The Three Commanders

by William Henry Giles Kingston

“I wonder we didn’t think of that before,” said Tom, and they immediately carried out Gerald’s suggestion. Mr Large had some difficulty in creeping under it, and very nearly brought the canoe down upon himself, but by choosing the broadest part he found sufficient room to lie on his back; while Tom took one end and Gerald the other. Though the birds screamed as loudly as ever, the canoe-wrecked party knew that they were perfectly safe, and could afford to laugh at them. However, they soon went to sleep and forgot all about the matter. They might have slept on till the middle of the next day, as there was no one to call them, had not Tom been awakened by the pangs of hunger; when, starting up, forgetting where he was, he gave his head such a thundering knock against the bottom of the canoe that the noise awakened Desmond, who did precisely the same thing. When the boatswain, giving a heave with his body, turned over the canoe, they discovered that the sun had already risen several degrees above the horizon.

“Here’s a pretty kettle of fish to fry, as my missus would say,” exclaimed Mr Large, as he sat up rubbing his eyes; “we ought to have been on board by daybreak, and here we are as if we were upon leave for a month.”

“I only wish we’d something for breakfast,” exclaimed Desmond, as he got on his legs; “we shall have to breakfast on the raw birds after all.”

“Look out there, young gentlemen, where we left the ship—what’s become of her?” cried Mr Large.

The midshipmen looked round with dismay; the ship was certainly not where she had been. “I can’t make it out,” he exclaimed; “if she’s gone I ought to have gone with her, and a pretty scrape I am in. It won’t matter so much for you young gentlemen, as, of course, it will all be laid to my door; and here we are now without a drop of rum, or a drop of water to mix with it, or anything more eatable than raw, fishy geese. We shouldn’t starve if we were left here for a week, but we should suffer pretty severely from want of water.”

“I hope that we shall not have to wait here for a week,” said Tom; “and as it seems to me that the surf has gone down, I think the sooner we load the canoe and go in search of the ship the better, since she doesn’t come in search of us.”

Tom’s proposal was at once agreed to, it being evident that the surf had considerably gone down. The only objection to shoving off was the want of the third paddle; greatly, however, to the boatswain’s satisfaction, they espied it washed on shore. The only difficulty now remaining was to know where to pull to. The boatswain suggested that they should make the best of their way to the other island, as the ship was certain to return to her former anchorage. They accordingly loaded the canoe with as many birds as she could carry, and while the two midshipmen ran her off, Mr Large sat aft ready to use his paddles directly they jumped on board. This they nimbly did, and seized their paddles. Mr Large would have certainly upset the canoe, had he made the attempt to get in after she was afloat. Desmond and Tom managed it, however, very cleverly; and away she dashed. They were soon amid the breakers; the canoe, however, rode buoyantly over them, and was quickly skimming across the placid water to the southward.

They had not gone far, when a wreath of smoke was seen rising above the island, and presently the Gauntlet herself appeared towing a dhow, which they had little doubt she must have captured.

“My luck!” cried the boatswain; “I’d have given a week’s pay rather than to have missed being on board while she was catching her first prize; however, it can’t be helped. There’s one good thing; as the ship must have gone away early in the night, for what the commander and everybody else knows, we may have been waiting out here for them ever since. Don’t talk about the way I was treated by the birds, young gentlemen, if you please; my brother officers, the gunner and carpenter, would never cease chaffing me about it.”

Of course Tom and Gerald promised to be discreet; and they were now only anxious to get over the interview with the commander, hoping that they would not be asked any questions difficult to answer. “At all events, it was not our fault that we were not on board earlier,” said Tom; “he can’t say that; and as we bring a good supply of birds, both he and everyone else ought to be thankful to us.”