The Island Queen Page 3

  CHAPTER THREE.

  EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES.

  As the sun had bathed the golden cave when our castaways went to sleep,so it flooded their simple dwelling when they awoke.

  "Then," exclaims the intelligent reader, "the sun must have risen in thewest!"

  By no means, good reader. Whatever man in his wisdom, or weakness, maydo or say, the great luminaries of day and night hold on the even tenorof their way unchanged. But youth is a wonderful compound of strength,hope, vitality, carelessness, and free-and-easy oblivion, and, in theunconscious exercise of the last capacity, Pauline and her brothers hadslept as they lay down, without the slightest motion, all through thatnight, all through the gorgeous sunrise of the following morning, allthrough the fervid noontide and the declining day, until the setting sunagain turned their resting-place into a cave of gold.

  The effect upon their eyelids was such that they winked, and awoke witha mighty yawn. We speak advisedly. There were not three separateawakenings and three distinct yawns; no, the rousing of one caused therousing of the others in succession so rapidly that the yawns,commencing with Pauline's treble, were prolonged, through Otto's tenordown to Dominick's bass, in one stupendous monotone or slide, which thelast yawner terminated in a groan of contentment. Nature, during thepast few days, had been doubly defrauded, and she, having now partiallyrepaid herself, allowed her captives to go free with restored vigour.There was, however, enough of the debt still unpaid to induce a desirein the captives to return of their own accord to the prison-house ofOblivion, but the desire was frustrated by Otto, who, sitting upsuddenly and blinking at the sun with owlish gravity, exclaimed--

  "Well, I never! We've only slept five minutes!"

  "The sun hasn't set _yet_!"

  Dominick, replying with a powerful stretch and another yawn, also raisedhimself on one elbow and gazed solemnly in front of him. A gleam ofintelligence suddenly crossed his countenance.

  "Why, boy, when we went to sleep the sun was what you may call six feetabove the horizon; now it is twelve feet if it is an inch, so that if itbe still setting, it must be setting upwards--a phenomenon of which therecords of astronomical research make no mention."

  "But it _is_ setting?" retorted Otto, with a puzzled look, "for I neverheard of your astronomical searchers saying that they'd ever seen thesun rise in the same place where it sets."

  "True, Otto, and the conclusion I am forced to is that we have sleptright on from sunset to sunset."

  "So, then, we've lost a day," murmured Pauline, who in an attitude ofhelpless repose, had been winking with a languid expression at theluminous subject of discussion.

  "Good morning, Pina," said Dominick.

  "Good evening, you mean," interrupted his brother. "Well, good evening.It matters little which; how have you slept?"

  "Soundly--oh, so soundly that I don't want to move."

  "Well, then, don't move; I'll rise and get you some breakfast."

  "Supper," interposed Otto.

  "Supper be it; it matters not.--But don't say we've lost a day, sistermine. As regards time, indeed, we have; but in strength I feel that Ihave gained a week or more."

  "Does any one know," said Otto, gazing with a perplexed expression atthe sky--for he had lain back again with his hands under his head--"doesany one know what day it was when we landed?"

  "Thursday, I think," said Dominick.

  "Oh no," exclaimed Pauline; "surely it was Wednesday or Tuesday; but theanxiety and confusion during the wreck, and our terrible sufferingsafterwards in the little boat, have quite confused my mind on thatpoint."

  "Well, now, here's a pretty state of things," continued Otto, sleepily;"we've lost one day, an' we don't agree about three others, and Dom sayshe's gained a week! how are we ever to find out when Sunday comes, Ishould like to know? There's a puzzler--a reg'lar--puzzl'--puz--"

  A soft snore told that "tired Nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep," hadagain taken the little fellow captive, and prolonged silence on the partof the other two proved them to have gone into similar captivity.Nature had not recovered her debt in full. She was in an exacting mood,and held them fast during the whole of another night. Then she set themfinally free at sunrise on the following day, when the soft yellow lightstreamed on surrounding land and sea, converting their sleeping-placeinto a silver cave by contrast.

  There was no languid or yawny awakening on this occasion. Dominick satup the instant his eyes opened, then sprang to his feet, and ran out ofthe cave. He was followed immediately by Otto and Pauline, the formerdeclaring with emphasis that he felt himself to be a "new man."

  "Yes, Richard's himself again," said Dominick, as he stretched himselfwith the energy of one who rejoices in his strength. "Now, Pina, we'vegot a busy day before us. We must find out what our islet contains inthe way of food first, for I am ravenously hungry, and then examine itsother resources. It is very beautiful. One glance suffices to tell usthat. And isn't it pleasant to think that it is all our own?"

  "`The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof,'" said his sister,softly.

  The youth's gaiety changed into a deeper and nobler feeling. He lookedearnestly at Pauline for a few seconds.

  "Right, Pina, right," he said. "To tell you the truth, I washalf-ashamed of my feelings that time when I broke into involuntaryprayer and thanksgiving. I'm ashamed now of having been ashamed. Come,sister, you shall read the Word of God from memory, and I will prayevery morning and evening as long as we shall dwell here together."

  That day they wandered about their islet with more of gaiety andlight-heartedness than they would have experienced had they neglected,first, to give honour to God, who not only gives us all things richly toenjoy, but also the very capacity for enjoyment.

  But no joy of earth is unmingled. The exploration did not result inunmitigated satisfaction, as we shall see.

  Their first great object, of course, was breakfast.

  "I can't ask you what you'll have, Pina. Our only dish, at least thismorning," said Dominick, glancing upwards, "is--"

  "Cocoa-nuts," put in Otto.

  Otto was rather fond of "putting in" his word, or, as Dominick expressedit, "his oar." He was somewhat pert by nature, and not at that timegreatly modified by art.

  "Just so, lad," returned his brother; "and as you have a considerablespice of the monkey in you, be good enough to climb up one of thesepalms, and send down a few nuts."

  To do Otto justice, he was quite as obliging as he was pert; but when hestood at the foot of the tall palm-tree and looked up at its thick stem,he hesitated.

  "D'you know, Dom," he said, "it seems to me rather easier to talk aboutthan to do?"

  "You are not the first who has found that out," returned his brother,with a laugh. "Now, don't you know how the South Sea islanders get upthe palm-trees?"

  "No; never heard how."

  "Why, I thought your great authority Robinson Crusoe had told you that."

  "Don't think he ever referred to it. Friday may have known how, but ifhe did, he kept his knowledge to himself."

  "I wish you two would discuss the literature of that subject some othertime," said Pauline. "I'm almost sinking for want of food. Do bequick, please."

  Thus urged, Dominick at once took off his neckcloth and showed hisbrother how, by tying his feet together with it at a sufficient distanceapart, so as to permit of getting a foot on each side of the tree, thekerchief would catch on the rough bark, and so form a purchase by whichhe could force himself up step by step, as it were, while grasping thestem with arms and knees.

  Otto was an apt scholar in most things, especially in those thatrequired activity of body. He soon climbed the tree, and plucked andthrew down half a dozen cocoa-nuts. But when these had been procured,there still remained a difficulty, for the tough outer husk of the nuts,nearly two inches thick, could not easily be cut through with aclasp-knife so as to reach that kernel, or nut, which is ordinarilypresented to English eyes in fruit-shops.
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  "We have no axe, so must adopt the only remaining method," saidDominick.

  Laying a nut on a flat rock, he seized a stone about twice the size ofhis own head, and, heaving it aloft, brought it down with all his forceon the nut, which was considerably crushed and broken by the blow. Withperseverance and the vigorous use of a clasp-knife he at last reachedthe interior. Thereafter, on cocoa-nut meat and cocoa-nut milk, with adraught from a pool in the thicket they partook of their first breakfaston the reef.

  "Now, our first duty is to bury the skeleton," said Dominick, when themeal was concluded; "our next to examine the land; and our last to visitthe wreck. I think we shall be able to do all this in one day."

  Like many, perhaps we may say most, of man's estimates, Dominick'scalculation was short of the mark, for the reef turned out to beconsiderably larger than they had at first supposed. It must beremembered that they had, up to that time, seen it only from the lowlevel of the sea, and from that point of view it appeared to be a meresandbank with a slight elevation in the centre, which was clothed withvegetation. But when the highest point of this elevation was gained,they discovered that it had hidden from their view not only aconsiderable stretch of low land which lay behind, but an extensivecontinuation of the lagoon, or salt-water lake, in which lay a multitudeof smaller islets of varying shapes, some mere banks of sand, otherswith patches of vegetation in their centres, and a few with severalcocoa-nut palms on them, the nucleus, probably, of future palm groves.A large island formed the background to this lovely picture, and theirregular coral reef guarded the whole from the violence of the ocean.In some places this reef rose to a considerable height above thesea-level. In others, it was so little above it that each fallingbreaker almost buried it in foam; but everywhere it was a sufficientprotection to the lagoon, which lay calm and placid within, encircled byits snowy fringe,--the result of the watery war outside. In one spotthere was a deep entrance into this beautiful haven of peace, and thatchanced to be close to the golden cave, and was about fifty yards wide.At the extremity of the reef, on the other side of this opening, layanother elevated spot, similar to their own, though smaller, and withonly a few palms in the centre of it. From the sea this eminence hadappeared to be a continuation of the other, and it was only when theylanded that the Rigondas discovered the separation caused by the channelleading into the lagoon.

  "Fairyland!" exclaimed Pauline, who could scarcely contain herself withdelight at the marvellous scene of beauty that had so unexpectedly burstupon their view.

  "Rather a noisy and bustling fairyland too," said Otto, referring to thenumerous sea-birds that inquisitively came to look at them, as well asto the other waterfowl that went about from isle to isle on whistlingwings.

  The boy spoke jestingly, but it was clear from his heaving chest,partially-open mouth, and glittering eyes, that his little heart wasstirred to an unwonted depth of emotion.

  "Alas! that we have lost our boat," exclaimed Dominick.

  To this Otto replied by expressing an earnest wish that he were able toswim as well as a South Sea islander, for in that case he would launchforth and spend the remainder of that day in visiting all the islands.

  "Yes; and wouldn't it be charming," responded his brother, "to pay youraquatic visits in such pleasant company as that?"

  He pointed to an object, which was visible at no great distance, movingabout on the surface of the glassy sea with great activity.

  "What creature is that?" asked Pauline.

  "It is not a creature, Pina, only part of a creature."

  "You don't mean to say it's a shark!" cried Otto, with a frown.

  "Indeed it is--the back-fin of one at least--and he must have heard you,for he seems impatient to join you in your little trip to the islands."

  "I'll put it off to some future day, Dom. But isn't it a pity that suchpretty places should be spoiled by such greedy and cruel monsters?"

  "And yet they _must_ have been made for some good purpose," suggestedPauline.

  "I rather suspect," said Dominick, "that if game and fish only knew whoshoot and catch them, and afterwards eat them, they might be inclined tocall man greedy and cruel."

  "But we can't help that Dom. We must live, you know."

  "So says or thinks the shark, no doubt, when he swallows a man."

  While the abstruse question, to which the shark had thus given rise, wasbeing further discussed, the explorers returned to the thicket, wherethey buried the skeleton beside the other graves. A close search wasthen made for any object that might identify the unfortunates or affordsome clue to their history, but nothing of the sort was found.

  "Strange," muttered Dominick, on leaving the spot after completing theirtask. "One would have expected that, with a wrecked ship to fall backupon, they would have left behind them evidences of some sort--implements, or books, or empty beef-casks,--but there is literallynothing."

  "Perhaps," suggested Pauline, "the men did not belong to this wreck.They may have landed as we have done out of a small boat, and the vesselwe now see may have been driven here after they were dead."

  "True, Pina, it may have been so. However, the matter must remain amystery for the present. Meanwhile we will go and explore the low landbehind our reef."

  "Isn't it strange, Dom, that we should become landed proprietors in thisfashion?" remarked Otto, as they walked along.

  "And that, too," added Pauline, "at a time when our hopes were lowestand our case most desperate."

  "'Tis a magnificent estate," said Dominick, "of which we will constitutePina the Queen, myself the Prime Minister, and Otto the army."

  To this Otto objected that, as it was the business of an army to defendthe people and keep them in order, there was no use for an army, seeingthat there were no people; but Dominick replied that a queen and primeminister formed part of a people, and that an army was required todefend _them_.

  "To keep them in order, you should say," retorted Otto, "for that willclearly be my chief duty if I accept the situation. Well, I've noobjection, on the whole, to be an army; but, please, remember that intime of peace an army is expected to do no laborious work, and that atall times it is clothed and fed by the State. Now, Queen Pina theFirst, what would your Majesty wish the army to do?"

  "Go forth and subdue the land," replied Pina the First, promptly, withquite a regal sweep of her hand towards the low ground and the lagoonbeyond.

  "Will your Majesty deign to instruct me how I am to begin?"

  The Queen hesitated. She was rather puzzled, as rulers sometimes arewhen required to tackle details.

  "May it please your Majesty," said Dominick, coming to the rescue like atrue premier, "it is the chief duty of a prime minister to advise hissovereign. If it be your pleasure, I would recommend that the armyshould be sent down into yonder clump of reeds to ascertain what revenueis to be derived from the inhabitants thereof in the shape of wildfowl,eggs, etcetera, while I visit the shore of the lagoon to ascertain theprospects of supply, in the form of shellfish, from that quarter.Meanwhile, I would further advise your Majesty to sit down on this coralthrone, and enjoy the contemplation of your kingdom till we return."

  With a dignified bow and a little laugh Queen Pina assented, and thePrime Minister went off to the shore, while the army defiled towards themarsh.

  Left alone, Pina the First soon forgot her royal condition incontemplation of the lovely prospect before her. As she gazed over thesand, and across the lagoon, and out on the gleaming sea, her thoughtsassumed the wings of the morning and flew away over the mighty ocean toold England. Sadness filled her heart, and tears her eyes, as shethought of a mild little mother who had, since the departure of herthree children, been reduced for companionship to a huge household cat,and who would ere long be wondering why letters were so long of comingfrom the dear ones who had left her.

  Pauline had a vivid imagination and great power of mental abstraction.She summoned up the image of the little mother so successfully that shefelt as if she actuall
y saw her knitting her socks, sadly, with her headon one side. She even heard her address the cat (she was accustomed toaddress the cat when alone), and express a hope that in the course of amonth or six weeks more she might expect to have news of the absentones. And Pauline almost saw the household cat, which occupied itsusual place on the table at the old lady's elbow, blink its eyes withsympathy--or indifference, she could not be quite sure which. ThenPauline's wayward thoughts took a sudden flight to the island of Java,in the China seas, where she beheld a bald little old gentleman--amerchant and a shipowner--who was also her father, and who sat reading anewspaper in his office, and was wondering why his good ship _FlyingFish_--which was bringing his children to him besides a quantity ofother goods--did not make its appearance, and she plainly saw the lookof disappointment as he threw the paper down, exclaiming, "Odd, veryodd, but she _must_ turn up soon."

  Pauline saw nothing more after that for some time, because her eyes wereblinded with tears.

  Then Queen Pina cheered up again, for she thought that surely a shipwould soon pass the island and take them off. As this last thoughtbecame more definite (for Pina was very young and hopeful) her eyesdried and permitted her to observe her kingdom more clearly.

  The Prime Minister, she observed, was still busy on the shore, and, fromhis frequently stooping to pick up something, she argued that theaffairs of State in that quarter were prospering.

  Presently, from the midst of a mass of reeds not far off, there arose ashout, easily recognisable as that of the army, which was followed bycries of a stupendous, yet extremely familiar, kind. Pauline started upin considerable haste, and a moment later beheld the chief authors ofthe noise burst from the clump of reeds in the form of a large sow and atroop of little pigs.

  They were evidently in a state of wild alarm, for, besides squealingwith a degree of intensity possible only to pigs, they ran in suchfurious haste that they stumbled over sticks and stones in recklessconfusion, scrambling to their feet again in such a hurry as to ensurerepeated falls, and, generally, twirling themselves and their tails in amanner that was consistent with nothing short of raving madness.

  Little wonder that those creatures acted thus, for, close on theirheels, gasping and glaring, the army burst forth and fell on them--literally fell on one of them, for Otto in his anxiety to catch thehindmost pig, a remarkably small but active animal, tripped over a rootjust as he was about to lay hold of its little tail, and fell on the topof it with fearful violence. The mechanical pressure, combining withthe creature's spiritual efforts, produced a sudden yell that threw thecries of its companions quite into the shade. It might have sufficed toblow Otto into the air. Indeed, it seemed as if some such resultactually followed, for, after turning a complete somersault, the boy wason his feet again as if by magic; but so also was the little pig, which,being thus forcibly separated from its family, turned aside and made forthe main thicket. To cut off its retreat, the army made a sudden flankmovement, headed the enemy, grasped it by the curly tail, and sought tolift it into his arms, but the curly tail straightened out, and, beingexceedingly thin as well as taper, slipped from his hand. Need we saythat the little pig came to the ground with a remonstrative squeal? Italso rolled over. Otto, unable to check himself, flew past. The pigrose, diverged, and resumed its headlong flight. Otto doubled, cameclose up again, "stooped to conquer," and was on the point of coming offvictorious, when, with a final shriek of mingled rage and joy, the enemyrushed through a hole under a prickly bush, while the discomfited armyplunged headlong into the same, and stuck fast.

  Meanwhile the rest of the porcine family had found refuge in an almostimpenetrable part of the thicket.

  "Pork, your Majesty," said Otto, on returning from the field of battle,"may at all events be counted as one of the products of your dominions."

  "Truly it would seem so," responded the Queen, with a laugh;"nevertheless there does not appear to be much hope of its forming asource of supply to the royal larder."

  "Time will show," said Dominick, coming up at the moment; "and see, hereare several kinds of shellfish, which will form a pleasant addition toour fare."

  "Ay, and I saw eggs among the reeds," said Otto, "some of which--"

  "Not pigs' eggs, surely?" interrupted Dominick.

  "They may be so," retorted Otto; "the fact that English pigs don't layeggs, is no argument against South Sea pigs doing so, if they choose.But, as I was about to say, your Majesty, when the Premier interruptedme--some of these eggs I gathered, and would have presented them as anoffering from the army, if I had not fallen and crushed them beyondrepair."

  In corroboration of what he said, Otto opened his coat pocket andrevealed in its depths a mass of yellow substance, and broken shells.

  "Horrible!" exclaimed Pauline; "how will you ever get it cleaned?"

  "By turning it inside out--thus, most gracious Queen."

  He reversed the pocket as he spoke, allowing the yellow compound to dripon the ground, and thereafter wiped it with grass.

  "I wouldn't have minded this loss so much," he continued, "if I had notlost that little pig. But I shall know him again when I see him, andyou may depend on it that he is destined ere long to be turned into porkchops."

  "Well, then, on the strength of that hope we will continue the survey ofour possessions," said Dominick, leading the party still further intothe low grounds.

  For some time the trio wandered about without making any furtherdiscoveries of importance until they came to a thicket, somewhat similarto the one near which they had been cast on shore, but much smaller. Onentering it they were startled by a loud cackling noise, accompanied bythe whirring of wings.

  "Sounds marvellously like domestic fowls," said Dominick, as he pushedforward. And such it turned out to be, for, on reaching an open gladein the thicket, they beheld a large flock of hens running on ahead ofthem, with a splendid cock bringing up the rear, which turnedoccasionally to cast an indignant look at the intruders.

  "That accounts for your eggs, Otto," observed Pauline.

  "Yes, and here are more of them," said the boy, pointing to a nest withhalf a dozen eggs in it, which he immediately proceeded to gather.

  "It is quite evident to me," remarked Dominick, as they continued toadvance, "that both the pigs and fowls must have been landed from thewreck that lies on the shore, and that, after the death of the poorfellows who escaped the sea, they went wild. Probably they havemultiplied, and we may find the land well stocked."

  "I hope so. Perhaps we may find some more traces of the shipwreckedcrew," suggested Pauline.

  Their expectations were not disappointed, for, on returning in theevening from their tour of exploration, they came on a partially clearedplace in the thicket beside the golden cave, which had evidently beenused as a garden. In the midst of a mass of luxuriant undergrowth,which almost smothered them, vegetables of various kinds were foundgrowing--among others the sweet potato.

  Gathering some of these, Otto declared joyfully that he meant to have aroyal feast that night, but a difficulty which none of them had thoughtof had to be faced and overcome before that feast could be enjoyed. Itwas just as they arrived at the golden cave that this difficultypresented itself to their minds.

  "Dom," said Otto, with a solemn look, "how are we to make a fire?"

  "By kindling it, of course."

  "Yes, but, you stupid Premier, where are we to find a light?"

  "To tell you the truth, my boy," returned Dominick, "I never thought ofthat till this moment, and I can't very well see my way out of thedifficulty."

  Pauline, to whom the brothers now looked, shook her head. Never before,she said, had she occasion to trouble her brain about a light. When shewanted one in England, all she had to do was to call for one, or strikea match. What was to be done in their present circumstances she had notthe smallest conception.

  "I'll tell you what," said Otto, after several suggestions had been madeand rejected, "this is how we'll do it. We will gather a lot of dr
ygrass and dead sticks and build them up into a pile with logs around it,then Pina will sit down and gaze steadily at the heart of the pile forsome minutes with her great, brown, sparkling eyes she should be able tokindle a flame in the heart of almost anything in five minutes--or, sayten, at the outside, eh?"

  "I should think," retorted the Queen, "that your fiery spirit orflashing wit might accomplish the feat in a shorter time."

  "It seems to me," remarked Dominick, who had been thinking too hard topay much regard to these pleasantries, "that if we live long here weshall have to begin life over again--not our own lives, exactly, but theworld's life. We shall have to invent everything anew for ourselves;discover new methods of performing old familiar work, and, generally,exercise our ingenuity to the uttermost."

  "That may be quite true, you philosophic Premier," returned Otto, "butit does not light our fire, or roast that old hen which you brought downwith a stone so cleverly to-day. Come, now, let us exercise ouringenuity a little more to the purpose, if possible."

  "If we had only some tinder," said Dominick, "we could find flint, Idare say, or some hard kind of stone from which fire could be struckwith the back of a clasp-knife, but I have seen nothing like tinderto-day. I've heard that burnt rag makes capital tinder. If so, a bitof Pina's dress might do, but we can't burn it without fire."

  For a considerable time the trio sought to devise some means ofprocuring fire, but without success, and they were at last fain tocontent themselves with another cold supper of cocoa-nut and water,after which, being rather tired, they went to rest as on the previousnight.