Our expedition being now formed, we proceeded much in the same order we had observed before; and began to round the shoulder of the mountain by degrees, still ascending higher as we went: so that our course took the shape of a spiral curve, bending upwards, to the north-east of the island. This we did to gain a bird’s-eye view of the other side, both over land and sea; to mark what was the nature of the place itself, for soil and produce, and whether inhabited, as I partly feared. Also, our purpose was to certify ourselves what hopes we might entertain of deliverance from that easterly quarter of our prison, by a chain of communication with some land further off. For I nourished within myself a lurking hope, that perchance this same growth of coral rock that increased our difficulty in landing, would serve to help us off again on the further side. Could we but put together a raft of branches, no matter how crude, if only not too hazardous, then we might, I considered, provision ourselves for a short voyage, and drift from island to island, or from rock to rock the currents being favorable, or some contrivance made to stand in place of a sail, And here I stayed in my thoughts, not finding a way to conclude this plan with any satisfaction. And certainly, I would not breathe it to my companions, fearing I might raise hopes only to have them dashed again.
As for the side of the island we were leaving, we had suffered so much misery there as quite made us mislike the very look of it. For outward things, we know, take their color from the hue and disposition of our minds, so as to appear bright or gloomy according to the mood in which we view them. And now, this part of the island, which in truth was fair enough in itself, for its variety of landscape, appeared so odious to us that we seemed to breathe all the freer as we quitted it. Every step we took led us away to a new scene; and as the life of a seaman is a changeful one, and little secure from disaster day by day, so these men now seemed almost to forget their past misfortunes, being as much taken up with our exploring as though it had, indeed, been the party of pleasure on which we came from the ship the day before.When we got higher on the mountain, a beautiful sight did truly unfold itself to us; for then the extent of the island appeared by degrees, until we could see it spread out before us plainly, as a coloured chart might be on canvas. So far as could be measured by the eye, we judged it about two leagues in length, reckoning from the mountain southward; and in breadth, where that was greatest, something over a full league. The sides ran pretty even one with the other, only tapering towards a point as they drew near to the southern end. But I must not omit, that the shore on either side was much broken by reefs of the coral rocks, which we had already gained some experience of on the western side, and which now we saw prevailed yet more to the east; so that the whole of that coast was broken up into shoals, surrounding that part of the island with fringes of rock, over which the surf beat with so great violence, that I was sure no boat that man ever built could live through it.
Here, then, I saw the downfall of my cherished plan of deliverance, unless the north-east part of our mountain should give a more encouraging prospect when we got thither. But at the same time, these walls of rocks were the best safeguard we could desire against the landing of savages on our island; for they formed such a natural rampart, and so formidable, that not the boldest, though they might be skilful in managing their canoes, would attempt it. And thus, as often is to be found in this chequered life, disappointment and comfort met us hand in hand.
We had now travelled round three sides of the mountain, or thereabout; yet no sign appeared of any other island neighboring our own. And this view was made complete when we rounded so far as to see to the east-northeast; further than that we needed not to go, for the rest we had already viewed from the ship. All appeared open sea, with only here and there a table-land of rocks, some not ten yards across, lying outside the fringe of our protecting reefs: at least, this was as much as the haze or sea-vapour drawn up by the heat (the sun being now very powerful) allowed us to discover.
The heat was by this time become so intolerable over head, and indeed under our feet besides, by reason of the sun striking on the bare rock, for we were now above the region of trees, quite to the upper portion of our mountain: the heat, I say, now forced us to seek shelter for ourselves ; so that with one accord we plunged down the descent into the woods, not following the course by which we came up, but in a straight line, making towards the length of the island, as though we were bent on reaching that point to the south which we had viewed from the height above.
Added to this inconvenience of the heat, was another which we had not foreseen; for we found these parched rocks swarming with reptiles, particularly scorpions, and a large kind of centipede, or what they call in the West Indies the forty legs; some of these last we saw, grown to be seven or eight inches long, and running about the loose stones; so that we feared to sit anywhere to rest ourselves, knowing them to be well-nigh as venomous as the scorpions. Some serpents also we heard, hissing at us as we approached, though we did not discover them: and altogether, we hastened to get out of so unwelcome a neighborhood; though in truth we knew not what might meet us of that kind where we were going.
But as we went down, an accident befel us that had near enough taken off one of our number by a sudden death. This happened as follows:— when we had left the upper, bare part of that mountain of ours, and came once more among the trees, we noticed the leaves and stems of some of them tinged with a yellowish dust, having the smell and taste of brimstone. Any one in his senses surely would have been made cautious by this unwholesome appearance: but I know not how it was, Don Manuel and I, who had most knowledge oh such matters, were occupied, I suppose, each with his own sad thoughts: and mine (I well remember) were running on the disappointment I had received from our look-out, at finding no way of escape, nor opening to devise any. So when Harry Gill, who had got ahead of us, called out that he had found a cave in the woods, we thought not of bidding him beware how he ventured his head into the lion’s den, as (in one way) it proved to be.
This cave of his was no great things for size; but rather a kind of crack or fissure in the rocks, and overhung by several sorts of wild plants, all powdered with this brimstone dust. These hung down so low over its mouth, that he was obliged to creep on all fours to get even a little way in: and it was well for him he did not go in further.
When I caught sight of what he was about, and that Hilton was preparing to follow him so soon as he should be fairly within the cavern, I called to them both to beware of some wild beast that might be lurking in this den; “and be sure”, added I, “you keep your guns before you, ready for action”. But almost before I had said it, and while Gill was about half crept in, we noticed him drop on his face, like one who is taken on a sudden with the falling sickness, or an apoplexy. Then we rushed forward, and pulled him out with main force by the heels, not without scraping his face and hands somewhat roughly against the rocky bed of his newly discovered cave.
No sooner had we got him fairly out, than I at once perceived he had been poisoned, by some noisome vapour exhaling from the earth : for his face was of a leaden colour, his eyes stark staring open, and he foaming at the mouth, but quite insensible. There being no water at hand to dash into his face, which would have brought him round more readily, we did the best by waving our hats before him, to give him air; and I took out my lancets (from which I parted no more than our priest from his Breviary) to breathe a vein. But this he soon needed not: for as we were all busied about him, some unloosing his neck-kerchief, some fanning him, some clapping the palms of his cold hands, or striking the soles of his feet as if he were undergoing the bastinado, we had the satisfaction to see him slowly recover his senses.
Soon after, he was able to sit up: and Prodgers, having (as we then found for the first time) smuggled a small bottle of rum from the ship, now relaxed so far from the selfishness of his nature as to offer poor Gill a dram of it. But when the rest saw this unlooked-for bottle, they all cried out, “A prize! a prize!” and began to insist it should be equally divided among them, agreeably to the understanding we came to before starting on this our expedition. Prodgers, on his part, was not the man to yield up anything that belonged to him just because others wished it; and, between half jest on their part, and whole earnest on his, words soon began to run high amongst them.
I saw the danger in our society of any quarrel on what had afforded the pretext for many such since the flood; I mean drink. So, stepping at once between them, and parting them by force, wherein I was helped, though with greater moderation, by Don Manuel, I cried out with some heat: What, my friends? and will you wrangle for a vile pint of liquor over the half dead body of your comrade?”
This seemed to bring them a little to themselves; and Harry Gill being now pretty well recovered from his fit, or swoon, they were eager to ask him how it had taken him, and what he thought it was owing to. As for me, I saw at once that the low cave he had thrust his head into, had oppressed him with some heavy, creeping vapour, that from its weight could not rise high; like that grotto near the city of Naples, which suffocates a dog when it goes into the cavern, while a man standing at his natural height escapes the choke of the noxious gas. And this was confirmed by the account which Harry himself gave us of his misadventure.
“ I wanted to discover”, said he, “ where this hole in the ground led to; partly for a mere freak, and also methought I might be the first to invent something of a fortress or habitation for ourselves. So without any other concern, I began to creep in; though there came such a whiff of brimstone hot smoke into my nose and mouth as well-nigh stifled me on the instant. I resolved to go on, thinking I should soon be past the crack from which it was coming up; but I had not crawled three paces when I found my head swim round on a sudden; and then I remember nothing more till I found myself lying thus with all of you round me, and Richard here, (heart thanks to him) washing down the brimstone with a mouthful of grog.”
Well, we thought ourselves happily rid of the business as it turned out; and, forasmuch as we poor mortals (this is a reflection I borrowed from Don Manuel, who made it in his own quiet and natural way when the danger was over) never know what value to put on our advantages, until they are like to be taken from us, so was it now. For if Gill had died there in that sulphurous hole, as he surely would by running on before us further, and our not missing him till too late, our party had been weakened both for mutual assistance and defence. I had a thought in my mind (but checked it) that another of our number might have been better spared. And yet poor Richard had shown signs of something better than usual: and altogether, I reflected, there are few persons who possess not a better side to their character as well as a worse, if only we will cultivate them as we would stubborn ground, and bring out those good qualities to ripeness.
As for the side of the island we were leaving, we had suffered so much misery there as quite made us mislike the very look of it. For outward things, we know, take their color from the hue and disposition of our minds, so as to appear bright or gloomy according to the mood in which we view them. And now, this part of the island, which in truth was fair enough in itself, for its variety of landscape, appeared so odious to us that we seemed to breathe all the freer as we quitted it. Every step we took led us away to a new scene; and as the life of a seaman is a changeful one, and little secure from disaster day by day, so these men now seemed almost to forget their past misfortunes, being as much taken up with our exploring as though it had, indeed, been the party of pleasure on which we came from the ship the day before.When we got higher on the mountain, a beautiful sight did truly unfold itself to us; for then the extent of the island appeared by degrees, until we could see it spread out before us plainly, as a coloured chart might be on canvas. So far as could be measured by the eye, we judged it about two leagues in length, reckoning from the mountain southward; and in breadth, where that was greatest, something over a full league. The sides ran pretty even one with the other, only tapering towards a point as they drew near to the southern end. But I must not omit, that the shore on either side was much broken by reefs of the coral rocks, which we had already gained some experience of on the western side, and which now we saw prevailed yet more to the east; so that the whole of that coast was broken up into shoals, surrounding that part of the island with fringes of rock, over which the surf beat with so great violence, that I was sure no boat that man ever built could live through it.
Here, then, I saw the downfall of my cherished plan of deliverance, unless the north-east part of our mountain should give a more encouraging prospect when we got thither. But at the same time, these walls of rocks were the best safeguard we could desire against the landing of savages on our island; for they formed such a natural rampart, and so formidable, that not the boldest, though they might be skilful in managing their canoes, would attempt it. And thus, as often is to be found in this chequered life, disappointment and comfort met us hand in hand.
We had now travelled round three sides of the mountain, or thereabout; yet no sign appeared of any other island neighboring our own. And this view was made complete when we rounded so far as to see to the east-northeast; further than that we needed not to go, for the rest we had already viewed from the ship. All appeared open sea, with only here and there a table-land of rocks, some not ten yards across, lying outside the fringe of our protecting reefs: at least, this was as much as the haze or sea-vapour drawn up by the heat (the sun being now very powerful) allowed us to discover.
The heat was by this time become so intolerable over head, and indeed under our feet besides, by reason of the sun striking on the bare rock, for we were now above the region of trees, quite to the upper portion of our mountain: the heat, I say, now forced us to seek shelter for ourselves ; so that with one accord we plunged down the descent into the woods, not following the course by which we came up, but in a straight line, making towards the length of the island, as though we were bent on reaching that point to the south which we had viewed from the height above.
Added to this inconvenience of the heat, was another which we had not foreseen; for we found these parched rocks swarming with reptiles, particularly scorpions, and a large kind of centipede, or what they call in the West Indies the forty legs; some of these last we saw, grown to be seven or eight inches long, and running about the loose stones; so that we feared to sit anywhere to rest ourselves, knowing them to be well-nigh as venomous as the scorpions. Some serpents also we heard, hissing at us as we approached, though we did not discover them: and altogether, we hastened to get out of so unwelcome a neighborhood; though in truth we knew not what might meet us of that kind where we were going.
But as we went down, an accident befel us that had near enough taken off one of our number by a sudden death. This happened as follows:— when we had left the upper, bare part of that mountain of ours, and came once more among the trees, we noticed the leaves and stems of some of them tinged with a yellowish dust, having the smell and taste of brimstone. Any one in his senses surely would have been made cautious by this unwholesome appearance: but I know not how it was, Don Manuel and I, who had most knowledge oh such matters, were occupied, I suppose, each with his own sad thoughts: and mine (I well remember) were running on the disappointment I had received from our look-out, at finding no way of escape, nor opening to devise any. So when Harry Gill, who had got ahead of us, called out that he had found a cave in the woods, we thought not of bidding him beware how he ventured his head into the lion’s den, as (in one way) it proved to be.
This cave of his was no great things for size; but rather a kind of crack or fissure in the rocks, and overhung by several sorts of wild plants, all powdered with this brimstone dust. These hung down so low over its mouth, that he was obliged to creep on all fours to get even a little way in: and it was well for him he did not go in further.
When I caught sight of what he was about, and that Hilton was preparing to follow him so soon as he should be fairly within the cavern, I called to them both to beware of some wild beast that might be lurking in this den; “and be sure”, added I, “you keep your guns before you, ready for action”. But almost before I had said it, and while Gill was about half crept in, we noticed him drop on his face, like one who is taken on a sudden with the falling sickness, or an apoplexy. Then we rushed forward, and pulled him out with main force by the heels, not without scraping his face and hands somewhat roughly against the rocky bed of his newly discovered cave.
No sooner had we got him fairly out, than I at once perceived he had been poisoned, by some noisome vapour exhaling from the earth : for his face was of a leaden colour, his eyes stark staring open, and he foaming at the mouth, but quite insensible. There being no water at hand to dash into his face, which would have brought him round more readily, we did the best by waving our hats before him, to give him air; and I took out my lancets (from which I parted no more than our priest from his Breviary) to breathe a vein. But this he soon needed not: for as we were all busied about him, some unloosing his neck-kerchief, some fanning him, some clapping the palms of his cold hands, or striking the soles of his feet as if he were undergoing the bastinado, we had the satisfaction to see him slowly recover his senses.
Soon after, he was able to sit up: and Prodgers, having (as we then found for the first time) smuggled a small bottle of rum from the ship, now relaxed so far from the selfishness of his nature as to offer poor Gill a dram of it. But when the rest saw this unlooked-for bottle, they all cried out, “A prize! a prize!” and began to insist it should be equally divided among them, agreeably to the understanding we came to before starting on this our expedition. Prodgers, on his part, was not the man to yield up anything that belonged to him just because others wished it; and, between half jest on their part, and whole earnest on his, words soon began to run high amongst them.
I saw the danger in our society of any quarrel on what had afforded the pretext for many such since the flood; I mean drink. So, stepping at once between them, and parting them by force, wherein I was helped, though with greater moderation, by Don Manuel, I cried out with some heat: What, my friends? and will you wrangle for a vile pint of liquor over the half dead body of your comrade?”
This seemed to bring them a little to themselves; and Harry Gill being now pretty well recovered from his fit, or swoon, they were eager to ask him how it had taken him, and what he thought it was owing to. As for me, I saw at once that the low cave he had thrust his head into, had oppressed him with some heavy, creeping vapour, that from its weight could not rise high; like that grotto near the city of Naples, which suffocates a dog when it goes into the cavern, while a man standing at his natural height escapes the choke of the noxious gas. And this was confirmed by the account which Harry himself gave us of his misadventure.
“ I wanted to discover”, said he, “ where this hole in the ground led to; partly for a mere freak, and also methought I might be the first to invent something of a fortress or habitation for ourselves. So without any other concern, I began to creep in; though there came such a whiff of brimstone hot smoke into my nose and mouth as well-nigh stifled me on the instant. I resolved to go on, thinking I should soon be past the crack from which it was coming up; but I had not crawled three paces when I found my head swim round on a sudden; and then I remember nothing more till I found myself lying thus with all of you round me, and Richard here, (heart thanks to him) washing down the brimstone with a mouthful of grog.”
Well, we thought ourselves happily rid of the business as it turned out; and, forasmuch as we poor mortals (this is a reflection I borrowed from Don Manuel, who made it in his own quiet and natural way when the danger was over) never know what value to put on our advantages, until they are like to be taken from us, so was it now. For if Gill had died there in that sulphurous hole, as he surely would by running on before us further, and our not missing him till too late, our party had been weakened both for mutual assistance and defence. I had a thought in my mind (but checked it) that another of our number might have been better spared. And yet poor Richard had shown signs of something better than usual: and altogether, I reflected, there are few persons who possess not a better side to their character as well as a worse, if only we will cultivate them as we would stubborn ground, and bring out those good qualities to ripeness.
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