"Well, sometimes two or three o' these coolies would mutiny and hide in the woods o' one o' the smaller uninhabited islands. An' the colonists would have no rest till they hunted them down. So, to keep matters right, they had to be uncommon strict. It was made law that no one should spend the night on any but what was called the Home Island without permission. Every man was bound to report himself at the guard-house at a fixed hour; every fire to be out at sunset, and every boat was numbered and had to be in its place before that time. So they went on till the year 1862, when a disaster befell them that made a considerable changeat first for the worse, but for the better in the long-run. Provin' the truth, my lad, of what I waswell, noI was goin' to draw a moral here, but I won't!
"It was a cyclone that did the business. Cyclones have got a free-an'-easy way of makin' a clean sweep of the work of years in a few hours. This cyclone completely wrecked the homes of the Keelin' Islanders, and Rossthat's the second Ross, the son of the first onesent home for his son, who was then a student of engineering in Glasgow, to come out and help him to put things to rights. Ross the third obeyed the call, like a good son,observe that, Nigel."
"All right, father, fire away!"
"Like a good son," repeated the captain, "an' he turned out to be a first-rate man, which was lucky, for his poor father died soon after, leavin' him to do the work alone. An' well able was the young engineer to do it. He got rid o' the chain-gang men altogether, and hired none but men o' the best character in their place. He cleared off the forests and planted the ground with cocoa-nut palms. Got out steam mills, circular saws, lathes, etc., and established a system of general education with a younger brother as head-masteran' tail-master too, for I believe there was only one. He also taught the men to work in brass, iron, and wood, and his wifea Cocos girl that he married after comin' outtaught all the women and girls to sew, cook, and manage the house. In short, everything went on in full swing of prosperity, till the year 1876, when the island-born inhabitants were about 500, as contented and happy as could be.
"In January of that year another cyclone paid them a visit. The barometer gave them warning, and, remembering the visit of fourteen years before, they made ready to receive the new visitor. All the boats were hauled up to places of safety, and every other preparation was made. Down it came, on the afternoon o' the 28thworse than they had expected. Many of the storehouses and mills had been lately renewed or built. They were all gutted and demolished. Everything movable was swept away like bits of paper. Lanes, hundreds of yards in length, were cleared among the palm trees by the whirling wind, which seemed to perform a demon-dance of revelry among them. In some cases it snapped trees off close to the ground. In others it seemed to swoop down from above, lick up a patch of trees bodily and carry them clean away, leaving the surrounding trees untouched. Sometimes it would select a tree of thirty years growth, seize it, spin it round, and leave it a permanent spiral screw. I was in these regions about the time, and had the account from a native who had gone through it all and couldn't speak of it except with glaring eyeballs and gasping breath.
"About midnight of the 28th the gale was at its worst. Darkness that could be felt between the flashes of lightning. Thunder that was nearly drowned by the roaring of the wind an' the crashing of everything all round. To save their lives the people had to fling themselves into ditches and hollows of the ground. Mr. Ross and some of his people were lying in the shelter of a wall near his house. There had been a schooner lying not far off. When Mr. Ross raised his head cautiously above the wall to have a look to wind'ard he saw the schooner comin' straight for him on the top of a big wave. 'Hold on!' he shouted, fell flat down, and laid hold o' the nearest bush. Next moment the wave burst right over the wall, roared on up to the garden, 150 yards above highwater mark, and swept his house clean away! By good fortune the wall stood the shock, and the schooner stuck fast just before reachin' it, but so near that the end of the jib-boom passed right over the place where the household lay holdin' on for dear life and half drowned. It was a tremendous night," concluded the captain, "an' nearly everything on the islands was wrecked, but they've survived it, as you'll see. Though it's seven years since that cyclone swep' over them, they're all right and goin' ahead again, full swing, as if nothin' had happened."
"And is Ross III. still king?" asked Nigel with much interest.
"Ayat least he was king a few years ago when I passed this way and had occasion to land to replace a tops'l yard that had been carried away."
"Then you won't arrive as a stranger?"
"I should think not," returned the captain, getting up and gazing steadily at the atoll or group of islets enclosed within a coral ring which they were gradually approaching.
Night had descended, however, and the gale had decreased almost to a calm, ere they steered through the narrow channelor what we may call a broken part of the ringwhich led to the calm lagoon inside. Nigel Roy leaned over the bow, watching with profound attention the numerous phosphorescent fish and eel-like creatures which darted hither and thither like streaks of silver from beneath their advancing keel. He had enough of the naturalist in him to arouse in his mind keen interest in the habits and action of the animal life around him, and these denizens of the coral-groves were as new to him as their appearance was unexpected.
"You'll find 'em very kind and hospitable, lad," said the captain to his son.
"What, the fish?"
"No, the inhabitants. Portportsteady!"
"Steady it is!" responded the man at the wheel.
"Let go!" shouted the captain.
A heavy plunge, followed by the rattling of chains and swinging round of the brig, told that they had come to an anchor in the lagoon of the Cocos-Keeling Islands.
CHAPTER III
INTERESTING PARTICULARS OF VARIOUS KINDS
By the first blush of dawn Nigel Roy hastened on deck, eager to see the place in regard to which his father's narrative had awakened in him considerable interest.
It not only surpassed but differed from all his preconceived ideas. The brig floated on the bosom of a perfectly calm lake of several miles in width, the bottom of which, with its bright sand and brilliant coral-beds, could be distinctly seen through the pellucid water. This lake was encompassed by a reef of coral which swelled here and there into tree-clad islets, and against which the breakers of the Indian Ocean were dashed into snowy foam in their vain but ceaseless efforts to invade the calm serenity of the lagoon. Smaller islands, rich with vegetation, were scattered here and there within the charmed circle, through which several channels of various depths and sizes connected the lagoon with the ocean.
"We shall soon have the king himself off to welcome us," said Captain Roy as he came on deck and gave a sailor-like glance all round the horizon and then up at the sky from the mere force of habit. "Visitors are not numerous here. A few scientific men have landed now and again; Darwin the great naturalist among others in 1836, and Forbes in 1878. No doubt they'll be very glad to welcome Nigel Roy in this year of grace 1883."
"But I'm not a naturalist, father, more's the pity."
"No matter, lad; you're an ammytoor first mate, an' pr'aps a poet may count for somethin' here. They lead poetical lives and are fond o' poetry."
"Perhaps that accounts for the fondness you say they have for you, father."
"We shall soon have the king himself off to welcome us," said Captain Roy as he came on deck and gave a sailor-like glance all round the horizon and then up at the sky from the mere force of habit. "Visitors are not numerous here. A few scientific men have landed now and again; Darwin the great naturalist among others in 1836, and Forbes in 1878. No doubt they'll be very glad to welcome Nigel Roy in this year of grace 1883."
"But I'm not a naturalist, father, more's the pity."
"No matter, lad; you're an ammytoor first mate, an' pr'aps a poet may count for somethin' here. They lead poetical lives and are fond o' poetry."
"Perhaps that accounts for the fondness you say they have for you, father."
"Just so, lad. See!there's a boat puttin' off already: the king, no doubt."
He was right. Mr. Ross, the appointed governor, and "King of the Cocos Islands," was soon on deck, heartily shaking hands with and welcoming Captain Roy as an old friend. He carried him and his son off at once to breakfast in his island-home; introduced Nigel to his family, and then showed them round the settlement, assuring them at the same time that all its resources were at their disposal for the repair of the Sunshine.
"Thank 'ee kindly," said the captain in reply, "but I'll only ask for a stick to rig up a foretop-mast to carry us to Batavia, where we'll give the old craft a regular overhaulfor it's just possible she may have received some damage below the water-line, wi' bumpin' on the mast and yards."
The house of the "King" was a commodious, comfortable building in the midst of a garden, in which there were roses in great profusion, as well as fruit-trees and flowering shrubs. Each Keeling family possessed a neat well-furnished plank cottage enclosed in a little garden, besides a boat-house at the water-edge on the inner or lagoon side of the reef, and numerous boats were lying about on the white sand. The islanders, being almost born sailors, were naturally very skilful in everything connected with the sea. There was about them a good deal of that kindly innocence which one somehow expects to find associated with a mild paternal government and a limited intercourse with the surrounding world, and Nigel was powerfully attracted by them from the first.
After an extensive ramble, during which Mr. Ross plied the captain with eager questions as to the latest news from the busy centres of civilisationespecially with reference to new inventions connected with engineeringthe island king left them to their own resources till dinner-time, saying that he had duties to attend to connected with the kingdom!
"Now, boy," said the captain when their host had gone, "what'll 'ee do? Take a boat and have a pull over the lagoon, or go with me to visit a family I'm particularly fond of, an' who are uncommon fond o' me!"
"Visit the family, of course," said Nigel. "I can have a pull any day."
"Come along then."
He led the way to one of the neatest of the plank cottages, which stood on the highest ridge of the island, so that from the front windows it commanded a view of the great blue ocean with its breakers that fringed the reef as with a ring of snow, while, on the opposite side, lay the peaceful waters and islets of the lagoon.
A shout of joyful surprise was uttered by several boys and girls at sight of the captain, for during his former visit he had won their hearts by telling them wild stories of the sea, one half of each story being founded on fact and personal experience, the other half on a vivid imagination!
"We are rejoiced to see you," said the mother of the juveniles, a stout woman of mixed nationalitythat of Dutch apparently predominating. She spoke English, however, remarkably well, as did many of the Cocos people, though Malay is the language of most of them.
The boys and girls soon hauled the captain down on a seat and began to urge him to tell them stories, using a style of English that was by no means equal to that of the mother.
"Stop, stop, let me see sister Kathy first. I can't begin without her. Where is she?"
"Somewhere, I s'pose," said the eldest boy.
"No doubt of that. Gofetch her," returned the captain.
At that moment a back-door opened, and a girl of about seventeen years of age entered. She was pleasant-looking rather than prettytall, graceful, and with magnificent black eyes.
"Here she comes," cried the captain, rising and kissing her. "Why, Kathy, how you've grown since I saw you last! Quite a woman, I declare!"
Kathy was not too much of a woman, however, to join her brothers and sisters in forcing the captain into a seat and demanding a story on the spot.
"Stop, stop!" cried the captain, grasping round their waists a small boy and girl who had already clambered on his knees. "Let me inquire about my old friends firstand let me introduce my son to youyou've taken no notice of him yet! That's not hospitable."
All eyes were turned at once on Nigel, some boldly, others with a shy inquiring look, as though to say, Can you tell stories?
"Come, now," said Nigel, advancing, "since you are all so fond of my father, I must shake hands with you all round."
The hearty way in which this was done at once put the children at their ease. They admitted him, as it were, into their circle, and then turning again to the captain continued their clamour for a story.
"No, noabout old friends first. Howhow's old mother Morris?"
"Quite well," they shouted. "Fatterer than ever," added an urchin, who in England would have been styled cheeky.
"Yes," lisped a very little girl; "one of 'e doors in 'e house too small for she."
"Why, Gerchin, you've learned to speak English like the rest," said the captain.
"Yes, father make every one learn."
"Well, now," continued the captain, "what about Black Sam?"
"Gone to Batavia," chorused the children.
"Andandwhat's-'is-name?the man wi' the nose"
A burst of laughter and, "We's all got noses here!" was the reply.
"Yes, but you know who I meanthe short man wi' the"
"Oh! with the turned up nose. I know," cried the cheeky boy; "you means Johnson? He goed away nobody know whar'."
"And little Nelly Drew, what of her?"
A sudden silence fell on the group, and solemn eyes were turned on sister Kathy, who was evidently expected to answer.
"Not dead?" said the captain earnestly.
"No, but very very ill," replied the girl.
"Dear Nelly have never git over the loss of her brother, who"
At this point they were interrupted by another group of the captain's little admirers, who, having heard of his arrival, ran forward to give him a noisy welcome. Before stories could be commenced, however, the visitors were summoned to Mr. Ross's house to dinner, and then the captain had got into such an eager talk with the king that evening was upon them before they knew where they were, as Nigel expressed it, and the stories had to be postponed until the following day.
Of course beds were offered, and accepted by Captain Roy and Nigel. Just before retiring to them, father and son went out to have a stroll on the margin of the lagoon.
"Ain't it a nice place, Nigel?" asked the former, whose kindly spirit had been stirred up to quite a jovial pitch by the gushing welcome he had received alike from old and young.
"It's charming, father. Quite different from what you had led me to expect."
"My boy," returned the captain, with that solemn deliberation which he was wont to assume when about to deliver a palpable truism. "W'en you've come to live as long as me you'll find that everything turns out different from what people have bin led to expect. Leastways that's my experience."