grummidge asserts himself—great discoveries are made and the crew flits.
we must turn aside now for a time to inquire into the doings of the crew of the water wagtail, whom we left on the little island off the eastern seaboard of newfoundland. at first, when the discovery was made that the captain, paul, and oliver had been put ashore and left to take care of themselves without weapons or supplies, there was a disposition on the part of the better men of the crew to apply what we now style lynch law to big swinton, david garnet, and fred taylor. “let’s hang ’em,” suggested grummidge, at a meeting of the men when the culprits were not present. “sure an’ i’ll howld the rope wid pleasure,” said squill. “an’ i’ll help ye,” cried little stubbs.
but jim heron shook his head, and did not quite see his way to that, while george blazer protested against such violent proceedings altogether. as he was backed up by the majority of the crew, the proposal was negatived.
“but what are we to do, boys?” cried grummidge vehemently. “are we goin’ to be domineered over by swinton? why, every man he takes a dislike to, he’ll sneak into his tent when he’s asleep, make him fast, heave him into the boat, pull to the big island, land him there, and bid him good-bye. there won’t be one of us safe while he prowls about an’ gits help from three or four rascals as bad as himself.”
“ay, that’s it, boys,” said little stubbs; “it won’t be safe to trust him. hang him, say i.”
stubbs was a very emphatic little man, but his emphasis only roused the idea of drollery in the minds of those whom he addressed, and rather influenced them towards leniency.
“no, no,” cried the first mate of the water wagtail who, since the wreck, had seldom ventured to raise his voice in council; “i would advise rather that we should give him a thrashing, and teach him that we refuse to obey or recognise a self-constituted commander.”
“ah, sure now, that’s a raisonable plan,” said squill with something of sarcasm in his tone; “an’ if i might make so bowld i’d suggist that yoursilf, sor, shud give him the thrashin’.”
“nay, i am far from being the strongest man of the crew. the one that is best able should do the job.”
the mate looked pointedly at grummidge as he spoke; but grummidge, being a modest man, pretended not to see him.
“yes, yes, you’re right, sir, grummidge is the very man,” cried stubbs.
“hear, hear,” chorused several of the others. “come, old boy, you’ll do it, won’t you? and we’ll all promise to back you up.”
“well, look ’ee here, lads,” said grummidge, who seemed to have suddenly made up his mind, “this man has bin quarrellin’ wi’ me, off an’ on, since the beginning of the voyage, whether i would or not, so it may be as well to settle the matter now as at another time. i’ll do the job on one consideration.”
“what’s that?” cried several men.
“that you promises, on your honour (though none o’ you’s got much o’ that), that when i’ve done the job you agree to make me captain of the crew. it’s a moral impossibility, d’ee see, for people to git along without a leader, so if i agree to lead you in this, you must agree to follow me in everything—is it so?”
“agreed, agreed!” chorused his friends, only too glad that one of the physically strongest among them—also one of the best-humoured—should stand up to stem the tide of anarchy which they all clearly saw was rising among them.
“well, then,” resumed grummidge, “i see swinton with his three friends a-comin’. i’ll expect you to stand by an’ see fair play, for he’s rather too ready wi’ his knife.”
while he spoke the comrade in question was seen approaching, with fred taylor and david garnet, carrying a quantity of cod-fish that had just been caught.
“you’ve been holding a meeting, comrades, i think,” said swinton, looking somewhat suspiciously at the group of men, as he came up and flung down his load.
“yes, we have,” said grummidge, advancing, hands in pockets, and with a peculiar nautical roll which distinguished him. “you’re right, big swinton, we have bin havin’ a meetin’, a sort of trial, so to speak, an’ as you are the man what’s bin tried, it may interest you to know what sentence has bin passed upon you.”
“oh indeed!” returned swinton, with a look of cool insolence which he knew well how to assume, no matter what he felt. “well, yes, it would interest me greatly to hear the sentence of the learned judge—whoever he is.”
the fingers of the man fumbled as he spoke at his waist-belt, near the handle of his knife. observing this, grummidge kept a watchful eye on him, but did not abate his nonchalant free-and-easy air, as he stepped close up to him.
“the sentence is,” he said firmly but quietly, “that you no longer presume to give orders as if you was the captain o’ this here crew; that from this hour you fall to the rear and undertake second fiddle—or fourth fiddle, for the matter o’ that; and that you head a party to guide them in a sarch which is just a-goin’ to begin for the two men and the boy you have so sneakingly betrayed and put on shore—an’ all this you’ll have to do with a ready goodwill on pain o’ havin’ your brains knocked out if you don’t. moreover, you may be thankful that the sentence is so light, for some o’ your comrades would have had you hanged right off, if others hadn’t seen fit to be marciful.”
while this sentence was being pronounced, swinton’s expression underwent various changes, and his face became visibly paler under the steady gaze of grummidge. at the last word he grasped his knife and drew it, but his foe was prepared. like a flash of light he planted his hard knuckles between swinton’s eyes, and followed up the blow with another on the chest, which felled him to the ground.
there was no need for more. the big bully was rendered insensible, besides being effectually subdued, and from that time forward he quietly consented to play any fiddle—chiefly, however, the bass one. but he harboured in his heart a bitter hatred of grummidge, and resolved secretly to take a fearful revenge at the first favourable opportunity.
soon after that the boat was manned by as many of the crew as it could contain, and an exploring party went to the spot where captain trench and his companions had been landed, guided thereto by swinton, and led by his foe grummidge, whose bearing indicated, without swagger or threat, that the braining part of the sentence would be carried out on the slightest symptom of insubordination on the part of the former. while this party was away; those who remained on the islet continued to fish, and to preserve the fish for winter use by drying them in the sun.
we need scarcely add that the exploring party did not discover those for whom they sought, but they discovered the true nature of the main island, which, up to that time, they had supposed to be a group of isles. when the search was finally given up as hopeless, an examination of the coast was made, with a view to a change of abode.
“you see, lads,” observed grummidge, when discussing this subject, “it’s quite plain that we shall have to spend the winter here, an’ as i was a short bit to the south of these seas in the late autumn one voyage, i have reason to believe that we had better house ourselves, an’ lay in a stock o’ provisions if we would escape bein’ froze an’ starved.”
“troth, it’s well to escape that, boys,” remarked squills, “for it’s froze i was mesilf wance—all but—on a voyage to the baltic, an’ it’s starved to death was me owld grandmother—almost—so i can spake from experience.”
“an’ we couldn’t find a better place for winter-quarters than what we see before us,” said garnet. “it looks like a sort o’ paradise.”
we cannot say what sort of idea garnet meant to convey by this comparison, but there could be no question that the scene before them was exceedingly beautiful. the party had held their consultation on the crest of a bluff, and just beyond it lay a magnificent bay, the shores of which were clothed with luxuriant forests, and the waters studded with many islets. at the distant head of the bay the formation or dip of the land clearly indicated the mouth of a large river, while small streams and ponds were seen gleaming amid the foliage nearer at hand. at the time the sun was blazing in a cloudless sky, and those thick fogs which so frequently enshroud the coasts of newfoundland had not yet descended from the icy north.
“i say, look yonder. what’s blazer about?” whispered jim heron, pointing to his comrade, who had separated from the party, and was seen with a large stone in each hand creeping cautiously round a rocky point below them.
conjecture was useless and needless, for, while they watched him, blazer rose up, made a wild rush forward, hurled the stones in advance, and disappeared round the point. a few moments later he reappeared, carrying a large bird in his arms.
the creature which he had thus killed with man’s most primitive weapon was a specimen of the great auk—a bird which is now extinct. it was the size of a large goose, with a coal-black head and back, short wings, resembling the flippers of a seal, which assisted it wonderfully in the water, but were useless for flight, broad webbed feet, and legs set so far back that on land it sat erect like the penguins of the southern seas. at the time of which we write, the great auk was found in myriads on the low rocky islets on the eastern shores of newfoundland. now-a-days there is not a single bird to be found anywhere, and only a few specimens and skeletons remain in the museums of the world to tell that such creatures once existed. their extermination was the result of man’s reckless slaughter of them when the newfoundland banks became the resort of the world’s fishermen. not only was the great auk slain in vast numbers, for the sake of fresh food, but it was salted by tons for future use and sale. the valuable feathers, or down, also proved a source of temptation, and as the birds could not fly to other breeding-places, they gradually diminished in numbers and finally disappeared.
“why, blazer,” exclaimed heron, “that’s one o’ the sodger-like birds we frightened away from our little island when we first landed.”
“ay, an’ there’s plenty more where this one came from,” said blazer, throwing the bird down; “an’ they are so tame on the rocks round the point that i do believe we could knock ’em on the head with sticks, if we took ’em unawares. what d’ee say to try, lads?”
“agreed—for i’m gettin’ tired o’ fish now,” said grummidge. “how should we set about it, think ’ee?”
“cut cudgels for ourselves, then take to the boat creep round to one o’ the little islands in the bay, and go at ’em!” answered blazer.
this plan was carried out with as little delay as possible. an islet was boarded, as squill said, and the clumsy, astonished creatures lost numbers of their companions before making their escape into the sea. a further treasure was found in a large supply of their eggs. laden almost to the gunwale with fresh provisions, the search-party returned to their camp—some of them, indeed, distressed at having failed to find their banished friends, but most of them elated by their success with the great auks, and the prospect of soon going into pleasant winter-quarters.
so eager were they all to flit into this new region—this paradise of garnet—that operations were commenced on the very next day at early morn. the boat was launched and manned, and as much of their property as it would hold was put on board.
“you call it paradise, garnet,” said grummidge, as the two carried a bundle of dried cod slung on a pole between them, “but if you, and the like of ye, don’t give up swearin’, an’ try to mend your manners, the place we pitch on will be more like hell than paradise, no matter how comfortable and pretty it may be.”
garnet was not in a humour either to discuss this point or to accept a rebuke, so he only replied to the remark with a surly “humph!”
landing on the main island to the northward of the large bay, so as to secure a southern exposure, the boat-party proceeded to pitch their camp on a lovely spot, where cliff and coppice formed a luxuriant background. ramparts of rock protected them from the nor’-west gales, and purling rivulets hummed their lullaby. here they pitched their tents, and in a short space of time ran up several log huts, the material for which was supplied in abundance by the surrounding forest.
when the little settlement was sufficiently established, and all the goods and stores were removed from what now was known as wreck island, they once more launched the boat, and turned their attention to fishing—not on the great bank, about which at the time they were ignorant, but on the smaller banks nearer shore, where cod-fish were found in incredible numbers. some of the party, however, had more of the hunter’s than the fisher’s spirit in them, and prepared to make raids on the homes of the great auk, or to ramble in the forests.
squill was among the latter. one day, while rambling on the sea-shore looking for shellfish, he discovered a creature which not only caused him to fire off all the exclamations of his rich irish vocabulary, but induced him to run back to camp with heaving chest and distended eyes—almost bursting from excitement.
“what is it, boy?” chorused his comrades.
“och! musha! i’ve found it at long last!—the great say—sur—no, not exactly that, but the—the great, sprawlin’, long-legged—och! what shall i say? the great-grandfather of all the—the—words is wantin’, boys. come an’ see for yourselves!”
