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The Crater by James Fenimore Cooper

J >> James Fenimore Cooper >> The Crater




Bob found it necessary to leave his friends, and most of his stores, at
Rancocus Island; Mrs. Heaton becoming a mother two days after their
arrival at it, and the cows both increasing their families in the course
of the same week. It was, moreover, impossible to transport everybody
and everything in the Neshamony, at the same time. As Doctor Heaton
would not leave Anne at such a moment, and Bridget was of the same way
of thinking, it was thought best to improve the time by sending out
Betts to explore. It will be remembered that he was uncertain where the
Reef was to be found exactly, though convinced it was to windward, and
within a hundred miles of him. While roaming over the rocks of Rancocus,
however, Vulcan's Peak had been seen, as much to Bob's surprise as to
his delight. To his surprise, inasmuch as he had no notion of the great
physical change that had recently been wrought by the earthquake, yet
could scarce believe he had overlooked such an object in his former
examinations; and to his delight, because he was now satisfied that the
Reef must be to the northward of that strange mountain, and a long
distance from it, because no such peak had been visible from the former
when he left it. It was a good place to steer for, nevertheless, on this
new voyage, since it carried him a hundred miles to wind ward; and when
Bob, with Socrates for a companion, left Rancocus to look for the Reef,
he steered as near the course for the Peak as the wind would permit. He
had made the island from the boat, after a run of ten hours; and, at the
same time, he made the crater of the active volcano. For the latter, he
stood that night, actually going within a mile of it, and, next
morning, he altered his course, and beat up for the strange island. When
Mark first discovered him, he had nearly made the circuit of Vulcan's
Peak, in a vain endeavour to land, and he would actually have gone on
his way, had it not been for the firing of the fowling-piece, the report
of which he heard, and the smoke of which he saw.




Chapter XIV.



"Compell the hawke to sit, that is unmanned,
Or make the hound, untaught, to draw the deere,
Or bring the free, against his will, in band,
Or move the sad, a pleasant tale to heere,
Your time is lost, and you no whit the neere!
So love ne learnes, of force, the heart to knit:
She serves but those, that feels sweet fancie's fit."

_Churchyard_,


We leave the reader to imagine with what feelings Mark heard these
facts. Bridget, for whom his tenderness was unabated; Bridget, who had
been the subject of so many of his thoughts since his shipwreck, had
shown herself worthy to be thus loved, and was now on an island that he
might easily reach in a run of a few hours! The young man retired
further within the grove, leaving Bob and Socrates behind, and
endeavoured to regain his composure by himself. Before rejoining his
companions, he knelt and returned thanks to God for this instance of his
great kindness. It was a long time, notwithstanding before he could
become accustomed to the idea of having associates, at all. Time and
again, within the next month or two, did he _dream_ that all this
fancied happiness was only a _dream_, and awoke under a sense of having
been the subject of an agreeable illusion. It took months perfectly to
restore the tone of his mind in this respect, and to bring it back into
the placid current of habitual happiness. The deep sense of gratitude to
God he never lost; but the recollection of what he had suffered, and
from what he had been relieved by the Divine mercy, remained indelibly
impressed on his heart, and influenced his future life to a degree that
increased the favour a thousand-fold.

The mode of proceeding was next discussed, in the course of doing which
Mark communicated to Bob, somewhat in detail, the circumstance of the
recent convulsion, and the changes which it had produced. After talking
the matter over, both agreed it would be every way desirable to bring
the whole party, and as much of the property as could be easily moved,
up to windward at once. Now, that the natives knew of the existence of
Rancocus Island, their visits might be often expected, and nothing was
more uncertain than their policy and friendship. Once on Rancocus Island
the Peak could be seen, and from the Peak the Reef was visible. In this
way, then, there was every reason to believe that the existence of their
little colony would soon become known, and the property they possessed
the object of cupidity and violence. Against such consequences it would
be necessary to guard with the strictest care, and the first step should
be to get everything of value up to windward, with the least possible
delay. The natives often went a long distance, in their canoes and on
their rafts, with the wind abeam, but it was not often they undertook to
go directly to windward. Then the activity of the volcano might be
counted on as something in favour of the colonists, since those
uninstructed children of nature would be almost certain to set the
phenomenon down to the credit of some god, or some demon, neither of
whom would be likely to permit his special domains to be trespassed on
with impunity.

While Mark and Bob were talking these matters over, Socrates had been
shooting and cleaning a few dozen more of the reed-birds. This provision
of the delicacy was made, because Betts affirmed no such delicious
little creature was to be met with on Rancocus, though they were to be
found on Vulcan's Peak literally in tens of thousands. This difference
could be accounted for in no other way, than by supposing that some of
the birds had originally found their way to the latter, favoured by
accidental circumstances, driven by a hurricane, transported on
sea-weed, or attending the drift of some plants, and that the same, or
similar circumstances, had never contributed to carry them the
additional hundred miles to leeward.

It was near sunset when the Neshamony left Snug Cove, as Mark had named
his little haven, at the foot of the ravine, which, by the way, he
called the Stairs, and put to sea, on her way to Rancocus Island. The
bearings of the last had been accurately taken, and our mariners were
just as able to run by night as by day. It may as well be said here,
moreover, that the black was a capital boatman, and a good fresh-water
sailor in general, a proficiency that he had acquired in consequence of
having been born and brought up on the banks of the Delaware. But it
would have been very possible to run from one of these islands to the
other, by observing the direction of the wind alone, since it blew very
steadily in the same quarter, and changes in the course were always to
be noted by changes in the violence or freshness of the breeze. In that
quarter of the ocean the trades blew with very little variation from the
south-east, though in general the Pacific Trades are from the
south-west.

Mark was delighted with the performances of the Neshamony. Bob gave a
good account of her qualities, and said he should not hesitate to make
sail in her for either of the continents, in a case of necessity.
Accustomed, as he had been of late, to the little Bridget, the pinnace
appeared a considerable craft to Mark, and he greatly exalted in this
acquisition. No seaman could hesitate about passing from the Reef to the
islands, at any time when it did not absolutely blow a gale, in a boat
of this size and of such qualities; and, even in a gale, it might be
possible to make pretty good weather of it. Away she now went, leaving
the Bridget moored in Snug Cove, to await their return. Of course, Mark
and Bob had much discourse, while running down before the wind that
night, in which each communicated to the other many things that still
remained to be said. Mark was never tired of asking questions about
Bridget; her looks, her smiles, her tears, her hopes, her fears, her
health, her spirits, and her resolution, being themes of which he never
got weary. A watch was set, nevertheless, and each person in the pinnace
had his turn of sleep, if sleep he could.

At the rising of the sun Mark was awake. Springing to his feet, he saw
that Rancocus Island was plainly in view. In the course of the ten hours
she had been out, the Neshamony had run about seventy miles, having a
square-sail set, in addition to her jib and mainsail. This brought the
mountain for which she was steering within ten leagues, and directly to
leeward. A little impatience was betrayed by the young husband, but, on
the whole, he behaved reasonably well. Mark had never neglected his
person, notwithstanding his solitude. Daily baths, and the most
scrupulous attention to his attire, so far as neatness went, had kept
him not only in health, but in spirits, the frame of the mind depending
most intimately on the condition of the body. Among other habits, he
preserved that of shaving daily. The cutting of his hair gave him the
most trouble, and he had half a mind to get Bob to act as barber on the
present occasion. Then he remembered having seen Bridget once cut the
hair of a child, and he could not but fancy how pleasant it would be to
have her moving about him, in the performance of the same office on
himself. He decided, consequently, to remain as he was, as regarded his
looks, until his charming bride could act as his hair-dresser. The
toilette, however, was not neglected, and, on the whole, there was no
reason to complain of the young man's appearance. The ship furnished him
clothes at will, and the climate rendered so few necessary, that even a
much smaller stock than he possessed, would probably have supplied him
for life.

When about a league from the northern end of Rancocus Island, Bob set a
little flag at his mast-head, the signal, previously arranged, of his
having been successful. Among the stores brought by the party from
America, were three regular tents, or marquees, which Heaton purchased
at a sale of old military stores, and had prudently brought with him, to
be used as occasion might demand. These marquees were now pitched on a
broad piece of low land, that lay between the cliffs and the beach, and
where the colony had temporarily established itself. Mark's heart beat
violently as Bob pointed out these little canvas dwellings to him. They
were the abodes of his friends, including his young wife. Next the cows
appeared, quietly grazing near by, with a pleasant home look, and the
goats and colts were not far off, cropping the grass. Altogether our
young man was profoundly overcome again, and it was some time ere he
could regain his self-command. On a point that proved to be the
landing-place, stood a solitary female figure. As the boat drew nearer
she extended her arms, and then, as if unable to stand, she sunk on a
rock which had served her for a seat ever since the distant sail was
visible. In two more minutes Mark Woolston had his charming young bride
encircled in his arms. The delicacy which kept the others aloof from
this meeting, was imitated by Bob, who, merely causing the boat, to
brush near the rock, so as to allow of Mark's jumping ashore, passed on
to a distant landing, where he was met by most of his party, including
'Friend Martha,' who rejoiced not a little in the safe return of Friend
Robert Betts. In half-an-hour Mark and Bridget came up to the marquees,
when the former made the acquaintance of his brother-in-law, and had the
happiness of embracing his sister. It was a morning of the purest joy,
and deepest gratitude. On the one side, the solitary man found himself
restored to the delights of social life, in the persons of those on
earth whom he most loved and, on the other hand, the numberless
apprehensions of those who looked for him, and his place of retirement,
had all their anxiety rewarded by complete success. Little was done that
day but to ask and answer questions. Mark had to recount all that had
happened since Bob was taken from him, and not trifling was the
trepidation created among his female listeners, when he related the
history of the earthquake. Their fears, however, were somewhat appeased
by his assurances of security; the circumstance that a volcano was in
activity near by, being almost a pledge that no very extensive
convulsions could follow.

The colonists remained a week at Rancocus Island, being actually too
happy to give themselves the disturbance of a removal. At the end of
that time, however, Anne was so far recovered that they began to talk of
a voyage, Bridget, in particular, dying to see the place where Mark had
passed so many solitary hours; and, as he had assured her more than
once, where her image had scarcely ever been absent from his thoughts
an hour at a time. As it would be impossible to embark all the effects
at once, in the Neshamony, some method was to be observed in the
removal. The transportation of the cows and horses was the most serious
part of the undertaking, the pinnace not being constructed to receive
such animals. Room, nevertheless, could be made for one at a time, and
still leave sufficient space in the stern-sheets for the accommodation
of five or six persons. It was very desirable to get the females away
first, lest the rumour of the mountain, hitherto unknown, should spread
among the islands, and bring them visitors who might prove to be
troublesome, if not dangerous. Parties existed in Betto's group, as we
believe they exist everywhere else; and Bob knew very well that nothing
but the ascendancy of his friend, the chief, Ooroony, had been the means
of his escaping as well as he did, in the land-fall among them that he
had made. The smallest reverse of fortune might put Betto down, and some
bitter foe up, and then there was the certainty that war canoes might
come off in quest of the mountain, at any time, without asking the leave
of the friendly chief, even while he remained in power. On the whole,
therefore, it was determined to freight the pinnace with the most
valuable of the effects, put all the females on board, and send her off
under the care of Mark, Heaton, and Socrates, leaving Bob and Bigelow to
look after the stock and the rest of the property. It was supposed the
boat might be absent a week. This was done accordingly, Bob, on taking
leave of Friend Martha, particularly recommending to her attention the
Vulcan's Peak reed-birds, throwing in a hint that he should be glad to
find a string of them in the pinnace, on her return.

The voyage to windward was a much more serious business than the run to
leeward. By Bob's advice Mark reefed his mainsail, and took the bonnet
off the jib. Following the same instructions, he stood away to the
southward, letting the boat go through the water freely, intending to
tack when he came near the volcano, and not before. This was what Bob
himself had done, and that which had turned out so well with him, he
fancied might succeed with his friend. The Neshamony left Rancocus
Island just at sunset. Next morning Mark saw the smoke of the Volcano,
and stood for it. After making two stretches he came up within a league
of this spot, when he tacked and stood to the northward and eastward,
Vulcan's Peak having been in plain view the entire day. As respects the
volcano, it was in a comparatively quiet state, though rumbling sounds
were heard, and stones were cast into the air in considerable
quantities, while the boat was nearest in. One thing, moreover, Mark
ascertained, which greatly increased his confidence in the permanency of
the changes that had lately occurred in the physical formation of all
that region. He found himself in comparatively shoal water, when fully a
league from this new crater. Shoal in a seaman's sense, though not in
shallow water; the soundings being from fifteen to twenty fathoms, with
a rocky bottom.

Between the volcano and Vulcan's Peak it blew quite fresh, and Mark had
a good occasion to ascertain the qualities of the pinnace. A long, heavy
swell came rolling through the passage, which was near sixty miles in
width, seemingly with a sweep that extended to the Southern Ocean.
Notwithstanding all this, the little craft did wonders, struggling along
in a way one would hardly have expected from so small a vessel. She made
fully two knots' headway in the worst of it, and in general her rate of
sailing, close on a wind and under pretty short canvas, was about three.
The night was very dark, and there was nothing to steer by but the wind,
which gave some little embarrassment; but finding himself in much
smoothe water than he had been all the previous day, about midnight, our
young man felt satisfied that he was under the lee of the island, and at
no great distance from it. He made short tacks until daylight, when the
huge mass hove up out of the departing darkness, within a mile of the
boat. It only remained to run along the land for two or three miles, and
to enter the haven of Snug Cove. Mark had been telling his companions
what a secret place this haven was to conceal a vessel in, when he had a
practical confirmation of the truth of his statement that caused him to
be well laughed at. For ten minutes he could not discover the entrance
himself, having neglected to take the proper land-marks, that he might
have no difficulty in running for his port. After a time, however, he
caught sight of an object that he remembered, and found his way into the
cove. Here lay the little namesake of his pretty wife, just as he had
left her, the true Bridget smiling and blushing as the young husband
pointed out the poor substitute he had been compelled to receive for
herself, only ten days earlier.

Mark, and Socrates, and Dido, and Teresa, Bigelow's wife, all carried up
heavy loads; while Heaton had as much as he could do to help Anne and
the child up the sharp acclivity. Bridget, with her light active step,
and great eagerness to behold a scene that Mark had described with so
much eloquence, was the first, by a quarter of an hour, on the plain.
When the others reached the top, they saw the charming young thing
running about in the nearest grove, that in which her husband had dined,
collecting fruit, and apparently as enchanted as a child. Mark paused as
he gained the height, to gaze on this sight, so agreeable in his eyes,
and which rendered the place so very different from what it had been so
recently, while he was in possession of its glorious beauties, a
solitary man. Then, he had several times likened himself to Adam in the
garden of Eden, before woman was given to him for a companion. Now, now
he could feast his eyes on an Eve, who would have been highly attractive
in any part of the world.

The articles brought up on the plain, at this first trip, comprised all
that was necessary to prepare and to partake of a breakfast in comfort.
A fire was soon blazing, the kettle on, and the bread-fruit baking. It
was almost painful to destroy the reed-birds, or _becca fichi_ so
numerous were they, and so confiding. One discharge from each barrel of
the fowling-piece had enabled Heaton to bring in enough for the whole
party, and these were soon roasting. Mark had brought with him from the
Reef a basket of fresh eggs, and they had been Bridget's load, in
ascending the mountain. He had promised her an American breakfast, and
these eggs, boiled, did serve to remind everybody of a distant home,
that was still remembered with melancholy pleasure. A heartier, or a
happier meal, notwithstanding, was never made than was that breakfast.
The mountain air, invigorating though bland, the exercise, the absence
of care, the excellence of the food, which comprised fresh figs, a tree
or two of tolerable sweetness having been found, the milk of the
cocoa-nut, the birds, the eggs, the bread-fruit, &c., all contributed
their share to render the meal memorable.

The men, and the three labouring women, were employed two days in
getting the cargo of the Neshamony up on the plain; or to Eden, as
Bridget named the spot, unconscious how often she herself had been
likened to a lovely Eve, in the mind of her young husband. Two of the
marquees had been brought, and were properly erected, having board
floors, and everything comfortably arranged within and without them. A
roof, however, was scarcely necessary in that delicious climate, where
one could get into the shade of a grove; and a thatched shed was easily
prepared for a dwelling for the others. By the end of the third day the
whole party in Eden was comfortably established, and Mark took a short
leave of his bride, to sail for Rancocus again, Bridget shed fears at
this separation short as it was intended to be; and numberless were the
injunctions to be wary of the natives, should the latter have visited
Betts, in the time intervening between the departure of the Neshamony
and her return.

The voyage between the two islands lost something of its gravity each
time it was made. Mark learned a little every trip, of the courses to be
steered, the peculiarities of the currents, and the height of the seas.
He ran down to Rancocus, on this occasion, in three hours less time than
he had done it before, sailing at dusk, and reaching port next day at
noon. Nothing had occurred, and to work the men went at once, to load
the pinnace. Room was left for one of the cows and its calf: and Bob
being seriously impressed with the importance of improving every moment,
the little sloop put to sea again, the evening of the very day on which
it had arrived.

Bridget was standing on a rock, by the side of the limpid water of the
cove, when the Neshamony shot through its entrance into the little
haven, and her hand was in Mark's the instant he landed. Tears gushed
into the eyes of the young man as he recalled his year of solitude, and
felt how different was such a welcome from his many melancholy arrivals
and departures, previously to the recent events.

It was rather a troublesome matter to get the cow and calf up the
mountain. The first did not see enough that was attractive in naked
rocks, to induce her to mount in the best of humours. She drank freely,
however, at the brook, appearing to relish its waters particularly well.
At length the plan was adopted of carrying the calf up a good distance,
the cries of the little thing inducing its mother immediately to follow.
In this way both were got up into Eden, in the course of an hour. And
well did the poor cow vindicate the name, when she got a look at the
broad glades of the sweetest grasses, that were stretched before her. So
strongly was her imagination struck with the view--for we suppose that
some cows have even more imagination than many men--that she actually
kicked up her heels, and away she went, head down and tail erect,
scampering athwart the sward like a colt. It was not long, however,
before she began to graze, the voyage having been made on a somewhat
short allowance of both food and water. If there ever was a happy
animal, it was that cow! Her troubles were all over. Sea-sickness, dry
food, short allowances of water, narrow lodgings, and hard beds, were
all, doubtless, forgotten, as she roamed at pleasure over boundless
fields, on which the grass was perennial, seeming never to be longer or
shorter than was necessary to give a good bite; and among which
numberless rills of the purest waters were sparkling like crystal. The
great difficulty in possessing a dairy, in a warm climate, is the want
of pasture, the droughts usually being so long in the summer months. At
Vulcan's Peak, however, and indeed in all of that fine region, it rained
occasionally, throughout the year; more in winter than in summer, and
that was the sole distinction in the seasons, after allowing for a
trifling change in the temperature. These peculiarities appear to have
been owing to the direction of the prevalent winds, which not only
brought frequent showers, but which preserved a reasonable degree of
freshness in the atmosphere. _Within_ the crater, Mark had often found
the beat oppressive, even in the shade; but, _without_, scarcely ever,
provided his body was not directly exposed to the sun's rays. Nor was
the difference in the temperature between the Reef and the Peak, as
marked as might have been expected from the great elevation of the last.
This was owing to the circumstance that the sea air, and that usually in
swift motion, entered so intimately into the composition of the
atmosphere down on that low range of rocks, imparting its customary
freshness to everything it passed over.

Mark did not make the next trip to Rancocus. By this time Anne passed
half the day in the open air, and was so fast regaining her strength
that Heaton did not hesitate to leave her. The doctor had left many
things behind him that he much wished to see embarked in person, and he
volunteered to be the companion of Socrates, on this occasion, leaving
the bridegroom behind, with his bride. By this time Heaton himself was a
reasonably good sailor, and to him Mark confided the instructions as to
the course to be steered, and the distance to be run. All resulted
favourably, the Neshamony making the trip in very good time, bringing
into the cove, the fourth day after she had sailed, not only the
remaining cow, and her calf, but several of the goats. Convinced he
might now depend on Heaton and Socrates to sail the pinnace, and Anne
expressing a perfect willingness to remain on the Peak, in company with
Teresa and Dido, Mark resolved to proceed to the crater with his two
Bridgets, feeling the propriety of no longer neglecting the property in
that quarter of his dominions. There was nothing to excite apprehension,
and the women had all acquired a certain amount of resolution that more
properly belonged to their situation than to their sex or nature. Anne's
great object of concern was the baby. As long as that was safe,
everything with her was going on well; and Dido being a renowned baby
doctor, and all the simples for a child's ailings being in the
possession of the young mother, she raised no objection whatever to her
brother's quitting her.