The Coral Island | Page 2

lad, and seldom spoke except
when spoken to. Moreover, I never could understand the jokes of my
companions even when they were explained to me: which dulness in
apprehension occasioned me much grief; however, I tried to make up
for it by smiling and looking pleased when I observed that they were
laughing at some witticism which I had failed to detect. I was also very
fond of inquiring into the nature of things and their causes, and often
fell into fits of abstraction while thus engaged in my mind. But in all
this I saw nothing that did not seem to be exceedingly natural, and
could by no means understand why my comrades should call me "an
old-fashioned fellow."
Now, while engaged in the coasting trade, I fell in with many seamen
who had travelled to almost every quarter of the globe; and I freely
confess that my heart glowed ardently within me as they recounted
their wild adventures in foreign lands, - the dreadful storms they had
weathered, the appalling dangers they had escaped, the wonderful
creatures they had seen both on the land and in the sea, and the
interesting lands and strange people they had visited. But of all the
places of which they told me, none captivated and charmed my
imagination so much as the Coral Islands of the Southern Seas. They
told me of thousands of beautiful fertile islands that had been formed
by a small creature called the coral insect, where summer reigned
nearly all the year round, - where the trees were laden with a constant

harvest of luxuriant fruit, - where the climate was almost perpetually
delightful, - yet where, strange to say, men were wild, bloodthirsty
savages, excepting in those favoured isles to which the gospel of our
Saviour had been conveyed. These exciting accounts had so great an
effect upon my mind, that, when I reached the age of fifteen, I resolved
to make a voyage to the South Seas.
I had no little difficulty at first in prevailing on my dear parents to let
me go; but when I urged on my father that he would never have
become a great captain had he remained in the coasting trade, he saw
the truth of what I said, and gave his consent. My dear mother, seeing
that my father had made up his mind, no longer offered opposition to
my wishes. "But oh, Ralph," she said, on the day I bade her adieu,
"come back soon to us, my dear boy, for we are getting old now, Ralph,
and may not have many years to live."
I will not take up my reader's time with a minute account of all that
occurred before I took my final leave of my dear parents. Suffice it to
say, that my father placed me under the charge of an old mess-mate of
his own, a merchant captain, who was on the point of sailing to the
South Seas in his own ship, the Arrow. My mother gave me her
blessing and a small Bible; and her last request was, that I would never
forget to read a chapter every day, and say my prayers; which I
promised, with tears in my eyes, that I would certainly do.
Soon afterwards I went on board the Arrow, which was a fine large
ship, and set sail for the islands of the Pacific Ocean.
CHAPTER II.

The departure - The sea - My companions - Some account of the
wonderful sights we saw on the great deep - A dreadful storm and a
frightful wreck.
IT was a bright, beautiful, warm day when our ship spread her canvass
to the breeze, and sailed for the regions of the south. Oh, how my heart

bounded with delight as I listened to the merry chorus of the sailors,
while they hauled at the ropes and got in the anchor! The captain
shouted - the men ran to obey - the noble ship bent over to the breeze,
and the shore gradually faded from my view, while I stood looking on
with a kind of feeling that the whole was a delightful dream.
The first thing that struck me as being different from anything I had yet
seen during my short career on the sea, was the hoisting of the anchor
on deck, and lashing it firmly down with ropes, as if we had now bid
adieu to the land for ever, and would require its services no more.
"There, lass," cried a broad-shouldered jack-tar, giving the fluke of the
anchor a hearty slap with his hand after the housing was completed -
"there, lass, take a good nap now, for we shan't ask you to kiss the mud
again for many a long day to come!"
And so