CHAPTER XXIV
Tuesday, November 5.—About five o'clock this morning a gun was fired to signify that the men were going off to Inaccessible. Soon after Tom Rogers looked in to say they were starting in about an hour's time. We packed into a large tin flour, captain's biscuits, tea, coffee and sugar for Graham; Tom was taking meat, and Ellen ran down at the last moment with bread hot from the oven. They went off in three boats, cheering lustily. I believe they hope to do some sealing. It depends entirely on the wind as to when they return; they might be kept a fortnight.
Thursday, November 7.—I am taking school in Graham's absence, the elder girls helping with the infants. If the scholars are tiresome or heedless I just make them hold out their hand, and with a slap from mine they are soon reduced to order. When they are reading they are not allowed to lift up their eyes from their books, and now it is rarely they lose their place.
Saturday, November 9.—The men have not yet returned. They have had very wet weather since they left, and must have had a trying time. I hope they have enough to eat. On the occasion of a former visit there they were delayed so long that they ran short of food and were nearly starved. When at last they got back one young fellow fainted. Since then they have been careful to take more food with them and have put one or two sheep on the island and have sown potatoes.
Sunday, November 10.—Mrs. Green has come to stay with us again; she has been lying outside in the canvas chair for seven hours and feels the better for it. The children are very attached to their mother, and one and another visit her during the day. Her mother's eye at once detects a button off or whatever is amiss.
The services were well attended to-day, only five persons being absent morning and afternoon.
It is a quiet evening, but occasionally the sea sounds like a passing train; at other times we hear it thundering on the shore. We do not get such high waves, but what I call long sweeping seas. I have been taking the meteorological observations; I hope correctly.
Monday, November ll.—When school was half over old Mrs. Rogers rushed in to say the boats were returning from Inaccessible. When I got down to the beach they were ready to land. There was so much surf that they had to wait for a favourable moment and then had to pull hard to get in before the next wave broke. The landing of the three took quite a time, and they had a good tossing while awaiting their turn. The men are very cheerful and seem to have enjoyed themselves in spite of the wet. After the first day they were not able to leave Salt Beach on which they landed. That afternoon they went round by boat to where the Blendon Hall was wrecked, as they knew how anxious Graham was to see the spot. He, unfortunately, was feeling horribly sea-sick and unable to do much, but he went with them. They picked up some copper and a piece of wood from the wreck. The cliffs of the island are most precipitous, and from Salt Beach they can only be scaled by holding on to the tussock grass, but the weather was too wet for them to attempt this. I am glad they could not try, for Henry Green told me it was rather an "ugly business" at best of times. There was no sand and they lay at night under the overturned boat on a pebbly beach softened by layers of tussock grass. Graham said after five nights of it he felt quite sore. They seem to have spent more than half their time under the boats. One day it rained all day, and the only variety they had was to stand under the cliffs where the rain dripped down upon them. Another day they had some cricket, using for a ball a bit of kelp. Under the boats they played draughts; an upturned box serving for table and board, kelp for the black pieces, and sliced potatoes for the white. They were able to get a few petrel's eggs, but digging these out of the nest-holes was wet and muddy work.
Each man took so much flour, potatoes and meat which he handed over to the cook. Andrew Swain and Bob Green undertook the work, the former being head cook, and Graham says the cooking was excellent; not that he was able to eat much himself for he was still feeling the effects of the sea. The cooks were kept going most of the day. At one meal there was a great laugh against them. As each man sipped his tea he found it nauseously salt. The water had been taken from the wrong bucket, the one that contained salt water for washing up.
On Sunday they had two services, all sitting round on the stones. They sang every hymn and chant they could think of.