Crusoe's Island: A Ramble in the Footsteps of Alexander Selkirk

"To be sure, Abraham," said I, "we must find him, dead or alive. I'll go with you, of course. But tell me, as we walk along, what it was Pearce said to you last night. How did you get him back when he went out?"

"Oh, never mind that now," replied Abraham, looking, as I thought, rather confused.

"You gave him a dollar, didn't you?" said I; "what was that for?"

"Why, the fact is, Luff, he made those marks himself in some idle hour as he lay basking in the sun up there. He told me that he often spends whole days among the cliffs or sleeping in the caves, while his sheep are grazing in the valleys. You may have noticed that he was rather inclined to burst when he left the hut. The fellow had sense enough not to say any thing before the company. I thought it was worth a dollar to keep the thing quiet."

"It was well worth a dollar, Abraham; but the skull – what about the skull?"

"Oh, the skull? He said he picked it up one day outside the cave, and hove it up there, thinking it would do for a lamp some time or other. What excited me so when our shipmate spoke about it was that he should call it a dog's skull."

"And wasn't it?"

"Why, yes; to tell the truth, Luff, it was the skull of a wild dog; but you know one doesn't like to be told of such a thing. However, we must look about for the poor fellow, and not leave him ashore."

By this time we had reached an elevation some distance back of the huts. We stopped a while to listen, and then began shouting his name. At first we could hear nothing; but at length there was a sound reached our ears like a distant echo, only rather muffled.

"Halloo!" cried Abraham, as loud as he could.

"Halloo!" was faintly echoed back, after a pause.

"Nothing but an echo," said I.

"It doesn't sound like my voice," observed Abraham. "Halloo! where are you?" he shouted again, at the highest pitch of his voice. There was another pause.

"I'm here!" was the smothered reply.

"That's a queer echo," said Abraham; "I'll bet a dollar he's underground somewhere. Halloo! halloo! Where are you?" This time Abraham put his ear to the ground to listen.

"Here, I tell you!" answered the voice, in the same smothered tones. "Down here."

"He's not far off," said Abraham. "Come, let us look about."

We immediately set out in the direction of the voice. The path made a turn round a point of rocks some few hundred yards distant, on the right of which was a steep precipice. On reaching this, we walked on some distance, till we came to a narrow pass, with a high bluff on one side, and a large rock on the edge of the precipice. The path apparently came to an end here; but upon going a little farther, we saw that it formed a kind of step about three feet down, just at the beginning of the narrow pass, between the rock and the bluff, so that in making any farther progress it would be necessary to jump from the top of the step, or, in coming the other way, to jump up. It was necessary for us, at least, to jump some way before long, for upon arriving at the edge we discovered a pit about four feet wide at the mouth, and how deep it was impossible for us to tell at the moment. We thought it must be rather deep, however, from the sepulchral sounds that came out of it. "Here I am," said the voice, "down in the hole, here, if I ain't mistaken, but I wouldn't swear to it; I may be somewhere else: it feels like a hole – that's all I can say about it, except that it's tolerably deep, and smells of goats."

"A goat-trap!" exclaimed Abraham, in undisguised astonishment. "By heavens, Luff, he's caught in a goat-trap!"

"It may be a goat-trap, or it may not. I want you to observe that I neither deny nor affirm the proposition. There's not much room in it, however, except for doubt."

"How in the world are we to get him out?" cried Abraham, whose sympathies were now thoroughly aroused by the misfortune of his opponent. "We must contrive some plan to pull him out. Hold on here, Luff; I'll go and cut a pole."

While Abraham was hunting about among the bushes for a pole of suitable length, I sprang over to the other side of the pit, and, getting down on my hands and knees, looked into it, and perceived that it spread out toward the bottom, so that it was impossible to climb up without assistance.

"This is rather a bad business," said I; "what induced you to go down there?"

"I didn't come down here altogether of my own will," replied the Doubter; "credulity brought me here – too much credulity; taking things without sufficient proof; assuming a ground where no ground existed."

"How was that? I don't quite understand."

"Why, you see, I happened to come along this way about an hour ago, to see if the sun rose in the north, and not dreaming of goat-traps, I took it for granted that I could jump down a step in the path apparently not more than three feet deep. There's where the mistake was. A man has no business placing any dependence upon his eyes without strong collateral evidence from all the rest of his senses. I assumed the ground that there was ground at the bottom of the step. Accordingly, I jumped. There was no ground for the assumption. To be sure I descended three feet, according to my original design; but I descended at least twelve feet more, of which I had no intention whatever. The fact is, there was some rotten brushwood, covered with straw and clay, over the mouth of the pit, which I went through without the least difficulty."

"Are you hurt?" said I, anxiously.

"Well, I was considerably stunned. Likely enough some of my ribs are broken, and several blood-vessels ruptured; but I won't believe any thing more for some time. I've made up my mind to that. I may or may not be hurt, according to future proof."

By this time Abraham came running toward the pit as fast as he could, with a long pole in his hand, which he had cut among the bushes.

"This is the best I could get," said he, nearly breathless with haste, and very much excited; "there were some others, but I didn't think they were strong enough." Without farther delay, he sprang across the pit to the lower side, and thrust the pole down as far as he could reach. It must have struck something, for he immediately drew it back a little, and the voice of the Doubter was heard to exclaim, in a high state of irritation,

"Halloo, there! What are you about? Confound it, sir, I'm not a wild beast, to be stirred up in that way."

"Never mind," said Abraham, "I didn't intend to hurt you. Take hold of the pole. I'll pull you out. Take hold of it quick, and hang on as hard as you can."

"No, sir; it can't be done, sir. I'll not take hold of any thing upon an uncertainty."

"But there's no uncertainty about this," cried Abraham, in a high state of excitement; "it's perfectly safe. Take hold, I tell you."

"Can't be done, sir, can't be done," said the Doubter; "there's not sufficient proof that you'll pull me out if I do take hold. No, sir; I've been deceived once, and I don't mean to be deceived again."

"Now, by heavens, Luff, this is too bad. He doubts my honor. What are we to do?" And Abraham wrung his hands in despair. "Halloo, there, I say – halloo!"

"Well, what do you want?" answered the voice of the Doubter.

"I want to pull you out. Surely you don't think I'll be guilty of any thing so dishonorable as to take advantage of your misfortune?"

"I don't think at all," said the Doubter, gloomily; "I've given up thinking. You may or may not be an honorable man. At present I have nobody's word for it but your own."

Here I thought it proper to protest that I knew Abraham well; that there was not a more honorable man living. "Besides," I added, "there's no other way for you to get out of the pit."

"Very well, then," said the Doubter; "I'll take hold, but you must take hold too, and see that he doesn't let go. Pull away, gentlemen!"

Abraham and myself accordingly pulled away as hard as we could, and in a few moments the head of our comrade appeared in the light, a short distance below the rim of the pit. I had barely time to notice that his hair was filled with straw and clay, when Abraham, in his eagerness to get him entirely clear of danger, made a sudden pull, which would certainly have accomplished the object had the Doubter come with the upper part of the pole. But such was not the case. On the contrary, both my friend and myself fell flat upon our backs; and upon jumping up, we discovered that the Doubter had fallen into the pit again, carrying with him the lower end of the pole, which had unfortunately broken off at that critical moment. There he lay in the bottom of the pit, writhing and groaning in the most frightful manner.

"He's killed! he's killed!" cried Abraham, in perfect agony of mind. "Oh, Luff, to think that I killed him at last! It was all my fault. Here, quick! Lower me down! I must help him!"

Before I had time to say a word, Abraham seized hold of my right hand, and, directing me to hold on with all my might, he began to let himself down into the pit. It required the utmost tension of every muscle to bear his weight, but the excitement nerved me. "Let go, now!" said he, as soon as he got as far down as I could lower him without lowering myself, which I narrowly escaped; "let go, Luff!" I did so, and heard a dull, heavy fall, and a groan louder than before.

"What's the matter, Abraham – did you hurt yourself?"

"Not myself," said Abraham, "but I'm afraid I hurt him. I fell on him."

"You did," groaned a voice, faintly, "you fell on me. I'm tolerably certain of that. It was a shabby trick, sir; it wasn't bad enough to throw me down here, without jumping on top of me when I couldn't defend myself!"

"I hope you're not much hurt," said Abraham; "it was all accident – I swear it, on my sacred honor!"

"Honor!" groaned the Doubter, contemptuously; "is it honorable to drop a man into a pit, and knock all the breath out of his body, and then jump on top of him! Honor, indeed! But it was my own fault: I was too ready to take things without proof."

"Now, by all that's human!" cried Abraham, stung to the quick at these unmerited reproaches, "I'll prove to you that I didn't mean it. Get up on my shoulders – here, I'll help you – and climb out. Would any but an honorable man do that?"

"It depends upon his motives," replied the Doubter; "I won't take motives on credit any more. I'm not going to get up on your shoulders, and have you jump from under me about the time I get hold of something above, and leave me to fall down and break my back, or hang there. No, sir, I want no farther assistance. I've made up my mind to spend the remainder of my days here."

"You sha'n't stay here!" cried Abraham, exasperated to the last degree by these taunts. "By heavens, sir, you shall be assisted!"

Here there was a struggle in the bottom of the pit; the Doubter writhing like an eel all over the ground in his attempts to elude the grasp of Abraham; but soon he was in the powerful arms of my friend, who, holding him up, shouted lustily, "Catch hold of him, Luff! Catch him by the hair or the coat-collar! Hold on to him, while I shove him up!"

The writhing form of the Doubter at the same moment loomed up in the light, and I called upon him to give me his hands; but he resolutely held them down, protesting that he would trust no man for the future; that he'd die before any body should deceive him again. In this extremity, driven almost frantic in my zeal for his safety, I grasped at the collar of his coat, and succeeded, after some difficulty, in getting a firm hold of it. "All right!" I shouted; "push away now, Abraham!" In spite of every exertion on Abraham's part, however, our unfortunate comrade rose no higher, which I can only account for by the depth of the pit. "A little higher, Abraham – just two inches – that's it – all right!" It certainly was all right so far; I had drawn him partly over the edge, and would eventually have drawn him entirely over, had it not caved in, by reason of the united weight of both on it at the same time, and thus the matter was prevented from being all right to any greater extent. The consequence of this disaster was, that we both fell heavily upon Abraham, who, unable to bear our united weight, fell himself under the Doubter, while I, being uppermost, formed a kind of apex to the pyramid. Our fall was thus broken in some measure; and, although Abraham groaned heavily under our weight, yet, as fortune would have it, nobody was hurt. The Doubter was the first who spoke.

"I told you so!" said he, faintly; "but you would try. You would try, in spite of all I could say, and now you see the consequence. It appears to me that there are three men caught in a goat-trap now instead of one; but I'll not insist upon it; there may be only one. My eyes have deceived me already, and likely as not they deceive me now."

"No, they don't," said Abraham, in smothered tones; "I'm quite certain there are two of you on top of me. Get off, if you can, for I can't breathe much longer in this position. You may depend upon it, there are three of us here."

"I shall depend upon nothing for the future," replied the Doubter, gloomily; "I depended upon a pole just now, and was dropped; I put faith in that pole, and both the faith and the pole were broken at the same time, and my back too nearly, if not quite broken."

"But I'm not a pole," groaned Abraham, "you may depend upon that. Get off now, do, for heaven's sake."

"You don't feel like a pole," said the Doubter, "but you may be one, for all I know; there's no telling what you are. However, I'll get off, lest you should break likewise."

I had already relieved Abraham of my weight; and being now entirely free, he got up, and we began to consider how we were to get out of the pit.

As good luck would have it, we heard some voices approaching, which we soon discovered to be a couple of Chilians, to whom the trap belonged, coming thus early in the morning to see if it had caught any goats. When they looked over and saw the earth broken in, they were greatly rejoiced; but no sooner did they perceive that the game consisted of three full-grown men, than they ran away as fast as they could, shouting "Diabolo! Diabolo!" Abraham, who had been studying Spanish during the voyage, understood sufficient of the language to call out "Americanos! Americanos! no Diabolo! Per amore Deos, viene' qui! Amigos! amigos! no Diabolo!" This caused them to halt; and upon its being repeated a great many times, they ventured to the edge of the pit, where Abraham gave them every assurance that we were three unfortunate Americans, who had fallen into the trap by accident, and that we were in no way related to the devil. Upon this, they took a coil of rope, which they had for pulling up goats, and making a noose on one end, they let it down. The first man that was fastened on was the Doubter. It required the united efforts of Abraham and myself to get him into the noose; but we eventually had the pleasure of seeing him go up through the hole without farther accident. I then yielded reluctantly to Abraham, who insisted, as a point of honor, that he should be the last man. Being light, I was whirled out in a twinkling; and, finally, through this providential turn of affairs, we were all safely landed outside of the pit. The two Chilians, unable to divine the causes which had led to this singular state of things, looked on as if still half afraid that they had pulled some very bad characters out of the ground, muttering, as we shook the dirt off our clothes, "Madre de Deos! Santa Maria! Padre bonita!" I considered this a fitting opportunity, in view of the happy issue of the disaster, to effect a full and complete reconciliation between Abraham and the Doubter, and therefore proposed that they should shake hands on the spot, and forego all future hostilities. My friend immediately held out his hand in the frankest manner; the Doubter hesitated a moment, as if afraid that it might result in his being pulled back again into the pit; but, unable any longer to resist the hearty sincerity of his opponent, he gave his hand, and suffered it to be shaken; and so rejoiced was Abraham in finding every thing was thus happily settled, that he shook on with all his force for at least five minutes, during which the two Chilians, knowing no good reason why a pair of strange gentlemen, just pulled out of a goat-trap, should stand shaking hands with one another, exhibited the utmost surprise and consternation, exclaiming, as before, "Madre de Deos! Santa Maria! Padre bonita!"

We contrived to make up the sum of a dollar between us, which we gave to the men, telling them, at the same time, that they need not mention this matter, should they see any of our companions before we left the island. We then started for Pearce's hut, which we soon reached. The rest of the party had finished breakfast, and were waiting for us at the boat-landing. They had left directions with Pearce that we were to follow without delay, with or without the missing man, as the ship had made a signal for us to come aboard. While the Doubter and myself were making a hasty snack, Abraham took a piece of bread and meat, and started off to let our friends know that we had found the missing man, and would soon be down. In a few minutes we concluded our snack, and were about leaving the cabin, when Pearce said he reckoned some of us had left a bundle, which he had found in the corner. The bundle consisted of a handkerchief tied up, with something in it, which I quickly discovered to be the relic we had found in Crusoe's Cave.

"Where did you get that?" said Pearce.

"We dug it up in Crusoe's Cave; it was made by Alexander Selkirk."

"No it wasn't; it was made by me. I lived there a while when I first came on the island, and made it myself. I know the mark. I made it about a year and a half ago."

"But how is that?" said I, greatly astonished; "it looks to be over a century and a half old."

"It wasn't baked enough," said Pearce; "that's the reason it didn't keep well. The name's broke off, but there's part of what I writ on it."

"Impossible!" said I. "Don't you see "A S… 170 – ?' What can that be but Alexander Selkirk, 1704, which was just the time he lived here!"

"No, 'taint; Alexander Selkirk never made that 'ere. I made it myself. I put my name on it; but the name's broke off. I writ, 'A Saucepan maid by W. Pearce, 17 Oct.' That's all. 'Taint no use to me now; you may take it, ef you want to."

I took it without saying another word; tied it up again in the handkerchief, and asked Pearce if he was going down with us to the boat-landing. He said he would be down there presently. So, without farther delay, we set out to join our companions. As we walked rapidly along the path, my shipmate suffered strange sounds to escape from his throat, indicative of his feelings. Suddenly he stopped, as if unable to restrain himself any longer.

"Where are you going?" said he.

"Going aboard, to be sure; come on, they're waiting for us."

"You are, eh? going aboard, eh? Well, any thing to humor the idea. It sounds very like reality, indeed – very."

"And why shouldn't it?" said I.

"Of course, why shouldn't it? Look here, Luff, you're rather a clever sort of fellow."

"Do you think so?" said I, a little embarrassed at so abrupt an opinion in my favor.

"Yes, I do," said the Doubter; "I always did. Will you just have the goodness to look into my mouth (opening it at the same time as wide as he could). Now, just cast your eyes into this cavity."

I did as he desired me, thinking perhaps the poor fellow was suffering from his fall into the goat-pit.

"Well," said I, "there's nothing there, so far as I can see, except a piece of tobacco. Your tongue looks badly."

"It does, eh? No matter about that. This is what I want you to notice: that I have a tolerably big swallowing apparatus, but I'm not the style of man that's calculated to swallow an entire island. Possibly I might get down a piece of a skull, or an old saucepan, with a grain of salt; but I can't swallow Juan Fernandez, with Robinson Crusoe and Alexander Selkirk – two of the biggest liars that ever existed, on top of it. No, sir, it can't be done."

I thought myself that he was not a person likely to accomplish a feat of that kind, for his throat was not uncommonly large, and his digestive organs appeared to be weakly.

"No, I shouldn't think so," said I. "You don't look like a man that could swallow so much."

"Very well, then; I'm willing to humor the idea. I'll imagine we're going aboard from Juan Fernandez, if you like. But the island doesn't exist! No, sir; it reads very well on paper; it's a very romantic place, no doubt – if any body could find it; a very pleasant spot for a small tea-party between a pair of wandering vagabonds; but it doesn't exist any where else but on the maps. Don't you ever try, Luff, to make me believe that any of these things which we imagine to have occurred within the past three days have the slightest foundation in fact."

I was not prepared to go to the full extent of denying the entire existence of the island; but, I must confess, there was a good deal in our experiences of the past three days calculated to inspire doubt; so much, indeed, that I hardly knew what to believe myself. Even now, after the lapse of four years, and the frequent repetition of all these adventures to my friends, which has given something more of reality to the doubtful points, I would hardly be willing to swear to more than the general outline; nor am I quite certain that even the main incidents would stand cross-examination in a Court of Doubters. Such, reader, is the deceptive nature of appearances!

While we were talking, Pearce overtook us with a bundle of goatskins which we had bargained for the night before, and we all went down to the boat-landing together. There we found our shipmates all ready to start. The Anteus was lying-to about eight or ten miles off, outside the harbor; and the sea being rather rough, we thought it best to agree with Pearce for some seats in his boat, and hire a couple of the Chilians to help us at the oars. In this way, having stored all our relics in the bow of the boat except the earthen pot, which we had the misfortune to drop overboard, we set out for the ship, bidding a general good-by to Juan Fernandez and all its romantic vales with three hearty cheers. A few heavy seas broke over us when we got outside the harbor; and we saw the Brooklyn weighing anchor and preparing to stand out to sea, and a small brig that we had met in Rio beating in; but, with the exception of these little incidents, nothing occurred worth mentioning till we arrived alongside the Anteus. The captain and all the passengers received us in silence; not a word was spoken by any body; no sign of rejoicing or recognition whatever took place as we stepped on board. We thought it rather a cool termination to our adventures, and could only account for it by supposing that this was the way people thought to be dead and buried are usually treated when they come unexpectedly to life again after a great deal of grief has been wasted upon them. Nor were we wrong in our conjectures; for in about five minutes our friends on board, including the kind-hearted captain, finding themselves entirely unable to keep up such a state of displeasure, crowded around us in different parts of the ship, and began shaking hands with us privately, and asking us a thousand questions about Juan Fernandez and Robinson Crusoe. We introduced our worthy host as the real Crusoe of the island, and brought both him and the Chilians down into the cabin, where we gave them as much as they could eat, besides honorably acquitting ourselves of our indebtedness by paying our friend Pearce all the ham and bread we had promised him, and loading him with sundry presents of clothing and groceries. The captain then ordered the yards to be braced; the boat swung off as we began to plow our way once more toward the Golden Land, and before noon the island was blue in the distance.

CHAPTER XXIII.

DOCTOR STILLMAN'S JOURNAL

I have been kindly permitted to select the following from the private journal of Dr. J. D. B. Stillman, of New York, an intelligent fellow-passenger on the Anteus. It will give some idea of the state of feeling on board during our absence.

"Sunday, May 20th. Eleven passengers left the vessel yesterday in a small boat, with the intention of going ashore on the island of Juan Fernandez for fruit and fresh provisions. At first they made but little progress ahead of the ship, but the wind soon fell away entirely, and about noon the boat could not be seen from the mast-head. Another party of eight passengers prepared to start about two o'clock this morning. The captain, however, was so uneasy at the absence of the other boat, that he refused liberty. Lights were kept burning in the rigging during the night. Toward morning a breeze sprung up. Short sail was carried for fear the boat should attempt to reach us and miss her way. At sunrise it was again calm. The islands loomed higher, but nothing could be distinguished. At 11 A.M. a stiff breeze sprang up from the direction of Masatierra, and the day was spent in beating to windward, and straining our eyes in the hope of discerning some traces of our lost comrades. The wind continued to freshen all day. At 8 P.M. the sea was quite rough. No light could be seen on the shore. The captain, who is well acquainted with the island, says if they attempted to land on the south side they would be inevitably swamped, and some or all lost, as the shore is rock-bound, and the only safe landing is on the north side, fifteen miles farther on. The probability is that they were too much exhausted to attempt landing, and night would have fallen before they could have reached the land at any rate. I am confident in the opinion that they are on the north side of the island, and that they lay all last night on their oars, and landed this morning, too much exhausted to attempt returning the same day. I have great confidence in some of the company; but to-night gloom is general, and a fearful presentiment seems to rest upon the minds of all that we shall soon have to record a melancholy casualty.