Chapter 22

Our situation, as it now appeared, was scarcely less dreadful
than when we had conceived ourselves entombed forever. We saw
before us no prospect but that of being put to death by the
savages, or of dragging out a miserable existence in captivity
among them. We might, to be sure, conceal ourselves for a time
from their observation among the fastnesses of the hills, and, as
a final resort, in the chasm from which we had just issued; but
we must either perish in the long polar winter through cold and
famine, or be ultimately discovered in our efforts to obtain
relief.

The whole country around us seemed to be swarming with savages,
crowds of whom, we now perceived, had come over from the islands
to the southward on flat rafts, doubtless with a view of lending
their aid in the capture and plunder of the Jane. The vessel
still lay calmly at anchor in the bay, those on board being
apparently quite unconscious of any danger awaiting them. How we
longed at that moment to be with them! either to aid in effecting
their escape, or to perish with them in attempting a defence. We
saw no chance even of warning them of their danger without
bringing immediate destruction upon our own heads, with but a
remote hope of benefit to them. A pistol fired might suffice to
apprise them that something wrong had occurred; but the report
could not possibly inform them that their only prospect of safety
lay in getting out of the harbour forthwith—it could not tell
them that no principles of honour now bound them to remain, that
their companions were no longer among the living. Upon hearing
the discharge they could not be more thoroughly prepared to meet
the foe, who were now getting ready to attack, than they already
were, and always had been. No good, therefore, and infinite harm,
would result from our firing, and after mature deliberation, we
forbore.

Our next thought was to attempt to rush toward the vessel, to
seize one of the four canoes which lay at the head of the bay,
and endeavour to force a passage on board. But the utter
impossibility of succeeding in this desperate task soon became
evident. The country, as I said before, was literally swarming
with the natives, skulking among the bushes and recesses of the
hills, so as not to be observed from the schooner. In our
immediate vicinity especially, and blockading the sole path by
which we could hope to attain the shore at the proper point were
stationed the whole party of the black skin warriors, with
Too-wit at their head, and apparently only waiting for some
re-enforcement to commence his onset upon the Jane. The canoes,
too, which lay at the head of the bay, were manned with savages,
unarmed, it is true, but who undoubtedly had arms within reach.
We were forced, therefore, however unwillingly, to remain in our
place of concealment, mere spectators of the conflict which
presently ensued.

In about half an hour we saw some sixty or seventy rafts, or
flatboats, without riggers, filled with savages, and coming round
the southern bight of the harbor. They appeared to have no arms
except short clubs, and stones which lay in the bottom of the
rafts. Immediately afterward another detachment, still larger,
appeared in an opposite direction, and with similar weapons. The
four canoes, too, were now quickly filled with natives, starting
up from the bushes at the head of the bay, and put off swiftly to
join the other parties. Thus, in less time than I have taken to
tell it, and as if by magic, the Jane saw herself surrounded by
an immense multitude of desperadoes evidently bent upon capturing
her at all hazards.

That they would succeed in so doing could not be doubted for an
instant. The six men left in the vessel, however resolutely they
might engage in her defence, were altogether unequal to the
proper management of the guns, or in any manner to sustain a
contest at such odds. I could hardly imagine that they would make
resistance at all, but in this was deceived; for presently I saw
them get springs upon the cable, and bring the vessel’s starboard
broadside to bear upon the canoes, which by this time were within
pistol range, the rafts being nearly a quarter of a mile to
windward. Owing to some cause unknown, but most probably to the
agitation of our poor friends at seeing themselves in so hopeless
a situation, the discharge was an entire failure. Not a canoe was
hit or a single savage injured, the shots striking short and
ricocheting over their heads. The only effect produced upon them
was astonishment at the unexpected report and smoke, which was so
excessive that for some moments I almost thought they would
abandon their design entirely, and return to the shore. And this
they would most likely have done had our men followed up their
broadside by a discharge of small arms, in which, as the canoes
were now so near at hand, they could not have failed in doing
some execution, sufficient, at least, to deter this party from a
farther advance, until they could have given the rafts also a
broadside. But, in place of this, they left the canoe party to
recover from their panic, and, by looking about them, to see that
no injury had been sustained, while they flew to the larboard to
get ready for the rafts.

The discharge to larboard produced the most terrible effect. The
star and double-headed shot of the large guns cut seven or eight
of the rafts completely asunder, and killed, perhaps, thirty or
forty of the savages outright, while a hundred of them, at least,
were thrown into the water, the most of them dreadfully wounded.
The remainder, frightened out of their senses, commenced at once
a precipitate retreat, not even waiting to pick up their maimed
companions, who were swimming about in every direction, screaming
and yelling for aid. This great success, however, came too late
for the salvation of our devoted people. The canoe party were
already on board the schooner to the number of more than a
hundred and fifty, the most of them having succeeded in
scrambling up the chains and over the boarding-netting even
before the matches had been applied to the larboard guns. Nothing
now could withstand their brute rage. Our men were borne down at
once, overwhelmed, trodden under foot, and absolutely torn to
pieces in an instant.

Seeing this, the savages on the rafts got the better of their
fears, and came up in shoals to the plunder. In five minutes the
Jane was a pitiable scene indeed of havoc and tumultuous outrage.
The decks were split open and ripped up; the cordage, sails, and
everything movable on deck demolished as if by magic, while, by
dint of pushing at the stern, towing with the canoes, and hauling
at the sides, as they swam in thousands around the vessel, the
wretches finally forced her on shore (the cable having been
slipped), and delivered her over to the good offices of Too-wit,
who, during the whole of the engagement, had maintained, like a
skilful general, his post of security and reconnaissance among
the hills, but, now that the victory was completed to his
satisfaction, condescended to scamper down with his warriors of
the black skin, and become a partaker in the spoils.

Too-wit’s descent left us at liberty to quit our hiding place and
reconnoitre the hill in the vicinity of the chasm. At about fifty
yards from the mouth of it we saw a small spring of water, at
which we slaked the burning thirst that now consumed us. Not far
from the spring we discovered several of the filbert-bushes which
I mentioned before. Upon tasting the nuts we found them
palatable, and very nearly resembling in flavour the common
English filbert. We collected our hats full immediately,
deposited them within the ravine, and returned for more. While we
were busily employed in gathering these, a rustling in the bushes
alarmed us, and we were upon the point of stealing back to our
covert, when a large black bird of the bittern species
strugglingly and slowly arose above the shrubs. I was so much
startled that I could do nothing, but Peters had sufficient
presence of mind to run up to it before it could make its escape,
and seize it by the neck. Its struggles and screams were
tremendous, and we had thoughts of letting it go, lest the noise
should alarm some of the savages who might be still lurking in
the neighbourhood. A stab with a bowie knife, however, at length
brought it to the ground, and we dragged it into the ravine,
congratulating ourselves that, at all events, we had thus
obtained a supply of food enough to last us for a week.

We now went out again to look about us, and ventured a
considerable distance down the southern declivity of the hill,
but met with nothing else which could serve us for food. We
therefore collected a quantity of dry wood and returned, seeing
one or two large parties of the natives on their way to the
village, laden with the plunder of the vessel, and who, we were
apprehensive, might discover us in passing beneath the hill.

Our next care was to render our place of concealment as secure as
possible, and with this object, we arranged some brushwood over
the aperture which I have before spoken of as the one through
which we saw the patch of blue sky, on reaching the platform from
the interior of the chasm. We left only a very small opening just
wide enough to admit of our seeing the bay, without the risk of
being discovered from below. Having done this, we congratulated
ourselves upon the security of the position; for we were now
completely excluded from observation, as long as we chose to
remain within the ravine itself, and not venture out upon the
hill, We could perceive no traces of the savages having ever been
within this hollow; but, indeed, when we came to reflect upon the
probability that the fissure through which we attained it had
been only just now created by the fall of the cliff opposite, and
that no other way of attaining it could be perceived, we were not
so much rejoiced at the thought of being secure from molestation
as fearful lest there should be absolutely no means left us for
descent. We resolved to explore the summit of the hill
thoroughly, when a good opportunity should offer. In the meantime
we watched the motions of the savages through our loophole.

They had already made a complete wreck of the vessel, and were
now preparing to set her on fire. In a little while we saw the
smoke ascending in huge volumes from her main hatchway, and,
shortly afterward, a dense mass of flame burst up from the
forecastle. The rigging, masts and what remained of the sails
caught immediately, and the fire spread rapidly along the decks.
Still a great many of the savages retained their stations about
her, hammering with large stones, axes, and cannon balls at the
bolts and other iron and copper work. On the beach, and in canoes
and rafts, there were not less, altogether, in the immediate
vicinity of the schooner, than ten thousand natives, besides the
shoals of them who, laden with booty, were making their way
inland and over to the neighbouring islands. We now anticipated a
catastrophe, and were not disappointed. First of all there came a
smart shock (which we felt as distinctly where we were as if we
had been slightly galvanized), but unattended with any visible
signs of an explosion. The savages were evidently startled, and
paused for an instant from their labours and yellings. They were
upon the point of recommencing, when suddenly a mass of smoke
puffed up from the decks, resembling a black and heavy
thundercloud—then, as if from its bowels, arose a tall stream of
vivid fire to the height, apparently, of a quarter of a mile—then
there came a sudden circular expansion of the flame—then the
whole atmosphere was magically crowded, in a single instant, with
a wild chaos of wood, and metal, and human limbs—and, lastly,
came the concussion in its fullest fury, which hurled us
impetuously from our feet, while the hills echoed and re-echoed
the tumult, and a dense shower of the minutest fragments of the
ruins tumbled headlong in every direction around us.

The havoc among the savages far exceeded our utmost expectation,
and they had now, indeed, reaped the full and perfect fruits of
their treachery. Perhaps a thousand perished by the explosion,
while at least an equal number were desperately mangled. The
whole surface of the bay was literally strewn with the struggling
and drowning wretches, and on shore matters were even worse. They
seemed utterly appalled by the suddenness and completeness of
their discomfiture, and made no efforts at assisting one another.
At length we observed a total change in their demeanour. From
absolute stupor, they appeared to be, all at once, aroused to the
highest pitch of excitement, and rushed wildly about, going to
and from a certain point on the beach, with the strangest
expressions of mingled horror, rage, and intense curiosity
depicted on their countenances, and shouting, at the top of their
voices, “Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!”

Presently we saw a large body go off into the hills, whence they
returned in a short time, carrying stakes of wood. These they
brought to the station where the crowd was the thickest, which
now separated so as to afford us a view of the object of all this
excitement. We perceived something white lying upon the ground,
but could not immediately make out what it was. At length we saw
that it was the carcass of the strange animal with the scarlet
teeth and claws which the schooner had picked up at sea on the
eighteenth of January. Captain Guy had had the body preserved for
the purpose of stuffing the skin and taking it to England. I
remember he had given some directions about it just before our
making the island, and it had been brought into the cabin and
stowed away in one of the lockers. It had now been thrown on
shore by the explosion; but why it had occasioned so much concern
among the savages was more than we could comprehend. Although
they crowded around the carcass at a little distance, none of
them seemed willing to approach it closely. By-and-by the men
with the stakes drove them in a circle around it, and no sooner
was this arrangement completed, than the whole of the vast
assemblage rushed into the interior of the island, with loud
screams of “Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!”