University of Virginia Library

23. CHAPTER XXIII.

On the twentieth of the month, finding it altogether
impossible to subsist any longer upon the filberts, the
use of which occasioned us the most excruciating torment,
we resolved to make a desperate attempt at descending
the southern declivity of the hill. The face of

the precipice was here of the softest species of soapstone,
although nearly perpendicular throughout its whole extent
(a depth of a hundred and fifty feet at the least),
and in many places even overarching. After long
search we discovered a narrow ledge about twenty feet
below the brink of the gulf; upon this Peters contrived
to leap, with what assistance I could render him by
means of our pocket-handkerchiefs tied together. With
somewhat more difficulty I also got down; and we then
saw the possibility of descending the whole way by the
process in which we had clambered up from the chasm
when we had been buried by the fall of the hill—that is,
by cutting steps in the face of the soapstone with our
knives. The extreme hazard of the attempt can scarcely
be conceived; but, as there was no other resource, we
determined to undertake it.

Upon the ledge where we stood there grew some filbert-bushes;
and to one of these we made fast an end
of our rope of handkerchiefs. The other end being tied
round Peters's waist, I lowered him down over the edge
of the precipice until the handkerchiefs were stretched
tight. He now proceeded to dig a deep hole in the
soapstone (as far in as eight or ten inches), sloping
away the rock above to the height of a foot, or thereabout,
so as to allow of his driving, with the butt of a
pistol, a tolerably strong peg into the levelled surface.
I then drew him up for about four feet, when he made a
hole similar to the one below, driving in a peg as before,
and having thus a resting-place for both feet and hands.
I now unfastened the handkerchiefs from the bush, throwing
him the end, which he tied to the peg in the uppermost
hole, letting himself down gently to a station about
three feet lower than he had yet been, that is, to the full
extent of the handkerchiefs. Here he dug another hole,
and drove another peg. He then drew himself up, so
as to rest his feet in the hole just cut, taking hold with
his hands upon the peg in the one above. It was now
necessary to untie the handkerchiefs from the topmost
peg, with the view of fastening them to the second; and
here he found that an error had been committed in cutting

the holes at so great a distance apart. However,
after one or two unsuccessful and dangerous attempts at
reaching the knot (having to hold on with his left hand
while he laboured to undo the fastening with his right),
he at length cut the string, leaving six inches of it affixed
to the peg. Tying the handkerchiefs now to the
second peg, he descended to a station below the third,
taking care not to go too far down. By these means
(means which I should never have conceived of myself,
and for which we were indebted altogether to Peters's
ingenuity and resolution) my companion finally succeeded,
with the occasional aid of projections in the cliff,
in reaching the bottom without accident.

It was some time before I could summon sufficient
resolution to follow him; but I did at length attempt it.
Peters had taken off his shirt before descending, and this,
with my own, formed the rope necessary for the adventure.
After throwing down the musket found in the
chasm, I fastened this rope to the bushes, and let myself
down rapidly, striving, by the vigour of my movements,
to banish the trepidation which I could overcome in no
other manner. This answered sufficiently well for the
first four or five steps; but presently I found my imagination
growing terribly excited by thoughts of the vast
depth yet to be descended, and the precarious nature of
the pegs and soapstone holes which were my only support.
It was in vain I endeavoured to banish these reflections,
and to keep my eyes steadily bent upon the
flat surface of the cliff before me. The more earnestly I
struggled not to think, the more intensely vivid became
my conceptions, and the more horribly distinct. At
length arrived that crisis of fancy, so fearful in all similar
cases, the crisis in which we begin to anticipate the
feelings with which we shall fall—to picture to ourselves
the sickness, and dizziness, and the last struggle, and
the half swoon, and the final bitterness of the rushing
and headlong descent. And now I found these fancies
creating their own realities, and all imagined horrors
crowding upon me in fact. I felt my knees strike violently
together, while my fingers were gradually yet certainly

relaxing their grasp. There was a ringing in my
ears, and I said, “This is my knell of death!” And
now I was consumed with the irrepressible desire of
looking below. I could not, I would not, confine my
glances to the cliff; and, with a wild, indefinable emotion
half of horror, half of a relieved oppression, I threw my
vision far down into the abyss. For one moment my
fingers clutched convulsively upon their hold, while,
with the movement, the faintest possible idea of ultimate
escape wandered, like a shadow, through my mind—in
the next my whole soul was pervaded with a longing to
fall; a desire, a yearning, a passion utterly uncontrollable.
I let go at once my grasp upon the peg, and, turning
half round from the precipice, remained tottering for an
instant against its naked face. But now there came a
spinning of the brain; a shrill-sounding and phantom
voice screamed within my ears; a dusky, fiendish, and
filmy figure stood immediately beneath me; and, sighing,
I sunk down with a bursting heart, and plunged within
its arms.

I had swooned, and Peters had caught me as I fell.
He had observed my proceedings from his station at the
bottom of the cliff; and, perceiving my imminent danger,
had endeavoured to inspire me with courage by every
suggestion he could devise; although my confusion of
mind had been so great as to prevent my hearing what
he said, or being conscious that he had even spoken to
me at all. At length, seeing me totter, he hastened to
ascend to my rescue, and arrived just in time for my
preservation. Had I fallen with my full weight, the
rope of linen would inevitably have snapped, and I
should have been precipitated into the abyss; as it was,
he contrived to let me down gently, so as to remain suspended
without danger until animation returned. This
was in about fifteen minutes. On recovery, my trepidation
had entirely vanished; I felt a new being, and, with
some little further aid from my companion, reached the
bottom also in safety.

We now found ourselves not far from the ravine
which had proved the tomb of our friends, and to the

southward of the spot where the hill had fallen. The
place was one of singular wildness, and its aspect
brought to my mind the descriptions given by travellers
of those dreary regions marking the site of degraded
Babylon. Not to speak of the ruins of the disruptured
cliff, which formed a chaotic barrier in the vista to the
northward, the surface of the ground in every other direction
was strewn with huge tumuli, apparently the
wreck of some gigantic structures of art; although, in
detail, no semblance of art could be detected. Scoria
were abundant, and large shapeless blocks of the black
granite, intermingled with others of marl,[1] and both granulated
with metal. Of vegetation there were no traces
whatsoever throughout the whole of the desolate area
within sight. Several immense scorpions were seen, and
various reptiles not elsewhere to be found in the high
latitudes.

As food was our most immediate object, we resolved
to make our way to the seacoast, distant not more than
half a mile, with a view of catching turtle, several of
which we had observed from our place of concealment
on the hill. We had proceeded some hundred yards,
threading our route cautiously between the huge rocks
and tumuli, when, upon turning a corner, five savages
sprung upon us from a small cavern, felling Peters to the
ground with a blow from a club. As he fell the whole
party rushed upon him to secure their victim, leaving me
time to recover from my astonishment. I still had the
musket, but the barrel had received so much injury in
being thrown from the precipice that I cast it aside as
useless, preferring to trust my pistols, which had been
carefully preserved in order. With these I advanced
upon the assailants, firing one after the other in quick
succession. Two savages fell, and one, who was in the
act of thrusting a spear into Peters, sprung to his feet
without accomplishing his purpose. My companion being
thus released, we had no further difficulty. He had his
pistols also, but prudently declined using them, confiding

in his great personal strength, which far exceeded that
of any person I have ever known. Seizing a club from
one of the savages who had fallen, he dashed out the
brains of the three who remained, killing each instantaneously
with a single blow of the weapon, and leaving
us completely masters of the field.

So rapidly had these events passed, that we could
scarely believe in their reality, and were standing over
the bodies of the dead in a species of stupid contemplation,
when we were brought to recollection by the sound
of shouts in the distance. It was clear that the savages
had been alarmed by the firing, and that we had little
chance of avoiding discovery. To regain the cliff, it
would be necessary to proceed in the direction of the
shouts; and even should we succeed in arriving at its
base, we should never be able to ascend it without being
seen. Our situation was one of the greatest peril, and
we were hesitating in which path to commence a flight,
when one of the savages whom I had shot, and supposed
dead, sprang briskly to his feet, and attempted to make
his escape. We overtook him, however, before he had
advanced many paces, and were about to put him to
death, when Peters suggested that we might derive some
benefit from forcing him to accompany us in our attempt
at escape. We therefore dragged him with us, making
him understand that we would shoot him if he offered
resistance. In a few minutes he was perfectly submissive,
and ran by our sides as we pushed in among the
rocks, making for the seashore.

So far, the irregularities of the ground we had been
traversing hid the sea, except at intervals, from our sight,
and, when we first had it fairly in view, it was, perhaps,
two hundred yards distant. As we emerged into the
open beach we saw, to our great dismay, an immense
crowd of the natives pouring from the village, and from
all visible quarters of the island, making towards us with
gesticulations of extreme fury, and howling like wild
beasts. We were upon the point of turning upon our
steps, and trying to secure a retreat among the fastnesses
of the rougher ground, when I discovered the bows of

two canoes projecting from behind a large rock which
ran out into the water. Towards these we now ran with
all speed, and, reaching them, found them unguarded,
and without any other freight than three of the large Gallipago
turtles and the usual supply of paddles for sixty
rowers. We instantly took possession of one of them,
and, forcing our captive on board, pushed out to sea
with all the strength we could command.

We had not made, however, more than fifty yards
from the shore before we became sufficiently calm to
perceive the great oversight of which we had been guilty
in leaving the other canoe in the power of the savages,
who, by this time, were not more than twice as far from
the beach as ourselves, and were rapidly advancing to
the pursuit. No time was now to be lost. Our hope
was, at best, a forlorn one, but we had none other. It
was very doubtful whether, with the utmost exertion, we
could get back in time to anticipate them in taking possession
of the canoe; but yet there was a chance that
we could. We might save ourselves if we succeeded,
while not to make the attempt was to resign ourselves
to inevitable butchery.

The canoe was modelled with the bow and stern
alike, and, in place of turning it round, we merely
changed our position in paddling. As soon as the savages
perceived this they redoubled their yells, as well
as their speed, and approached with inconceivable rapidity.
We pulled, however, with all the energy of desperation,
and arrived at the contested point before more
than one of the natives had attained it. This man paid
dearly for his superior agility, Peters shooting him through
the head with a pistol as he approached the shore. The
foremost among the rest of his party were probably
some twenty or thirty paces distant as we seized upon
the canoe. We at first endeavoured to pull her into the
deep water, beyond the reach of the savages, but, finding
her too firmly aground, and there being no time to spare,
Peters, with one or two heavy strokes from the butt of
the musket, succeeded in dashing out a large portion of
the bow and of one side. We then pushed off. Two

of the natives by this time had got hold of our boat, obstinately
refusing to let go, until we were forced to despatch
them with our knives. We were now clear off,
and making great way out to sea. The main body of
the savages, upon reaching the broken canoe, set up
the most tremendous yell of rage and disappointment
conceivable. In truth, from everything I could see of
these wretches, they appeared to be the most wicked,
hypocritical, vindictive, bloodthirsty, and altogether fiendish
race of men upon the face of the globe. It is clear
we should have had no mercy had we fallen into their
hands. They made a mad attempt at following us in
the fractured canoe, but, finding it useless, again vented
their rage in a series of hideous vociferations, and rushed
up into the hills.

We were thus relieved from immediate danger, but
our situation was still sufficiently gloomy. We knew
that four canoes of the kind we had were at one
time in the possession of the savages, and were not
aware of the fact (afterward ascertained from our captive)
that two of these had been blown to pieces in the
explosion of the Jane Guy. We calculated, therefore,
upon being yet pursued, as soon as our enemies could
get round to the bay (distant about three miles) where
the boats were usually laid up. Fearing this, we made
every exertion to leave the island behind us, and went
rapidly through the water, forcing the prisoner to take a
paddle. In about half an hour, when we had gained,
probably, five or six miles to the southward, a large fleet
of the flat-bottomed canoes or rafts was seen to emerge
from the bay, evidently with the design of pursuit.
Presently they put back, despairing to overtake us.