The Lonely Island | Page 3

was agile and
athletic, and a favourite with officers and men. But Bligh's conduct had
soured him. His countenance was now changed. The last insult about
the cocoa-nuts, delivered openly, was more than he could bear. "When
Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war." In this case the tug was
tremendous, the immediate results were disastrous, and the ultimate
issues amazing, as will be seen in the sequel of our tale.
"To whom does your amiable wish refer?" asked a brother-officer
named Stewart, who came up just then and leaned over the bulwarks
beside him.
"Can you not guess?" said the other, sternly.
"Yes, I can guess," returned the midshipman, gazing contemplatively at
the shark's fin. "But, I say, surely you don't really mean to carry out
your mad intention of deserting."
"Yes, I do," said Christian with emphasis. "I've been to the fore-cockpit
several times to-day, and seen the boatswain and carpenter, both of
whom have agreed to help me. I've had a plank rigged up with staves
into a sort of raft, on which I mean to take my chance. There's a bag all
ready with some victuals in it, and another with a few nails, beads,
etcetera, to propitiate the natives. Young Hayward is the only other
officer besides yourself to whom I have revealed my intention. Like
you, he attempts to dissuade me, but in vain. I shall go to-night."
"But where will you go to?" asked Stewart.
Christian pointed to Tofoa, one of the Friendly Islands, which was then
in sight like a little black speck on the glowing sky where the sun had
just disappeared.

"And how do you propose to escape him?" said the midshipman,
pointing significantly to the shark, which at the moment gave a wriggle
with its tail as if it understood the allusion and enjoyed it.
"I'll take my chance of that," said Christian, bitterly, and with a
countenance so haggard yet so fierce that his young companion felt
alarmed. "See here," he added, tearing open his vest and revealing
within it a deep sea-lead suspended round his neck; "I had rather die
than live in the torments of the last three weeks. If I fail to escape, you
see, there will be no chance of taking me alive."
"Better try to take the ship!" whispered a voice behind him.
Christian started and grew paler, but did not turn his head to see who
had spoken. The midshipman at his side had evidently not heard the
whisper.
"I cannot help thinking you are wrong," said Stewart. "We have only to
bear it a little longer, and then we shall have justice done to us in
England."
Well would it have been for Fletcher Christian, and well for all on
board the Bounty, if he had taken the advice of his young friend, but his
spirit had been tried beyond its powers of endurance--at least so he
thought--and his mind was made up. What moral suasion failed to
effect, however, the weather accomplished. It prevented his first
intention from being carried out.
While the shades of evening fell and deepened into a night of unusual
magnificence, the profound calm continued, and the ship lay
motionless on the sea. The people, too, kept moving quietly about the
deck, either induced thereto by the sweet influences around them, or by
some indefinable impression that a storm sometimes succeeds a calm as
well in the moral as the material world. As the ship had no way through
the water, it was impossible for the rash youth to carry out his plan
either during the first or middle watches. He was therefore compelled
to give it up, at least for that night, and about half-past three in the
morning he lay down to rest a few minutes, as he was to be called by

Stewart to relieve the watch at four o'clock.
He had barely fallen into a troubled slumber when he was awakened by
Stewart, and rose at once to go on deck. He observed in passing that
young Hayward, the mate of his watch, had lain down to take a nap on
the arm-chest. Mr Hallet, the other midshipman of the watch, had also
gone to sleep somewhere, for he was not to be seen. Whether the
seriously reprehensible conduct of these two officers roused his already
excited spirit to an ungovernable pitch, or their absence afforded a
favourable opportunity, we cannot tell, but certain it is that Fletcher
Christian opened his ear at that time to the voice of the tempter.
"Better try to take the ship," seemed burning in words of fire into his
brain.
Quick to act as well as to conceive, he looked lustily and earnestly at
the men of his watch. The one who stood nearest him, looking