The morning was too tempestuous to allow the boat to make the passage to the settlement. Harry, therefore, set all the men to work to construct litters on which the ladies and the weaker women and children might be carried, Ensign Holt having undertaken to show the way, which he declared practicable, though in places somewhat rough and marshy.
The women meantime were busily employed in preparing breakfast. Paul Lizard had, fortunately, some hooks and lines in his pocket, and he set the boys to work to catch fish.
The mutineers did not appear; but Willy and Peter were sent to see what had become of them, and they reported that they were lying asleep round the ashes of their fire, with a spirit cask near them, a small portion of the liquor only remaining in it. Harry felt that it was important for him to return to the settlement, in order to make preparations for the support of so many people, or he would gladly have remained with Captain Westerway, to assist him in getting stores from the wreck, and seeing what could be done to build another vessel, as had been proposed. He left, however, Bollard and Lizard with him; while he, taking young Broke as his guide, and four of the emigrants, set off towards the settlement, it being arranged that Ensign Holt, aided by Mr Paget, Charles, and the other gentlemen, should conduct the main body.
Captain Westerway undertook, should he be able to obtain the provisions, to send them up in the cutter, under charge of Mr Bollard, One of the ship’s boats, though stove in so as then to be useless, remained on deck; and the captain hoped, should she not be washed away, to repair her sufficiently to be of use in visiting the wreck.
Some time passed before the young ensign’s party were ready to start, and had been supplied with food. Several of the women had found biscuits in their pockets, which afforded support to the younger children. The young ladies had begged to be allowed to walk, but were assured that their shoes were unfit for the rough ground which they would have to traverse. Willy and Peter, with two other boys, insisted on carrying May, while Emily’s litter was borne by her elder brother, Mr Paget, Tom Loftus, and Jack Ivyleaf. Mrs Clagget declined taking her seat on the litter prepared for her. “No, no; you men will be letting me down in the middle of a bog,” she exclaimed. “If some one would lend me a pair of boots, I would show you that I could trudge as well as any body.” As may be supposed, no boots were to be procured; but Jack Ivyleaf, ever fertile in resources, undertook to fit the old lady with a pair of seal-skin moccasins, which would protect her feet from the rocks.
The party formed a long line, not unlike a caravan prepared to cross the desert. They were in tolerable spirits, but the more thoughtful ones could not help feeling anxious about the means of supplying so many mouths with food.
As soon as they had started, Captain Westerway launched the boat, to be ready to visit the wreck directly the weather moderated sufficiently. Meantime, while some of the people were collecting the pieces of timber and planking which were washed on shore, others were engaged in cutting wood for building the huts they required to shelter them from the cold and rain at night.
Towards evening the sea had gone down sufficiently to enable the captain and his first mate, with Mr Bollard, to get alongside the ship. A short inspection soon convinced them that she was a hopeless wreck.
“It cannot be helped, Windy,” said Captain Westerway, with a sigh. “We must now try to make the best of what remains of her.”
“Cheer up, captain,” answered the mate; “though the old ‘Crusader’ will carry us no longer over the ocean, we will have a ‘Young Crusader’ built before long, and she will do good service if, by her means, we can get away to some Christian land. We might have been much worse off than we are, and, to my mind, we have no cause to grumble. Here’s our boat still safe, and, with some tinkering, she may be made to swim and serve us well. We will tow her on shore; but first we will see what provisions we can come at to carry with us.”