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14 - Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson · Classic Adventure Books Library

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Chapter fourteen. The islet. With my stepping ashore, I began the most
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unhappy part of my adventures. It was half past twelve in the morning,
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and though the wind was broken by the land, it was a cold night.
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I dared not sit down, for I thought I should have frozen,
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But I took off my shoes and walked to and fro upon the sand,
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barefoot and beating my breast with infinite weariness. There was no sound of man
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or cattle, not a cock crew, though it was about the hour of
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their first waking. Only the surf broke outside in the distance, which put
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me in mind of my perils and those of my friend. To walked by
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the sea at that hour of the morning, and in a place so desert
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like and lonesome, struck me with a kind of fear. As soon as
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the day began to break, I put on my shoes and climbed a hill,
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the ruggedest scramble I ever undertook, falling the whole way between big block
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of granite, or leaping from one to another. When I got to the
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top, the dawn was come. There was no sign of the brig which
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must have lifted from the reef, and sunk. The boat, too,
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was nowhere to be seen. There was never a sail upon the ocean,
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and in what I could see of the land was neither house nor man.
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I was afraid to think what had befallen my shipmates, and afraid to look
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longer at so empty a scene. What with my wet clothes and weariness,
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and my belly that now began to ache with hunger, I had enough to
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trouble me without that. So I set off eastward along the south coast,
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hoping to find a house where I might warm myself and perhaps get news of
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those I had lost. And at the worst I considered the sun would soon
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rise and dry my clothes. After a little my way was stopped by a
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creek or inlet of the sea, which seemed to run pretty deep into the
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land, and as I had no means to get across, I must needs
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change my direction to go around the end of it. It was still the
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roughest kind of walking. Indeed, the whole not only of Herid, but
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of the neighboring part of Mull, which they called the Ross, is nothing
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but a jumble of granite rocks with heatherin among. At first, the creek
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kept narrowing as I had looked to see, but presently, to my surprise,
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it began to widen out again. At this I scratched my head,
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but had still no notion of the truth, until at last I came to
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a rising ground, and it pursed upon me all in a moment that I
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was cast upon a little barren isle and cut off on every side by the
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salt seas. Indeed, as instead of the sun rising to dry me,
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it came on to rain with a thick mist, so that my case was
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lamentable. I stood in the rain and shivered and wondered what to do,
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till it occurred to me that perhaps the creek was fordable Back. I went
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to the narrowest point and waded in, but not three yards from shore.
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I plumped in head over ears, and if ever I was heard of more,
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it was rather by God's grace than my own prudence. I was no
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wetter, for that could hardly be. But I was all the colder for
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this mishap, and having lost another hope, was the more unhappy. And
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now all at once the yard came in my head. What had carried me
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through the roost would surely serve me to cross this little quiet creek in safety.
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With that, I set off, undaunted across the top of the aisle
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to fetch and carry it back. It was a weary tramp in all ways,
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and if hope had not buoyed me up, I must have cast myself
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down and given up, Whether with the sea salt or because I was growing
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fevered. I was distressed with thirst, had to stop as I went and
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drink the peaty water out of the hags. I came to the bay at
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last, more dead than alive, and at the first glance I thought the
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yard was something farther out than when I left it in I went for the
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third time into the sea. The sand was smooth and firm, and shelved
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gradually down, so that I could wade out till the water was almost to
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my neck, and little waves splashed into my face. But at that depth
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my feet began to leave me, and I durst venture in no farther As
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for the yard, I saw it bobbing very quietly some twenty feet beyond.
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I had borne up well until this last disappointment, But at that I came
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ashore and flung myself down upon the sands and wept the time I spent upon
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the island is still so horrible a thought to me that I must pass it
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lightly over. In all the books I have read of people cast away,
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they had either their pockets full of tools, or a chest of things,
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which would be thrown upon the beach along with them, as if on purpose.
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My case was very different. I had nothing in my pockets but money
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and Allan's silver button, and being inland bred, I was as much short
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of knowledge as of means. I knew indeed that shell fish were counted good
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to eat, and among the rocks of the isle I found a great plenty
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of limpets, which at first I could hardly strike from their places, not
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knowing quickness to be needful. There were, besides, some of the little
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shells that we call BUCkies. I think periwinkle is the English name of these
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too. I made my whole diet, devouring them cold and raw as I
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found them, And so hungry was I that at first they seemed to me
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delicious. Perhaps they were out of season, perhaps there was something wrong in
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the sea about my island. But at least I had no sooner eaten my
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first meal than I was seized with giddiness and wretching, and lay for a
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long time no better than dead. A second trial of the same food,
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indeed I had no other, did better with me and revived my strength.
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But as long as I was on the island, I ever knew what to
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expect when I had eaten. Sometimes all was well, but sometimes I was
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thrown into a miserable sickness. Nor could I ever distinguish what particular fish it
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was that hurt me. All day its streamed rain, the island ran like
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a sop. There was no dry spot to be found. And when I
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lay down that night between two boulders that made a kind of roof, my
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feet were in a bog. The second day I crossed the island to all
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sides. There was no one part of it better than another. It was
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all desolate and rocky, nothing living on it but game birds, which I
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lacked the means to kill, and gulls which haunted the outlying rocks, and
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a prodigious number. But the creek or strait that cut off the isle from
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the mainland of the Ross opened out on the north into a bay, and
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the bay again opened into the Sound of Iona, and it was the neighborhood
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of this place that I chose to be my home. Though if I had
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thought upon the very name of home in such a spot, I must have
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burst out weeping. I had good reasons for my choice. There was in
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this part of the isle a little hut of a house, like a pig's
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hut, where fishers used to sleep when they came there upon their business.
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But the turf roof of it had fallen entirely in, so that the hut
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was of no use to me, and gave me less shelter than my rocks.
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What was more important, the shell fish on which I lived grew there
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in great plenty. When the tide was out, I could gather a peck
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at a time, and this was doubtless a convenience. But the other reason
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went deeper. I had become in no way use to the horrid solitude of
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the isle, but still looked round me on all sides, like a man
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that was hunted between fear and hope that I might see some human creature coming.
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Now from a little up the hill side over the bay, I could
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catch a sight of the great ancient church, and the roofs of the people's
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houses in Iona and on the other hand, over the low country of the
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Ross, I saw smoke go up morning and evening, as if from a
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homestead in the hollow of the land. I used to watch this smoke when
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I was wet and cold and had my head half turned with loneliness, and
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I think of the fireside and the company till my heart burned. It was
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the same with the roofs of Iona. Altogether, this sight I had of
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men's homes and comfortable lives. Although it put a point on my own sufferings,
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Yet it kept hope alive, help me to eat my raw shell fish,
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which had soon grown to be a disgust, and saved me from the
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sense of horror I had whenever I was quite alone, with dead rocks and
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fowls, and the rain and the cold sea. I say it kept hope
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alive, and indeed it seemed impossible that I should be left to die on
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the shores of my own country and within view of a church tower and the
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smoke of men's houses. But the second day passed, and though as long
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as the light lasted, I kept the bright lookout for boats on the sound
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or men passing on the ross. No help came near. Me. It
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still rained, and I turned into sleep, as wet as ever, and
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with a cruel sore throat, but a little comforted, perhaps by having said
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good night to my next neighbors, the people of Iona. Charles the second
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declared a man could stay outdoors more days than the year in the climate of
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England than in any other. This was very like a king with a palace
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at his back and changes of dry clothes. But he must have had better
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luck on his flight from Worcester than I had in that miserable isle. It
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was the height of the summer, yet it rained for more than twenty four
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hours, and did not clear until the afternoon of the third day. This
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was the day of incidents. In the morning I saw a red deer,
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a buck with a fine spread of antlers, standing in the rain on the
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top of the eye. But he had scarce seen me rise from my rock
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before he trotted off upon the other side. I supposed he must have swum
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the strait, though what should bring any creature to arid was more than I
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could fancy. A little after, as I was jumping about after my limpets,
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I was startled by a guinea piece which fell upon a rock in front
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of me and glanced off into the sea. When the sailors gave me my
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money again, they kept back not only about a third of the whole sum,
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but my father's leather purse, so that from that day out I carried
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my gold loose in a pocket with a button. I now saw there must
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be a hole, and clapped my hand to the place in a great hurry.
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But this was to lock the stable door. After the steed was stolen.
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I had left the shore at Queen's Ferry with near on fifty pounds.
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Now I found no more than two guinea pieces and a silver shilling. It
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is true I picked up a third guinea a little after, where it lay
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shining on a piece of turf. That made a fortune of three pounds and
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four shillings English money for a lad the rightful air of an state. Now
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starving on an aisle at the extreme end of the wild highlands. The state
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of my affairs dashed me still further, And indeed my plight on that third
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morning was truly pitiful. My clothes were beginning to rot. My stockings in
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particular were quite worn through, so that my shanks went naked. My hands
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had grown quite soft with a continual soaking. My throat was very sore,
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My strength had much abated, and my heart so turned against the harrid stuff
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I was condemned to eat that the very sight of it came near to sicken
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me. And yet the worst was not yet come. There was a pretty
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high rock on the northwest of Herid, which, because it had a flat
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top and overlooked the sound, I was much in the habit of frequenting,
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Not that ever I stayed in one place save when a my misery giving me
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no rest. Indeed, I wore myself down with continual and aimless goings and
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comings in the rain. As soon, however, as the sun came out,
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I lay down on the top of that rock to dry myself. The
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comfort of the sunshine is a thing I cannot tell. It set me thinking
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hopefully of my deliverance, of which I had begun to despair, and I
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scanned the sea and the ross with a fresh interest. On the south of
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my rock, a part of the island hutted out and hid the open ocean,
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so that a boat could thus come quite near me upon that side,
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and I benun the wiser well. All of a sudden, a cobble with
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a brown sail and a pair of fissures aboard of it, came flying round
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that corner of the aisle, bound for Iona. I shouted out, and
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then fell on my knees on the rock and reached up my hands and prayed
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to them. They were near enough to hear. I could even see the
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color of their hair, and there was no doubt but they observed me,
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for they cried out in the gallic tongue and laughed. But the boat never
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turned aside, and flew on right before my eyes. For Iona. I
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could not believe such wickedness, and ran along the shore from rock to rock,
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crying on them piteously. Even after they were out of reach of my
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voice, I still cried and waved to them, And when they were quite
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gone, I thought my heart would have burst. All the time of my
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troubles, I wept only twice, once when I could not reach the yard,
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and now second time when these fissures turned a deaf ear to my cries.
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But this time I wept and roared like a wicked child, tearing up
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the turf with my nails and grinding my face in the earth. If a
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wish would kill men, those two fishers would never have seen mourning, and
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I should likely have died upon my island. When I was a little over
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my anger, I must eat again, but with such loathing of the mess
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as I could now scarce control. Sure enough I should have done as well
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to fast, for my fishes poisoned me again. I had all my first
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pains. My throat was so sore I could scarce swallow. I had a
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fit of strong shuddering, which clucked my teeth together. And there came on
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me that dreadful sense of illness, which we have no name for, either
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in Scotch or English. I thought I should have died and made my peace
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with God, forgiving all men, even my uncle and the fishers. And
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as soon as I had thus made up my mind to the worst clearness came
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upon me. I observed the night was falling dry. My clothes were dried
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a good deal. Truly, I was in a better case than ever before
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since I had landed on the isle, and so I got to sleep at
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last with the thought of gratitude. The next day, which was the fourth
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of this horrible life of mine, I found my body strength run very low,
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but the sun shone the air was sweet, and what I managed to
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eat of the shellfish agreed well with me and revived my courage. I was
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scarce back on my rock, where I went always the first thing after I
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had eaten before I observed a boat coming down the sound, and with her
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head, as I thought, in my direction. I began at once to
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hope and fear exceedingly, for I thought these men might have thought better of
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their cruelty in be coming back to my assistance. But another disappointment such as
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yesterday's, was more than I could bear. I turned my back accordingly upon
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the sea and did not look again till I had counted many hundreds. The
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boat was still heading for the island. The next time, I counted the
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full thousand as slowly as I could, my heart beating so as to hurt
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me. And then it was out of all question. She was coming straight
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to errand I could no longer hold myself, but ran to the sea side
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and out from one rock to another as far as I could go. It
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is a marvel I was not drowned, for when I was brought to a
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stand at last, my legs shook under me, and my mouth was so
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dry I must wet it with the sea water before I was able to shout.
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All this time the boat was coming on, and now I was able
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to perceive it was the same boat and the same two men as yesterday.
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This I knew by their hair, which the one had of a bright yellow
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and the other black. But now there was a third man along with them,
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who looked to be of a better class. As soon as they were
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come within easy speech, they let down their sail and lay quiet. In
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spite of my supplications, they drew no nearer in. And what frightened me
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most of all the new man Tea hewed with laughter as he talked and looked
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at me. Then he stood up in the boat and addressed me a long
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while, speaking fast and with many wavings of his hand. I told him
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in my head, no Gaelic. And at this he became very angry,
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and I began to suspect he thought he was talking English. Listing very close,
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I caught the word what heifer several times, but all the rest was
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Gaelic, and might have been Greek and Hebrew. For me, whatever said
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I to show him I had caught a word. Yes, yes, yes,
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yes, says he. And then he looked at the other men as
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much as to say I told you, I spoke English, and began again,
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as hard as ever in the Gaelic. This time I picked out another
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word, tide. Then I had a flash of hope. I remembered he
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was always waving his hand towards the mainland of the ross. Do you mean
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when the tide is out? I cried, and could not finish. Yes,
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yes, said he tide. At that I turned tail upon their boat,
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where my adviser had once more begun to tee hee with laughter, leaped
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back the way I had come from one stone to another, and set off
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running across the aisle as I had never run before. In about half an
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hour I came out upon the shores of the creek, and sure enough it
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was shrunk into a little trickle of water, through which I dashed not above
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my knees, and landed with a shout on the main island. A sea
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bred boy would not have stayed a day on Erd, which is only what
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they call a tidal islet, and except in the bottom of the neaps,
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can be entered and left twice in every twenty four hours, either dry shod,
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or at the most by waiting even I who had the tide going out
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and in before me in the bay, and even watched for the ebbs,
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the better to get my shellfish. Even I, I say, if I
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had sat down to think instead of raging at my fate, must have soon
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guessed the secret and got free. It was no wonder the fishers had not
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understood me. The wonder was whether they had ever guessed my pitiful illusion and
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taken the trouble to come back. I had starved with cold and hunger on
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that island for close upon one hundred hours. But for the fissures, I
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might have left my bones there in pure folly. And even as it was,
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I had paid for it pretty dear, not only in past sufferings,
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but in my present case, being clothed like a beggar man, scarce able
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to walk, and in great pain of my sore throat. I have seen
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wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they
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both get paid in the end. But the fools first, and of chapter