“That was indeed thoughtful of you,” observed Emily, when she saw the cases.
“It was not I who thought of them,” I answered; “it was Oliver. He said he thought it would cheer up Mr Hooker to know that some of his things had been saved; and we must try and get some more on shore if we can.”
“Oh yes, yes!” exclaimed both the girls together. “Bring his treasures rather than ours. Many of them, probably, he cannot replace; and we can dress, I daresay, in mats, or the cloth I have seen made out of the paper mulberry-tree.”
“Well, well, young ladies,” said Tarbox. “We can find room, I daresay, in the boat for your light things, as well as Mr Hooker’s chests; so I hope, if we can get hold of the things, you will not have to rig up in any outlandish fashion.”
He said this as we were shoving off the boat with our oars; and now, sitting down, we again pulled out towards the wreck.
“The gentleman on shore says he has lived here for several years,” said Oliver. “All that time no vessel has called off here. Now, if we are to get away, would it not be better if we were to try and build one large enough for the purpose, so that we may quit the island whenever it is thought best?”
“You are right, Oliver,” said Tarbox. “If we can get hold of the carpenter’s tools, and ropes and spars enough, with blocks and sails, we may build a craft out of the wreck, or of the wood we can cut down in the island. It does not take so long to dry as it does in Old England.”
Roger Trew agreed with Tarbox, and so did I, that we ought to make the attempt, and thanked Oliver for his suggestion. We determined, therefore, at once to secure as much rope and as many blocks as we might want, as well as sailcloth or sails and spars.
“I have heard talk of a man out in the Pacific Islands who built a vessel with far less means than we have got,” observed Tarbox. “He was a missionary gentleman, though he knew well how to work at a forge, as well as to use his saw and hammer. To the best of my recollection, he had only got a file and a saw and an old anchor to begin with. He first taught the natives how to assist him, and then set to work to cut down the trees and to saw them into planks. He next put up a forge, and made the bellows, and manufactured nails and pins, and all the work he wanted.”
“Oh yes, I have read of him,” said Oliver. “He was Mr Williams, the missionary. He built the vessel, I think, at Raratonga, when he was left there by himself, without another European to help him. She was called the Messenger of Peace, and he sailed many thousand miles afterwards on board her in his missionary voyages. If Mr Williams—who had no knowledge of ship-building except such as he obtained from observation of the vessels he visited—could do so, we, at all events, ought to be able to build a craft capable of carrying us to Singapore, even though we may not secure much more from the wreck.”