr. Fryer," he asked, "how far we must sail before we shall
have any expectation of help?"

"Not exactly, sir."

"To the Dutch East Indies," Bligh went on; "and the first of their
settlements is on the island of Timor, a full twelve hundred leagues from
here."

A moment of silence followed. Not one of us, I believe, but was thinking:
"Twelve hundred leagues! What hope, then, have we?"

"Even so," said Bligh, "our situation is by no means hopeless. Granted
that every man of you gives me his full support, I believe we shall reach
Timor."

"That you shall have, sir!" said Peckover. "What do you say, lads?" There
was a hearty agreement to this.

"Very well," said Bligh. "Now let me tell you, briefly, what we are
likely to have in store. First, as to favouring elements: we are at a
most fortunate time of year; we can count upon easterly winds for as long
as we shall be at sea. The northwest monsoon should not commence before
November, and long before that time we shall have reached Timor, or be
forever past the need of reaching it. The launch is stoutly built; deeply
laden as we are, we need not fear her ability to run before the wind. Her
performance at this moment is a promise of what she can do. As to the
perils we must meet--"

He paused while reflecting upon them. "Of those I need not speak," he
went on. "They are known to all of you. But this I will say: If we are to
reach Timor, we must live upon a daily allowance of food and water no
more than sufficient to preserve our lives. I desire every man's
assurance that he will cheerfully agree to the amount I shall decide
upon. It will be small indeed, but we can be almost certain of
replenishing our water many times before the end of the voyage. However,
that remains to be seen, and I shall not anticipate doing so in deciding
what each man's portion shall be. Mr. Fryer, have I your solemn promise
to abide by my judgment in this matter?"

"Yes, sir," Fryer replied promptly.

Mr. Bligh then called each man by name, and all agreed as Fryer had done.

These matters having been decided, we fell silent, and so remained for
some time; then Cole, who was seated amidships, said: "Mr. Bligh, we
should be pleased if you would ask God's blessing upon our voyage."

"That I shall do, Mr. Cole," Bligh replied.

Never, I imagine, have English seamen been more sensible of the need for
Divine guidance than the eighteen men in the _Bounty's_ launch. We waited,
our heads bowed in the darkness, for our leader to speak.

"Almighty God. Thou seest our afflictions. Thou knowest our need. Grant
that we may quit ourselves like men in the trials and dangers that lie
before us. Watch over us. Strengthen our hearts; and in Thy divine mercy
and compassion, bring us all in safety to the haven toward which we now
direct our course. Amen."

The watch for the early part of the night was now set, and the rest of us
arranged ourselves for sleep as well as we could. The wind blew with
increasing freshness, but the launch behaved well. The moonlit sea before
us seemed to stretch away to infinity.

"Slack away a little, Mr. Cole," Bligh called.



CHAPTER IV


The sea was calm, though there was a fresh breeze at east. Now that Tofoa
had been lost to view, every man in the boat, I believe, felt, for the
first time since casting off from the _Bounty_, a faint thrill of hope. I
was fully aware of the immense remoteness of the Dutch East Indies, and
of the difficulties and dangers through which we should be obliged to
pass were we to reach those distant islands; but Mr. Bligh's confident
manner, and his calmness during our perilous escape from the savages,
convinced me of our good fortune in being under his command.

Heavily laden as she was, and with only the reefed lug foresail set, the
boat sailed fast to the westward. Mr. Bligh was at the tiller, with
Peckover beside him; Fryer, Elphinstone, Nelson, and I sat in the stern
sheets. The two midshipmen on the thwart were already asleep; but
Tinkler, who had been chosen for Peckover's watch, was making prodigious
efforts to keep awake. The gunner noticed the lad's yawns.

"Get you to sleep, Mr. Tinkler," he said gruffly; "I shan't need you
to-night."

There was little talk among the men forward, though nearly all were
awake. The slower-witted, I suppose, were only now arriving at a full
realization of what lay before us. I heard frequent groans from those who
were nursing bruises, and indeed my own injured shoulder was so painful
as to preclude the possibility of sleep. It may be worthy of remark that
the tincture of Arnica montana, of which I had a small supply, proved of
great value to those of us who had been hurt.

Calm as the sea was, the launch was so deep that we shipped quantities of
water as we ran clear of the land and began to feel the long roll of the
Southern Ocean from east to west. Peckover set two men--Lebogue and
Simpson--to bailing. Toward midnight, as the sea grew higher, they had
all they could do to keep her clear of water, and became so fatigued that
Peckover ordered others to relieve them. He pulled out his large silver
watch, scrutinized it intently, and returned it to his pocket.

"What hour have you, Mr. Peckover?" asked the captain. "I can't make out,
sir."

Bligh glanced up at the stars. "Mr. Fryer, you have had no sleep?" he
asked.

"Not yet, sir."

"Take the tiller, if you please; I shall try to rest, and I recommend you
to do the same at four o'clock."

They changed places, moving gingerly in the pitching boat, and Bligh made
himself as comfortable as possible. Hayward and Hallet rubbed their eyes
as they were wakened to their turns at the bailing; they drew their
jackets around them, shivering at the spray which flew constantly over
the quarters.

Toward morning the wind chopped round from N.E. to E.S.E., and blew very
cold, while the sea grew high and confused, breaking frequently over the
stern of the launch. Mr. Bligh was aware of the change instantly, and
took the tiller from the master's hands. Four men were now required to
throw out the water, which came in sheets over the transom and quarters
of the boat. At dawn the sky was overcast with low, dirty clouds,
scudding fast to the westward, and the sun rose red and ominous. We were
a sorry crew in the light of this Sunday morning; haggard-eyed, wet to
the skin with salt spray, and so stiff that some could scarcely
straighten their legs. Nelson tried to smile; his teeth chattered so
violently that he stammered when he spoke.

Mr. Bligh's face looked drawn in the gray light, but his eyes were cool
and alert. Each wave sent sheets of wind-driven spray into the boat;
presently a sea greater than the others swung us high and curled over the
transom. Above the roaring of the waves I heard faint cries and curses
from the men as a rush of water swept forward in the bilges. Then, while
I plied a coconut shell, snatched up in an instant, I heard Bligh's
voice, audible in the calm of the trough. He was shouting to Hall, who
sat with Lamb in the bows:--

"The bread! The bread!"

The man had been crouching with his head in his arms, shivering with the
cold. He stared aft dazedly. Our bread had been stowed in the bow of the
launch, the place least exposed to the driving spray. It was in three
bags, and had been covered with the spare mainsail.

"Aye, aye, sir!" Hall shouted back, bending down to raise the canvas and
examine what was beneath. A moment later he straightened his back. "One
sack is wet, sir!" he shouted. "The lot will be spoiled if it's left
here!"

Bligh glanced fore and aft. "Mr. Purcell!" he called.

The carpenter was plying a scoop close beside his chest. Another wave was
passing beneath us, bringing fresh sheets of spray, but no solid water
this time. He passed the scoop to the man behind him, who began to bail
at once.

"Aye, sir," he said.

"Clear your chest of tools; place them in the bilges."

The carpenter removed the tray of small tools, and the heavier ones
beneath.

"Now, lads, look alive!" Bligh shouted when all was ready. "Wait till I
give the word. One sack at a time! Hall, you and Smith pull out the first
and pass it to Lebogue! Then aft to the chest, hand to hand. Mr. Hayward,
open the chest when the time comes. Mr. Purcell will cut the seizing and
dump the bread in loose. Work fast! It'll be empty bellies otherwise!"

All but those bailing waited in suspense until the launch's bow shot up
and she jogged back into the next trough.

"Now!" shouted Bligh.

Off came the sail; the sack was passed swiftly aft from hand to hand, cut
open with a touch of the carpenter's clasp knife, and dumped into the
open chest. Hayward closed the lid with a snap. The sail was safely
tucked about the two remaining sacks before we felt the lift of the
following wave. In the momentary lulls between succeeding waves, the
other sacks came aft and their contents were safely stowed.

Every man in the boat, I believe, must have drawn a sigh of heartfelt
relief. Small as our supply of bread was for such a voyage as lay before
us, it was all that stood between us and certain death by starvation. It
had been stowed in the chest not a moment too soon.

The seas grew so high that our scrap of sail hung slack from the yard
when in the trough, filling with a report like a musket shot as the
following sea raised us high aloft. Then the launch would rush forward
dizzily, while water poured in over the quarters, and the straining sail,
small as it was, threatened to snap the unstayed mast. Mr. Bligh crouched
at the helm with an impassive face, turning his head mechanically to
glance back as each rearing sea overtook us. Had he relaxed his vigilance
for a moment, or made a false motion of the tiller, the boat would have
broached to and filled instantly. All hands were now obliged to bail,
those who had nothing better throwing out the water with coconut shells.
We were greatly hampered by the coils of rope, spare sails, and bundles
of cloathing in the bilges. The force of the gale increased as it veered
back to east and to northeast; it was soon apparent to all hands that our
sail was too much to have set.

"We must lighten her, Mr. Fryer!" Bligh shouted above the roar of wind
and sea. "Each man may keep two suits of cloathing--jettison the rest!
And heave overboard the spare foresail and all but one coil of rope!"

"Aye, sir!" replied the master. "Can we not shorten sail? I fear we'll
drive her under with but a single reef!"

Bligh shook his head. "No, she'll do. Over with the spare gear!"

His orders were carried out with an alacrity which showed that those
under him realized the imminence of our danger. Though the weight of what
we cast away would scarcely have exceeded that of a heavy man, the boat
rode better for it, and the clearing of the bilges enabled six of us,
bailing constantly, to keep her dry. A quarter of a cooked breadfruit,
much dirtied and trampled during our naval engagement with the Friendly
Islanders, was served out to each man with half a pint of water.

It was close on noon when the wind veered once more to E.S.E.; and as we
could do nothing but run straight before it, the boat was now steered
W.N.W.--in which direction, the Indians had informed us, lay the group of
large islands they called Feejee. The sea was now higher than ever, and
the labour of bailing very wearisome, but I was losing my dread of the
boat foundering, for I perceived that since we had lightened her she rode
wonderfully well, and was in little danger with a skillful hand at the
helm. At twelve o'clock by the gunner's watch, Mr. Bligh had his sextant
fetched out, and with two of us holding him propped up in the stern
sheets, he managed to observe the altitude of the sun. Elphinstone was at
the tiller, and I noticed with relief that he steered with confidence and
skill. Our lives, from moment to moment, depended upon our helmsman. Had
there been an awkward or timid man in his place, our chances would have
been small indeed.

"We have done well," said the captain, when he had returned to the stern
sheet..."Ah, well steered, Mr. Elphinstone! Damme! Well steered!"

A great sea lifted us high and passed under the launch, roaring and
foaming on both sides. As we dropped into the calm of the trough, Mr.
Bligh went on: "You see how she behaves, lads? She'll see us through if
we do our part! By God, she will! Mr. Fryer, by my reckoning, we have run
eighty-six miles since leaving Tofoa."

The wind was our friend as well as our enemy. Captain Bligh's feeling for
the launch was shared by every man of us; we were beginning to love her,
now that we knew something of her qualities.

"We must have a log," Bligh added. "Mr. Fryer, I count on you and the
boatswain to provide us with a line, properly marked. Mr. Purcell, see
what you can do to make us a log chip."

When we had eaten our dinner of five small coconuts, the carpenter took
apart the tray from his chest; and from its bottom--a piece of thin oaken
plank--he sawed out a small triangle, about six inches on a side. One
side was weighted with a bit of sheet lead, and a hole was bored at each
corner. The whole made what seamen call a "chip."

We had on board two stout fishing lines, each of about fifty fathoms
length. One was kept towing behind the boat with a hook to which a bit of
rag had been made fast. From the other, Fryer made a bridle for the log
chip, measured off twelve fathoms, and marked the place with his thumb.
The boatswain had been twisting some bits of a handkerchief; as the
master held out the line, he rove a bit of the rag through the strands
and knotted it fast. Then, with the carpenter's rule, Fryer measured off
very carefully twenty-five feet. At this point the boatswain made fast
another bit of rag, with a trailing end, in which he tied one knot. This
was repeated, tying two knots, three knots, and so on until there were
eight knots in the last rag.

"Will eight be enough, sir?" Fryer asked.

The captain was at the tiller, glancing back over his shoulder at the
wave behind us. When it had passed under us, he replied in the sudden
calm: "Aye, eight will do. Mr. Peckover, take your watch in the lee of
the chest there, and practise counting seconds with Mr. Cole. You'll soon
have the hang of it, I'll be bound!"

I heard them for a long time, as we sank into the troughs between the
seas, counting monotonously: "One-an', two-an', three-an', four-an'..."
At last the gunner called back: "Mr. Bligh!"

"Aye; are you ready?"

"We'll not be a second off, sir!"

"Then heave the log!"

Peckover coiled the line in his right hand to pay out freely, while the
boatswain took his place at the starboard quarter. At a sign from the
gunner he cast the log chip into the sea, and as the twelve-fathom mark
passed through his fingers he began to count. At the fifteenth second he
gripped the line and turned to Mr. Bligh.

"Four and a half, sir," he reported, beginning to pull in the line.
"Good! From now on, let the mate of the watch heave the log every hour. I
shall reckon our longitude each day with the aid of Mr. Peckover's watch,
and we can check the results by dead reckoning."

Crouched in the stern sheets, shivering and wet to the skin, I caught
Nelson's eye as I turned my back to the spray. His thoughts, perhaps,
like my own, were of the change in Bligh. He was above all a man of
action, and seemed happy only in situations which demanded the exercise
of his truly great qualities of skill, courage, and resourcefulness. He
was born to lead men in peril or in battle, and now, in the boat, with
the sea for enemy and his task the preservation of his men's lives, he
was at his best--cheerful, kindly, and considerate to a degree I should
have believed impossible a fortnight before.

The weather continued very severe during the afternoon and throughout the
night; Captain Bligh held the tiller for eighteen hours. Though we had
not yet begun to suffer greatly for lack of food, the night was a
miserable one. At sunset the wind veered a little to the southward and
blew so chill that I found it impossible to sleep. Laborious as the task
of bailing was, we seized the scoops gladly when our turns came, for the
hard work warmed us.

By nine o'clock the wind had blown the sky clear; the moon, sinking
toward the west, cast a cold, serene light on the roaring sea. Each time
the boat was flung aloft, we gazed out over miles of angry water,
tossing, breaking, and ridged with great waves running to the west. Had
not every bone in my body ached with the cold, I think I might have felt
a kind of exultation at the majesty of the spectacle, and in the thought
that our boat, small and frail as she was, could carry us safely over
such a sea. And I was aware of what might be termed a cosmic rhythm in
the procession of the waves. They passed under us with great regularity,
the interval being about the time it took me to count ten, very slowly;
they seemed to be about two hundred yards from crest to crest, and I
estimated that they passed us at not less than thirty miles an hour. Hour
after hour we alternated between fierce wind and spray and the roar of
breaking water on the crests, and the calm of the black troughs, where
the launch all .but lost steerageway.

Mr. Bligh was silent during the night; his task was too exacting to
permit of speech. He must have suffered more than any of us, for the
movements required to steer the boat were too slight to warm his blood.
The moon, sinking ever lower ahead of us, shone full on his face; his
expression was calm and alert, though he could not suppress a strong
shuddering.

At last the moon went down on our larboard bow. The stars shone with the
cold light of an autumn evening at home. The waves roaring about us broke
in sheets of pale fire, so that at times I could distinguish the faces of
my companions in the eerie light.

Nelson and I had returned to the stern sheets after a long trick with the
bails. We were in the calm between two seas at the time. Glancing over
the side, I saw swift shapes of fire gliding back and forth alongside the
boat: a dozen, a score of them--darting ahead, veering this way and that,
disappearing under the boat. One of them came to the surface within a
yard of us, snorted loudly, and shot ahead.

"Porpoises!" Nelson exclaimed.

"Aye," said the captain; "my mouth waters at the thought of a porpoise
steak, no matter how raw!"

Gripping the gunwales, we gazed over the side, thinking less of the
beauty of the phosphorescent tracks than of the abundance of food so near
at hand--food we were powerless to secure. The seas overtook us with a
regularity that lightened Bligh's task at the tiller. He seemed not to
feel the piercing chill of the air that penetrated our drenched cloathes.
The splendid performance of the launch engaged his whole attention.
Though trembling with cold, I caught something of his own exhilaration as
I watched the great seas rearing their backs in the starlight and
sweeping toward us.

"How well she rides!" said Nelson, between chattering teeth.

"I watched her building," Bligh replied proudly; "I inspected every
strake and frame that went into her! A stancher boat was never built!
Were she decked and reasonably laden, I could take her round the world."

When our turn came to bail once more, my legs were so benumbed that I had
difficulty in getting forward, and Nelson had to be helped to his feet.
The sky was turning gray when we were relieved once more.

The captain ordered a teaspoonful of rum to be served out. This revived
us wonderfully, and we breakfasted on some bits of cooked yams found in
the bottom of the boat. The weather was abating, although the sea would
still have appalled a landsman, and the rising sun warmed us sufficiently
to give us the use of our stiffened limbs.

By eight o'clock, when the boatswain hove the log, the wind had moderated
to a fresh breeze, and so little spray was coming aboard that those
forward were able to dry their cloathes. Captain Bligh glanced down at
the compass and beckoned to Elphinstone.

"Take the helm," he said. "Keep her W.N.W. We should raise the land soon,
unless the Indians are liars."

He flexed the muscles of his arm, stiffened by cold and his long night's
work, and went on, addressing us all: "We have come through a bad night.
In these latitudes, we may sail all the way to Timor without again being
so sorely tried. You have borne up well, my lads, and we can depend upon
the launch. My word for it! If we husband our provisions as agreed upon,
we shall all reach home!"

"Never fear, sir," Cole ventured to remark. "We're with ye to a man. And
thank God for Captain Bligh to lead us--eh, lads?"

There was a hearty chorus from the people: "Aye!"

"Well spoken!"

"Ye can lay to that!"

As the morning advanced we sighted several flocks of birds, hovering over
shoals of fish--a sure indication of land. Once we passed through the
midst of a school of tunnies, leaping and thrashing the sea into foam,
yet none would seize our hook. We were now keeping a sharp lookout, and a
little before noon land was discovered--a small flat island, bearing
southwest, about four leagues distant. Other islands appeared, and by
three in the afternoon we could count eight on the horizon, from south
around through the west to north.

"The Feejee Islands," said Mr. Bligh, who had been awakened from a
refreshing sleep by the first shout of "Land!"

"We are the first white men to set eyes on them!"

"Can't we land here, sir?" asked the carpenter.

"Spoken like a fool, Mr. Purcell," said Bligh bluntly. "You've a short
memory if you've so soon forgotten Tofoa! We could commit no greater
folly than to land here. Captain Cook never saw these islands; but when I
was master of the Resolution, in 1777, he learned much of their
inhabitants from the Friendly Islanders. They are known to be fierce and
treacherous, and eaters of human flesh. No. We shall keep well clear of
these fellows!"



CHAPTER V


Toward evening we raised three small islands to the northwest, about
seven leagues distant, passing them at nightfall, when we snugged down to
a reefed foresail. Had our circumstances been happier, I might have
enjoyed more fully .the emotion aroused by sailing an unknown sea,
studded with islands on which no European had hitherto laid eyes.

Nelson was possessed of that most precious of gifts: an inquiring and
philosophical turn of mind. Even in our situation, with not one chance in
a thousand, as it seemed, of seeing England again, he was able to derive
pleasure from the contemplation of the sea and the sky by day, and the
stars by night. He regarded each island we passed, no matter how distant,
with an inquiring eye, speculating as to whether it was of volcanic or of
coralline formation, whether it was inhabited, and what vegetation might
spring from its soil. When we passed shoals of fish, he named them, and
the birds diving and hovering overhead. And what little I know of
astronomy was learned from Nelson during the long nights on the _Bounty's_
launch.

Though the wind freshened after dark and kept us pretty wet throughout
the night, the sea was not rough and we managed to get a little sleep by
putting ourselves at watch and watch, half of us sitting up, whilst the
others stretched out in the boat's bottom. I found it a great luxury to
be able to extend my legs, and, although shivering with cold, I slept for
nearly three hours, and awoke much refreshed. At daybreak all hands
seemed better than on the morning before. We breakfasted on a quarter of
a pint of water each and a few bits of yam, the last of those we had
found in the bottom of the boat.

During the early hours of the morning the wind moderated, and Mr. Bligh
ordered the chest opened in order to examine the bread. One of the sacks
was well dried, and the bread which had been wet on the first night was
spread out in the sun. When it had been thoroughly dried, we carefully
sorted our entire supply, placing all that was damaged or rotten in the
sack, to prevent the rot from infecting what was still good. This damaged
bread was to be eaten first.

After Captain Bligh had taken his observation at noon, he informed us
that our latitude was eighteen degrees, ten minutes, south, and that,
according to his reckoning, we had run ninety-four miles in the
twenty-four hours past. It was cloudy to the westward, but Lebogue and
Cole, old seamen both, believed that they could discern high land in that
direction, at a place where the clouds seemed fixed.

We had been through so much since leaving the _Bounty_ that I had scarcely
given a thought to what I ate; now, casting up the total of what I had
had in the seven days past, I perceived that the whole of it was no more
than a hungry man, in the midst of plenty, would have eaten at a meal.
Our scant rations had had their effect--cheeks were pinched and eyes
unnaturally hollow and bright. There were no complaints of hunger as yet;
the men were cheerful as they drank their sups of water and ate their
bits of damaged bread.

It blew fresh from E.S.E. in the afternoon, and the sea began to break
over the transom and quarters once more, forcing us to bail. Though
choppy, the sea was flat, and old Lebogue stood on the bow thwart,
shading his eyes with his hand as he gazed ahead. Suddenly he turned aft.

"Mr. Bligh!" he hailed in a subdued voice.

"Yes?"

"There's a monstrous great tortoise asleep, scarce two cable-lengths
ahead! Let me conn ye on to him, sir, and I'll snatch his flipper! Many a
one I've caught in the West Indies!"

Bligh nodded, with his eyes fixed on Lebogue. "Let no man make a sound,"
he said.

We were running at about four knots, and since the boat would almost
certainly have filled had we turned broadside to the sea, there was no
time to prepare a noose or to consult as to the surest method of
capturing the tortoise. I knew that the slightest sound of our feet on
the boat's bottom, or knock against her sides, would awaken the animal at
once and send him away in alarm. Bligh was alert at the tiller, steering
in accordance with the movements of Lebogue's arm. Not a word was spoken;
we scarcely dared turn our heads. Once, glancing out of the corner of my
eyes as the stern was lifted by a breaking wave, I caught a glimpse of
the broad, arched back of the sleeping tortoise, close ahead on our
starboard bow. Lebogue waved to starboard a little and then raised his
arms as a signal to hold the course. Next moment he stepped softly down
from the thwart and leaned far over the gunwale, whilst I heard the
animal's powerful thrashing in the sea.

The tortoise was immensely heavy and strong, but Lebogue was a powerful
man and determined not to let go. Before Smith or Lenkletter could seize
his legs,--before any of us, in fact, could realize what was
happening,--the tortoise had pulled him clean over the gunwale and into
the sea.

A shout went up. With an oath, Mr. Bligh pushed the tiller into the
master's hands and sprang to the side. "Hold me!" he shouted to
Elphinstone, as he plunged his arms into the sea, straining every muscle
to hold fast to Lebogue, whom he had seized by the collar of his frock.
Three of us heaved the man in over the stern. He thought nothing of the
wetting, but cursed his bad luck in not having captured the tortoise.
Bligh praised his tenacity, and blamed the men seated near him for not
holding fast to their mate.

"Had you acted promptly," he said, "instead of sitting there all agape,
we should have had a feast to-night, and a supply of meat for many
days!...Get forward, Lebogue...Samuel, give him a spoonful of rum! He has
earned it, by God!"

Warmed by his sup of spirit, Lebogue sat with Peckover and Cole,
lamenting his lack of success, and planning what to do should another
tortoise appear. "A monster," I heard him remark; "all of two
hundredweight! Hold fast to my legs if we raise another--I'll never let
go! Damn my eyes! To think of the grub we've lost! Did 'ee ever taste a
bit of calipee?"

Bligh turned to Nelson. "Calipee!" he said, with a wry smile. "Were you
ever in the West Indies, Mr. Nelson?"

"No, sir."

"I was four years in that trade, in command of Mr. Campbell's ship
_Britannia_. By God, sir, those planters live like princes! When at anchor
I was frequently asked to dine ashore. They used to disgust me with their
stuffing and swilling of wine. Sangaree and rum punch and Madeira till
one marveled they could hold it all. And the food! Pepper pot, turtle
soup, turtle steaks, grilled calipee; on my word, I've seen enough, at a
dinner for six, to feed us from here to Timor!"

Nelson smiled ruefully. "I could do with one of those dinners tonight,"
he said.

"I feel no great hunger," said Bligh, "though I would gladly have eaten a
bit of raw steak."


A little before sunset the clouds broke, and we discovered land
ahead--two high, rocky islands, six or eight leagues distant. The
southerly island appeared of considerable extent and very high; though
the light was too dazzling to see clearly, I thought it fertile and well
wooded. Desiring to pass to windward of the smaller island, we hauled our
wind to steer N.W. by N. At ten o'clock we were close in with the land,
and could see many fires ashore. It was too dark to see more than that
the island was high and rugged, and that it was inhabited; by midnight,
much to our relief, we had left it astern.

We were cold and miserable during this night, and welcomed the exercise
of bailing, but toward morning the wind moderated and the sea went down.
At daybreak islands were in sight to the southwest, and from northwest to
north, with a broad passage, not less than ten leagues wide, ahead of us.
Our allowance for this day was a quarter of a pint of coconut water and
two ounces of the pulp for each man. We now suffered thirst for the first
time in the launch.

The islands to the southwest and northwest, between which we were
steering, appeared larger than any we had seen in this sea. Though many
leagues distant, their foreshores seemed richly wooded, and I thought I
could perceive vast plains and far-off blue mountain ranges in the
interior.

By mid-afternoon we were well between the two great islands. The wind now
moderated to a gentle breeze from the east, and the sea became as calm as
it is within the reefs of Otaheite.

Nelson could not take his eyes off the island to the south. "I would give
five years of my life," he said regretfully, "for an armed ship and
leisure to explore this archipelago."

"And I!" remarked the captain. "Yon island would make ten of Otaheite!
And the land to the north seems larger still. 'Five' years! I would give
ten for a ship! No such group has yet been discovered in this seal"

Before sunset, we were amazed, on looking over the side, to perceive that
we were sailing over a coral bank on which there was less than a fathom
of water. Had there been the least swell to break on the shoal, we should
have been aware of it long before and sailed clear. Since there was
nothing to fear save grounding, we continued on our course, keeping a
sharp lookout ahead. The launch moved slowly, through water clear as air;
I could see every detail of the bottom. It was flat as a table, strewn
with dead coral, and barren of life, seeming to extend for about a mile
on either side of us. Twilight was giving way to dark when we came to the
end of the shoal, which dropped off abruptly into deep water, as do
nearly all of the coral banks in the South Sea. A rain squall, that came
on after dark, wet us to the skin and was over before we could catch more
than a gallon of water. Then a cold breeze, like the night wind the
people of Otaheite call _hupé_ blew down from the great valleys of the high
land south of us. Though the sea was calm, we passed a wretched night,
after a dinner of an ounce of damaged bread.

At daybreak our limbs were so cramped that some of the men could scarcely
move. Mr. Bligh issued a teaspoonful of rum and a quarter of a pint of
water, measured in his little horn cup. There was some murmuring when the
morsels of damaged bread were served out. Purcell finished his bit at a
single bite and a swallow, and sat shivering glumly on the thwart.

"Can't we have a bit more, sir?" Lamb begged in a low voice, of Fryer.
"I'm perishin' with famine!"

"Aye!" put in Simpson. "I'd as soon be knocked on the head by cannibals
as die slow the like o' this."

Bligh's quick ear caught their words. "Who's that complaining up
forward?" he called. "Let them speak to me if they've anything to say."
There was an immediate silence in the bows.

"I wish to hear no more such talk," Bligh continued. "We'll share alike
in this boat, and no man shall fare better than his mates. Mind you that,
all of you!"

A fresh breeze was making up from the east. We set the mainsail and were
running at better than five knots when they hove the log. Distant land of
great extent was now visible to the south and west, and a small island,
round and high, was discovered to the north. The great island we had
left, which bore more the appearance of a continent than an island, was
still in sight.

We had pleasant sailing that day. The roll of the sea from east to west
seemed to be broken by the land behind us; though the breeze filled our
sails and drove us along bravely, we shipped scarcely any water. I
exchanged places with one of the men forward, and stationed myself in the
bows, where I could watch the flying fish rising before the launch's
cut-water.

These fish were innumerable in the waters of Feejee; I forgot my hunger,
and our well-nigh hopeless situation, in the pleasure of watching them.
The large solitary kind interested me most, for it was their custom to
wait until the boat was almost upon them before taking flight. A few
powerful strokes of the tail sent them to the surface, along which they
rushed at a great pace with the body inclined upward and only the long
lower lobe of the tail submerged. When they had gained sufficient speed,
the tail left the water with a final strong fillip, while the fish
skimmed away through the air, steering this way and that as it pleased.

The sun was hot toward noon, and, like the others, I suffered from
thirst, thinking much of the quarter of a pint of water I was soon to
enjoy. As I was turning to go aft, a flying fish rose in a frenzy within
ten yards, just in time to escape some large pursuer. There was a dash of
spray and a blaze of gold and blue in the sea. The flying fish sped off
to starboard, while a swift cleaving of the sea just beneath showed where
the larger fish kept pace with its flight. It fell at last. I saw a
flurry of foam, and a broad tail raised aloft for an instant.

The boatswain was on his feet. "Dolphin!" he exclaimed.

We were in the midst of a small school of them; the sea was ablaze with
darting blue and gold.

Cole went aft eagerly. "I'll put a fresh bit of rag on the hook, sir," he
remarked to Mr. Bligh. He began to pull in the line as he spoke, and when
the hook came on board, he opened his clasp knife and cut off the bit of
dingy red rag which we had hoped for so long a fish might seize.

"Try this," said the captain, taking a handkerchief of fine linen from
his pocket.

We watched eagerly while the boatswain tore the handkerchief into strips
and seized them on to the shank of the hook, so that the ends would trail
behind in the semblance of a small mullet or cuttlefish. When all was
ready, he paid out the line, jigging the hook back and forth to attract
the attention of the fish.

"Damn my eyes!" said Peckover in a low voice. "They've left us!"

"No, there they are!" I exclaimed.

A darting ripple appeared just behind the hook and sheered off. Cole
pulled the line back and forth with all his art. The long dorsal fin of a
dolphin clove the water like lightning behind the hook. The line
straightened.

"I've got him!" roared Cole, while every man in the boat shouted at once.

The fish rushed this way and that, leaping like a salmon; but Cole's
brawny arms brought him in hand-over-hand.

"Take care!" shouted Bligh; "the hook's nearly out of his mouth!" Cole
shortened his grip on the line and hove the fish aboard in one great
swing. While still in the air, I saw the hook fall free; next moment the
fish struck the floor of the shallow cockpit. Whilst Hallet, who sat
closest, was in the act of falling on the dolphin with outstretched arms,
it doubled up like a bow, gave a single powerful stroke of its tail on
the floor, and flew over the gunwale and into the sea.

Tears came to Hallet's eyes. Miserably disappointed as I was, I could
scarcely restrain a smile at the sight of Cole's face. Bligh gave a
short, mirthless laugh. Those of the men who had risen to their feet to
watch sat down in silence, and for a long time no one spoke. Cole let out
his line once more, but the fish had left us, or paid no further
attention to the hook.

Early in the afternoon, we hauled our wind to pass to the northward of
the long, high island to the westward. It may have been one island, or
many overlapping one another; in any case, it appeared of vast extent,
stretching away so far to the southward that the more distant mountain
ridges were lost in a bluish haze. The land was well wooded, and as we
drew near I could distinguish plantations of a lighter green, regularly
laid out. We were obliged to approach the land more closely than we
desired, in order to pass through a channel that divided it from a small
islet to the northeast.

When in the midst of this channel and no more than five miles from the
land,--here distinguished by some high rocks of fantastic form,--we were
alarmed to see two large canoes, sailing swiftly alongshore, and
evidently in pursuit of us. They were coming on fast when the wind
dropped suddenly, forcing us to take to our oars. The savages must have
done the same, for they continued to gain on us for an hour or more. Then
a black squall bore down from the southeast, preceded by a fierce gust of
wind. It may convey some idea of the rain which fell during this squall
when I say that in less than ten minutes' time, with the poor means of
catching water at our disposal, we were able to replace what we had drunk
from the kegs, to fill all of our empty barricos, and even the copper
pot. While some of the people busied themselves with this work, others
were obliged to bail to keep the water down in the bilges. The squall
passed on, and a fresh breeze made up at E.S.E. We hastened to get sail
on the launch, for as the rain abated one of the canoes was perceived
less than two miles from us and coming on fast. She had one mast and
carried a long narrow lateen sail, something like those of the large
Friendly Island vessels we had seen at Annamooka. Had the sea been rough
she would have overtaken us within an hour or two, but the launch footed
it fast to the northwest, with her mainsail loosed and drawing well. I
felt pretty certain, from the accounts I had heard, that if captured we
should probably be fattened for the slaughter, like so many geese.

As the afternoon drew on, the canoe gained on us. Most of the people kept
their eyes fixed on her anxiously, but Bligh, who was at the tiller,
striving to get the most out of his boat, maintained an impassive face.

"They may wish to barter," he said lightly; "yet it is better to chance
no intercourse with them. If the wind holds, night will fall before they
can come up with us."

Nelson scarcely took his eyes off the canoe, though interest, and not
fear, aroused him. The Indian vessel was at this time scarce a mile away.

"A double canoe," he remarked, "such as the Friendly Islanders build. See
the house on the platform between. I spent a day at sea in such a vessel
when I was with Captain Cook. They are manoeuvred in a curious fashion;
instead of tacking as we do, they wear around."

"I wish they would treat us to an exhibition of their skill," I replied.

"How many do you reckon are on board of her?"

"Thirty or forty, I should say."

Just before sundown, when the canoe had come up to about two
cable-lengths astern of us, it fell dead calm. The land at this time bore
S.S.W. about eight miles distant, with a long submerged reef, on which
the sea broke furiously, jutting out to the north. We were not a mile
from the extremity of this reef, with a strong current setting us to the
west.

"Down with the sails, lads!" Bligh commanded. "To the oars!"

There was no need to urge the men; the halyards were let go in a
twinkling, and the strongest amongst us--Lebogue, Lenkletter, Cole,
Purcell, Elphinstone, and the master--sprang to the oars and began to
pull with all their might.

The Indians had wasted no time. Instead of paddling, as I now perceived,
they sculled their vessel in a curious fashion, standing upright on the
platform between the two hulls, and plying long narrow paddles not unlike
our oars, which seemed to pass down through holes in the floor. Only four
men were at these sculls, but they were frequently relieved by others and
drove the heavy double canoe, not less than fifty feet long, quite as
fast as our six could row the launch. There was now much clamour and
shouting amongst the savages, those not sculling gazing ahead at us
fiercely. One man, taller than the others, and with an immense shock of
hair, stood on the forward end of the platform, shouting and brandishing
a great club in a kind of dance. His gestures and the tones of his voice
left no doubt as to their intentions.

Our oarsmen pulled their best, for every man in the boat felt pretty
certain that it was a case of row for our lives.

At the end of half an hour, Mr. Bligh perceived that the master, a man in
middle age, was weakening. He made a sign to Peckover to relieve him, and
the gunner took the oar without missing a stroke. The sun went down over
the empty ocean on our larboard bow, and the brief twilight of the
tropics set in. The Indians were still gaining.

Working furiously at their sculls, they were driving their vessel closer
and closer to the launch. When twilight gave place to dusk, they were not
more than a cable-length astern. The tall savage, whom I took to be their
chief, now dropped his club and strung a bow brought forward to him.
Fitting an arrow to the string, he let fly at us, and continued his
practice for ten minutes or more. Some of the arrows struck the water
uncomfortably close to the boat. One fell just ahead of us and floated
past the side; it was nearly four feet long, made of a stiff reed, and
pointed with four or five truly horrible barbs, designed to break off in
the wound.

As I glanced down at this arrow, barely visible in the dusk, I heard an
exclamation from Nelson, sitting next to me, and turned my head. The moon
was at the full, and it was rising directly behind the Feejee canoe,
throwing into relief the black figures of the savages, some sculling with
furious efforts, others prancing about on her deck as they shouted like a
pack of devils.

Then, for no reason we could make out, unless he acted in accordance with
some superstition concerning the moon, the chief turned to shout
unintelligible words to his followers. The scullers ceased their efforts
and began to row slowly and steadily; the canoe bore off, turned in a
wide circle, and headed back toward the land. Ten minutes later we were
alone on a vast, empty, moonlit sea.



CHAPTER VI


On the morning of May the eighth, I awoke from a doze to find the sun
half an hour high and rising in a cloudless sky. A more blessed sight
could scarcely be imagined, for we had been drenched to the skin the
whole of the latter part of the night. Nelson, who was beside me, was
already awake, and motioned me to silence, nodding toward Captain Bligh,
who was sleeping with his legs doubled under him on the floor in the
stern sheets, his head pillowed on one arm, which rested on the seat.
Fryer was at the tiller, with Peckover beside him, and Cole and
Lenkletter sat forward by the mast. All the others were asleep. A gentle
breeze blew; the launch was slipping quietly along, and before us
stretched a great solitude of waters that seemed never to have known a
storm.

Not a word was spoken. We basked in the delicious warmth, and we could
see the huddled forms around us relax as they soaked it up in their
sleep. Captain Bligh was having his first undisturbed rest since we had
left Tofoa, and we were all desirous that he should have the full good of
it. His cloathing was as bedraggled as ours, and his cheeks were covered
with a ten days' growth of beard; but although his face was pale and
drawn, it lacked the expression of misery which was becoming only too
apparent upon the faces of the others.

Nelson whispered to me: "Ledward, merely to look at him makes me believe
in Timor." I well understood what he meant. Waking or asleep, there was
that about Bligh which inspired confidence. Had we been astride a log
with him, instead of in the launch, I think we might still have believed
in Timor.

He slept for the better part of three hours, and, by the time he awoke,
most of the others were stirring, enjoying the precious warmth of the
sun, but taking good care to say nothing of our luck. Even Nelson and I
were seamen enough to know that the matter should not be spoken of: that
to praise good weather is to tempt it to depart. As soon as we were
thoroughly warmed and had dried our clothing, we set to work cleaning the
boat and stowing our possessions away in better order than we had been
able to do thus far.

Captain Bligh took the occasion to provide himself with a pair of scales
for weighing our food. Thus far, our daily ration had been measured by
guess, but a more exact method was necessary, both to prevent the
grumbling of those who thought they had received an amount smaller than
their share, and also to ensure that our food should see us through. Two
or three pistol balls had been discovered under the battens in the bottom
of the boat. The weight of these balls was twenty-five to the pound, and
after a careful estimate of our entire amount of provisions, Bligh
decided that each man's portion of bread at a meal should be equal to the
weight of one ball. For scales the half shells of coconuts were used,
carefully balanced against each other at the ends of a slender bar of
wood to which a cord was attached, a little off the centre, as one of the
coconut shells was a trifle heavier than the other. The carpenter made
the scales, which served our purpose admirably, but it was a woeful sight
to all to see how little of the bread was needed to balance the pistol
ball. Our allowance of food was now fixed at one twenty-fifth of a pound
of bread and a quarter of a pint of water per man, to be served at eight
in the morning, at noon, and at sunset. What remained of the salt pork
was saved for occasions when we should be in need of a more substantial
repast. We still had several coconuts, and, while they lasted, used the
meat of these in place of bread, and the liquid in the nuts instead of
water; but, as I remember it, we ate the last of them on the tenth of
May.

The method of serving our food was this: A portion of bread, of an amount
about sufficient for the company, was taken from the chest and handed
back in a cloth to Captain Bligh, who usually weighed out the eighteen
rations, and they were then passed along from hand to hand. The water,
which was stored amidships, was measured, usually by Fryer or Nelson or
myself, while Mr. Bligh was weighing the bread, the cup used being a
small horn drinking-vessel; and the water was then poured into one of the
wineglasses, and handed to the men as they received their bread. It was
curious to see the manner in which they accepted and dispatched their
food. It was "dispatch" indeed, with most of them; their meal would be
finished in an instant.

Purcell was among this number. No matter how miserable I might be, I
found relief in watching him receive his tiny morsel. It was always with
the same expression of amazement and injury. He would hold the bread in
the palm of his huge hand for a few seconds, peering at it from under his
shaggy eyebrows as though not quite certain it was there. Then he would
clap it into his mouth with an expression of disgust still more comical,
and roll up his eyes as though asking heaven to witness that he had not
received his due allowance.

Some followed Mr. Bligh's example. He soaked his bread in a coconut
shell, in his allowance of water, and then ate it very slowly so that he
had the illusion, at least, of having enjoyed a meal.

Samuel, Bligh's clerk, followed a practice that did, in fact, provide him
with what might be called the ghost of a meal. With the exception of his
breakfast allowance of water, he would save his food and drink until the
evening, when he had it all at once. This was, of course, a legitimate
privilege, but I think Samuel's reason for exercising it was that he
wished to gloat over his food while some of his near companions looked
hungrily on. I must give him credit for his self-restraint; but in Samuel
it did not, somehow, appear to advantage. I can still hear old Purcell's
exasperated voice: "Damn your eyes, Samuel! Don't lick your chops over
it! Eat and be done with it like the rest of us!"

Cole never failed to say grace before he partook of his food, however
tiny the amount. His little prayer, delivered in a low voice, was audible
to those who sat n