第 十四 章 · THE ISLET

. THE ISLET

With my stepping ashore I began the most unhappy part of my adventures.

It was half-past twelve in the morning, and though the wind was broken

by the land, it was a cold night. I dared not sit down (for I thought

I should have frozen), but took off my shoes and walked to and fro upon

the sand, bare-foot, and beating my breast with infinite weariness.

There was no sound of man or cattle; not a cock crew, though it was

about the hour of their first waking; only the surf broke outside in the

distance, which put me in mind of my perils and those of my friend.

To walk by the sea at that hour of the morning, and in a place so

desert-like and lonesome, struck me with a kind of fear.

As soon as the day began to break I put on my shoes and climbed a

hill--the ruggedest scramble I ever undertook--falling, the whole way,

between big blocks of granite, or leaping from one to another. When I

got to the top the dawn was come. There was no sign of the brig, which

must have lifted from the reef and sunk. The boat, too, was nowhere to

be seen. There was never a sail upon the ocean; and in what I could see

of the land was neither house nor man.

I was afraid to think what had befallen my shipmates, and afraid to look

longer at so empty a scene. What with my wet clothes and weariness, and

my belly that now began to ache with hunger, I had enough to trouble

me without that. So I set off eastward along the south coast, hoping to

find a house where I might warm myself, and perhaps get news of those I

had lost. And at the worst, I considered the sun would soon rise and dry

my clothes.

After a little, my way was stopped by a creek or inlet of the sea, which

seemed to run pretty deep into the land; and as I had no means to get

across, I must needs change my direction to go about the end of it. It

was still the roughest kind of walking; indeed the whole, not only of

Earraid, but of the neighbouring part of Mull (which they call the Ross)

is nothing but a jumble of granite rocks with heather in among. At first

the creek kept narrowing as I had looked to see; but presently to my

surprise it began to widen out again. At this I scratched my head,

but had still no notion of the truth: until at last I came to a rising

ground, and it burst upon me all in a moment that I was cast upon a

little barren isle, and cut off on every side by the salt seas.

Instead of the sun rising to dry me, it came on to rain, with a thick

mist; so that my case was lamentable.

I stood in the rain, and shivered, and wondered what to do, till it

occurred to me that perhaps the creek was fordable. Back I went to the

narrowest point and waded in. But not three yards from shore, I plumped

in head over ears; and if ever I was heard of more, it was rather by

God’s grace than my own prudence. I was no wetter (for that could hardly

be), but I was all the colder for this mishap; and having lost another

hope was the more unhappy.

And now, all at once, the yard came in my head. What had carried me

through the roost would surely serve me to cross this little quiet creek

in safety. With that I set off, undaunted, across the top of the isle,

to fetch and carry it back. It was a weary tramp in all ways, and if

hope had not buoyed me up, I must have cast myself down and given up.

Whether with the sea salt, or because I was growing fevered, I was

distressed with thirst, and had to stop, as I went, and drink the peaty

water out of the hags.

I came to the bay at last, more dead than alive; and at the first

glance, I thought the yard was something farther out than when I left

it. In I went, for the third time, into the sea. The sand was smooth

and firm, and shelved gradually down, so that I could wade out till the

water was almost to my neck and the little waves splashed into my face.

But at that depth my feet began to leave me, and I durst venture in no

farther. As for the yard, I saw it bobbing very quietly some twenty feet

beyond.

I had borne up well until this last disappointment; but at that I came

ashore, and flung myself down upon the sands and wept.

The time I spent upon the island is still so horrible a thought to me,

that I must pass it lightly over. In all the books I have read of people

cast away, they had either their pockets full of tools, or a chest of

things would be thrown upon the beach along with them, as if on purpose.

My case was very different. I had nothing in my pockets but money and

Alan’s silver button; and being inland bred, I was as much short of

knowledge as of means.

I knew indeed that shell-fish were counted good to eat; and among the

rocks of the isle I found a great plenty of limpets, which at first I

could scarcely strike from their places, not knowing quickness to be

needful. There were, besides, some of the little shells that we call

buckies; I think periwinkle is the English name. Of these two I made my

whole diet, devouring them cold and raw as I found them; and so hungry

was I, that at first they seemed to me delicious.

Perhaps they were out of season, or perhaps there was something wrong

in the sea about my island. But at least I had no sooner eaten my first

meal than I was seized with giddiness and retching, and lay for a long

time no better than dead. A second trial of the same food (indeed I had

no other) did better with me, and revived my strength. But as long as

I was on the island, I never knew what to expect when I had eaten;

sometimes all was well, and sometimes I was thrown into a miserable

sickness; nor could I ever distinguish what particular fish it was that

hurt me.

All day it streamed rain; the island ran like a sop, there was no dry

spot to be found; and when I lay down that night, between two boulders

that made a kind of roof, my feet were in a bog.

The second day I crossed the island to all sides. There was no one part

of it better than another; it was all desolate and rocky; nothing living

on it but game birds which I lacked the means to kill, and the gulls

which haunted the outlying rocks in a prodigious number. But the creek,

or strait, that cut off the isle from the main-land of the Ross, opened

out on the north into a bay, and the bay again opened into the Sound of

Iona; and it was the neighbourhood of this place that I chose to be my

home; though if I had thought upon the very name of home in such a spot,

I must have burst out weeping.

I had good reasons for my choice. There was in this part of the isle a

little hut of a house like a pig’s hut, where fishers used to sleep when

they came there upon their business; but the turf roof of it had fallen

entirely in; so that the hut was of no use to me, and gave me less

shelter than my rocks. What was more important, the shell-fish on which

I lived grew there in great plenty; when the tide was out I could gather

a peck at a time: and this was doubtless a convenience. But the other

reason went deeper. I had become in no way used to the horrid solitude

of the isle, but still looked round me on all sides (like a man that

was hunted), between fear and hope that I might see some human creature

coming. Now, from a little up the hillside over the bay, I could catch a

sight of the great, ancient church and the roofs of the people’s houses

in Iona. And on the other hand, over the low country of the Ross, I saw

smoke go up, morning and evening, as if from a homestead in a hollow of

the land.

I used to watch this smoke, when I was wet and cold, and had my head

half turned with loneliness; and think of the fireside and the

company, till my heart burned. It was the same with the roofs of Iona.

Altogether, this sight I had of men’s homes and comfortable lives,

although it put a point on my own sufferings, yet it kept hope alive,

and helped me to eat my raw shell-fish (which had soon grown to be a

disgust), and saved me from the sense of horror I had whenever I was

quite alone with dead rocks, and fowls, and the rain, and the cold sea.

I say it kept hope alive; and indeed it seemed impossible that I should

be left to die on the shores of my own country, and within view of a

church-tower and the smoke of men’s houses. But the second day passed;

and though as long as the light lasted I kept a bright look-out for

boats on the Sound or men passing on the Ross, no help came near me. It

still rained, and I turned in to sleep, as wet as ever, and with a cruel

sore throat, but a little comforted, perhaps, by having said good-night

to my next neighbours, the people of Iona.

Charles the Second declared a man could stay outdoors more days in the

year in the climate of England than in any other. This was very like a

king, with a palace at his back and changes of dry clothes. But he must

have had better luck on his flight from Worcester than I had on that

miserable isle. It was the height of the summer; yet it rained for more

than twenty-four hours, and did not clear until the afternoon of the

third day.

This was the day of incidents. In the morning I saw a red deer, a buck

with a fine spread of antlers, standing in the rain on the top of the

island; but he had scarce seen me rise from under my rock, before

he trotted off upon the other side. I supposed he must have swum the

strait; though what should bring any creature to Earraid, was more than

I could fancy.

A little after, as I was jumping about after my limpets, I was startled

by a guinea-piece, which fell upon a rock in front of me and glanced off

into the sea. When the sailors gave me my money again, they kept back

not only about a third of the whole sum, but my father’s leather purse;

so that from that day out, I carried my gold loose in a pocket with a

button. I now saw there must be a hole, and clapped my hand to the place

in a great hurry. But this was to lock the stable door after the steed

was stolen. I had left the shore at Queensferry with near on fifty

pounds; now I found no more than two guinea-pieces and a silver

shilling.

It is true I picked up a third guinea a little after, where it lay

shining on a piece of turf. That made a fortune of three pounds and four

shillings, English money, for a lad, the rightful heir of an estate, and

now starving on an isle at the extreme end of the wild Highlands.

This state of my affairs dashed me still further; and, indeed my plight

on that third morning was truly pitiful. My clothes were beginning to

rot; my stockings in particular were quite worn through, so that my

shanks went naked; my hands had grown quite soft with the continual

soaking; my throat was very sore, my strength had much abated, and my

heart so turned against the horrid stuff I was condemned to eat, that

the very sight of it came near to sicken me.

And yet the worst was not yet come.

There is a pretty high rock on the northwest of Earraid, which (because

it had a flat top and overlooked the Sound) I was much in the habit of

frequenting; not that ever I stayed in one place, save when asleep, my

misery giving me no rest. Indeed, I wore myself down with continual and

aimless goings and comings in the rain.

As soon, however, as the sun came out, I lay down on the top of that

rock to dry myself. The comfort of the sunshine is a thing I cannot

tell. It set me thinking hopefully of my deliverance, of which I had

begun to despair; and I scanned the sea and the Ross with a fresh

interest. On the south of my rock, a part of the island jutted out and

hid the open ocean, so that a boat could thus come quite near me upon

that side, and I be none the wiser.

Well, all of a sudden, a coble with a brown sail and a pair of fishers

aboard of it, came flying round that corner of the isle, bound for Iona.

I shouted out, and then fell on my knees on the rock and reached up my

hands and prayed to them. They were near enough to hear--I could even

see the colour of their hair; and there was no doubt but they observed

me, for they cried out in the Gaelic tongue, and laughed. But the boat

never turned aside, and flew on, right before my eyes, for Iona.

I could not believe such wickedness, and ran along the shore from rock

to rock, crying on them piteously even after they were out of reach

of my voice, I still cried and waved to them; and when they were quite

gone, I thought my heart would have burst. All the time of my troubles

I wept only twice. Once, when I could not reach the yard, and now, the

second time, when these fishers turned a deaf ear to my cries. But this

time I wept and roared like a wicked child, tearing up the turf with

my nails, and grinding my face in the earth. If a wish would kill men,

those two fishers would never have seen morning, and I should likely

have died upon my island.

When I was a little over my anger, I must eat again, but with such

loathing of the mess as I could now scarce control. Sure enough, I

should have done as well to fast, for my fishes poisoned me again. I had

all my first pains; my throat was so sore I could scarce swallow; I had

a fit of strong shuddering, which clucked my teeth together; and there

came on me that dreadful sense of illness, which we have no name for

either in Scotch or English. I thought I should have died, and made my

peace with God, forgiving all men, even my uncle and the fishers; and as

soon as I had thus made up my mind to the worst, clearness came upon me;

I observed the night was falling dry; my clothes were dried a good deal;

truly, I was in a better case than ever before, since I had landed on

the isle; and so I got to sleep at last, with a thought of gratitude.

The next day (which was the fourth of this horrible life of mine) I

found my bodily strength run very low. But the sun shone, the air was

sweet, and what I managed to eat of the shell-fish agreed well with me

and revived my courage.

I was scarce back on my rock (where I went always the first thing after

I had eaten) before I observed a boat coming down the Sound, and with

her head, as I thought, in my direction.

I began at once to hope and fear exceedingly; for I thought these men

might have thought better of their cruelty and be coming back to my

assistance. But another disappointment, such as yesterday’s, was more

than I could bear. I turned my back, accordingly, upon the sea, and

did not look again till I had counted many hundreds. The boat was still

heading for the island. The next time I counted the full thousand, as

slowly as I could, my heart beating so as to hurt me. And then it was

out of all question. She was coming straight to Earraid!

I could no longer hold myself back, but ran to the seaside and out,

from one rock to another, as far as I could go. It is a marvel I was not

drowned; for when I was brought to a stand at last, my legs shook under

me, and my mouth was so dry, I must wet it with the sea-water before I

was able to shout.

All this time the boat was coming on; and now I was able to perceive

it was the same boat and the same two men as yesterday. This I knew by

their hair, which the one had of a bright yellow and the other black.

But now there was a third man along with them, who looked to be of a

better class.

As soon as they were come within easy speech, they let down their sail

and lay quiet. In spite of my supplications, they drew no nearer in, and

what frightened me most of all, the new man tee-hee’d with laughter as

he talked and looked at me.

Then he stood up in the boat and addressed me a long while, speaking

fast and with many wavings of his hand. I told him I had no Gaelic; and

at this he became very angry, and I began to suspect he thought he was

talking English. Listening very close, I caught the word “whateffer”

several times; but all the rest was Gaelic and might have been Greek and

Hebrew for me.

“Whatever,” said I, to show him I had caught a word.

“Yes, yes--yes, yes,” says he, and then he looked at the other men, as

much as to say, “I told you I spoke English,” and began again as hard as

ever in the Gaelic.

This time I picked out another word, “tide.” Then I had a flash of hope.

I remembered he was always waving his hand towards the mainland of the

Ross.

“Do you mean when the tide is out--?” I cried, and could not finish.

“Yes, yes,” said he. “Tide.”

At that I turned tail upon their boat (where my adviser had once more

begun to tee-hee with laughter), leaped back the way I had come, from

one stone to another, and set off running across the isle as I had never

run before. In about half an hour I came out upon the shores of the

creek; and, sure enough, it was shrunk into a little trickle of water,

through which I dashed, not above my knees, and landed with a shout on

the main island.

A sea-bred boy would not have stayed a day on Earraid; which is only

what they call a tidal islet, and except in the bottom of the neaps, can

be entered and left twice in every twenty-four hours, either dry-shod,

or at the most by wading. Even I, who had the tide going out and in

before me in the bay, and even watched for the ebbs, the better to get

my shellfish--even I (I say) if I had sat down to think, instead of

raging at my fate, must have soon guessed the secret, and got free. It

was no wonder the fishers had not understood me. The wonder was rather

that they had ever guessed my pitiful illusion, and taken the trouble to

come back. I had starved with cold and hunger on that island for close

upon one hundred hours. But for the fishers, I might have left my bones

there, in pure folly. And even as it was, I had paid for it pretty dear,

not only in past sufferings, but in my present case; being clothed like

a beggar-man, scarce able to walk, and in great pain of my sore throat.

I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both; and I believe

they both get paid in the end; but the fools first.