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Chapter XI
How We Got to Auckland Island at Last.

"What is to be done?"

"You still mean to make the attempt?"

"Of course. It is a case of must. It's slow starvation here."

That is how we talked around our camp fire, after our exciting adventures, as we partook of a very scanty meal.

We were somewhat divided in our opinions. Though one boat was damaged beyond repair, we still had two, so that we could have gone as originally intended, though one boat—the first made—would have been crowded; but the fellows who were to stay did not agree to us taking this boat, and in one way there was reason in their objection.

They looked upon the adventure as madness, and considered that it must end in failure. If we took both boats they would be left without any means of leaving the island, for there was no more canvas to use. They had no intention of going at present, but they argued they did not know when they might be compelled to go, and they were not unreasonable in objecting page 198to our having both boats, which meant all the canvas.

On the other hand, Knudsen declared in as many words that he, for one, would not think of undertaking that voyage with the crew that had been assigned to him unless the other boat accompanied him; and he, too, was not without reason in his demands.

It needed not only men who were strong enough to take the craft across those six miles of water, but who would also be strong enough to brave the hardships of the journey which had undoubtedly to be faced upon the other side.

"I don't say a word against Mr. Maclaghlan," he declared; "and he knows it. He has proved himself as plucky as any of us, but he has not got the strength in him; and he knows that too. And Ivemey is no good to me. I don't want to be saddled with a pair of sick men, like we were with poor. Mr. Peters."

"Well, who do you want with you?" demanded the second mate at last. "Look here, Knudsen, name your own crew, and let us see if we can arrange the thing that way— that is, if you are determined to go."

"Of course I am determined to go," growled Knudsen. "I should have not voted for building the boats if I didn't mean to have a try for it !"

"That's all right, Knudsen. We didn't mean to hint that you wanted to back out of it. You are skipper of that boat, so name your own crew."

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Of course, Knudsen was not really skipper, for we had long ago started to share alike, no one having any authority unless it was due to his personal strength of character. For instance, both Ellis and Knudsen were strong men; and somehow I always found that my advice was regarded thoughtfully, but I expect that was to a great extent due to my good spirits—I and Mickey kept the fellows lively.

Well, Knudsen was not long in responding to the second mate's invitation to name his own crew, and he called out:

"Well, if I'm going, I choose Walters, Eyre and Mickey to go with me."

That led to some more consultation. George Ivemey did not seem inclined to give up his place; I think that he was just about sick of Disappointment Island—as, indeed, all of us were, except the three fellows who had been on the first trip—and it took a whole week's argument before he was quite willing to vacate his place in favour of Walters. Mr. Maclaghlan did not make much trouble about giving way in my favour. And so at last the thing was settled, and Knudsen, Walters, Mickey and myself were selected as the ones who were to make the voyage; and then there was nothing to do but to exist as best as we could until another fine day came along.

All the time Ellis and Santiago and the other fellows kept telling us that we were just a lot of fools, and they prophesied that we should be very, very glad to get back again. Indeed, they seemed quite put out at the fact that we page 200were not to be shaken out of our resolution, and at last they gave it up as a bad job, and left us severely to ourselves.

And now things were seemingly at their worst, for the birds had entirely gone, and it was only now and again that we managed to secure a seal. We were as near starvation then as it was well possible to be, for the root, though it was nice enough with mollyhawk or seal, did not seem enough to satisfy us by itself. I expect that in those cold latitudes the human body needs flesh, and especially fat, and the starch of the root did not make up for it.

But not until October 7th did a day come which seemed to hold the slightest promise of success for us. We had everything in readiness, and we waited for the chance with such impatience as can be guessed but not described.

On October 7th of that year (1907) we rose at daybreak, and we saw at a glance that things looked promising. The wind had gone down, and the sea was pretty smooth.

I had already prepared a sod for conveying a fire, but profiting by experience, I had taken rather more care over this one than the last. I cut a hole about four inches square in this sod, and lined it with little stones; inside the hole I put fresh ashes from our fire, and then on top of these little pieces of green wood. I covered it over with a flat stone, and put another sod on top to prevent the water getting in, and I was in great hopes of carrying it over successfully.

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We had a couple of cooked birds—some of the very last in the place—and these we took for provisions, and then, just as the daylight began to creep across the top of the hill, we wended our way up its sides and down into a steep valley towards the landing-place.

Very few of the other fellows came to see us off—they looked upon the whole thing as folly, and declared that we should never succeed. They were all more or less despondent after what had gone before; and with the lack of food had come a depression of spirits. That's a bad thing at the best. The man who loses heart hasn't a real chance: but the one who keeps his spirits up and his courage high, he is going to get through, if there is any getting through possible. As the old saying has it, "I can't" never achieved anything: "I will try" does much; but "I will" does all things.

We had already arranged a code of signals with those we were leaving. When we arrived we were to light a fire and make plenty of smoke, to denote that we had got through all right; and if we found the depot we would make two fires, one at a good distance from the other. We would then send two of our party back, and bring two more across, and soon until we were altogether once more.

If we found the depôt!

How much depended upon that! Auckland Island was a big place; our little Disappointment Island was not to be compared to it for size. What searching might not have to be made ere we succeeded in our mission ! But page 202the depôt was there—or, rather, two depots were there—and by God's help we would discover one of them; and if not, then His will must be done.

Well, with one or two comrades to see us off and wish us "God-speed," we got our little craft afloat once more, and two of our party got into her. There was still a swell, but nothing like so bad as last time.

Then the fire was passed in, together with a canvas bag of water, the two birds, and our coats, and, with a cheer, we pushed off and paddled away, and our voyage had actually commenced !

Mickey was in the bows baling out—that had to be done all the time—Knudsen was next working a paddle, and then Walters also paddling. I was at the stern with a third paddle to help the others and to do the steering.

And now that we were a distance from the island we could see what a grim, horrible place it looked, and yet it had been our home for seven months nearly: and who could tell what we were going to find on the other side?— something far worse, according to our comrades' report.

But we had started, and there was no thought of turning back. On and on we went, fainter grew Disappointment Island, clearer grew Auckland Island, and when we were midway upon our journey, a bit of a breeze sprang up from the south-west, and the sea grew very choppy.

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Our little craft, having only about five inches freeboard, started shipping water a good deal faster than was comfortable, and things began to look somewhat serious. It was a good thing for us that the wind was behind us, or we should certainly have been compelled to put back. As it was, the breeze was on our starboard quarter, we were going east, and the wind came from the south-west.

But oh, that journey! How tired we were, how cramped our limbs were! The long crouching on the wooden frame of our craft was a horrible torture, and our arms ached fearfully.

It seemed as if red-hot pains shot through them right up to our shoulders with every sweep of our paddles.

And then when we all felt done Knudsen showed what metal he was made of. I have said that he was in the bow. Now, paddling a canoe is precisely opposite to rowing a boat, for you look in the direction in which you are going; and the bow paddle sets the stroke. How Knudsen kept on, his face set, his lips compressed! He was just working—the man's will was conquering his body. And somehow he kept us at it. Our hands felt raw with the friction of our rough wooden paddles, but we dared not stop. Had we once taken the way off her, our little craft would certainly have capsized.

But tired as we were, and hard as was the labour, we were sitting with our eyes fixed on the shore to which we desired to go, and we page 204could see it becoming clearer and clearer as we drew near. It inspired us, it egged us on, and following Knudsen's example—and to my mind he deserves the greatest praise for his splendid behaviour then—we worked away until it was, as near as we could guess, midday, and then we were drawing quite near to the other shore.

Now, though the other fellows had been against our going, yet when they saw that we were not to be moved they had told us the best place to land, and for that spot we made, only to discover when we drew near that no matter what they had done, it would be impossible to land there now, for the sea was far too big for a craft like ours.

It was a terrible place for landing—we knew that directly we sighted it—our boat would inevitably be smashed in getting to shore.

The place was a bay, but it was full of sunken rocks and reefs, and there was broken water for quite a quarter of a mile from shore to sea.

So far as we could make out, on the inside of that rocky barrier there was a shingle beach about twelve feet wide, and then beyond that nothing but one dense mass of forest, so thick as to be like a solid wall, the trees being about twenty to thirty feet high. And this forest seemed to grow up the side of a hill for some sixty feet and then suddenly open into a big valley, which ran we knew not whither, but which was also one thick mass of bush.

Still, we had no time to contemplate that now. We paddled slowly between two great reefs, page 205and tried to make the shore, but found the sea and swell far too big, so had to pull out again.

Now, by this time we were all properly done up, and Mickey and Walters were for pulling in and taking our chances, but to this neither Knudsen nor I would agree, being determined to save the boat if possible.

So we pulled out once more. If we had possessed a wooden boat we would have risked it, but it was a hard job to keep our little craft either head or stern to the sea, owing to the backwash from the rocks and reefs, which were scattered everywhere, and even a landsman can guess what would have happened if she had once got broadside on.

Well, tired out as we were, we paddled right across the bay, looking for a likely spot, but we were disappointed again—rocks and reefs everywhere, big rollers and angry foam. We could have done it had the sea been as smooth as glass—as it was when the other fellows landed here—but it was far otherwise with us, and it became a serious question what we were to do. We could not go back, and we could not keep on paddling, for we were done. We had stuck to it as long as we could, and Nature would endure no more. Moreover, the sea was rising, and the situation was growing more threatening every minute.

It seemed, after all, that we should have to follow Mickey and Walters' advice, and run ashore, though we knew that the boat would be smashed to atoms in the doing of it; and, page 206besides that, our fire would be endangered. It was still burning away good-oh, for we had brought a supply of little twigs with us, and when these failed we had started whittling away slips from the wood of our boat, and so had kept it going, but it was a question whether we should ever get it ashore now.

"We have got to chance it."

That was our unanimous opinion after a vain and patient search.

"We can do no more: and the sea is getting too big for us to risk staying longer."

So we rested there, just keeping her head on, and watched our chance.

And presently we saw a big roller coming closer and closer, and Knudsen shouted that we must be ready to follow it quick, before another one could catch us. On it came, nearer and nearer, and then as it passed us it broke in a mad churn of foam.

"Now for it!" I yelled. And we paddled— oh, how we paddled!—until it was a wonder that the paddles did not break. We wanted to reach the shore before another roller could come.

I had her nose right for the smoothest part of the beach that I could see on that rock-bound shore, but just as we seemed likely to win in this mad race and reach our goal in safety, we could see another big roller coming rapidly after us.

"Mickey, look alive! Clear the painter— quick—and stand by to jump as soon as we touch the beach!"

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We yelled these instructions to Mickey, and he obeyed—he was in the bow, you will remember. He seized the painter, and stood ready for the spring, for on him would depend to a great extent the safety of us all. The fire we could not pass to him, for it was in the stern with me, and not one of us could drop his paddle, even had there been time to do so.

But there was no time, It happened far quicker than I can write it down. The roller swept on nearer and nearer to us, and before we knew what was happening we were carried along on the crest of it and dashed fiercely upon a sunken reef, which was not far from the shore.

Mickey gave a startled yell, and jumped for it, and how he did it neither he nor we know, but he managed somehow to get ashore, half-smothered with the foam, and somewhat confused.

He still clung to the painter, and turned to haul on it, but the force of the receding water on the frail craft tore it from his hands, nearly skinning them: and the boat, with the three of us in it, was washed out again.

As we were going, both Knudsen and Walters jumped clear, right into the sea; and it is a wonder that they were not hurt by the lashing breakers; but they also managed to reach the land, and there was I left by myself, and the fate of the craft and the fire depended upon me alone now.

"Look out, Charlie! Look out, man!" they page 208shouted. I don't know whether it was to warn me that the fire was in jeopardy or the craft, but my first thought was the fire. I threw myself at it, meaning to seize it and toss it ashore; but, oh the mockery of it, just as my fingers were upon it it capsized at the bottom of the boat—there was one smothered hiss, and it was out !

Then I stood up and just managed to hurl our coats ashore, when crash came a big sea, hurling the boat on to a rock; the bow broke clean off at the nip, and she filled and sank under me.

I was washed out of her close to the shore, and I managed to grab hold of the painter and hold on for dear life, whilst Knudsen and Walters both bravely rushed to my rescue. The three of us were very nearly carried back into deep water as I clung to the painter.

Then somehow, in a whirl of confusion and smother of foam, we were safely on the beach, and, with Mickey, were gripping the painter and striving to get our boat up from where it had gone down.

For we wanted that canvas—we could not afford to let that go without an effort to save it.

It was hard work. Haul and tug, by sheer force we managed to get the ruined craft half-way on to a rock: and then we had to wade in waist deep, often getting taken clean off our feet by the rollers. It took us half an hour to do it, but we stripped away the canvas, and got it to shore. And after that we managed page 209to get the broken frame up, though, except for the strands used to seize the pieces together, it did not seem as if that would ever be of any use to us.

Well, there we were. We had set out to reach Auckland Island, and we had succeeded. But at what cost! Boat gone, fire gone, water gone, food gone—everything gone! It looked as if our comrades' words were coming true, and that we should soon regret the step which we had taken against their advice.

"Well," I said, as I stood there surveying the scene," we have reached the Island of Dreams at last, and now I am satisfied."

"I sha'n't be satisfied until we have got a fire going," said Knudsen. "We have got to give those fellows their signal."

You see, though we had lost our fire we still had the two vestas, and we did not for a moment doubt that we should be able to get a fire on the go. And after that we must carry one with us in a big sod, as we had done in coming across. It would be easier work, for there would be plenty of wood to replenish it, and no fear of its being swamped by water.

Our first task was to strip and wring the water from our clothes—such as they were—whilst we turned anxious and inquiring eyes from the rock-bound beach to the dense forest growth, wondering what we should find within its depths.

"What's that?"

Walters, who was nearest to the forest, turned quickly, for from within its veil there came the page 210sound of cracking sticks, as though something was moving; and in our defenceless condition it was a serious matter to know what sort of a creature might be astir.

We had seen no dangerous animals on Disappointment Island, unless we included the seals as such; but we did not know what was here. The scenery was so different— forest instead of bleak mountain—and beasts of prey might lurk there ready to spring upon us.

Again came those sounds, and then as we clustered together we saw appear the head of a fine white seal, and after the head the body.

He made a lovely picture as he emerged from the forest. He must have been sleeping there for a good many days.

The seal stopped when he caught sight of us, and looked at us as if wondering what sort of creatures we could be, and then he opened his mouth and yawned, as though he found the speculation rather boring, and not worth troubling about.

Then he started to waddle down toward us, in a perfectly harmless fashion, as if he would not have said a word; only we decided that we had some particularly pressing business with him.

We had not time to put on our clothes—we just started for him at once: and he, when he saw that we meant to attack him, uttered a tremendous roar, and came with a dash at Walters.

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But, after our experience on the small island, we had become quite expert at killing seals, and we soon put an end to him.

Then we donned our clothes once more, and started to work. Walters and' Mickey took the job of skinning the seal—and let me tell you that it was no light task.

For, as I have said, a big seal is far larger than a sheep, and the only knife— indeed, the. only weapon—that we possessed was one small pocket-knife with one blade which had come out of the handle, and had to be fastened on with a little piece of rope yarn.

That was absolutely all that we had, so you may think that it was no little job to skin and cut up a big seal with a primitive implement of that kind.

And whilst our two comrades were busy on this, Knudsen and myself started taking every bit of the rope yarns off the frame of the boat. You see, those little pieces of frayed, tarry rope were very precious to us, and we wanted to dry them and keep them from rotting, in case, when we found the depôt, we had to build another boat to go back to Disappointment Island again.

When we found the depot ! You see, we never doubted that we should find the depôt; we had succeeded so far, and we should succeed in that also.

We had finished our job, and the yarn all tied up, and the canvas in a neat roll by the time Walters and Mickey were through with page 212their task, and then we discussed what to do next.

First, we were not going to light a fire there— that would have been to waste a match for little purpose. We decided that we would tramp as far as we could inland, and then make a fire in the evening.

"And what shall we do about the seal?" asked Mickey. And we decided to cover it up and leave it on the beach, so that 'we could get it the next day. We had each of us the leg of a bird in the pockets of our coats, and we decided that we would put up with that for the time. For the truth is, we were all so tired that we almost felt too weary to eat, and we were not equal to the task of dismembering the seal, and carrying the flesh along with us.

"We can take the skin with us, though," we decided; "for we may be glad of it and the canvas at night."

"Let us go as far as we can before we camp," Knudsen said. "For it stands to reason that we shall not do any good by remaining on the coast here. The depôt is in the north-east, and we have got to get there somehow, so we had better start that way from the beginning."

Well, there was good reason in that, and though we were all tired out, we were so eager to get to that depôt that we forgot the fatigue, and, shouldering the canvas and sealskin, we turned our faces to the forest, and started upon our voyage of discovery. You see, we wanted to get to the big valley which ran page 213like some great crack across In a north-easterly direction.

But the valley was sixty feet above us, on the forest-covered hill, and we soon found that, thick as the forest had appeared from the water, it was a good deal thicker when we came close upon it. I do not think that my readers can form any idea of the way in which these forest trees grew—so close together, and so interlaced with creepers of different sorts, that it was absolutely impossible to find a way through. And, moreover, there were cruel thorns—awful things which tore and lacerated the flesh, as the claws of a wild beast would have done.

We had a try at it, but we soon came to the conclusion that if the way to the depôt lay through this, then we should never get there; we should have been torn to pieces ere we had got half the distance.

So we forced our way back, and, after a survey of the scene and some discussion, we started on another track. There was at one spot a cliff which to a great extent was bare of bush, and which ran from where we stood up towards the foot of the big valley. We decided that it would be far easier to scale the cliff, and carry the canvas with us, than to force our way through the forest.

And yet it was hard work, for we were nearly fagged out now. We had been on the go since daybreak, and we had not stopped for rest or food; it is not to be wondered at that we were beginning to feel quite done up.

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Climbing up slowly and painfully, we passed the canvas and sealskin from one to the other pushing and hauling it up, and pausing again and again to get our breath.

And the first thing which forced itself upon us was the sense of silence. I think that I have mentioned to you that we felt it at first upon Disappointment Island, but that was nothing to what it was here. It was a horrible silence, that pressed down upon one like a heavy weight. I have heard people talk of a silence that can be felt, and I can understand that now. You could almost feel it. It was everywhere. Even the sound of the sea was lost here, and not a stir came from the trees as we pushed our way up and up that cliff's face, making towards the entrance to the valley, along which we hoped presently to travel.

"If we can manage it we will make the place where the others camped before they started back," we decided. There was a hut there, we knew, and that would provide us with a shelter without our being put to the trouble of building one.

This was our goal, and towards it we bravely struggled, until at last we reached the top of the cliff, and found ourselves at the foot of the valley.

And a strange place it was—a weird place indeed! It was about five miles wide, and its sides and head were a terrible height from where we were standing. And everywhere—sides, head, all was alike covered, with the thick brush, whilst waterfalls made their way down from page 215above, and streams could be seen flowing here and there. Whatever happened, we need not want for water.

For some minutes we stood silentfy surveying the scene, and then Knudson, pointing along the edge of the cliff, said:

"There is our road, boys ! Forward!"