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Chapter IX.
Bitter Disappointment.

What were we going to hear from their lips? Had they discovered any depôt? Why had they been so foolish as to delay their start upon their return journey until so late in the day? Had anything wrong occurred?

Such were the questions which we asked ourselves as we stood there on the cliff, watching that black speck which danced on the waves and drew nearer and nearer, until we could distinguish the outline of the canvas boat which we had constructed with so much care; and as they were questions which we had no means of answering until our comrades arrived, we waited, consumed with anxiety and impatience.

How slowly they seemed to work the paddles; how tardy was the craft's progress! Though they were too far away for us to distinguish their faces, there was something— a sort of dejection marking their movements —which seemed to tell us that all was not right —that these men were not returning elated with success, but crushed by failure.

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"They don't seem to hurry themselves."

"Reckon they are just dog tired."

"If they are not quick, it will be dark before they make the land; and then they won't have an easy job of it."

So we murmured one to another as we stood there staring over the waves, whilst dimmer and dimmer grew the outline of the island from which our comrades were returning. It was our Island of Dreams, and as we watched it gradually melting into the mist of the evening it seemed as if our dream was fading away, and a great darkness of despair settling down upon our spirits.

"Those chaps are about properly done," I thought, as they came still nearer. "They have been having a bad time of it."

"If they were as anxious to meet us as we were to see them, they would put their backs into it."

"Let's get down to the landing-place, and be ready to meet them."

At that last suggestion we all left the cliff-top and wended our way down to the spot from which on that morning ten days before, we had sent them off with encouraging cheers and good wishes, and there we stood waiting until the boat should come round the point.

"They are beaten!"

That was the thought that was pressing itself home upon us. Whatever story we were to hear, it would be one of failure; and we nerved ourselves to bear our disappointment like men.

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But when at last our comrades appeared round the headland, making towards us, we uttered a shout of joy, for we saw that they were no longer rowing with the rude, canvas-covered paddles, but with wooden oars; and if they had oars they must have found the depot.

"They have struck it lucky, after all!" cried one of the crowd. "Look what they are rowing with ! Hurrah, lads! It's good news they are bringing!"

"Faith, then, I wish they would hurry up wid it!" murmured Mickey. And his impatience was shared by the rest of us.

But whatever was the matter with them? They looked like dying men; and Bob Ellis seemed to sway as he paddled, as if he had not strength left for another stroke. We gave them three ringing cheers as they drew within hailing distance, and they answered, but with such feeble cries that they seemed to be the ghosts of hurrahs, so hollow and forced did they sound.

But when they were about twenty feet away from the shore, Bob Ellis seemed to try and rouse himself, and put on some air of cheerfulness, for he sang out to us:

"What sort of a harbour is this, at all?"

The canoe grounded, and willing hands were outstretched to help them; ay, and they needed help, for they were so terribly cramped and weak that they could scarcely move, and they groaned with pain as they tried to use their stiffened limbs.

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"What news? Did you reach the island? Have you found anything?"

We clustered round them, plying them with questions; and Ellis answered us, his words seeming to kill any vestige of hope that we had left.

"Ay, we reached the island, and you ought to go down on your knees and thank God that you were cast away here, and not over yonder. You can't live there, boys— it's a deadly place. There is valley after valley of thick bush, which no mortal soul can possibly penetrate. For pity's sake don't stop yarning here! Get us back to the camp and give us some water and food, for we are almost done. I never wanted anything so much in all my life as a good chunk of root and a fat molly-hawk."

Failure!

We turned away and began our tramp back to the camp, our comrades in our midst. They looked awful. Their few clothes were torn to rags—they were soaked and covered with mire—and their hands and faces were torn and cut, giving plain evidence of the truth of their statement about the hardships of the way over there on that other island.

"We thought that we should find birds there, but there isn't one in the place," they said; and then we understood what an error we had fallen into. We ought to have sent them away well supplied with a good stock of food.

We tramped back up the hill on the other page 164side of which our camp lay, and we provided for our comrades' wants; and then gathering round the fire, we listened with grim faces to the recountal of their adventures, hearing the doom knell to our hopes in their words.

Ellis was the spokesman; for, as I have told you, neither Pul nor Santiago could speak English properly—and this was the story which he told us:

After a hard journey against a strong current, they had at last managed to reach their destination, where they found making a landing a difficult and risky job. But this they accomplished, and got the boat up beyond the reach of the waves, and then started away on their march towards the north-east, in search of the depôt.

It was hard going from the first; for in the bush there was so much horny brushwood that they were lacerated and bleeding almost from the very start; whilst, as I have said, their clothes were literally torn to ribbons. But with dogged perseverance they kept on, and at last they got to the top of the valley, and then it started to rain in torrents, and a thick mist came down upon them.

Now, all they had to eat were two legs of a bird—a poor meal after three or four birds each—and they saw no signs of anything wherewith to replenish their larder; but, for all that, their hearts were glad, for they had reached their destination, and they knew that somewhere there was a hut with food and clothing awaiting them. Ah, they did not know, though, what page 165tortures and privations the men who were to find that hut in the end would have to go through ere the task was accomplished !

They laid down in the bush that night, to sleep in the open in the rain. They did not attempt to light a fire, for that would have been impossible—everything was soaking wet; and there they stayed, hoping that with the light they would get better weather.

But, alas! the next day brought no better fortune; the rain continued to pour down in torrents, and the mist was so thick that they could not see each other if they separated but a few paces; and, besides this, they had no food, nor any hopes of getting any.

Can you imagine such a plight? Three men hardly able to understand each other, there in that region of thick, inhospitable bush, without any sign of life around them; the awful silence only broken by the splash of the rain and the sighing of the leaves; death before, death behind; and yet they kept their courage and when the mist lifted a little, as it did during the morning, they rose from the sodden ground and pushed resolutely on, upon their hard and agonizing journey.

They kept as near to the north-east as they could judge, and by nightfall they were a good distance from the sea; but they were now sick with hunger, and saw no trace of anything in the shape of a hut—saw nothing but bush, bush, on every hand.

That night they managed to make a fire, but they used two of their precious matches page 166in the doing of it; and with the morning they had to abandon it, and make tracks back the way they had come; for it was plain that if they stayed where they were much longer they would all three perish of starvation.

And when they got some distance back, they heard a noise in the bush; and from its cover there broke a wild boar, which stood looking at them in mingled surprise and defiance, and showed more disposition to fight than to flee.

Now, such an animal is a formidable customer at any time; and here were three unarmed men, almost perished with starvation; but they did not hesitate—the sight of the prospect of food gave them strength and courage—and they flung themselves upon the fierce creature, clinging to it with desperate clutches, and dragging it to the ground. They did not come off scathless, but victory was theirs in the end, and they beat the life out of the creature It lasted them for food for three days.

Now in the valley they lit another fire, and two more of their matches were used—leaving only two. It was plain to them that this fire must be kept going at all costs; so they agreed that one of them should stand by that whilst the other two explored for the depot—and now they made the smoke signal which we had seen.

For the next six day they tramped to and fro, suffering horribly, and it was whilst this was going on that Santiago, who was tending to the fire, cut out the two oars with which they rowed page 167back, cut them from some wreckage of our poor Dundonald itself, which they had found washed up upon the beach. The set of the current was away from Disappointment to Auckland Island, and so the wreckage drifted in that direction.

For six days they sought in vain, and then they were starving again, and there were no more pigs to be seen. So on the tenth day of August, the weather being fine, they determined to abandon the search and return to us, considering that they had but jumped from the frying-pan into the fire in coming upon this journey. They made another smoke signal to give us warning, and then took to the canvas boat once more and started, glad to leave such a miserable place, and looking upon our little isle as a very Eden when compared to the spot which they were quitting.

Such was the story which Bill Ellis told, and our hearts sank like lead as we listened. But still, though some only shook their heads, and said they had known from the first how it, would be, there were others of us, myself included, who declared that another try must be made.

"The depôt is there, we know," we affirmed, "and we can profit by their experiences, and so may succeed where they have failed"

"You do as you like," growled Ellis. "You will soon be glad enough to come back again. You don't catch me going to that hole any more." And both Pul and the Chilian nodded agreement.

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Now we were divided in opinion. There were ' those who did not want to go, who would not go at any price; and there were those who felt that the attempt must be made, and who were not going to be discouraged by anything, and we of that opinion set to work to finish our boats, the covering of which was a difficult matter, as I have before said, owing to the best of the sailcloth having already been used.

We took the canvas off the boat which had already made the journey and used it again. But we did not use the frame, for we considered that it had been strained, for one thing, and in the next place the two boats which we were now finishing were bigger, holding four men each instead of three.

We finished them about August 20th, and on that day it was just fair enough to give them a trial. We launched them, and they proved to be all right, so that all we had to do now was to make preparations, and await a day when the sea would be smooth enough for us to venture upon it.

Now we had one of the few difficulties which we had amongst ourselves during our adventures, for Herman Queerfelt had claimed the two remaining vestas as his property, he being possessed with the deadly fear that on some occasion our fires might go out, and that these two matches might then be needed.

We on our part declared that, since we were venturing for the benefit of all, we must have them, seeing that without the means of lighting a fire all our efforts would be in vain. Words, page 169ran high, those who were not keen upon the voyage siding with the German, and the rest of us declaring that we would have the vestas, if we had to take them by force.

But at last matters were arranged, for I thought of a scheme whereby we might take a fire with us in the boat—I will tell you of this soon—and we agreed that if Queerfelt would let us take the vestas we would take great care of them, and only use them in case of dire necessity. So, that point being settled, we waited and waited for some favourable weather, and we waited in vain, for day after day, week after week, it was blowing gales, with a mountainous sea, with heavy rain and sleet.

There was not the slightest hope of making the journey whilst such conditions prevailed, and in the meantime we were standing a very good chance of starving, for most of the birds had gone, and the seals were scarce; and, moreover, the weather was so bad that it was risking death to attempt to get down to catch them.

Now, I may say that Knudsen and my self were the most keen to make this second attempt. Indeed, we were the moving spirits in it, though some of the others—Mickey, Walters and the second mate—backed us up.

Well, on the 23rd of August, in wretched weather, Knudsen and myself, with one or two others, went down to see if our boats were all right, and on our way down the valley we had the good luck to come across a seal, a page 170very welcome visitor, seeing that we were in such desperate straits.

We soon got the better of him, and, having skinned and cleaned him, we took his entrails down and dumped them, according to our usual custom; and as we were returning, we noticed the trunk of a tree growing all alone, some little distance away.

Now, that was the only tree which we had seen of Disappointment Island, so it is not strange that we stood looking at it. It had no branches, and looked from where we stood just like a dead old stump.

"That's queer," muttered Knudsen, "that one tree in this place—and not a likely place for a tree to grow either."

"It's a bit queer that it's so flat on top," I added. "There is something strange here. I vote that we go and have a look at it."

So off we went, and when we got to this object, we found it to be about six feet high, and about as thick as a lamp-post.

"That's no tree," was our verdict, and we got hold of it, and after a few wrenches and pulls we brought it out with a run and—the end of it had been roughly pointed with an axe.

"It's a sign. Someone has put it up here at some time," I cried, and it is strange how the sight of that rough piece of timber excited us.

It was the first trace of anyone ever having been on this island that we had seen during our long stay on its barren shores.

"What a tale could that tell !" said Knudsen. "Doubtless some poor fellow, cast page 171away here, put it up and fastened a board of some kind to it. Time and tempest have torn the board off, and most likely his bones have crumbled to dust long ago, for it must have been here many years."

"Perhaps it marks the place where something is buried," I suggested—"a log, or something of that kind."

At that suggestion we got sticks, and started digging down where the post had stood; but, though we worked for some time, and cleared quite a big hole, we did not see a sign of anything; and so at last we took our seal, and went back to the others to tell them of what we had found, and to discuss what was signified by that old pointed post stuck up in this lonely place.

It had been erected by human hands, that we knew. But why? Did it mark a grave? In that case we surely ought to have found some trace of human remains. Was it a record of the wreck of some good ship? What had become of those who had placed it there?

Vain questions, utterly impossible of answering, and yet they served to occupy our thoughts, for in our lonely condition little things, which otherwise would have passed utterly unnoticed, became of vast importance, and served as topics for earnest discussion.

But talk as we might, we arrived at no conclusion, and at last we turned in, thanking God for the seal which we had killed, seeing that it meant the averting of starvation for a page 172little time, at least, and perhaps the morrow would bring us the calm which we so desired in order to be able to make our second attempt at finding the depôt.

"Charlie," said the second mate to me that night, "if we don't do it soon we are as good as dead men." And I nodded grimly, knowing how terribly true his words were.

But, alas! the next day dawned even worse than the previous one had been, and the sea thundered and roared all round our island, as if daring us to brave its might. A ship's lifeboat could have scarcely faced such weather, let alone our poor little cockleshells of baskets and old sailcloth.

Strangely treacherous was the weather then. One half hour the wind would be gone, the sea smooth, and the sun out, and the next a gale would be howling, the sea mountains high, and the air thick with mist and rain or snow. God help the boat, which, tempted out, was caught by one of those raging squalls, for earthly help it would have none.

All day we occupied ourselves as best we might, some getting wood for our fires, others looking for birds, now so fearfully scarce, others working with their bone needles at some skin clothing—all of us beginning to feel somewhat hopeless, so that even I found it hard work to keep up my spirits, whilst Mickey's jokes were few and far between. And so we spent the day of August 24th, and in the early evening I went into my hut and flung myself down, thinking sadly of those dear ones in far-away England, page 173who long before this would have given me up for dead.

I lay there for some time, and the sun sank down until it was but a dull, fiery ball on the western horizon; and then all of a sudden I was startled by such a chorus of yells as surely never burst from human throats before.

"A ship! A ship! Sail-ho! Sail-ho!"

A ship! A sail! Oh, pitying God, what did that mean?

I rushed out of my hut. All our fellows seemed to have gone clean crazed. Some were rushing up and down, others had fallen on their knees, some were leaping like madmen, others crying and wringing their hands. And, there, far away, true, but with her nose pointed to our island, was a barque, her royals furled, sailing steadily on towards us.

You cannot understand. It is impossible that you can; and I cannot tell you how I felt. There are some things which cannot be conveyed in human language, which can only be depicted by thought, and this was one of them. I did not know whether to cheer, to cry, to scream, or to dance. I felt that I must do each and all. It was just madness for the time.

On she came. There was not much wind that evening, and I suppose she had her royals furled because they would not have been much use to her, being close hauled, with a dead noser. But there she was, standing right in for our island.

"Get a fire going—quick! For goodness' sake hurry there!" I shrieked; and I threw a whole page 174armful of wood on to our fire, which was now only a glowing mass of embers, ready for banking for the night.

"A fire—a fire!"

"A ship !"

"Sail-ho !"

"Hurrah !"

There, what is the good of trying to make you understand how we felt, and how we carried on? We raced here and there. We came near putting our fire out, we piled the fuel so high. But that danger was averted.

Up, up rolled great columns of smoke, heaven high, rolling away before the wind; and then after it darted the great tongues of roaring flame, casting a ruddy glow all round, and making the rolling smoke turn pink and purple beneath its kiss. And still on and on came the ship, nearer and nearer to us !

And the sun sank slowly, and the dusk fell grey upon the sea, and still brighter and brighter blazed our fire, higher danced the flames, and thicker rolled the smoke—and then——

We rubbed our eyes, we shrieked our prayers to them—prayers which they could not hear; but just as we thought that she was making right for us, we saw her head shift round a bit, and then round went her yards, and she started bearing right away from us, in an opposite direction.

Oh, if I ever knew bitter disappointment I knew it then! There was the ship, a good ship, a brave ship—a ship to take us back to life and our fellow men—there she was, page 175and going from us—seeming to mock us— leaving us there in our hopelessness and misery.

"Make up the fire! Higher still! Make it blaze more! She must see it—they can't be off seeing it !"

How it blazed! How it roared in the evening breeze! It cast its ruddy light through the darkness, and made the sea glow blood red. Higher! Fiercer yet—higher!

No use! All in vain. Dimmer, dimmer, in the fading light the vessel grew—she was misty and indistinct—she was a speck—a speck that faded—and we were left there alone.

I have asked myself since what it meant. So far as I can learn, no vessel ever reported having seen our signal fire; and yet if they did not see it they must have been blind, for it must have been visible for miles—at least the glow and reflection must have been, even if the flames themselves could not be seen.

But she took no notice; she sailed off, and we were left there as nearly frantic with despair as ever men could be.

It was such a cruel disappointment; it would have been far better not to have had our spirits raised than to have had our hopes shattered so cruelly.

What wonder if some of us uttered bad words, and cursed those who might have answered our prayers and carried us to safety. We felt stunned with it, and too miserable to speak to each other at first.

But that was not for long; for soon we began page 176to look at things in a different light. We told ourselves that our signals had been seen, but that in all probability the skipper had been afraid to stand in too close, knowing the danger that lay around the islands from reefs and currents.

"He may come back in a day or two," we said to each other. "Or if he does not he is certain to report having seen a signal fire on what is known to be an uninhabited island, and then a Government boat will come to investigate and all will be well."

"They must have seen our fire, lads," Knudsen declared, "and they are sure to report it, even if they didn't come back !"

"By the powers, I wish that I had that skipper here wid me," said Mickey, viciously. "I'd tell him what I think of his behaviour in going away like that!"

"Better go away now, and come back tomorrow, than get wrecked trying to make the island after dark, Mickey," I said.

"At any rate," said Ellis, "we have seen a ship, and we may see others. The weather is bound to get better soon——"

"And when it is we will make a start," I said; but he shook his head at that.

"You fellows may, if you are fools enough. I have had some, and don't mean to tempt Providence the second time. I shall stay here, and keep my eyes skinned—we shall have a vessel coming soon."

But, alas! day after day sped by with dreary monotony, and no trace of the ship did page 177we see. Day after day, when we went for birds and came back empty-handed, or with but one or two; day after day, when we looked in vain for seals; days when we had to subsist upon our now precious root, and, when we could not get supplies of that, had to tear up the coarse grass and chew that like cattle, to stay the bite of hunger, though it made us sick and filled us with cramp.

August passed, and September came, and there was no abatement in the weather. Still the waves ran high between us and Auckland Island; and we could not hide the fact that we were now almost face to face with starvation.