At that moment I observed Finn shaking the two sailors by the hand. He then entered the boat and made for the barque, whilst Head and Dowling walked slowly up to the galleon and sat down in the shade of her under her counter, whence they continued to watch us.
‘It’s no good, Mr. Monson, sir,’ said Finn, as he came clambering and panting over the side; ‘they call it a gold mine, and there’s no persuading of ’em to leave it.’
‘Up with this boat,’ roared the mate; ‘stand by to round in on those topsail braces.’
The boat soared to her davits, the milk-white squares of canvas on the main went floating onwards into full bosoms; the barque, bowing to the swell, broke the flashing water into trembling lines; slowly, almost imperceptibly, that marble-looking hump of rock with its glittering centre-piece stole away upon the quarter, its solitude somehow making the ocean look as wide again as it was. Laura came on deck and stood by my side.
‘Oh, Charles!’ she exclaimed, ‘we have left the poor fellows behind, then?’
‘They refuse to leave. Observe Cutbill,’ said I, pointing to the huge figure of the honest tar as he lay over the rail, his face knotted up with conflicting emotions, whilst his expression was rendered spasmodic by his manner of gnawing upon a quid that stood in his cheek. ‘He is lamenting the loss of a princely income, and would have returned to the island could he have got a boat. Mark Finn, too; with what a mixture of thirstiness and misgiving does he stare!’
‘The poor creatures are waving to us,’ said Laura.
Instantly throughout the barque there was a general flourishing of arms and Scotch caps and straw hats. We lingered watching them till the island looked to be no more than a small blue cloud floating low upon the water.
‘Poor Wilfrid!’ suddenly exclaimed Laura, and her eyes dimmed with tears.
‘It has been a hard time for you, dear one!’ I exclaimed, ‘but the end of the black chapter is reached, let us believe. See! here comes the captain’s man with a tray of good things. But I must positively shave before I can sit down to breakfast, if there is a razor on board to borrow.’