William Henry Giles Kingston

“ Its keen eye had caught sight of the unfortunate man. The boat dashed on, the mate and the crew shouting loudly in the hope of scaring off the bird; but heeding not their cries, downwards it flew with a fearful swoop. In vain the wretched man, who was a strong swimmer, endeavoured to defend himself with his hands; its sharp beak pierced his head, and in another instant he floated a lifeless corpse on the surface of the water.
“Who is he?” asked several voices.
“Tom Hulk,” answered the mate. ”

“ Walter and Alice were on deck, as eager as any one. Walter was about to slip into one of the boats when the first mate saw him.
“No, no, my lad; the danger is too great for you. The captain has not ordered you not to go; but I am right sure he would not allow it.”
Walter felt much disappointed, as he was very anxious to see the sport. He would not have called it sport for the poor whales, had he witnessed the mighty monsters writhing in agony as harpoons and spears were plunged into their bodies. ”

“ I have known a dozen or more fly into a boat, or even on to the deck of a ship; and very delicate they are when cooked, though hungry people are glad enough to eat them raw.”
Sometimes at night Alice came on deck, when the stars were shining brightly and the ship was bounding over the waves, to watch the foam as it was dashed from off the bows to pass hissing by, covered with sparks of phosphorescent light, while the summits of the dark waves in every direction shone with the utmost brilliancy. ”

“ Happily the savage creatures had darted down after the whale, eager to seize the strips of blubber which had been cut off its back. So busily were they engaged, that they did not take notice of the human beings thus left to their tender mercies. The mate had been on a part of the whale nearest Alice, and was thus the first to approach her. Seeing the impossibility of reaching the raft, he shouted to Nub and told him to swim after it; he himself intending to assist Alice, who was stretching out her arms and piteously calling to him for help. ”

“ To prevent so fearful a catastrophe, he begged her to let him fasten her to a hen-coop, which he lashed tightly down in the centre of the raft. “Don’t be afraid, Missie Alice; don’t be afraid,” he kept continually saying.
“I am not afraid for myself,” answered Alice; “but I am thinking how miserable poor papa and Walter will be when they get back to the ship and find that I am gone. They will not know that you are taking care of me, and that we are safe on a raft. And then, if Mr Lawrie and Dan Tidy should escape, they will not be able to say where we are gone, as they did not see us get away. ”

“ The mate having struck a light, the fire soon blazed up brightly. “Put on more faggots, Nub,” he cried. “She may stand nearer the shore if the breeze gets up again; but she is as likely to stand away from us, and we may not have so good an opportunity of being seen as now.”
Walter ran off to a distance, so as to be out of the glare of the fire, and peered with all his might into the darkness; but no vessel could he see, and he began to fear that she must, as the mate had thought probable, have stood away from the land. His heart fell, but he did not like to tell Alice. ”

“ The sun soon set, and darkness rapidly coming on, shrouded the far-distant ship from sight. The mate and Walter had done their utmost to impel the raft towards her; but gathering clouds obscured the sky, and they had no longer the means of directing their course.
“It will be impossible to reach her during the night,” said the mate at length. “We are as likely to be pulling away from her as towards her; and I have a notion that the wind has shifted more than once. The best thing we can do is to lie on our oars and to wait patiently till the morning. ”

“ Our old mate, Jacob Shobbrok, who has sailed with me pretty nearly since I came to sea, is as anxious to teach you as you can be to get instruction; but remember, Walter, you must begin at the beginning, and learn how to knot and splice, and reef, and steer, and box the compass, before you begin on the higher branches of seamanship. You will learn fast enough, however, if you keep your eyes and ears open and your wits about you, and try to get at the why and wherefore of everything. ”

“ The ship rapidly neared it. The wind coming from the eastward, the reefs were shaken out of the topsails, the courses set, and she stood towards the west. The land became more and more distinct.
“Now,” said the first mate to Walter, “if Alice would like to see Cape Horn, bring her on deck. There it is, broad on our starboard beam.”
Alice quickly had on her cloak. “Is that Cape Horn?” she asked, pointing to a dark rugged headland which rose, scarcely a mile off, out of the water. “What a wild, barren spot! Can any human beings live there?” ”

“ The oil which oozed up out of the whale’s back made the flames rapidly blaze up. Each of the party then held the blubber—which sputtered and hissed more vehemently than the fattest of bacon in a cook’s frying-pan—to the fire. The odour was certainly not pleasant, but Nub sniffed it up, exclaiming, as he bit off a piece, “Oh, dis bery fine; it soon make us quite strong and fat, and we go a week without eating anyting else.” ”

“ Both Nub and Tidy were greatly restored by a night’s rest, and the late ample supply of food they had enjoyed. Mr Shobbrok kept at the helm nearly the whole time, and only when the wind fell would he allow Walter to take his place, with the doctor, to keep watch while he slept. The land-wind, which blew during the morning, tried their patience; but the sea-breeze at length setting in, they rapidly approached the shore, which appeared thickly wooded down to the very edge of the water, with high ground rising at a short distance from it. ”

“ Captain Tredeagle told Walter and Nub to carry Alice down below, to remain in the lower hold, the safest part of the ship. She was very unwilling to go, and begged that she might stay on deck to share the danger to which he might be exposed.
“It is impossible,” he answered. “I should have my thoughts fixed on you instead of on the enemy; and should you be wounded, I should never forgive myself.”
“Come, Miss Alice. Enemy soon begin to fire, and time you out of harm’s way,” said Nub, taking her hand to lead her below. ”

“ We cannot follow the history of the unhappy men from day to day. Their provisions had now come nearly to an end. One cask of rum and a portion only of a breaker of water remained; and had not the doctor and Tidy exerted themselves, this also would have been exhausted. Several men were lying on the raft, and the doctor knew that they were dying, but he could do nothing for them. He warned the rest; but they only laughed at him, declaring that the men had only a little too much grog aboard, and would soon come round. ”

“ Alice, after being so long shut up in the cabin, was glad to be on deck as much as she could during the day, watching the various operations going on. The men were aloft rigging out studding-sail-booms, when, to her horror, she saw one of them fall from the fore-yard. Her instinctive cry was, “Save him! save him!”
“A man overboard!” shouted those who saw the accident. The ship was running rapidly before the wind, and under such circumstances considerable time elapsed before sail could be shortened and the ship hove-to. ”

“ The doctor and Dan went first to explore; the mate, with Alice and Walter, followed next; and Nub brought up the rear. It was agreed that, should any Indians or human habitations be seen, the doctor and Dan were to fall back on the rest of the party; when, as the safest course, they would all quickly retreat rather than run the risk of a collision. Dan was well adapted for the task he had undertaken. Active as a monkey, lithe as a snake, and possessed of so keen pair of eyes, he made his way among the bushes, looking carefully ahead before he exposed himself in any open space. ”

“ The end of another day was approaching, and the weather, hitherto calm and fine, gave indications of a change.
“Provided we get a good stiff breeze from the eastward, I shall be thankful,” said the mate.
“We shall the sooner reach shore or fall in with a ship; and although our raft will stand a good deal of sea, I would rather be in a good whale-boat under such circumstances,” said Walter.
“So would I, lad; but we must be contented with what we have got. That’s my opinion, and it’s about the best a man can have. Now, Walter, I want you to take the helm,” said the mate. ”

“ The mate and Walter quickly climbed up, anxious to ascertain the truth of Nub’s assertion.
“Dere! dere!” he exclaimed. “To the south. Dere she comes! Missie Alice and Massa Walter soon be safe!”
“That’s not a ship,” observed the mate. “If you look steadily, you will see that it’s a long way on this side of the horizon, and but little raised above the water. It would not appear so distinct as it does if it was the topgallant-sail of a ship, hull down. That’s the sail of a boat or a raft; and before long it will be near at hand.” ”

“ Taking off a lanyard attached to the chest, Nub secured it to the handle at one end, and after resting for a few seconds, again threw himself into the water and struck out for the mate and Alice.
“There, my dear child, I told you so; the brave black has killed the shark, and he will soon have the chest up to us. It will serve as a boat for you,” said Mr Shobbrok.
“But where is Walter? What has become of the raft?” exclaimed Alice, who had hitherto been unaware of her brother’s unhappy condition, and had not noticed that the raft had glided far away from them. ”

“ A light breeze was still driving on the raft. They got out the oars, and endeavoured to impel it faster. They had not gone far when Nub again cried out, “There! there! There it is!”
“Is it an island, or is it the back of an enormous whale?” exclaimed Walter. “I see a flag flying on the highest part, and people moving about.”
“Are you sure that those are people?” asked the mate. “I see a flagstaff and flag clearly enough; but if those are human beings, the flag must be a very large one, such as no whale-boat carries.” ”

“ Nub got the noose ready to throw, while the doctor and Walter held their spears prepared for action. Nub drew nearer and nearer; the reptile opened one of its eyes, and then the other, and moved its tail slightly. In a moment the noose was dexterously thrown over its head, when Nub gave a violent pull before it had time to grasp the branch with its claws, and hauled it to the ground. “Now, Massa Walter,” he shouted out; “hold on to him tail.” But though both Walter and the doctor attempted to catch the creature’s tail, it whisked it about so violently that the task was no easy one. ”

“ Walter, hurrying to the cabin, found his father asleep. A touch on the arm awoke him.
“I want to speak to you about something important,” he said; and then told him all he had heard from Dan Tidy.
“It does not surprise me,” he observed, repeating almost the words of the mate. “We of course must take precautions to counteract the designs of the misguided men without letting them suspect that we are aware of their intentions. Call Mr Lawrie, that I may tell him what to do; and then I will go on deck and speak to the first mate.” ”

“ If I had been on board, I would have set every man with axes to cut away the upper works and mizzen-mast, and we should soon have materials for the purpose.”
“I am thinking of poor, dear Alice,” exclaimed Walter. “How dreadfully frightened she will be! Oh, what shall I do should anything happen to her?”
“We must trust to Him who will, if He thinks fit, find the means of preserving her,” said the mate. “Row away, Walter; we must not think about what may happen, but exert ourselves to the utmost to do our duty, and that is to get on board as soon as possible. ”

“ While he was speaking, a large bird of black plumage, with an enormous beak, and a horn-shaped ornament on the top of it, flew at one of the fruits, and nipping it off, down it came to the ground; while the bird, perching on a bough, attacked another, with more benefit to himself. Walter picked up the fallen fruit, which, though it had a somewhat hard skin, was full of a delicious juicy pulp. While he was examining the fruit, the doctor watched the bird, which, picking off fruit after fruit, appeared to throw them up and catch them in its mouth as they fell. ”

“ The helpless voyagers now floated on the wild waters deprived of the means of urging on their boat.
“What are we to do, Mr Shobbrok?” asked Walter, as the mate stepped aft and sat down by the side of the young people.
“All we can do is to pray to God for help, for vain is the help of man,” answered the mate.
“Oh yes, yes! that we will!” exclaimed Alice; and she and her brother lifted up their hands and eyes to heaven, and uttered a prayer, which was surely heard, as true prayers always are.
Poor Nub lay in the bows, too much exhausted to move ”