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The Crater by James Fenimore Cooper

J >> James Fenimore Cooper >> The Crater




The two recovered seamen of the Rancocus were alone, having acted in
perfect good faith with their former officer, who led them to the
awning, gave them some refreshment, and heard their story. The account
given by Jones, for the first time that very day, turned out to be
essentially true. When the launch was swept away from the ship, it drove
down to leeward, passing at no great distance from the crater, of which
the men in her got a glimpse, without being able to reach it. The
attention of Hillson was mainly given to keeping the boat from filling
or capsizing; and this furnished abundance of occupation. The launch got
into one of the channels, and by observing the direction, which was
nearly east and west, it succeeded in passing through all the dangers,
coming out to leeward of the shoals. As everybody believed that the ship
was hopelessly lost, no effort was made to get back to the spot where
she had been left. No island appearing, Hillson determined to run off to
the westward, trusting to fall in with land of some sort or other. The
provisions and water were soon consumed, and then came the horrors usual
to such scenes at sea. Hillson was one of the first that perished, his
previous excesses unfitting him to endure privation. But seven survived
when the launch reached an island in Waally's part of the group, so
often mentioned. There they fell into the hands of that turbulent and
warlike chief. Waally made the seamen his slaves, treating them
reasonably well, but exacting of them the closest attention to his
interests. Brown, as a ship-carpenter, soon became a favourite, and was
employed in fashioning craft that it was thought might be useful in
carrying out the ambitious projects of his master. The men were kept on
a small island, and were watched like any other treasure, having no
opportunity to communicate with any of those whites who appeared in
other parts of the group. Thus, while Betts passed two months with
Ooroony, and Heaton and his party nearly as much more time, these
sailors, who heard of such visitors, could never get access to them.
This was partly owing to the hostilities between the two chiefs--Ooroony
being then in the ascendant--and partly owing to the special projects of
Waally, who, by keeping his prisoners busily employed on his fleet,
looked forward to the success which, in fact, crowned his efforts
against his rival.

At length Waally undertook the expedition which had appeared in such
force beneath the cliffs of the Peak. By this time, Brown had become so
great a favourite, that he was permitted to accompany the chief; and
Wattles was brought along as a companion for his shipmate. The remaining
five were left behind, to complete a craft on which they had now been
long employed, and which was intended to be the invincible war-canoe of
those regions. Brown and Wattles had been in Waally's own canoe when the
terrible echoes so much alarmed the uninstructed beings who heard it.
They described them as much the most imposing echoes they had ever
heard; nor did they, at first, know what to make of them, themselves. It
was only on reflection, and after the retreat to Rancocus Island, that
Brown, by reasoning on the subject, came to the conclusion that the
whites, who were supposed to be in possession of the place, had fired a
gun, which had produced the astounding uproar that had rattled so far
along the cliff. As all Brown's sympathies were with the unknown people
of his own colour, he kept his conjectures to himself, and managed to
lead Waally in a different direction, by certain conclusions of his own
touching the situation of the reef where the Rancocus had been lost.

Bill Brown was an intelligent man for his station and pursuits. He knew
the courses steered by the launch, and had some tolerably accurate
notions of the distances run. According to his calculations, that reef
could not be very far to the northward of the Peak, and, by ascending
the mountains on Rancocus Island, he either saw, or fancied he saw, the
looming of land in that part of the ocean. It then occurred to Brown
that portions of the wreck might still be found on the reef, and become
the means of effecting his escape from the hands of his tyrants. Waally
listened to his statements and conjectures with the utmost attention,
and the whole fleet put to sea the very next day, in quest of this
treasure. After paddling to windward again, until the Peak was fairly in
sight, Brown steered to the north-east, a course that brought him out,
after twenty-four hours of toil, under the lee of the group of the reef.
This discovery of itself, filled Waally with exultation and pride. Here
were no cliffs to scale, no mysterious mountain to appal, nor any
visible obstacle to oppose his conquests. It is true, that the
newly-discovered territory did not appear to be of much value, little
beside naked rock, or broad fields of mud and sea-weed intermingled,
rewarding their first researches. But better things were hoped for. It
was something to men whose former domains were so much circumscribed and
girded by the ocean, to find even a foundation for a new empire. Brown
was now consulted as to every step to be taken, and his advice was
implicitly followed. Columbus was scarcely a greater man, for the time
being, at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella, than Bill Brown
immediately became at the court of Waally. His words were received as
prophecies, his opinions as oracles.

Honest Bill, who anticipated no more from his discoveries than the
acquisition of certain portions of wood, iron, and copper, with,
perhaps, the addition of a little rigging, certain sails and an anchor
or two, acted, at first, for the best interests of his master. He led
the fleet along the margin of the group until a convenient harbour was
found. Into this all the canoes entered, and a sandy beach supplying
fresh water in abundance having been found, an encampment was made for
the night. Several hours of daylight remaining, however, when these
great preliminary steps had been taken, Brown proposed to Waally an
exploring expedition in a couple of the handiest of the canoes. The
people thus employed were those who had given the alarm to the governor.
On that occasion, not only was the boat seen, but the explorers were
near enough to the reef, to discover not only the crater, but the spars
of the ship. Here, then, was a discovery scarcely less important than
that of the group itself! After reasoning on the facts, Waally came to
the conclusion that these, after all, were the territories that Heaton
and his party had come to seek; and that here he should find those cows
which he had once seen, and which he coveted more than any other riches
on earth. Ooroony had been weak enough to allow strangers in possession
of things so valuable, to pass through _his_ islands; but _he_, Waally,
was not the man to imitate this folly. Brown, too, began to think that
the white men sought were to be found here. That whites were in the
group was plain enough by the ship, and he supposed they might be
fishing for the pearl-oyster, or gathering beche-le-mar for the Canton
market. It was just possible that a colony had established itself in
this unfrequented place, and that the party of which he had heard so
much, had come hither with their stores and herds. Not the smallest
suspicion at first crossed his mind that he there beheld the spars of
the Rancocus; but, it was enough for him and Wattles that Christian men
were there, and that, in all probability, they were men of the
Anglo-Saxon race. No sooner was it ascertained that the explorers were
in a false channel, and that it would not be in their power to penetrate
farther in their canoes, than our two seamen determined to run, and
attach themselves to the strangers. They naturally thought that they
should find a vessel armed and manned, and ready to stand out to sea as
soon as her officers were apprized of the danger that threatened them,
and did not hesitate about joining their fortune with hers, in
preference to remaining with Waally any longer. Freedom possesses a
charm for which no other advantage can compensate, and those two old
sea-dogs, who had worked like horses all their lives, in their original
calling, preferred returning to the ancient drudgery rather than live
with Waally, in the rude abundance of savage chiefs. The escape was
easily enough made, as soon, as it was dark, Brown and Wattles being on
shore most of the time, under the pretence that it was necessary, in
order that they might ascertain the character of there unknown colonists
by signs understood best by themselves.

Such is a brief outline of the explanations that the two recovered
seamen made to their former officer. In return, the governor as briefly
related to them the manner in which the ship had been saved, and the
history of the colony down to that moment. When both tales had been
told, a consultation on the subject of future proceedings took place,
quite as a matter of course. Brown, and his companion, though delighted
to meet their old shipmates, were greatly disappointed in not finding a
sea-going vessel ready to receive them. They did not scruple to say that
had they known the actual state of things on the Reef, they would not
have left the savages, but trusted to being of more service even to
their natural friends, by continuing with Waally, in their former
relation, than by taking the step they had. Repentance, or regrets,
however, came too late; and now they were fairly in for it, neither
expressed any other determination than to stand by the service into
which they had just entered, honestly, if not quite as gladly as they
had anticipated.

The governor and Betts both saw that Brown and Wattles entertained a
high respect for the military prowess of the Indian chief. They
pronounced him to be not only a bold, but an adroit warrior; one, full
of resources and ingenuity, when his means were taken into the account.
The number of men with him, however, Brown assured Mark, was less than
nine hundred, instead of exceeding a thousand, as had been supposed from
the count made on the cliffs. As it now was explained, a great many
women were in the canoes. Waally, moreover, was not altogether without
fire-arms. He was master of a dozen old, imperfect muskets, and what was
more, he had a four-pound gun. Ammunition, however, was very scarce, and
of shot for his gun he had but three. Each of these shot had been fired
several times, in his wars with Ooroony, and clays had been spent in
hunting them up, after they had done their work, and of replacing them
in the chief's magazine. Brown could not say that they had done much
mischief, having, in every instance, being fired at long distances, and
with a very uncertain aim. The business of sighting guns was not very
well understood by the great mass of Christians, half a century since;
and it is not at all surprising that savages should know little or
nothing about it. Waally's gunners, according to Brown's account of the
matter, could never be made to understand that the bore of a gun was not
exactly parallel to its exterior surface, and they invariably aimed too
high, by sighting along the upper side of the piece. This same fault is
very common with the inexperienced in using a musket; for, anxious to
get a sight of the end of their piece, they usually stick it up into the
air and overshoot their object. It was the opinion of Brown, on the
whole, that little was to be apprehended from Waally's fire-arms. The
spear and club were the weapons to be dreaded; and with these the
islanders were said to be very expert. But the disparity in numbers was
the main ground of apprehension.

When Brown was told how near the schooner was to being launched, he
earnestly begged the governor, to let him and Bigelow go to work and put
her into the water, immediately. Everything necessary to a cruise was on
board her, even to her provisions and water, the arrangements having
been made to launch her with her sails bent; and, once in the water,
Bill thought she would prove of the last importance to the defence. If
the worst came to the worst, all hands could get on board her, and by
standing through some of the channels that were clear of canoes, escape
into the open water. Once there, Waally could do nothing with them, and
they might be governed by circumstances.

Woolston viewed things a little differently. He loved the Reef; it had
become dear to him by association and history, and he did not relish the
thought of abandoning it. There was too much property at risk, to say
nothing of the ship, which would doubtless be burned for its metals,
should the Indians get possession, even for a day. In that ship he had
sailed; in that ship he had been married; in that ship his daughter had
been born; and in that ship Bridget loved still to dwell, even more than
she affected all the glories of the Eden of the Peak. That ship was not
to be given up to savages without a struggle Nor did Mark believe
anything would be gained by depriving the men of their rest during the
accustomed hours. Early in the morning, with the light itself, he did
intend to have Bigelow under the schooner's bottom; but he saw no
occasion for his working in the dark. Launching was a delicate business,
and some accident might happen in the obscurity. After talking the
matter over, therefore, all hands retired to rest, leaving one woman at
the crater, and one on board the ship, on the look-out; women being
preferred to men, on this occasion, in order that the latter might
reserve their strength for the coming struggle.

At the appointed hour next morning, every one on the Reef was astir at
the first peep of day. No disturbance had occurred in the night, and,
what is perhaps a little remarkable, the female sentinels had not given
any false alarm. As soon as a look from the Summit gave the governor
reason to believe that Waally was not very near him, he ordered
preparations to be made for the launch of the Friend Abraham White. A
couple of hours' work was still required to complete this desirable
task; and everybody set about his or her assigned duty with activity and
zeal. Some of the women prepared the breakfast; others carried
ammunition to the different guns, while Betts went round and loaded
them, one and all; and others, again, picked up such articles of value
as had been overlooked in the haste of the previous evening, carrying
them either into the crater, or on board the ship.

On examining his fortifications by daylight, the governor resolved to
set up something more secure in the way of a gate for the crater. He
also called off two or three of the men to get out the boarding-netting
of the ship, which was well provided in that respect; a good provision
having been made, byway of keeping the Fejee people at arms' length.
These two extraordinary offices delayed the work on the ways; and when
the whole colony went to breakfast, which they did about an hour after
sunrise, the schooner was not yet in the water, though quite ready to be
put there, Mark announced that there was no occasion to be in a hurry,
no canoes were in sight, and there was time to have everything done
deliberately and in order.

This security came very near proving fatal to the whole party. Most of
the men breakfasted under the awning, which was near their work; while
the women took that meal in their respective quarters. Some of the last
were in the crater, and some in the ship. It will be remembered that the
awning was erected near the spring, and that the spring was but a short
distance from the bridge. This bridge, it will also be recollected,
connected the Reef with an island that stretched away for miles, and
which had formed the original range for the swine, after the changes
that succeeded the eruption. It was composed of merely two long ship's
planks, the passage being only some fifty or sixty feet in width.

The governor, now, seldom ate with his people. He knew enough of human
nature to understand that authority was best preserved by avoiding
familiarity. Besides, there is, in truth, no association more unpleasant
to those whose manners have been cultivated, than that of the table,
with the rude and unrefined. Bridget, for instance, could hardly be
expected to eat with the wives of the seamen; and Mark naturally wished
to eat with his own family. On that occasion he had taken his meal in
the cabin of the Rancocus, as usual, and had come down to the awning to
see that the hands turned-to as soon as they were through with their own
breakfasts. Just as he was about to issue the necessary order, the air
was filled with frightful yells, and a stream of savages poured out of
an opening in the rocks, on to the plain of the "hog pasture," as the
adjoining field was called, rushing forward in a body towards the
crater. They had crept along under the rocks by following a channel, and
now broke cover within two hundred yards of the point they intended to
assail.

The governor behaved admirably on this trying occasion. He issued his
orders clearly, calmly, and promptly. Calling on Bigelow and Jones by
name, he ordered them to withdraw the bridge, which could easily be done
by hauling over the planks by means of wheels that had long been fitted
for that purpose. The bridge withdrawn, the channel, or harbour,
answered all the purposes of a ditch; though the South Sea islanders
would think but little of swimming across it. Of course, Waally's men
knew nothing of this bridge, nor did they know of the existence of the
basin between them and their prey. They rushed directly towards the
ship-yard, and loud were their yells of disappointment when they found a
broad reach of water still separating them from the whites. Naturally
they looked for the point of connection; but, by this time, the planks
were wheeled in, and the communication was severed. At this instant,
Waally had all his muskets discharged, and the gun fired from the
catamaran, on which it was mounted. No one was injured by this volley,
but a famous noise was made; and noise passed for a good deal in the
warfare of that day and region.

It was now the turn of the colonists. At the first alarm everybody
rushed to arms, and every post was manned, or _womaned_, in a minute. On
the poop of the ship was planted one of the cannon, loaded with grape,
and pointed so as to sweep the strait of the bridge. It is true, the
distance was fully a mile, but Betts had elevated the gun with a view to
its sending its missiles as far as was necessary. The other carronades
on the Summit were pointed so as to sweep the portion of the hog pasture
that was nearest, and which was now swarming with enemies, Waally,
himself, was in front, and was evidently selecting a party that was to
swim for the sandy beach, a sort of forlorn hope. No time was to be
lost. Juno, a perfect heroine in her way, stood by the gun on the poop,
while Dido was at those on the Summit, each brandishing or blowing, a
lighted match. The governor made the preconcerted signal to the last,
and she applied the match. Away went the grape, rattling along the
surface of the opposite rocks, and damaging at least a dozen of Waally's
men. Three were killed outright, and the wounds of the rest were very
serious. A yell followed, and a young chief rushed towards the strait,
with frantic cries, as if bent on leaping across the chasm. He was
followed by a hundred warriors. Mark now made the signal to Juno. Not a
moment was lost by the undaunted girl, who touched off her gun in the
very nick of time. Down came the grape, hissing along the Reef; and,
rebounding from its surface, away it leaped across the strait, flying
through the thickest of the assailants. A dozen more suffered by that
discharge. Waally now saw that a crisis was reached, and his efforts to
recover the ground lost were worthy of his reputation. Calling to the
swimmers, he succeeded in getting them down into the water in scores.

The governor had ordered those near him to their stations. This took
Jones and Bigelow on board the Abraham, where two carronades were
pointed through the stern ports, forming a battery to rake the hog
pasture, which it was foreseen must be the field of battle if the enemy
came by land, as it was the only island that came near enough to the
Reef to be used in that way. As for Mark himself, accompanied by Brown
and Wattles, all well armed, he held his party in reserve, as a corps to
be moved wherever it might be most needed. At that all-important moment
a happy idea occurred to the young governor. The schooner was all ready
for launching. The reserve were under her bottom, intending to make a
stand behind the covers of the yard, when Mark found himself at one of
the spur-shores, just as Brown, armed to the teeth, came up to the
other.

"Lay aside your arms," cried the governor, "and knock away your
spur-shore, Bill!--Down with it, while I knock this away!--Look out on
deck, for we are about to launch you!"

These words were just uttered, when the schooner began to move. All the
colonists now cheered, and away the Abraham went, plunging like a
battering-ram into the midst of the swimmers. While dipping deepest,
Bigelow and Jones fired both their carronades, the shot of which threw
the whole basin into foam. This combination of the means of assault was
too much for savages to resist. Waally was instantly routed. His main
body retreated into the coves of the channel, where their canoes lay,
while the swimmers and stragglers got out of harm's way, in the best
manner they could.

Not a moment was to be lost. The Abraham was brought up by a hawser, as
is usual, and was immediately boarded by Mark, Bigelow and Wattles. This
gave her a crew of five men, who were every way equal to handling her.
Betts was left in command of the Reef, with the remainder of the forces.
To make sail required but two minutes, and Mark was soon under way,
rounding Loam Island, or what had _once_ been Loam Island, for it was
now connected with the hog pasture, in order to get into the reach where
Waally had his forces. This reach was a quarter of a mile wide, and gave
room for manoeuvring. Although the schooner bore down to the assault
with a very determined air, it was by no means Mark's cue to come to
close quarters. Being well to windward, with plenty of room, he kept
the Abraham tacking, yawing, waring, and executing other of the devices
of nautical delay, whilst his men loaded and fired her guns, as fast as
they could. There were more noise and smoke, than there was bloodshed,
as commonly happens on such occasions; but these sufficed to secure the
victory. The savages were soon in a real panic, and no authority of
Waally's could check their flight. Away they paddled to leeward,
straining every nerve to get away from pursuers, whom they supposed to
be murderously bent on killing them to a man. A more unequivocal flight
never occurred in war.

Although the governor was much in earnest, he was riot half as
bloodthirsty as his fleeing enemies imagined. Every dictate of prudence
told him not to close with the canoes until he had plenty of sea-room.
The course they were steering would take them all out of the group, into
the open water, in the course of three or four hours, and he determined
to follow at a convenient distance, just hastening the flight by
occasional hints from his guns. In this manner, the people of the
Abraham had much the easiest time of it, for they did little besides
sail, while the savages had to use all their paddles to keep out of the
schooner's way; they sailed, also, but their speed under their cocoa-nut
canvas was not sufficient to keep clear of the Friend Abraham White,
which proved to be a very fast vessel, as well as one easily handled.

At length, Waally found his fleet in the open ocean, where he trusted
the chase would end. But he had greatly mistaken the course of events,
in applying that 'flattering unction.' It was now that the governor
commenced the chase in good earnest, actually running down three of the
canoes, and making prisoners of one of the crews. In this canoe was a
young warrior, whom Bill Brown and Wattles at once recognised as a
favourite son of the chief. Here was a most important conquest, and,
Mark turned it to account. He selected a proper agent from among the
captives, and sent him with a palm-branch to Waally himself, with
proposals for an exchange. There was no difficulty in communicating,
since Brown and Wattles both spoke the language of the natives with
great fluency. Three years of captivity had, at least, taught them that
much.

A good deal of time was wasted before Waally could be brought to
confide in the honour of his enemies. At last, love for his offspring
brought him, unarmed, alongside of the schooner, and the governor met
this formidable chief, face to face. He found the latter a wily and
intelligent savage. Nevertheless, he had not the art to conceal his
strong affection for his son, and on that passion did Mark Woolston
play. Waally offered canoes, robes of feathers, whales' teeth, and every
thing that was most esteemed among his own people, as a ransom for the
boy. But this was not the exchange the governor desired to make. He
offered to restore the son to the arms of his father as soon as the five
seamen who were still prisoners on his citadel island should be brought
alongside of the schooner. If these terms were rejected, the lad must
take the fate of war.