Willis the Pilot | Page 3

days of the rainy season, we
are now about to lay before our readers.
Becker, his wife, and their four sons had been fifteen years on this
uninhabited coast, when a storm drove the English despatch sloop
Nelson to the same spot. Before this event occurred, the family had
cleared and enclosed a large extent of country; but, whether the
territory was part of an island or part of a continent, they had not yet
ascertained. The land was naturally fertile; and, amongst other things
that had been obtained from the wreck of their ship, were sundry
packages of European seeds: the produce of these, together with that of
two or three heads of cattle they had likewise rescued from the wreck,
supplied them abundantly with the necessaries of life. They had erected
dwellings here and there, but chiefly lived in a cave near the shore, over
the entrance to which they had built a sort of gallery. This structure,
conjointly with the cave, formed a commodious habitation, to which
they had given the name of Rockhouse. In the vicinity, a stream flowed
tranquilly into the sea; this stream they were accustomed to call Jackal
River, because, a few days after their landing, they had encountered
some of these animals on its banks. Fronting Rockhouse the coast
curved inwards, the headlands on either side enclosing a portion of the
ocean; to this inlet they had given the name of Safety Bay, because it
was here they first felt themselves secure after having escaped the
dangers of the storm. In the centre of the bay there was a small island
which they called _Shark's Island_, to commemorate the capture of one
of those monsters of the deep. Safely Bay, had, a second time, acquired
a legitimate title to its name, for in it Providence had brought the
Nelson safely to anchor.
By unwearying perseverance, indefatigable industry, and an untiring
reliance on the goodness of God, Becker and his family had surrounded
themselves with abundance. There was only one thing left for them to
desire, and that was the means of communicating with their kindred;
and now this one wish of their hearts was gratified by the unexpected

appearance of the Nelson on their shore. The fifteen years of exile they
had so patiently endured was at once forgotten. Every bosom was filled
with boundless joy; so true it is, that man only requires a ray of
sunshine to change his most poignant griefs into smiles and gladness.
The first impressions of their deliverance awakened in the minds of the
young people a flood of projects. The mute whisperings that murmured
within them had divulged to their understandings that they were created
for a wider sphere than that in which they had hitherto been confined.
Europe and its wonders--society, with its endearing interchanges of
affection--that vast panorama of the arts and of civilization, of the
trivial and the sublime, of the beautiful and terrible, that is called the
world--came vividly into their thoughts. They felt as a man would feel
when dazzled all at once by a spectacle, the splendor of which the eyes
and the mind can only withstand by degrees. They had spelt life in the
horn-book of true and simple nature--they were now about to read it
fluently in the gilded volume of a nature false and vitiated, perhaps to
regret their former tranquil ignorance.
Becker himself had, for an instant, given way to the general enthusiasm,
but reflection soon regained her sway; he asked himself whether he had
solid reasons for wishing to return to Europe, whether it would be
advisable to relinquish a certain livelihood, and abandon a spot that
God appeared to bless beyond all others, to run after the doubtful
advantages of civilized society.
His wife desired nothing better than to end her days there, under the
beautiful sky, where, from the bosom of the tempest, they had been
guided by the merciful will of Him who is the source of all things. Still
the solitude frightened her for her children. "Might it not," she asked
herself, "be egotism to imprison their young lives in the narrow limits
of maternal affection?" It occurred to her that the dangers to which they
were constantly exposed might remove them from her; to-day this one,
to-morrow another; what, then, would be her own desolation, when
there remained to her no bosom on which to rest her head--no heart to
beat in unison with her own--no kindly hand to grasp--and no friendly
voice to pray at her pillow, when she was called away in her turn!

At length, after mature deliberation, it was resolved that Becker himself,
his wife, Fritz and Jack, two of their sons, should remain where they
were, whilst the two other young men should return to Europe