XIV
IN COMMUNICATION
NOW OF the search whichwe made through the valley for the body of
Tompkins, that being thename of the lost man, I have some doleful
memories. But first, before we left the camp, the bo'sun gave us all a
very sound tot of the rum, and also a biscuit apiece, and thereafter
we hasted down, each man holding his weaponreadily. Presently, when we
were come to the beach which ended the valley upon the seaward side,
the bo'sun led us along to the bottom of the hill, where the
precipices came down into the softer stuff which covered the valley,
and here we made a careful search, perchance he had fallen over, and
lay dead or wounded near to our hands. But it was not so, and after
that, we went down to the mouth of the great pit, and here we
discovered the mud all about it to be coveredwith multitudes of
tracks, and in addition tothese and the slime, we found many traces of
blood; but nowhere any signs of Tompkins. And so, having searched all
the valley, we came out upon the weed which strewed the shore nearer
to the great weed-continent; but discovered nothing until we had made
up towards the foot of the hill, where it came downsheer into the sea.
Here, Iclimbed on to a ledge--the same from which themen had caught
their fish--, thinking that, if Tompkins had fallen from above, he
might lie in the water at the foot of the cliff, which was here,
maybe, some ten totwenty feet deep; but, for a little space, I saw
nothing. Then, suddenly, I discovered that there was something white,
down in the sea away to my left, and, at that, I climbed farther out
along the ledge.
In this wise I perceived that the thing which hadattracted my notice
was the dead body of one of the weed men. I could see it but dimly,
catchingodd glimpses of it as the surface of the water smoothed at
whiles. It appeared to me to be lying curled up, and somewhat upon its
right side, and in proof that it was dead, I saw a mightywound that
had come near to shearing away the head; and so, after a further
glance, I came in,and told what I had seen. At that, being convinced
by this time that Tompkins was indeed done to death, we ceased our
search; but first, before we left the spot, the bo'sun climbed out to
get a sight of the dead weed man and after him the rest of the men,
for they were greatly curious to see clearly what manner of creature
it was that had attacked us in the night. Presently, having seen so
much of the brute as the water would allow, they came in again to the
beach, and afterwards were returned to the opposite side of the
island, and so,being there, we crossed over to the boat, to see
whether it had been harmed; but found it to be untouched. Yet, that
the creatures had been all about it, we could perceive by the marks of
slime upon the sand, andalso by the strange trail which they had left
in the soft surface. Then one of the men called out that there had
been something at Job's grave, which, as will be remembered, had been
made in the sand some little distance from the place of our first
camp. At that, we looked all of us, and it was easy to seethat it had
been disturbed, and so we ranhastily to it, knowing notwhat to fear;
thus we found it to be empty; for the monsters had diggeddown to the
poor lad's body, and of it we could discover no sign. Upon this, we
came to a greater horror of the weed men than ever; for we knew them
now to be foul ghouls who could not let even the dead body rest in the
grave.
Now after this, the bo'sun led us all back to the hill-top, and there
helooked to our hurts; for one man had lost two fingers in the night's
fray; another had been bitten savagely in the left arm; whilst a third
had all the skin of his face raised in wheals where one of the brutes
had fixed its tentacles. And all of these had received but scant
attention, because of thestress of the fight, and, after that, through
the discovery that Tompkins was missing. Now, however, the bo'sun
set-to upon them, washing and binding them up, and for dressings he
made use ofsome of the oakum which we had with us, binding this on
with strips torn from the roll of spare duck, which hadbeen in the
locker of the boat.
For my part, seizing this chance to make some examination of my
wounded toe, the which,indeed, was causing me to limp, I found that I
had endured less harm than seemed to me; for the bone of the toe was
untouched, though showing bare; yet when it was cleansed, I had
notovermuch pain with it; though I could not sufferto have the boot
on, and so bound some canvas about my foot, until suchtime as it
should be healed.
Presently, when our wounds were all attended to, the which had taken
time, for therewas none of us altogether untouched, the bo'sun bade
the manwhose fingers were damaged, to lie down in the tent, and the
same order he gave also to him that was bitten in the arm. Then, the
rest ofus he directed to go down with him and carry up fuel; for that
thenight had shown him how our very lives depended upon a sufficiency
of this; and soall that morning we brought fuel to the hill-top, both
weed and reeds, resting not until midday, when he gave us a further
tot of the rum, and after that set one of the men upon thedinner. Then
he bade theman, Jessop by name, who had proposed to fly a kite over
the vessel in the weed, to say whether he had any craft in the making
of such a matter. At that, the fellow laughed, and told the bo'sun
that he would make him a kite that would fly very steadily and
strongly, and this without the aid of a tail. And so the bo'sun bade
him set-to without delay, for that we should do well to deliver the
people in the hulk, and afterwards make all haste from the island,
which was no better than a nesting place of ghouls.
Now hearing the man say that his kite would fly without a tail, I was
mightily curious to see what manner of thing hewould make; for I had
never seen the like, nor heard that such was possible. Yet he spoke of
no more than he could accomplish; for he took two of the reeds and cut
them to a length of about six feet; then he bound them together in the
middle so that they formed a Saint Andrew's cross, and after that he
made two more such crosses, and when these were completed, he tookfour
reeds maybe a dozen feet long, and bade us stand them upright in the
shape of asquare, so that they formed the four corners, and after that
he took one of the crosses, and laid it in the square so that its four
ends touched the four uprights, and in this position he lashed it.
Then he took the second cross and lashed it midway between the topand
bottom of the uprights, and after that he lashed the third at thetop,
so that the three of them acted as spreaders to keep the four longer
reeds in their places as though they were for the uprights of a little
square tower. Now, when he had gotten so far as that, the bo'sun
called out to us to make our dinners, and this we did, and afterwards
had a short time in which to smoke, and whilst we were thus at our
ease the sun came out, the which it had not done allthe day, and at
that we felt vastly brighter; for the day had been very gloomy with
clouds until that time, and what withthe loss of Tompkins, andour own
fears and hurts, we had been exceeding doleful, but now, as I have
said, we became more cheerful, and went very alertly to the finishing
of the kite.
At this point it came suddenly to the bo'sun that we had made no
provision of cord for the flying of the kite, and he called out to the
man to know what strength the kite would require, at which Jessop
answered him that maybe ten-yarnsennit would do, and this being so,
the bo'sun led three of us down to the wrecked mast upon the further
beach, and from this we stripped all that was left of the shrouds, and
carried them to the top of the hill, and so, presently, having unlaid
them, we set-to upon the sennit, using ten yarns; but plaiting two as
one, by which means we progressed with more speed than if we had taken
them singly.
Now, as we worked, I glanced occasionally towards Jessop, and saw that
he stitched a band of the light duck around each end of the framework
which he had made, and these bands I judged to be about four feet
wide, in this wise leaving an open space between the two, so that now
the thing looked something like to a Punchinello show, only that the
opening was in the wrong place, and there was too much of it. After
that he bent on a bridle to two of the uprights, making this of a
piece of good hemp rope which he found in the tent, andthen he called
out to the bo'sun that the kite was finished. At that, the bo'sun went
over to examine it, the which did all of us; for none of us had seen
the like of such a thing, and, if I misdoubt not, few of us had much
faith that it would fly; for it seemed so big and unwieldy. Now, I
think that Jessop gathered something of our thoughts; for, callingto
one of us to hold the kite, lest it should blow away, he went into the
tent, and brought out the remainder of the hemp line, the same from
which he had cut the bridle. This, he bent on to it, and, giving the
end into our hands, badeus go back with it until all the slack was
taken up, he, in the meanwhile, steadying the kite. Then, when we had
gone back to the extent of the line, he shouted to us to take a very
particular hold upon it, and then, stooping, caught the kiteby the
bottom, and threw it into the air, whereupon, to our amazement, having
swooped somewhat to one side, it steadied and mounted upwards into the
sky like a very bird.
Now at this, as I have made mention, we were astonished, for it
appeared like a miracle to us to see so cumbrous a thing fly with so
much grace and persistence, and further, we were mightily surprised at
the manner in which it pulled upon the rope, tugging with such
heartiness that we were like to have loosed it in our first
astonishment, had it not been for the warning which Jessop called to
us.
And now, being well assured of the properness of the kite, the bo'sun
bade us to draw it in, the which we did only with difficulty, because
of its bigness and the strength of the breeze. And when we had it back
again upon the hilltop, Jessop moored it very securely to a great
piece of rock, and, after that, having received our approbation, he
turned-to with us upon the making of the sennit.
Presently, the evening drawing near, the bo'sun set us to the building
of fires about the hill-top, and after that, having waved our
goodnights to the people in the hulk, we made our suppers, and lay
down to smoke, afterwhich, we turned-to again at our plaiting of the
sennit, the which we were in very great haste to have done. And so,
later, the dark having come down upon the island, the bo'sun bade us
take burning weed from the centre fire, and set light to the heaps of
weed that we had stacked round the edges of the hill for that purpose,
and so in a few minutes the whole of thehill-top was very light and
cheerful, and afterwards, having put two of the men to keep watch and
attend to the fires, he sent the rest of us back to our sennit making,
keeping us at it until maybe about ten ofthe clock, after which he
arranged that two men at a time should be on watch throughout the
night, and then he bade the rest of us turn-in, so soon as he had
looked toour various hurts.
Now, when it came to my turn to watch, I discovered that I had been
chosen to accompany the big seaman, at which I was by no means
displeased; for he was a most excellent fellow, and moreover a very
lusty man to have near, should anything come upon one unawares. Yet,we
were happy in that the night passed off without trouble of any sort,
and so at last came the morning.
So soon as we had made our breakfast, the bo'suntook us all down to
the carrying of fuel; for he saw very clearly that upon a good supply
of this depended our immunity from attack. And so for the half of
themorning we worked at the gathering of weed and reeds for our fires.
Then, when we had obtained a sufficiency for the coming night, he set
us all to work again upon the sennit, and so until dinner, after which
we turned-to once more upon our plaiting. Yet it was plain that it
would take several days to make a sufficient line forour purpose, and
because of this, the bo'sun cast about in his mind for some way in
which he could quicken its production. Presently,as a result of some
little thought, he brought out from the tent the long piece of hemp
rope with which we had moored the boat to the sea anchor, and
proceeded to unlay it, until he had all three strands separate. Then
he bent the three together, and so had a very rough line of maybe some
hundred and eighty fathoms in length, yet, though so rough, he judged
it strong enough, and thus we had this much the less sennit to make.
Now, presently, we madeour dinner, and after that for the rest of the
day we kept very steadily to our plaiting, and so, with the previous
day's work, hadnear two hundred fathoms completed by the time that the
bo'sun called us to cease and come to supper. Thus it will be seen
that counting all, including the piece of hemp line from which the
bridle had been made, we may be said to have had at this time about
four hundred fathoms towards the length which we needed for our
purpose, this having been reckoned at five hundred fathoms.
After supper, having lit all the fires, we continued to work at
theplaiting, and so, until thebo'sun set the watches, after which we
settled down for the night, first, however, letting the bo'sun see to
our hurts. Now this night, like to the previous, brought us no
trouble; and when the day came, we had first our breakfast, and then
set-to upon our collecting of fuel, after which we spent the rest of
the day at the sennit, having manufactured a sufficiency by the
evening, the which the bo'sun celebrated by a very rousing tot of the
rum. Then, having made our supper, we lit the fires, and had a very
comfortable evening, after which, as on the preceding nights,
havinglet the bo'sun attend ourwounds, we settled for the night, and
on this occasion the bo'sun let the man who had lost hisfingers, and
the one whohad been bitten so badlyin the arm, take their first turn
at the watchingsince the night of the attack.
Now when the morning came we were all of us very eager to come to the
flying of the kite; for it seemed possible to us that we might effect
the rescue of the people in the hulk before the evening. And, at the
thought of this, we experienced a very pleasurable sense of
excitement; yet, before the bo'sun would let us touch the kite, he
insisted that we should gather our usual supply of fuel, the which
order, though full of wisdom, irked us exceedingly, because of our
eagerness to set about the rescue. But at last this was accomplished,
and we made to get the line ready, testing the knots, and seeing that
it was all clear for running.Yet, before setting the kite off, the
bo'sun took us down to the further beach to bring up the foot of the
royal and t'gallant mast, which remained fast to the topmast, and when
we had this upon the hill-top, he set its ends upon two rocks, after
which he piled a heap ofgreat pieces around them, leaving the
middlepart clear. Round this he passed the kite line a couple or three
times, and then gave the end toJessop to bend on to the bridle of the
kite, and so he had all ready for paying out to the wreck.
And now, having nothing to do, we gathered round to watch, and,
immediately,the bo'sun giving the signal, Jessop cast the kite into
the air, and, thewind catching it, lifted it strongly and well, so
thatthe bo'sun could scarce pay out fast enough. Now, before the kite
hadbeen let go, Jessop had bent to the forward end of it a great
length of thespun yarn, so that those in the wreck could catch it as
it trailed over them, and, being eager to witness whether they would
secure it without trouble, we ran all of us to the edge of the hill to
watch. Thus, within five minutes from the time ofthe loosing of the
kite, we saw the people in theship wave to us to cease veering, and
immediately afterwards the kite came swiftly downwards, by which we
knew that they had the tripping-line, and were hauling upon it, and at
that we gave out a great cheer, and afterwards we sat about and
smoked, waiting until they had read our instructions, which we had
written upon the covering of the kite.
Presently, maybe the halfof an hour afterwards, they signalled to us
to haul upon our line, which we proceeded to do without delay, and so,
after a great space, we had hauled in all of our rough line, and come
upon the end of theirs, which proved to be a fine piece of three-inch
hemp, new and verygood; yet we could not conceive that this would
stand the stress necessary to lift so great a length clear of the
weed, as would be needful, or ever we could hope to bring the people
of the ship over itin safety. And so we waited some little while, and,
presently, they signalled again to us to haul, which we did, and found
that they had benton a much greater rope to the bight of the
three-inch hemp, having merely intended the latter for a hauling-line
by which to get the heavier rope across the weed to the island.
Thus,after a weariful time of pulling, we got the end of the bigger
rope up to the hill-top, and discovered it to be an extraordinarily
sound rope of some four inchesdiameter, and smoothly laid of fine
yarns round and very true and well spun, and with this we had every
reason to be satisfied.
Now to the end of the big rope they had tied a letter, in a bag of
oilskin,and in it they said some very warm and grateful things to us,
after which they set out a short code of signals by which we should be
able to understand one another on certain general matters, and at the
end they asked if they shouldsend us any provision ashore; for, as
they explained, it would take some little while to get the rope set
taut enoughfor our purpose, and the carrier fixed and in working
order. Now, upon reading this letter, we called out to the bo'sun that
he should ask them if they would send us some soft bread; the which he
added thereto a request for lint and bandages and ointment for our
hurts. And this he bade me write upon one of the great leaves from off
the reeds, and at the end he told me to ask if they desired us to send
them any fresh water. And all of this, I wrote with a sharpened
splinter of reed, cutting the words into the surface of the leaf.
Then, when I had made an end of writing, I gave the leaf to the
bo'sun, and he enclosed it in the oilskin bag, afterwhich he gave the
signalfor those in the hulk to haul on the smaller line, and this they
did.
Presently, they signed to us to pull in again, the which we did, and
so, when we had hauled in a great length of their line, we came to the
littleoilskin bag, in which we found lint and bandages and ointment,
and a further letter, which set out that they were baking bread, and
would send us some so soon as it was out from the oven.
Now, in addition to the matters for the healing of our wounds, and the
letter, they had included a bundle of paper in loose sheets, some
quills and an inkhorn, and at the end of their epistle, they begged
very earnestly of us to send them some news of the outer world; for
they had been shut up in that strange continent of weed for something
over seven years. They told us then that there were twelve of them in
the hulk, three of them being women, one of whom had been the
captain's wife; but he had died soon after the vessel became
entangledin the weed, and along with him more than half of the ship's
company, having been attacked by giant devil-fish, as they were
attempting to free the vessel from the weed, and afterwards they who
were left had built the superstructure as a protection against the
devil-fish, and the devil-men , as they termed them; for, until it had
been built, there had been no safety about the decks, neither day nor
night.
To our question as to whether they were in need of water, the people
in the ship replied that they had a sufficiency, and, further, that
they were very well supplied with provisions;for the ship had sailed
from London with a general cargo, among which there was a vast
quantity of food in various shapes and forms. At this news we were
greatly pleased, seeing that we need have no more anxiety regarding a
lack of victuals, and so in the letter which I went into the tent to
write, I put down that we were in no great plentitude of provisions,
at which hint I guessed they would add somewhat to the bread when it
should be ready. And after that I wrote down such chief events as my
memory recalled as having occurred in the course ofthe past seven
years, andthen, a short account of our own adventures, up to that
time, telling themof the attack which we had suffered from the weed
men, and asking such questions as my curiosity and wonder prompted.
Now whilst I had been writing, sitting in the mouth of the tent, I had
observed, from time to time, how that the bo'sun was busied with the
men in passing the end of the big rope round a mighty boulder, which
lay about ten fathoms in from the edge of the cliff which overlooked
the hulk. Thishe did, parcelling the rope where the rock wasin any way
sharp, so as to protect it from being cut; for which purpose he made
use of some of the canvas. And by the time that I had the letter
completed, the rope was made very secure to the great piece of rock,
and, further, they had put a large piece of chafing gear under that
part of the rope where it took the edge of the cliff.
Now having, as I have said, completed the letter, I went out with it
to the bo'sun; but, before placing it in the oilskin bag he bade me
add a note at the bottom, to say that the big rope was all fast,
andthat they could heave onit so soon as it pleased them, and after
that we dispatched the letter by means of the small line, the men in
the hulk hauling it off to them so soon as they perceived our signals.
By this, it had come well on to the latter part of the afternoon, and
the bo'sun called us to make some sort of a meal, leaving one man to
watch the hulk, perchance they should signal to us. For we had missed
our dinner in the excitement of the day's work, and were come now to
feel the lack of it.Then, in the midst of it, the man upon the
look-out cried out that they were signalling to us from the ship, and,
at that, we ran all of us to see what they desired, and so, by the
code which we had arranged between us, we found that they waited for
us to haul upon the small line. This did we, and made out presently
that we were hauling something across the weed, of a very fair bulk,at
which we warmed to our work, guessing that it was the bread which they
had promised us, and so it proved, and done up with great neatness in
a long roll of tarpaulin, which had been wrapped around both the
loaves and the rope, and lashed very securely at the ends,
thusproducing a taper shape convenient for passing over the weed
without catching. Now, when we came to open this parcel,we discovered
that my hint had taken very sound effect; for there were in the
parcel, besides the loaves, a boiled ham, a Dutch cheese, two bottles
of port well padded from breakage, and four pounds of tobacco in
plugs. And at this comingof good things, we stoodall of us upon the
edge of the hill, and waved our thanks to those in the ship, they
waving back in all good will, andafter that we went back to our meal,
at which wesampled the new victualswith very lusty appetites.
There was in the parcel, one other matter, a letter, most neatly
indited, as had been the former epistles, in a feminine hand-writing,
so that I guessed they had one of the women to be their scribe. This
epistle answered some of my queries, and, in particular, I remember
that it informed me as tothe probable cause of the strange crying
whichpreceded the attack by the weed men, saying that on each occasion
when they in the ship had suffered their attacks, there had been
always this same crying, being evidently a summoning call or signalto
the attack, though how given, the writer had not discovered; for the
weed devils --this being how they in the ship spoke always of
them--made never a sound when attacking, not even when woundedto the
death, and, indeed, I may say here, that we never learnt the way in
which that lonesome sobbing was produced, nor, indeed, did they, or
we, discover more than the merest tithe of the mysteries which that
great continent of weed holds in its silence.
Another matter to which I had referred was the consistent blowing of
the wind from one quarter, and this the writer told me happenedfor as
much as six months in the year, keeping up a very steadystrength. A
further thing there was which gave me much interest; it was that the
ship had not been always where we had discovered her; for at one time
they had been so far within the weed, that they could scarce discern
the open sea upon the far horizon;but that at times the weed opened in
great gulfs that went yawning through the continent for scores of
miles, and in this way the shape and coasts of the weed were being
constantly altered; these happenings being for the most part at the
change of the wind.
And much more there was that they told us then and afterwards, how
that they dried weed for their fuel, and how the rains, which fell
with great heaviness at certain periods, suppliedthem with fresh
water; though, at times, running short, they had learnt to distil
sufficient for their needs until the next rains.
Now, near to the end of the epistle, there came some news of their
present actions, and thuswe learnt that they in the ship were busy at
staying the stump of the mizzen-mast, this being the one to which they
proposed to attach the big rope, taking it through a great iron-bound
snatch-block,secured to the head of the stump, and then down to the
mizzen-capstan, by which, and a strong tackle, they would be able to
heave the line so taut as was needful.
Now, having finished our meal, the bo'sun took out the lint, bandages
and ointment, which they had sent us from the hulk, and proceeded to
dress our hurts, beginning with him who had lost his fingers, which,
happily, were making a very healthy heal. And afterwards we went all
of us to the edge of the cliff, and sent back the look-out to fill
such crevices in his stomach as remained yet empty; for we had passed
him already some sound hunks of the bread and ham and cheese, to eat
whilst he kept watch, and so he had suffered no great harm.
It may have been near an hour after this, that the bo'sun pointed out
to me that they in the ship had commenced to heave upon the great
rope, and so I perceived, and stood watching it; for I knew that the
bo'sun had some anxietyas to whether it would take-up sufficiently
clear of the weed to allow those in the ship to be hauled along it,
free from molestation by the great devil-fish.
Presently, as the eveningbegan to draw on, the bo'sun bade us go and
build our fires about the hill-top, and this we did, after which we
returned to learn how the rope was lifting, and now we perceived that
it had come clear of the weed, at which we felt mightilyrejoiced, and
waved encouragement, chance there might be any who watched us from the
hulk. Yet, though the rope was up clear of the weed, the bight of it
hadto rise to a much greater height, or ever it would do for the
purpose for which we intended it, and already it suffered a vast
strain, as I discovered by placing myhand upon it; for, even to lift
the slack of so great a length of line meant the stress of some tons.
And later I saw that the bo'sun was growing anxious; for he went over
to the rock around which he had made fast the rope, and examined the
knots, and those places where he had parcelled it, and after that he
walked to the place where it went overthe edge of the cliff, and here
he made a further scrutiny; but came back presently, seeming not
dissatisfied.
Then, in a while, the darkness came down upon us, and we lighted our
fires and prepared for the night, having the watches arranged as on
the preceding nights. [ tobe continued....]
