Palm Tree Island Page 6

  CHAPTER THE THIRD

  OF THE NAVIGATION OF STRANGE SEAS; OF MUTTERINGS AND DISCONTENTS, OFDESERTION, OF MUTINY AND OF SHIPWRECK.

  We lay becalmed for several days longer, during which time there was nofurther outbreak among the men, for the captain bestirred himself andcame on deck, though in truth he was not fit for it. His mere presenceseemed to make for peace and quietness. He had counselled the officersto alter nothing in their conduct, yet to be watchful; and I think henever feared a mutiny on board the ship, expecting no danger until weshould set foot to land again.

  At length the mist cleared, the sails once more filled, and we set ourcourses again towards the south-west. The men went about their dutiesat first cheerfully, for the mere pleasure of action after so longidleness; but when, after about a week, they perceived that the captainheld steadily on his course, without offering to touch at any of theislands we sighted, their looks fell gloomy again, and there was somegrumbling, though subdued. Though our fresh food was now all gone, westill had great stores of the common victuals--biscuit and pease andoatmeal, besides salt junk, a sufficiency of rum, and water for twomonths. This was sparingly used, every man of us washing in saltwater, which made my skin smart very much until I was used to it.

  Day by day, as we approached the high latitudes, the air becamesensibly colder, and in the morning we sometimes saw icicles on therigging. The sky was for the most part gloomy; showers of sleet andhail beat upon us, and I own I felt a pity for the sailors at thesetimes, having to spend so many long hours below decks in darkness andstench. For days at a stretch we crept through thick fogs, and by andby came among icefloes, and then among icebergs, against which we ransome risk of being shipwrecked, so that we had to keep a very carefullook-out. When I marked the growing discontent of the men, I fearedlest they should rise in mutiny and take the navigation of the vesselinto their own hands, and I verily believe we were only saved from thisby the captain's change of mind. He made it a point of honour tofulfil the desires of my uncle so far as he might, and would havecontinued the search for the southern continent against all risks; butwhen the ice grew constantly thicker, and our fresh water began to lieperilously low, he concluded that it was folly to try any more for thatseason, and so steered north.

  Our men were greatly rejoiced at this resolution, and theircheerfulness was such that I began to lose my fear of untowardhappenings. When I said as much to the captain, however, he observedthat our particular danger would arise when we came to a land ofplenty. It was his ill hap again to be seized with sickness at thistime, and he seldom left his bunk in the roundhouse.

  [Sidenote: The South Seas]

  One fair day--I think it was about a year after our sailing fromDeptford--we sighted an island which did not appear on our chart, butwhich, on our nearer approach, gave promise of furnishing thatrefreshment of which we were in need. It was very well wooded, and weknew while still a great way off that it was inhabited, seeing throughour perspective glass a good number of canoes about its shore. When wecame within a little distance of it some of the canoes put off towardsus, and a crowd of people stood on the beach, inviting us as well bytheir gestures as their loud cries to land. The captain, who had comeout of the roundhouse and sat on a stool by the door, considering thatthe fertility of the place and the friendliness of the natives favouredus, ordered the vessel to be hove to, and a boat to be made ready, withcasks for bringing back a supply of water. He then appointed a dozenof the crew to man the boat, calling them before him, and commandingthem very strictly that they should not stray far from theneighbourhood of the beach, but fill their casks at the nearest springor freshet, and purchase what vegetables and fruit they could inexchange for such trifles as I have before mentioned. I observed thatthe captain had not chosen Wabberley and Hoggett, or any other of themen whom we certainly knew to be disaffected: indeed, both Hoggett andChick, with several more, were then sick of the scurvy. The captainset Mr. Bodger over the boat's crew, and he went with a cutlass and twopistols in his belt, but the men were without arms.

  As soon as they set off, being accompanied by two canoes which had bythis time reached our vessel, Mr. Lummis, at a word from the captain,commanded the men that remained on board to collect all the arms thatwere in the ship and bring them into the roundhouse. It was plain fromtheir looks that they were amazed and confounded at this order, whichthey obeyed very sullenly, Mr. Lummis having in sight of them all stucka pistol in his belt. As they went to and fro they eyed the captainsuspiciously, and cast many a glance towards the shore, where theirfellows were beginning their task amid a great uproar of the natives.It had been arranged between the captain and Mr. Lummis that thisprecaution regarding the arms should be taken when the crew was thusdivided, so that we should have the means of coping with any mutinousoutbreak. The captain also insisted that I should take a pistol, whichI was loath to do, having never fired one in my life.

  The arms had all been bestowed in the roundhouse before the boatreturned with its first cargo. When the men came aboard they began totell their messmates of the exceeding richness of the island, as far asthey had seen it, but they had gone but a little way in their talebefore the other men broke in with an account of what had been done intheir absence, which made them dumb with astonishment. Being consciousof their guilty designs, they perceived that we knew them too, thoughthey were not able in their first surprise to divine the means by whichwe had obtained our knowledge. However, it was not a time to takecounsel together, with the officers about them, and as they hadperformed but a small part of their task on shore, they went back intothe boat with as meek a look as ever I saw.

  [Sidenote: Mutterings]

  When they came again to the island, they set about their work asbefore, though more sluggishly; but having filled a cask or two, andbrought them to the boat, I observed them, all but one, go up thestrand again without another cask to be replenished. I supposed thatthey were now going to procure vegetables, but Mr. Lummis, who wasstanding at my side, suddenly let forth a great oath, bidding meobserve that the men went empty-handed. And then we saw Mr. Bodger,who had been left at the boat, hastily following them, and though wewere too far off to hear any words distinctly (besides, the nativepeople still made a great clamour), we could tell by his motions thatthe mate was calling after them, and we saw two or three of them turnround and laugh at him, and then go on up the island amid a concourseof the natives. Mr. Lummis cried out to him to use his pistol on themutinous dogs, but he could not hear, and indeed he was a timid man,besides being apprehensive, perhaps, that the natives, many of whom hadlong spears, would turn upon him if he offered any violence. Thisnotion of ours had some colour when we saw him return hastily to theboat, and endeavour, with the only man of them all that was left, tolaunch her. This, however, they were unable to do, the boat beingbeached high on the sand, and heavy with the full casks already laid inher.

  Mr. Lummis went into the roundhouse, whither the captain had retired,to acquaint him with these proceedings. They thought, and so did I,that the men were putting in act the plot of which Billy Bobbin hadtold us, though it seemed to me strange that they should have gonewithout the ringleaders, who were still on board the vessel. We wereconsidering of this when Mr. Lummis, with another great oath, cried outthat he saw through the rascals' plan, which was, he said, to tempt usto send another boat's crew after them, and then, having both the matesashore, to overpower them, as they would easily do with the aid of thenatives, in spite of the pistols. But he swore that he would prove onetoo many for them, and having trained on the beach one of the sixswivel guns we carried, he commanded two of the men to lower thedinghy, and then to come to the roundhouse for the captain's orders.

  This being done, and the men coming in, the captain looked veryseverely upon them, and said that he was about to send them with Mr.Lummis to bring off the boat with Mr. Bodger in it, and that if theyshould attempt to join the rascals on shore, who had flatly disobeyedorders, Mr. Lummis would shoot them instantly.
This he said in a veryloud tone of voice, so as to be heard by the rest of the crew, who hadsneaked up out of curiosity to learn what was toward. The two men withMr. Lummis then descended into the dinghy, Mr. Lummis taking with him alarge piece of bright-coloured cloth, two small looking-glasses, and anew sailor's knife.

  When they came to the shore, Mr. Lummis stepped out and waved the clothabove his head, at which a number of the people came running to him,making strange and uncouth cries. I had afterwards, as will be seen,to learn how hard it is to communicate with men who have no commonspeech with us; but even as the beasts are able to hold converse withtheir kind, so the great Creator of all things has given to man thepower to make his thoughts plain to folk sundered in speech by theiniquity of Babel. Mr. Lummis contrived to make these poor savagesunderstand his wishes, and when, with the aid of them and of theseamen, the large boat was launched, and was rowed back to the ship,taking the dinghy in tow, one of their canoes came also, with some oftheir chief men in it.

  At the invitation of Mr. Lummis, the savages came aboard our vessel,and then, with much pains, he acquainted them further with his desires.He pointed to the seamen who were gathered on deck, and then to theisland, with gestures signifying that the men of their kind who hadfirst landed must be brought back. He made them understand that aprice would be paid for each man that was recovered, either a piece ofcloth, or a knife, or a looking-glass like those he showed to them.And then, bethinking him that it were profitable to impress them with asense of his power, he ordered the gun to be fired with a blank charge,at whose roar the savages fell flat upon their faces, and lay for somewhile quaking in a great fear. After this they made haste to get intotheir canoe and paddle to the shore, which was now deserted, all thepeople having fled away at the sound of our gun; and they ran veryfleetly up into the wooded country and disappeared from our view.

  We saw nothing more of them or of our seamen that day; but early thenext morning, almost as soon as it was light, we heard a greatcommotion on the shore, and soon perceived a vast throng flocking tothe beach, with our men among them. There they were cast with someroughness into three of the canoes, and I perceived by the manner oftheir falling, like as sheep when they are cast into a cart, that theirlimbs were tied, which, without doubt, sorely ruffled their tempers,being Englishmen. When the canoes came alongside our vessel, thenatives shouting and yelling like mad things, Mr. Lummis let down asling over the side, in which our men were hoisted one by one to thedeck. It was as much as I could do to keep from laughing, so sorry wastheir look, their faces being scratched and bruised, and their garmentsvery much tattered, and indeed on one or two hanging mere shreds. Mr.Lummis heartily cursed each one as he came up, with many quaintderisive observations which mightily vexed them. We had taken seven oreight aboard when Mr. Lummis, looking over those that were left in thecanoes, perceived that there were only ten in all, when there shouldhave been eleven, the party having numbered twelve at the first, ofwhom one had returned with Mr. Bodger. Mr. Lummis flew into a rage atthis, supposing that the natives had kept back one man, with a designto chaffer for a higher price; but when he demanded of the rest whereWilkins was (that being the name of him who was missing), they answeredsullenly that he was dead, for he had offered a stout resistance whenthe savages attempted to tie his hands, and had the temerity to fellthe chief himself with his fist. This spirited act, which was in truthworthy of a true-born Englishman, cost him his life, for he wasinstantly thrust through with spears. I doubt not his death was themeans of saving the lives of the rest, for seeing what had befallentheir comrade, and being unarmed, they submitted (though surely with anill grace) to be bound, and were so brought back to their vessel, as Ihave said. The savages having received the presents promised themreturned to the island, where they immediately fell a-quarrelling aboutthe apportionment of their wages, and we saw that the strip of colouredcloth was very soon torn into a hundred little pieces.

  [Sidenote: Mutiny]

  As for the seamen, they were by the captain's orders immediately putinto irons and laid in the hold. Though we had not taken aboard nearas much water or provision as we intended, yet the captain would notrisk the sending of another crew to the island, albeit he might safelyhave done so, I think, the men being for the time sufficiently tamed.We had to wait the best part of the day for a breeze; then we weighedanchor and stood away to the north. While the island was still insight, the wind suddenly shifted its quarter, and blew first a gale andthen a hurricane, so that we had to shorten canvas. While this wasa-doing the sea was lashed to a fury, prodigious waves sweeping overthe deck and buffeting the vessel so heavily that her timbers shook,and we feared the masts would go by the board. With ten men in ironsand about as many weakened by the scurvy, the crew were pretty hardpressed, and though they worked with a will, since their very livesdepended on it, they railed without measure against the captain and Mr.Lummis, heedless of what punishment might be dealt to them when thestorm abated. Presently a cry arose that the vessel had sprung a leak,and since none of those above could be spared to man the pumps, Mr.Lummis ordered the men in irons to be brought up, and made them work atthe pumps in turn. The storm rather increased than diminished in fury,and the seamen were seized with a fear that the vessel would founder,and I heard them mingle prayers and curses in a breath, reviling thecaptain for taking them from the hospitable island, and crying out"Lord, have mercy on us!" again and again. Darkness fell upon us whilewe were still battling with the storm, which added to our terrors, forthe vessel would not obey the helm, and we knew not but we might becast upon some coral reef, such as abound in those regions, and therebe clean broken up. In this extremity of peril I own I was dreadfullyafraid, and prayed very fervently that we might be saved, thinking tooof my uncle and aunt, and the happiness I had enjoyed with them,casting my mind back over many things in my past life, almost as adrowning man does, at least I have heard so.

  I was inexpressibly relieved when at last the violence of the tempestabated, in the wind first, for it was long before the turbulence of thesea was sensibly diminished. About the middle of the night, however,we were able to stand once more upright on the deck without clinging tothe shrouds or other things for support, and then, being utterly wornout, we sought repose, but not before the leak had been discovered andstopped, which took a long time, and the unruly seamen who were inirons once more confined in the hold. I gave hearty thanks to God whohad so mercifully delivered us, and went to my bunk in as peaceful aframe of mind as if it were my bed at home.

  I was awakened, how long afterwards I know not, by Mr. Bodger breakinginto my cabin, which was on the maindeck, and calling on me to comeinstantly to the quarterdeck, and bring my pistol, for the crew hadrisen in mutiny, and having made a rush to the hold had liberated themen in irons. I sprang up and cast my coat, which was still drippingwet, about me, and seizing my pistol, followed the man up to where Mr.Lummis and the captain stood in front of the roundhouse. But a momentafter I joined them we were aware that the crew were advancing toattack us, judging by the sounds of their shouting, for the night wasso black that we could see but little, the men having put out the solelantern. We were in a very desperate case, being but four against thewhole crew, saving some few who were sick, not one of the men havingcome to our side; the captain, moreover, being very feeble from hisillness. But we had all the firearms at our command, and Mr. Lummistrusted by means of these to do such execution among the mutineers thatthey would lose heart, and while the worst of them would be cowed, thebetter-disposed would yield to authority. Thus we four stood side byside, and as the men drew near Mr. Lummis called to them in a loudvoice, warning them that we had weapons which we would use upon them ifthey did not instantly return to their duty. There was silence for aspace; the shuffling of bare feet on the deck ceased; then a voicecalled out (I think it was Hoggett's) that the captain should return tothe island we had lately left, and let 'em rest and recruit themselves,they being dead sick of sailing without end. He finished by saying
that if the captain did not consent to this course, they would slit hisweazand and cast him to the sharks, and serve all of us the same, andwe had best make our choice without delay. Mr. Lummis, to whom thecaptain left all this matter, roared out a string of oaths andcommanded the men to seize that rascal who had the insolency to orderthe captain's goings. There was a great laugh, very horrid to hear,being rather the sound that wild beasts would make than men; then therewas again silence, or rather we heard the low murmurs of the mentalking among themselves. Mr. Lummis cursed again, but this time underhis breath, and muttering "They mean mischief," he bade Mr. Bodger in awhisper put out the lantern that swung from the roof of the roundhousebehind us, and so made a light against which our forms, as we stood onthe threshold, could be distinctly seen by the men. This was no soonerdone than there came a single shrill blast on the sea-pipe, and the menrushed up towards us with fierce shouts that made my flesh creep.

  "Fire!" cried Mr. Lummis loud enough to be heard above all the din. AsI have said before, I had never in my life fired a pistol, and whatwith excitement and flurry, my finger fumbled a little at the trigger,so that I was a thought behind the others; but even in that littlemoment I heard terrible screams as the bullets from the officers'pistols flew among the crew; and though I fired mine immediately after,I could not tell whether 'twas pointed up or down, or in what directionsoever, and I was seized with a fit of shuddering when the thought cameto me in a flash that peradventure I had slain a fellow-creature. Youmay think I was a coward, and perhaps I was; but yet I think I was not,but only new at such kind of work, because I do not recollect that everI felt the same way again when I had to defend myself, as will appearin order.

  This first discharge of our weapons caused the mutineers to draw back,and we instantly seized other pistols which Mr. Lummis had laid inreadiness within reach. He called out, "Have ye had enough, you dogs?"and from the silence I really thought they had, especially as Mr.Bodger whispered that he heard no groans, and so believed that the menwho were hit must be dead. But all of a sudden, without any kind ofwarning, except a slight whistling in the air, and then it was toolate, there was a crash a little to the left of me, where the captainstood, and looking round I saw him lying in a heap against the wall ofthe roundhouse, and heard him groan. "Fire!" shouted Mr. Lummis again,but I was on my knees beside the captain, who told me very faintly thathe had been struck on the head by something; and, indeed, when I feltalong the deck with my hand I found the marlin-spike which had done themischief. He bid me stand and help the officers, whose shots I hadagain heard; but scarce had I risen to my feet when Mr. Lummis staggersagainst me and cries that his arm is broken. At the same moment therewas a great crash of breaking glass, which made us know that anothermissile had smashed the skylight of the roundhouse; and then, whenthere came a perfect clatter of heavy things, belaying pins and thelike, striking the timbers of the roundhouse, Mr. Lummis said that wemust withdraw into that place, or we should be battered to pieces.Accordingly Mr. Bodger and I, we dragged the captain within the slidingdoor and shut it fast, and taking the table and bench we drove themagainst the door as a barricado, which we had scarcely done before themen, guessing by the cessation of our fire what had happened, cameoutside and hammered on the wood, shouting with triumph and derision."Send a bullet through the door, sir," cries Mr. Lummis, which I did,and there was a howl of pain, and the men scuttled away, for beingwithout firearms they were still at a disadvantage against us.

  Mr. Bodger having relit the lantern, we saw that the captain hadfainted clean away, and there was a great cut in his head from whichthe blood was flowing. While I dashed some water upon his face andpoured a little rum between his lips, Mr. Bodger looked to the hurts ofthe chief mate, who was roaring as much with fury as with pain. Itproved that his arm was indeed broken, as he had said, and I neverheard anybody howl as he did when Mr. Bodger made shift to set it andbind it up. Meanwhile the captain had come to, but his face wasghastly pale, and I feared the worst from the enfeebled state in whichhe was.

  I was already aware, from the altered motion of the vessel, that hercourse had been changed, and could not doubt that the mutineers werepurposing to sail back to the island we had quitted. In this matter wewere wholly at their mercy, but I thought it a very hazardousproceeding in the blackness of the night, especially as they had nochart and could not have the least notion of how to set the coursetruly. It would have been at least the act of reasonable men to heaveto and wait for morning light; but I had already observed that seamenhave little forethought, being like children in that respect, and theywere so eager to attain the haven of their desires as to be ready tobrave the perils of striking a reef or running aground on a shoal. Wetalked together of what we should do if the vessel arrived at anisland, Mr. Bodger saying he feared they would murder us or maybe handus over to the savages, for though we were secure against them while weremained in the roundhouse, 'twas clear that we must needs issue forthsome time, or starve for want of food.

  [Sidenote: Shipwreck]

  Some time had passed, I know not how long, when we became aware of amarvellous perplexing change in the atmosphere. I felt a strangetingling in my fingers; Mr. Bodger declared he was all pins andneedles, and Mr. Lummis cried out with an oath, without which indeed heseldom spoke, that some one was walking over his grave. Almost as thewords left his lips a tremendous shock, as of an immense wave strikingthe vessel, sent us all spinning to the deck, and immediatelyafterwards there was a mighty crash, and Mr. Lummis cried that themainmast had gone by the board. The vessel had so listed that weexpected she would instantly founder; but she righted herself, and thenwe heard a great hubbub outside, the men calling one to another inaccents of affright and dismay. It being plain that the vessel was ina desperate case, I thought the seamen would be too intent on savingtheir own lives to have any notion of taking ours; so with Mr. Bodger'shelp I pulled away our barricado and opened the door. By the light ofthe lantern I saw the seamen most frantically cutting away thewreckage, in the midst of which there came a great shout that the leakhad opened again, only much bigger than before, and that water waspouring into the hold. Instantly there was a cry to lower the boats;none thought of manning the pumps, which indeed would have been vain,as we saw pretty soon. We had three boats aboard, but one of these hadbeen smashed by the fall of the mast, and the men were cutting thelashings of the other two, some also casting into them whatever thingsthey could lay hands on, never stopping to consider whether they wereuseful or no. They lowered the boats over the side, not without greatdanger, for the vessel was rolling heavily, and then began to jump intothem. I could not believe that they would be so heartless as to leavetheir officers to go down with the ship, though they had proceededhitherto without so much as a look towards us; and rushing among them,I cried out that the captain and Mr. Lummis were severely hurt, beggingthem to wait just so long as to rescue them. But they thrust me away,and Chick with a brutal laugh shouted that the officers might drown forall he cared, and when I still urged him he dealt me such a buffet thatI fell sprawling among the wreckage.

  When I rose to my feet, having lain stunned for a space, there was nota man to be seen. I was for a little while like one demented, runningto the side of the vessel--which had no bulwarks, but only a timberrailing--with the intent to fling myself into the boat, and so escape.But then I thought of the officers, and could not bring myself todesert them in their extremity, and so ran back to the roundhouse, tosee if by any means we could devise a raft of spars sufficient at leastto keep us afloat. I found Mr. Lummis stretched on the deck, having,it seemed, stumbled over some of the wreckage and hurt his arm again,so that he fainted. There was a figure standing by the door, which Iat first took to be Mr. Bodger, but on running up to ask him concerningthat matter of the raft, I perceived with amazement that it was not thesecond mate at all, but Billy Bobbin. I looked around, but no Mr.Bodger could I see; I called aloud for him, but there was no answer,nor could I tell whether he had fallen overboard or be
en taken awayamong the men. I rushed again to the side, hoping that even at thelast the seamen might have repented; but it was all one blackness; theboats were clean gone.

  I went back, and seeing both Mr. Lummis and the captain still lyingmotionless on the deck, I was well-nigh overcome with the horror of oursituation, and sat me down on a coil of rope and buried my face in myhands. But in a moment I sprang up; I could not consult with theofficers, but there was Billy Bobbin, whom I supposed the men hadrefused to take with them--I learnt afterwards that he had not offeredto go, but had remained of set purpose to stand by me who had treatedhim kindly. He told me, too, that Mr. Lummis had not fainted, but hadbeen thrown down by the men, who came rummaging in the roundhouse forarms, of which they took several, and powder and shot. I cried toBilly to help me build a raft, for, little of a seaman though I was, Iperceived that the vessel was already beginning to settle down. We hadbut a single lamp to assist us, and to add to our trouble, a greatstorm of wind and rain beat upon us, causing the ship to labour soheavily that we could scarce keep our feet. I was fairly at my wits'end. If it had been daylight, and calm, we might have heaved somespars and planks overboard and lashed them together, but that wasimpossible in the darkness. Moreover, if we made a raft strong enoughto hold us four, we could not by any means, Billy and me, lift it andlaunch it from the deck. All that we could do was to lash togetherwhat spars and planks we could find there on the deck, and trust thatwhen the vessel foundered we might contrive to cling to it, though howwe were to fasten the helpless officers to it I was not any way able tosee.

  While these perplexities were tossing in my brain my hands were notidle; indeed, I wrought so desperately, and Billy too, that the skinwas torn from our fingers, though we did not know it until the dawnshowed them to us all sore and bleeding. It was growing misty light,and we had finished our raft, a poor makeshift thing, but the best wecould do, and were considering of how to fasten the officers to it,when all of a sudden the ship gave a great lurch, and while we wereendeavouring to save ourselves from being cast into the sea, the deckbeneath us was riven asunder with a noise as of a great gun. Of whathappened then I know nothing; but when I had again possession of mysenses, I found myself struggling in the sea, in desperate straits forbreath. For some while I could see nothing, in such confusion was I;but presently, breathing more easily, and keeping myself afloat, Iperceived that the ship had totally disappeared, and I was amid astrange assemblage of all manner of small objects bobbing up and downon the surface. In a little I spied our raft, and near by it the wreckof the mainmast, which had been cut almost clear by the seamen beforethey took to their boats; but never a sign was there of Mr. Lummis orthe captain or Billy. I struck out for the raft, wondering withinmyself whether I had strength to reach it, for I was marvellouslyexhausted, having, as I came to think afterwards, been drawn down to agreat depth by the sinking vessel. All at once I saw a head rise abovethe further edge of the raft, and a moment after Billy scrambled on toit, and flung himself down as utterly spent. I strove to strike outmore lustily, feeling a great joy that one at least of my comrades wassaved; but my strength was so far gone from me, and the sea sodisturbed, that I made scarce any progress, and in an extremity ofdespair, gasping as I was, I raised my head above the water and shoutedBilly's name. He lifted himself and looked about him amazedly; thenspying me at a distance of six fathoms or more, as I guessed, he leapedinto the sea and came swimming towards me. I was at the point ofsinking when, with inexpressible joy, I felt his arm placed beneath me,and thus sustained by him I plied my limbs again, though with greateffort, and came at length to the raft, which I seized eagerly, andrested a while until I should recover strength enough to clamber uponit as he had done. However, when I made the essay, the side of theraft sank beneath my weight, and I know not what I should have done hadnot Billy bid me still cling to it while he swam round to the otherside, and then, both heaving ourselves up at the same moment, wecontrived to get aboard of it, and sank utterly fordone at either end,and Billy burst into tears.