Daylight—I make the land—Dick recovers—Captured by a native canoe—Taken on shore—Compelled to work as slaves—our hopes of escape disappointed—Dick again ill—His death—I bury him—Threatening of war—Harry joins me—We witness a single combat—Our champion defeated—Captured by the enemy—Ill-treated—Harry disappears—I escape to the beach—See a boat—The savages pursue me—Rescued by Mudge.
Anxiously I looked out ahead for land—now on one bow, now on the other; for I could not tell how far to the westward I had been driven, or on which side it might appear. It was possible, indeed, that I might have got so far to the west as to pass the island altogether should I continue to steer due south; and yet in the uncertainty I hesitated to take another course.
As I sat in the stern-sheets, I watched Tillard’s countenance. He seemed at length to have fallen into a quiet sleep, and I trusted that when he awoke he would feel himself much better. I bored a hole in the end of a cocoa-nut, and also got some fish ready, that I might give him some food as soon as he awoke. But still he slept on; and the fear came over me that it might prove the sleep preceding death. Under other circumstances, I should not probably have thought so; but I was weary and anxious, and my spirits sank to the lowest ebb. As I sat in the boat, gliding over the now tranquil sea, glittering with the rays of the sun, I might have been regarded as a picture of perfect contentment,—very different, indeed, from what was really the case.
Every now and then I stood up to look out for the wished-for land; till at length a light mist which had hung over the water was dissipated by the increasing heat of the sun, and to my joy I caught sight of the lofty headland we had hoped to double the day before, rising out of the blue water much nearer than I had expected to find it. My spirits rose; and I began to hope that, should Dick recover, my troubles and anxieties would be at an end. I could not help shouting out “Land! land!” though I was not aware that I had done so till I heard the sound of my own voice. It had the effect of arousing Dick, however.
“Land, Mr Rayner!” he exclaimed. “I thought we were about to enter the harbour to meet Mr Mudge and the rest.”
I tried to explain what had happened, but his senses were too confused to allow him for some time to understand me.
“What! have you been at the helm all night? You must be pretty well knocked up, sir,” he said. “Let me take it while you lie down. You need rest.”
I observed, from the way he spoke, that his senses were still confused; so I told him that I had already had some sleep, and that I was able to keep at the helm very well for the present.
I now gave him some cocoa-nut milk and a little fish, which he took very readily; and after eating some of the solid food he appeared much better, and was soon able to sit up and talk rationally.
Calculating by the time we had taken to reach the headland, he judged that we should not get into the harbour at soonest till sunset; and he advised that we should economise our food, in case we should be kept out still longer, as would certainly be the case did it again fall calm.