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The Crater by James Fenimore Cooper

J >> James Fenimore Cooper >> The Crater




With a view to the approaching summer, our mariners turned their
attention to the constructing of a tent within the crater. They got some
old sails and some spars ashore, and soon had a spacious, as well as a
comfortable habitation of this sort erected. Not only did they spread a
spacious tent for themselves, within the crater, but they erected
another, or a sort of canopy rather, on its outside, for the use of the
animals, which took refuge beneath it, during the heats of the day, with
an avidity that proved how welcome it was. This outside shed, or canopy,
required a good deal of care in its construction, to resist the wind,
while that inside scarce ever felt the breeze. This want of wind, or of
air in motion, indeed, formed the most serious objection to the crater,
as a place of residence, in the hot months; and the want of breeze that
was suffered in the tent, set Mark to work to devise expedients for
building some sort of tent, or habitation, on the in net itself, where
it would be always cool, provided one could get a protection from the
fierce rays of the sun.

After a good deal of search, Mark selected a spot on the 'Summit,' as he
began to term the place, and pitched his tent on, it. Holes were made in
the soft rocks, and pieces of spars were inserted, to answer for posts.
With a commencement as solid as this, it was not difficult to make the
walls of the tent (or marquee would be the better word, since both
habitations had nearly upright sides) by means of an old fore-course. In
order to get the canvas up there, however, it was found necessary to cut
out the pieces below, when, by means of the purchase at the derrick, it
was all hoisted to the Summit.

These several arrangements occupied Mark and Bob another fortnight,
completing the first quarter of a year they had passed on the Reef. By
this time they had got accustomed to their situation, and had fallen
into regular courses of duty, though the increasing heats admonished
both of the prudence of not exposing themselves too much beneath the
fiery sun at noon-day.




Chapter VIII.



"Now from the full-grown day a beamy shower
Gleams on the lake, and gilds each glossy flower,
Gay insects sparkle in the genial blaze,
Various as light, and countless as its rays--
Now, from yon range of rocks, strong rays rebound,
Doubling the day on flowery plains around."

Savage.


After the tent on the Summit was erected, Mark passed much of his
leisure time there. Thither he conveyed many of his books, of which he
had a very respectable collection, his flute, and a portion of his
writing materials. There he could sit and watch the growth of the
different vegetables he was cultivating. As for Bob, he fished a good
deal, both in the way of supplies and for his amusement. The pigs and
poultry fared well, and everything seemed to thrive but poor Kitty. She
loved to follow Mark, and cast many a longing look up at the Summit,
whenever she saw him strolling about among his plants.

The vegetables on the Summit, or those first put into the ground,
flourished surprisingly. Loam had been added repeatedly, and they wanted
for nothing that could bring forward vegetation. The melons soon began
to run, as did the cucumbers, squashes, and pumpkins; and by the end of
the next month, there were a dozen large patches on the mount that were
covered by a dense verdure. Nor was this all; Mark making a discovery
about this time, that afforded him almost as, much happiness as when he
first saw his melons in leaf. He was seated one day, with the walls of
his tent brailed up, in order to allow the wind to blow through, when
something dark on the rock caught his eye. This spot was some little
distance from him, and going to it, he found that large quantities of
his grass-seed had actually taken! Now he might hope to convert that
barren-looking, and often glaring rock, into a beautiful grassy hill,
and render that which was sometimes painful to the eyes, a pleasure to
look upon. The young man understood the laws of vegetation well enough
to be certain that could the roots of grasses once insinuate themselves
into the almost invisible crevices of the crust that coveted the place,
they would of themselves let in light, air and water enough for their
own wants, and thus increase the very fertility on which they subsisted.
He did not fail, however, to aid nature, by scattering a fresh supply of
guano all over the hill.

While Mark was thus employed at home, Bob rowed out to the reef,
bringing in his fish in such quantities that it occurred to Mark to
convert them also into manure. A fresh half-acre was accordingly broken
up, within the crater, the cool of the mornings and of the evenings
being taken for the toil; and, as soon as a bed was picked over,
quantities of fish were buried in it, and left there to decay. Nor did
Betts neglect the sea-weed the while. On several occasions he floated
large bodies of it in, from the outer reefs, which were all safely
landed and wheeled into the crater, where a long pile of it was formed,
mingled with loam from Loam Island, and guano. This work, however,
gradually ceased, as the season advanced, and summer came in earnest.
That season, however, did not prove by any means as formidable as Mark
had anticipated, the sea-breezes keeping the place cool and refreshed.
Our mariners now missed the rain, which was by no means as frequent a it
had been, though it fell in larger quantities when it did come. The
stock had to be watered for several weeks, the power of the sun causing
all the water that lodged it the cavities of the rocks to evaporate
almost immediately.

During the time it was too warm to venture out in the dingui, except for
half an hour of a morning, or for as long a period of an evening, Mark
turned his attention to the ship again. Seizing suitable moments, each
sail was loosened, thoroughly dried, unbent, and got below. An awning
was got out, and spread, and the decks were wet down, morning and
evening, both for the purposes of cleanliness, and to keep them from
cheeking. The hold was now entered, and overhauled, for the first time
since the accident. A great many useful things were found in it, and
among other articles two barrels of good sharp vinegar, which Friend
Abraham White had caused to be put on board to be used with anything
that could be pickled, as an anti-scorbutic. The onions and cucumbers
both promising so well, Mark rejoiced at this discovery, determining at
once to use some of the vinegar on a part of his expected crop of those
two vegetables.

One day as Bob was rummaging about in the hold, and Mark was looking on,
that being the coolest place on the whole reef, the former got hold of a
piece of wood, and began to tug at it to draw it out from among a pile
that lay in a dark corner. After several efforts, the stick came, when
Mark, struck with a glimpse he got of its form, bade Bob bring it under
the light of the hatchway. The instant he got a good look at it,
Woolston knew that Bob's 'foolish, crooked stick, which was fit to stow
nowhere,' as the honest fellow had described it when it gave him so much
trouble, was neither more nor less than one of the ribs of a boat of
larger size than common.

"This is providential, truly!" exclaimed Mark. "Your crooked stick, Bob,
is a part of the frame of the pinnace of which you spoke, and which we
had given up, as a thing not to be found on board!"

"You're right, Mr. Mark, you're right!" answered Bob--"and I most have
been oncommon stupid not to have thought of it, when it came so hard.
And if there's one of the boat's bones stowed in that place, there must
be more to be found in the same latitude."

This was true enough. After working in that dark corner of the hold for
several hours, all the materials of the intended craft were found and
collected in the steerage. Neither Mark nor Betts was a boat-builder, or
a shipwright; but each had a certain amount of knowledge on the subject,
and each well knew where every piece was intended to be put. What a
revolution this discovery made in the feelings of our young husband! He
had never totally despaired of seeing Bridget again, for that would
scarce have comported with his youth and sanguine temperament; but the
hope had, of late, become so very dim, as to survive only as that
feeling will endure in the bosoms of the youthful and inexperienced Mark
had lived a long time for his years; had seen more and performed far
more than usually falls to persons of his age, and he was, by character,
prudent and practical; but it would have been impossible for one who had
lived as long and as well as himself, to give up every expectation of
being restored to his bride, even in circumstances more discouraging
than those in which he was actually placed. Still, he had been slowly
accustoming himself to the idea of a protracted separation, and had
never lost sight of the expediency of making his preparations for
passing his entire life in the solitary place where he and Betts had
been cast by a mysterious and unexpected dispensation of a Divine
Providence. When Bob, from time to-time, insisted on his account of the
materials for the pinnace being in the ship, Mark had listened
incredulously, unconscious himself how much his mind had been occupied
by Bridget when this part of the cargo had been taken in, and unwilling
to believe such an acquisition could have been made without his
knowledge. Now that he saw it, however, a tumultuous rushing of all the
blood in his body towards his heart, almost overpowered him, and the
future entirely changed its aspects. He did not doubt an instant, of the
ability of Bob and himself to put these blessed materials together, or
of their success in navigating the mild sea around them, for any
necessary distance, in a craft of the size this must turn out to be. A
bright vista, with Bridget's brighter countenance at its termination,
glowed before his imagination, and a great deal of wholesome philosophy
and Christian submission were unsettled, as it might be, in the
twinkling of an eye, by this all-important discovery. Mark had never
abandoned the thought of constructing a little vessel with materials
torn from the ship; but that would nave been a most laborious, as well
as a doubtful experiment, while here was the problem solved, with a
certainty and precision almost equal to one in mathematics!

The agitation and revulsion of feeling produced in Mark by the discovery
of the materials of the pinnace, were so great as to prevent him from
maturing any plan for several days. During that time he could perceive
in himself an alteration that amounted almost to an entire change of
character. The vines on the Summit were now in full leaf, and they
covered broad patches of the rock with their luxuriant vegetation, while
the grass could actually be seen from the ship, converting the
drab-coloured concretions of the mount into slopes and acclivities of
verdure. But, all this delighted him no longer. Home and Bridget met him
even in the fanciful and now thriving beds within the crater, where
everything appeared to push forward with a luxuriance and promise of
return, far exceeding what had once been his fondest expectations. He
could see nothing, anticipate nothing, talk of nothing, think of
nothing, but these new-found means of quitting the Reef, and of
returning to the abodes of men, and to the arms of his young wife.

Betts took things more philosophically. He had made up his mind to
'Robinson Crusoe it' a few years, and, though he had often expressed a
wish that the dingui was of twice its actual size, he would have been
quite as well content with this new boat could it be cut down to
one-fourth of its real dimensions. He submitted to Mark's superior
information, however; and when the latter told him that he could wait no
longer for the return of cooler weather, or for the heat of the sun to
become less intense before he began to set up the frame of his craft, as
had been the first intention, Bob acquiesced in the change of plan,
without remonstrance, bent on taking things as they came, in humility
and cheerfulness.

Nevertheless, it was far easier bravely to determine in this matter,
than to execute. The heat was now so intense for the greater part of the
day, that it would have far exceeded the power of our two mariners to
support it, on a naked rock, and without shade of any sort. The frame of
the pinnace must be set up somewhere near the water, regular ways being
necessary to launch her; and nowhere, on the shore, was the smallest
shade to be found, without recourse to artificial means of procuring it.
As Mark's impatience would no longer brook delay, this artificial shade,
therefore, was the first thing to be attended to.

The leeward end of the reef was chosen for the new ship-yard. Although
this choice imposed a good deal of additional labour on the two workmen,
by compelling them to transport all the materials rather more than a
mile, reflection and examination induced Mark to select the spot he
did. The formation of the rock was more favourable there, he fancied,
than in any other place he could find; offering greater facilities for
launching. This was one motive; but the principal inducement was
connected with an apprehension of floods. By the wall-like appearance of
the exterior base of the mount, by the smoothness of the surface of the
Reef in general, which, while it had many inequalities, wore the
appearance of being semi-polished by the washing of water over it; and
by the certain signs that were, to be found on most of the lower half of
the plain of the crater itself, Mark thought it apparent that the entire
reef the crater excepted, had been often covered with the water of the
ocean, and that at no very distant day. The winter months were usually
the tempestuous months in that latitude, though hurricanes might at any
time occur. Now, the winter was yet an untried experiment with our two
'reefers,' as Bob sometimes laughingly called himself and Mark, and
hurricanes were things that often raised the seas in their neighbourhood
several feet in an hour or two. Should the water be actually driven upon
the Reef, so as to admit of a current to wash across it, or the waves to
roll along its surface, the pinnace would be in the greatest danger of
being carried off before it could be even launched. All these things
Mark bore in mind, and he chose the spot he did, with an eye to these
floods, altogether. It might be six or eight months before they could be
ready to get the pinnace into the water, and it now wanted but six to
the stormy season. At the western, or leeward, extremity of the island,
the little craft would be under the lee of the crater, which would form
a sort of breakwater, and might be the means of preventing it from being
washed away. Then the rock, just at that spot, was three or four feet
higher than at any other point, sufficiently near the sea to admit of
launching with ease; and the two advantages united, induced our young
'reefer' to incur the labour of transporting the materials the distance
named, in reference to foregoing them. The raft, however, was put in
requisition, and the entire frame, with a few of the planks necessary
for a commencement, was carried round at one load.

Previously to laying the keel of the pinnace, Mark named it the
Neshamony, after a creek that was nearly opposite to the Rancocus,
another inlet of the Delaware, that had given its name to the ship from
the circumstance that Friend Abraham White had been born on its low
banks. The means of averting the pains and penalties of working in the
sun, were also attended to, as indeed the great preliminary measure in
this new enterprise. To this end, the raft was again put in requisition;
an old main-course was got out of the sail-room, and lowered upon the
raft; spare spars were cut to the necessary length, and thrown into the
water, to be towed down in company; ropes, &c., were provided, and Bob
sailed anew on this voyage. It was a work of a good deal of labour to
get the raft to windward, towing having been resorted to as the easiest
process, but a trip to leeward was soon made. In twenty minutes after
this cargo had left the ship, it reached its point of destination.

The only time when our men could work at even their awning, were two
hours early in the morning, and as many after the sun had got very low,
or had absolutely set. Eight holes had to be drilled into the lava, to a
depth of two feet each. Gunpowder, in very small quantities, was used,
or these holes could not have been made in a twelvemonth. But by
drilling with a crowbar a foot or two into the rock, and charging the
cavity with a very small portion of powder, the lava was cracked, when
the stones rather easily were raised by means of the picks and crows.
Some idea may be formed of the amount of labour that was expended on
this, the first step in the new task, by the circumstance that a month
was passed in setting those eight awning-posts alone. When up, however,
they perfectly answered the purpose, everything having been done in a
thorough, seaman-like manner. At the top of each post, itself a portion
of solid spar, a watch-tackle was lashed, by means of which the sail was
bowsed up to its place. To prevent the bagging unavoidable, in an awning
of that size, several uprights were set in the centre, on end, answering
their purpose sufficiently without boring into the rocks.

Bob was in raptures with the new 'ship-yard.' It was as large as the
mainsail of a ship of four hundred tons, was complete as to shade, with
the advantage of letting the breeze circulate, and had a reasonable
chance of escaping from the calamities of a flood. Mark, too, was
satisfied with the result, and the very next day after this task was
completed, our shipwrights set to work to lay their keel. That day was
memorable on another account. Bob had gone to the Summit in quest of a
tool left there, in fitting up the boat of Mark, and while on the mount,
he ascertained the important fact that the melons were beginning to
ripen. He brought down three or four of these delicious fruits, and Mark
had the gratification of tasting some of the bounties of Providence,
which had been bestowed, as a reward of his own industry and
forethought. It was necessary to eat of these melons in moderation,
however; but it was a great relief to get them at all, after subsisting
for so long a time on salted meats, principally, with no other
vegetables but such as were dry, and had been long in the ship. It was
not the melons alone, however, that were getting to be ripe; for, on
examining himself, among the vines which now covered fully an acre of
the Summit, Mark found squashes, cucumbers, onions, sweet-potatoes,
tomatoes, string-beans, and two or three other vegetables, all equally
fit to be used. From that time, some of these plants were put into the
pot daily, and certain slight apprehensions which Woolston had begun
again to entertain on the subject of scurvy, were soon dissipated. As
for the garden within the crater, which was much the most extensive and
artistical, it was somewhat behind that on the Summit, having been later
tilled; but everything, there, looked equally promising, and Mark saw
that one acre, well worked, would produce more than he and Betts could
consume in a twelvemonth.

It was an important day on the Reef when the keel of the pinnace was
laid. On examining his materials, Mark ascertained that the
boat-builders had marked and numbered each portion of the frame, each
plank, and everything else that belonged to the pinnace. Holes were
bored, and everything had been done in the boat-yard that could be
useful to those who, it was expected, were to put the work together in a
distant part of the world. This greatly facilitated our new
boat-builders' labours in the way of skill, besides having done so much
of the actual toil to their hands. As soon as the keel was laid, Mark
set up the frame, which came together with very little trouble. The
wailes were then got out, and were fitted, each piece being bolted in
its allotted place. As the work had already been put together, there was
little or no dubbing necessary. Aware that the parts had once been
accurately fitted to each other, Mark was careful not to disturb their
arrangement by an unnecessary use of the adze, or broad-axe,
experimenting and altering the positions of the timbers and planks; but,
whenever he met with any obstacle, in preference to cutting and changing
the materials themselves, he persevered until the parts came together as
had been contemplated. By observing this caution, the whole frame was
set up, the wailes were fitted and bolted, and the garboard-streak got
on and secured, without taking off a particle of the wood, though a week
was necessary to effect these desired objects.

Our mariners now measured their new frame. The keel was just
four-and-twenty feet long, the distance between the knight-heads and the
taffrail being six feet greater; the beam, from outside to outside, was
nine feet, and the hold might be computed at five feet in depth. This
gave something like a measurement of eleven tons; the pinnace having
been intended for a craft a trifle smaller than this. As a vessel of
eleven tons might make very good weather in a sea-way, if properly
handled, the result gave great satisfaction, Mark cheering Bob with
accounts of crafts, of much smaller dimensions, that had navigated the
more stormy seas, with entire safety, on various occasions.

The planking of the Neshamony was no great matter, being completed the
week it was commenced. The caulking, however, gave more trouble, though
Bob had done a good deal of that sort of work in his day. It took a
fortnight for the honest fellow to do the caulking to his own mind, and
before it was finished another great discovery was made by rummaging in
the ship's hold, in quest of some of the fastenings which had not at
first been found. A quantity of old sheet-copper, that had run its time
on a vessel's bottom, was brought to light, marked "copper for the
pinnace." Friend Abraham White had bethought him of the worms of the low
latitudes, and had sent out enough of the refuse copper of a vessel that
had been broken up to cover the bottom of this little craft fairly up to
her bends. To work, then, Mark and Bob went to put on the
sheathing-paper and copper that had thus bountifully been provided for
them, as soon as the seams were well payed. This done, and it was no
great job, the paint-brush was set to work, and the hull was completed!
In all, Mark and Betts were eight weeks, hard at work, putting their
pinnace together. When she was painted, the summer was more than half
gone. The laying of the deck had given more trouble than any other
portion of the work on the boat, and this because it was not a plain,
full deck, or one that covered the whole of the vessel, but left small
stern-sheets aft, which was absolutely necessary to the comfort and
safety of those she was to carry. The whole was got together, however,
leaving Mark and Bob to rejoice in their success thus far, and to puzzle
their heads about the means of getting their craft into the water, now
she was built. In a word, it was far easier to put together a vessel
often tons, that had been thus ready fitted to their hands, than it was
to launch her.

As each of our mariners had necessarily seen many vessels in their
cradles, each had some idea of what it was now necessary to do. Mark had
laid the keel as near the water as he could get it, and by this
precaution had saved himself a good deal of labour. It was very easy to
find materials for the ways, many heavy planks still remaining; but the
difficulty was to lay them so that they would not spread. Here the
awning-posts were found of good service, plank being set on their edges
against them, which, in their turn, were made to sustain the props of
the ways. In order to save materials in the cradle, the ways themselves
were laid on blocks, and they were secured as well as the skill of our
self-formed shipwrights could do it. They had some trouble in making the
cradle, and had once to undo all they had done, in consequence of a
mistake. At length Mark was of opinion they had taken all the necessary
precautions, and told Betts that he thought they might venture to
attempt launching the next day. But Bob made a suggestion which changed
this plan, and caused a delay that was attended with very serious
consequences.

The weather had become cloudy, and a little menacing, for the last, few
days, and Bob proposed that they should lower the awning, get up shears
on the rock, and step the mast of the pinnace before they launched her,
as a means of saving some labour. The spar was not very heavy, it was
true, and it might be stepped by crossing a couple of the oars in the
boat itself; but a couple of light spars--top-gallant studding-sail
booms for instance--would enable them to do it much more readily, before
the craft was put into the water, than it could be done afterwards. Mark
listened to the suggestion, and acquiesced. The awning was consequently
lowered, and got out of the way. To prevent the hogs from tearing the
sail, it was placed on two of the wheelbarrows and wheeled up into the
crater, whither those animals had never yet found their way. Then the
shears were got up, and the mast was stepped and rigged; the boat's
sails were found and bent. Mark now thought enough had been done, and
that, the next day, they might undertake the launch. But another
suggestion of Bob's delayed the proceedings.